Almost everyone who calls about a fall on somebody else’s property starts in the same place: the hazard was obviously there, so surely the owner is responsible.
That is not quite the test, and the gap between the two is where these cases are won and lost. California asks whether the owner knew about the hazard, or should have known about it, and whether they had a reasonable opportunity to fix it or warn you. A spill that somebody dropped ninety seconds before you walked through it is a hazard nobody could have caught. The same spill left for three hours in a supermarket aisle is a different case entirely, and the difference is not the injury. It is the record of who knew what, and when.
Culver Legal has recovered $200 Million and counting for injured people in California. We work on contingency, we advance the costs of the case, and there is no fee unless we win. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
The Duty, and Then the Part That Actually Decides It
The duty itself is broad and old. Civil Code 1714(a) makes everyone responsible for injury caused by “want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person”. A property owner in California owes a duty of reasonable care to people who come onto the property, and that applies to a customer, a guest and in most circumstances somebody who had no permission to be there at all.
So the duty is rarely the fight. The fight is notice, and it comes in two forms.
Actual notice means somebody knew. An employee saw the spill, a tenant reported the broken step in writing, a maintenance log records the light being out. This is the strongest version and it is usually the one the owner most wants to lose track of.
Constructive notice means they should have known, because the hazard had been there long enough that a reasonable inspection would have found it. This is where most cases actually live, and it turns on things a customer never sees: how often the aisles were meant to be checked, whether those inspections were logged, whether the log was completed honestly, and how long the hazard had really been there.
That is why the first hours matter so much. A shopping center knows its own inspection schedule and holds its own footage. You do not, and neither of those things is preserved for your benefit unless somebody asks for them in writing.
Was the hazard there before you arrived?
How long it had been there is usually the whole case, and the records that prove it are on somebody else’s system.
The Evidence Disappears Faster Here Than in Any Other Injury Case
A collision leaves two damaged vehicles and usually a report. A fall leaves a wet floor that gets mopped.
The hazard itself is often gone within the hour. The spill is cleaned, the broken tread is repaired, the burnt-out bulb is replaced, the mat is straightened. All of that is the responsible thing for a business to do and all of it destroys the evidence. A photograph taken on your phone before anybody tidies up is frequently the single most valuable document in the case.
Footage is overwritten on a loop measured in days. Most retail and commercial systems keep between a few days and a month. Nobody preserves the relevant clip unless they are asked to, and once it is gone the question of how long the hazard sat there may become unanswerable.
Inspection logs are internal documents. They are obtained, not handed over. If they were not completed properly, that failure is itself evidence, and it is not something anybody volunteers.
Your own clothing and footwear matter more than people expect, because the shoes you were wearing are the first thing an insurer will raise. Keep them unwashed and unrepaired.
The Range of Claims This Covers
A premises case is not only a supermarket fall, and the setting changes who is liable.
Falls from wet floors, uneven flooring, poor lighting and unmarked steps are the most common. Falls on stairs where a handrail was missing or a tread was worn. Injuries in a parking lot from potholes, missing bollards or inadequate lighting. Swimming pool incidents, where fencing and supervision obligations apply. Falling objects from shelving or overhead work. Dog attacks on the property, which run on their own strict liability rule rather than on the notice question.
Negligent security sits inside this area and works differently. Where somebody is assaulted in a parking garage, a hotel corridor or an apartment complex, the question becomes whether the owner knew the location carried a foreseeable risk and failed to take reasonable steps, such as lighting, locks or staffing.
Where a hazard on a sidewalk is involved, the abutting property owner carries a repair duty under Streets and Highways Code 5610, which frequently puts a private owner into what looks like a purely public problem.
When the Property Belongs to a Government
This changes the case in two ways and both are urgent.
Public property runs under Government Code 835, which requires a dangerous condition, an injury proximately caused by it, and either a negligent act by an employee or the entity’s own notice of the condition. Government Code 835.2 sets out how constructive notice is established, and it asks both whether the condition existed long enough and whether the entity’s inspection system was reasonable.
