There are about 25 shopping malls in Houston alone. If you are walking through a shopping mall and you slip and fall on a wet floor causing injury, you can file a claim against the mall owners and management company. In order to win the case in most states, you must prove:
- there was a dangerous condition on the floor,
- the mall management company was aware of the dangerous condition or should have been aware of it,
- the management company failed to warn you of the condition or remedy the condition, and;
- you suffered injuries.
Additionally, you cannot have had notice of the dangerous condition prior to the fall. If you are aware of the danger, they do not have to warn you.
True Contributory Negligence States
Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia hold that any contributory negligence on the part of the injured plaintiff is a bar to recovery for injury. As a result, in those states winning a slip and fall is difficult. In those states, the jury considers the negligence of both the injured person and the mall. If the injured party is even 1% negligent, the injured party loses. Other states go by comparative negligence where the injured person may lose the percentage of damages that corresponds to the percentage they are responsible for negligence.
Who Do You File a Claim With When You Fall at a Shopping Mall?
When you fall at a shopping mall, your slip and fall attorney will research the management company for the mall and file a claim with them. They, in turn, will turn it over to their insurance carrier for evaluation.
What Are Common Causes of Slip and Falls at Shopping Malls?
The two most common causes of slip and fall accidents we see at shopping malls are:
- falls due to wet weather conditions, and;
- falls due to patrons spilling products.
Whether the mall is liable for these depends largely on the facts of the specific case.
Falls Due to Weather Conditions
In Texas, a fall caused by a natural accumulation of ice, snow, or water from the weather generally will not subject the landowner to liability. Texas recognizes that landowners cannot control the weather. Thus, if you track water in on your shoe and slip or slip outside on ice, it is very difficult to prove liability on the part of the mall. The mall is likely to be found not liable as a matter of law.
However, there are conditions that are still within the mall’s control which may result in liability due to weather-related slip and falls. If the mall fails to use a safe floor mat or allows the floormats to be bunched up for an unreasonable amount of time at an entry, there may be liability. However, proving liability in these situations may be very difficult.
Falls Due to Spills by Other Shoppers
When someone spills a drink on a mall floor, the owners of the mall are liable if they knew or should have known of the dangerous condition, and they failed to act reasonably. The law imposes a duty to make the premises reasonably safe for businesses that invite people in to shop. This duty means that they are expected to conduct reasonable inspection of the property for dangerous conditions and to either remedy the condition or warn people of it. As a result, a mall will be liable if you can prove that the mall had actual knowledge of the spill and failed to act timely, or that the mall should have known of the condition had they conducted a reasonable inspection.
The latter is one of the reasons that you need a slip-and-fall lawyer working on your case as soon as possible after a fall. Sometimes the only evidence that can establish how long a spill was present is the video footage in the mall. If you do not make a specific request for the complete video, they will dispose of it and the evidence will be lost.
Conclusion
After a fall at a mall, you can make a claim in most states. However, businesses are not automatically liable for falls on their premises. Whether your case will be strong enough to prevail depends upon the state’s laws as well as the facts of your specific case. Because these cases are complex and the evidence can disappear, it is wise to discuss your rights with an attorney who handles slip-and-fall cases. At Simmons and Fletcher, our Texas slip and fall accident attorneys offer a free consultation to accident victims.
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