Slip and Fall Liability

Legal liability in a slip and fall claim refers to a property owner’s breached duty of care under California Civil Code § 1714¹.

Proving liability means establishing that the property owner knew or reasonably should have known that their premises posed a slip and fall hazard. This can be accomplished by proving either actual or constructive notice.

Proving Slip and Fall Liability

Actual Notice

Actual notice means that the property owner had direct knowledge of the hazard in question. For example, if a store owner is informed by an employee or customer of a spill in aisle five, they have direct knowledge of a risk factor that could cause a slip and fall accident. In the case of a private property owner, avoiding a crack in the porch every time they enter or exit their home is a clear example of actual notice.

Constructive Notice

Constructive notice is not as specific or direct as actual notice. Property owners have constructive notice of slipping hazards when the involved risk has been present for so long that they reasonably should know about it.

Constructive notice applies more specifically to commercial property owners who are required to regularly inspect their premises for risks that relate to slip and fall accidents and other dangers.

Private property owners do not share this same responsibility to inspect, so proving liability in slip and fall claims against private property owners in California usually involves actual notice.

Case Example

Our client had just purchased some flowers for a funeral and began to walk back to her car from the flower shop.  The parking lot for the flower shop was in poor condition with multiple cracks and notably an uplifted lip on the drainage channel near the middle of the parking lot. Our client was unable to perceive this tripping hazard while carrying the flowers and assumed the area was safe to walk in. She tripped on the lip, fell and suffered severe knee injuries.