And the deadline collapses from two years to six months. A written claim must be presented under Government Code 911.2 before any lawsuit is possible. A fall in a public park, a library, a municipal parking lot or on a municipal stairway is on that shorter clock, and people routinely discover it far too late.
More Than One Company Usually Owes You Something
People assume the claim runs against whoever’s name is above the door. It frequently does not, or does not only, and each additional party carries its own insurance.
The tenant and the landlord are different defendants. A business leasing a unit generally controls what happens inside it. The building’s owner generally controls the structure, the common areas, the parking, the lighting and the walkways between units. A fall in a parking lot outside a store is often the landlord’s problem rather than the shop’s, and the lease decides which. That document is not public and you will not have seen it.
Management companies and maintenance contractors. Large properties are frequently run by a managing agent, with cleaning, landscaping and repairs subcontracted again. The company that was supposed to inspect the floor may be a third business entirely, and its contract sets out how often it was meant to do so. That contract is one of the more useful documents in these cases and it is obtained rather than offered.
A contractor who created the hazard. Where a fall follows building work, a trailing cable, an unmarked trench or a poorly reinstated surface, the contractor may be liable alongside the occupier.
Sorting this out early matters, because naming the wrong defendant and discovering it after the deadline has passed is one of the few mistakes in this area that cannot be repaired.
They Are Saying It Was My Fault for Not Looking. Does That End It?
No, and this is the argument that arrives in almost every one of these cases.
California is a pure comparative fault state, settled in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804. If you are found partly responsible, your recovery is reduced by that share. The claim is not barred, and there is no percentage past which the right disappears.
“You should have been watching where you were going” is a real argument and a partial one. It does not answer why the hazard was there, why nobody had noticed it, or why nothing warned you about it.
What a Premises Claim Can Cover
Medical treatment already received and the care still ahead, including surgery and rehabilitation. Wages lost while you could not work, and reduced earning capacity where an injury changes what you can do for a living. Pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Where injuries are permanent, the future cost of care rather than this year’s cost.
Falls produce a particular pattern of serious injury: hip and wrist fractures, and head injuries from striking the ground. A head strike raises a traumatic brain injury question that a clear emergency scan does not answer, and the most severe outcomes fall under catastrophic injury. Where a fall proves fatal, the family is bringing a wrongful death claim under a statute that limits who may file.
What Is a Premises Liability Claim Worth?
There is no formula, and in these cases the value depends as much on the notice evidence as on the injury itself.
A claim with an inspection log showing the hazard was missed for hours sits in a different place from one where the only proof is your own account. That is why the early preservation work affects the number and not just whether the claim survives.
What it is built from: medical treatment received and still ahead, wages lost, reduced earning capacity, and non-economic loss. Falls skew toward hip and wrist fractures and head injuries, so future care is frequently the largest element for older claimants.
How is pain and suffering calculated in California? There is no multiplier and no table in California law, and no cap in an ordinary injury claim. It is argued from the evidence of what treatment involved and what you can no longer do. Psychological injury, including a loss of confidence about walking or stairs after a serious fall, counts where somebody treating you has documented it.
How Long Does a Premises Claim Take?
Months where liability is accepted, considerably longer where notice is contested, which it usually is.
The dispute in these cases is rarely about the injury and almost always about how long the hazard had been there and who should have found it. That is resolved through inspection logs, footage and maintenance records, all obtained from the other side rather than volunteered, and that process takes time.
The preservation demand does not wait for any of it, because the footage that answers the whole question is overwriting while everything else is being argued about.
What Does It Cost to Hire a Lawyer, and What Comes Out of a Settlement?
Nothing up front. California personal injury work is done on contingency, so the fee is a percentage of the recovery and there is no fee at all if there is no recovery.
The percentage is set out in a written fee agreement before any work begins, and California requires contingency fee agreements to be in writing and given to the client. That document governs, not a figure quoted on a website.
