A slip and fall accident is exactly what it sounds like: you lose your footing, hit the ground, and get hurt. While sometimes these are simple accidents, other times they are the direct result of a dangerous property condition that someone else failed to fix. In these cases, the injured person may have a valid personal injury claim. The core legal question is always about responsibility, or liability. To establish liability, you must show that the property owner or manager was negligent in their duty to keep the premises reasonably safe.

Negligence is a straightforward concept. It means someone failed to act with the care that a reasonable person would under the same circumstances. For property owners and businesses, this is called the “duty of care.“ They have a legal responsibility to maintain their property and to either fix hazards or provide adequate warning about them. This duty changes slightly depending on who is on the property. A customer in a store, known legally as an “invitee,“ is owed the highest duty. A social guest is owed a lesser, but still significant, duty. Someone trespassing is owed very little, except that a property owner cannot intentionally set traps.

A claim is built on proving four key elements. First, the property owner had a duty of care to the injured person. Second, they breached that duty. This breach is almost always about a dangerous condition. Common examples include wet floors without warning signs, torn or loose carpeting, poor lighting in stairwells, icy walkways that haven’t been salted, or merchandise left in an aisle. Third, this breach directly caused the fall. And fourth, the fall resulted in real injuries and damages.

The most critical battles in these cases often revolve around two things: notice and reasonableness. The injured person must usually show that the property owner knew or should have known about the hazard. For instance, if a store employee mopped the floor and left it wet, the store clearly knew. But if a customer spilled a drink and fell just seconds later, the store likely had no reasonable chance to discover and fix it. The “should have known” part is where inspections matter. A reasonable business checks its floors regularly for hazards. If they have no inspection system, a jury may find they failed in their duty.

The defense will always argue that the property owner acted reasonably or that the injured person did not. They will claim the hazard was “open and obvious”—that any reasonable person would have seen and avoided it, like a large pothole in broad daylight. They will also look closely at the actions of the injured person. Were you on your phone and not paying attention? Were you in an area where customers shouldn’t be? Were you wearing utterly inappropriate footwear? This is called “comparative negligence.“ In most states, if you are found partially at fault, your financial recovery is reduced by your percentage of blame. If you are found more at fault than the property owner, you may recover nothing.

The damages you can seek if successful are concrete. They cover all medical expenses for treatment related to the fall, from ambulance rides to surgery and physical therapy. They include compensation for lost wages if you missed work, and for lost future earning capacity if you cannot return to your job. They also account for pain and suffering, which is the physical pain and emotional distress caused by the injury and recovery process. In rare cases of extreme misconduct, punitive damages may be awarded to punish the property owner.

If you are injured in a slip and fall, take practical steps. Report the incident to the manager or owner immediately and ensure it is documented in writing. Take photos of the exact hazard and your injuries, if possible. Get contact information from any witnesses. Seek medical attention right away, both for your health and to create a record linking your injuries to the fall. Finally, be cautious with insurance adjusters. They work for the property owner’s company and their goal is to settle for as little as possible. For any significant injury, consulting a personal injury lawyer is wise. They understand how to investigate, prove notice, counter the “open and obvious” defense, and accurately value your claim to cover all your losses, both now and in the future.