Slip and fall at a store, restaurant or other business

This page is for customers and visitors who were hurt in a store, supermarket, restaurant, shopping center, gas station or similar business open to the public.

The business's duty to customers

Everyone is responsible for injuries caused by a lack of ordinary care in managing their property (Civil Code § 1714). For premises, California's jury instructions say the owner or occupier must use reasonable care to discover unsafe conditions and to repair, replace or adequately warn of them (CACI No. 1001). The business is negligent if a condition created an unreasonable risk of harm, it knew or reasonably should have known about it, and it failed to repair it, protect against it or warn (CACI No. 1003).

Notice: how long was the hazard there?

Most store and restaurant falls turn on notice. There are three common ways to show it:

• The business created the hazard. If an employee acting within the scope of the job caused the spill, set out the mat or left the pallet, the business is treated as knowing about it (CACI No. 1012).
• The business actually knew. A prior complaint, a cone placed and then removed, or an employee who saw the spill.
• The business should have known. The question is whether the condition was of such a nature and existed long enough that the business had time to discover it and fix it, protect against it or warn. The instruction adds that a business must make reasonable inspections, and that a failure to inspect within a reasonable time before the fall may show the condition existed long enough (CACI No. 1011).

That is why inspection and sweep logs, the time stamps on video, and the condition of the spill itself (dried edges, cart tracks, footprints) often decide these cases.

Obvious hazards and shared fault

A business does not have to warn about a condition so obvious that a person could reasonably be expected to see it, but it must still use reasonable care if it is foreseeable that people will have to encounter it anyway (CACI No. 1004). If the injured customer was also careless, California reduces the damages by that person's percentage of responsibility rather than barring the claim (CACI No. 405).

Evidence to gather

1. Report the fall to a manager before you leave and ask for a copy of the incident report, or at least the report number and the manager's name.
2. Photograph the hazard, the surrounding floor, any warning signs (or their absence) and the lighting.
3. Get names and phone numbers of witnesses, including employees who responded.
4. Send a written request to the business, as soon as possible, to preserve surveillance video and inspection or cleaning logs. Many camera systems record over old footage.
5. Keep your receipt, your shoes and the clothing you wore.
6. Get medical care promptly and keep every record and bill.

Deadlines

Most injury lawsuits must be filed within two years (CCP § 335.1). If the place was run by a public entity, such as a city-owned facility, a written claim is usually due within six months (Gov. Code § 911.2).