What comes out of a recovery, in order: the attorney’s fee under that agreement, then the case costs the firm advanced to build the claim, such as records, filing fees and expert reports, then any medical liens where a provider or health plan has a right to be repaid. What remains goes to you.
That is why a headline settlement figure and the amount somebody actually receives are different numbers. Ask for that breakdown at the first meeting.
How Long Do I Have to File?
Two years from the date of injury, under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1.
Six months to present a written claim where the property belongs to a public entity, under Government Code 911.2.
Injured children. Code of Civil Procedure 352 pauses the ordinary period while an injured person is under 18. The six-month government claim rule is not paused in the same way.
None of those is the deadline that bites first. Footage, inspection logs and the hazard itself run on days and weeks.
Did you fall on public property?
A park, a library, a municipal parking lot or a stairway puts you on a six-month clock instead of two years.
Where We Handle Premises Cases
We take premises liability cases across California, including slip and fall claims in the markets we have pages for: Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, San Diego, Gardena and Long Beach.
Why Clients Choose Culver Legal
We come to you. If you are in the hospital, at home and unable to get about, or recovering from a fracture that makes travel difficult, we will meet you where you are.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean. Explaining your own accident in your own words is not a convenience.
The economics are simple. The firm works on contingency and advances the costs of the case, so there is nothing to pay up front and no fee unless we win, and somebody answers the phone 24 hours a day.
Premises Liability FAQs
The store cleaned up the spill before I could photograph it. Is my case over?
No, but it makes the other records more important. Inspection logs, footage, staff accounts and incident reports all speak to how long the hazard was there, and those are obtained rather than volunteered. The sooner somebody asks for them in writing, the more of them still exist.
I did not report it to the manager that day. Does that hurt me?
It is a fact to explain rather than a bar. People leave in pain, or embarrassed, or assuming they are fine. What matters more is what you did next, so medical attention and a written report as soon as you can manage both are worth a great deal.
The property owner says I should have seen it. Is that a defense?
It is a partial one. Under California’s pure comparative fault rule a share of responsibility reduces recovery rather than barring the claim, and an open hazard still raises the question of why it was there and why nothing warned you.
I fell in a public park. Is that the same as falling in a shop?
No, and the difference is urgent. A claim against a public entity must be presented in writing within six months rather than two years, and public property claims have their own statutory test for whether a dangerous condition existed.
I was hurt in an apartment building I do not live in. Can I still claim?
Yes. The duty of reasonable care is owed to people who come onto the property, not only to tenants, and in most circumstances it extends even to somebody who had no permission to be there.
I am undocumented. Can I bring a claim safely?
Yes. Under Evidence Code 351.2, added by AB 2159, evidence of immigration status is not admissible in a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death, and discovery into it is not permitted either.
I did not have permission to be there. Do I still have a claim?
Possibly. California moved away from rigid categories of visitor, and a property owner’s duty of reasonable care extends in most circumstances even to somebody who was not invited. Being where you should not have been is a comparative fault argument rather than an automatic bar.
A dog bit me on somebody’s property. Is that a premises claim?
It runs on a different and stronger rule. California imposes strict liability for dog bites, so you do not need to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous, which is the opposite of the notice requirement that governs the rest of this area.
I fell in the common area of an apartment building I do not live in. Who is responsible?
That is usually the landlord’s or the management company’s responsibility rather than any tenant’s, since common areas, lighting and walkways are typically retained under their control. The lease decides it, and you will not have seen the lease.
Nobody saw me fall and there is no footage. Is the case hopeless?
No. Inspection logs, maintenance records, prior complaints about the same hazard and the condition itself all speak to notice, and a defendant’s failure to keep the records it was supposed to keep is itself evidence.
Contact a Culver Legal Premises Liability Lawyer
These cases are decided on how long a hazard had been there and who should have found it, and every record that answers that belongs to somebody else and is on a timer. If you were injured on another’s property anywhere in California, reach us at (310) 600-7881, at any hour. The review costs nothing.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Culver Legal, LLP is a California law firm. The information on this page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
