Miami slip and fall lawyer

Which Florida laws apply to a Miami slip and fall claim

The rules are the same across Florida, so they are written out in full on one page rather than repeated here. They are explained on the statewide slip and fall page, with the statute text linked.

The short version, because people need it before they click: § 768.0755 requires proof that the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have acted. Constructive knowledge is shown either by the condition existing long enough that ordinary care would have found it, or by it occurring with regularity.

Subsection (2) leaves the common-law duty of care intact, which matters where staff created the hazard. A fall in rented housing runs on § 83.51 instead, a fall on a cruise ship on the passage contract, and a fall on public property on § 768.28. Under § 768.81 fault is apportioned and bars recovery above 50%, and the deadline is two years.

What follows is the part that is specific to Miami-Dade County — where these claims arise, where you will be treated, which courthouse the case goes to, and how the records are obtained.

What do I actually have to prove in a Miami-Dade fall case?

Not that you fell. Not that the floor was wet. That the business knew, or should have.

Fla. Stat. § 768.0755 governs a fall on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, and it puts the burden squarely on the injured person: you must prove the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it.

Constructive knowledge can be shown two ways, and the statute names both. First, that the condition existed for such a length of time that the business should have discovered it using ordinary care. Second, that the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.

Both are questions about records rather than about the fall. How long it was there is answered by a sweep log and by camera footage. Whether it recurs is answered by prior incident reports and complaints about the same spot. Neither is in the injured person’s possession, and both are perishable.

And the section does not displace everything else. Subsection (2) says expressly that it does not affect any common-law duty of care owed by a person or entity in possession or control of business premises — which matters where the hazard was created by staff, or where the problem was the design of the floor rather than something spilled on it.

Why the first week decides a Miami-Dade fall claim

Almost every fact that proves constructive knowledge sits on the defendant’s own system, and most of it deletes itself.

Camera footage is the clearest example. Retail and hospitality systems commonly keep days or a few weeks, then overwrite automatically. Footage showing the substance on the floor for twenty minutes before the fall is the difference between a claim and a guess — and nobody preserves it unless asked.

Sweep and inspection logs are the second. Many chains run documented inspection intervals precisely so they can show the floor was checked. That record cuts both ways: it can establish the last inspection was two hours earlier.

Prior incident reports and complaints are the third, and they answer the regularity branch of the statute directly. A location that floods at the same entrance every storm is a different case from a one-off spill.

So the single most useful step is a written preservation demand, sent within days, naming the store, the date, the time window and the specific camera views, along with the sweep logs and incident reports for a period either side.

What you can do yourself at the scene matters too. Photograph the substance before anyone cleans it, photograph the surrounding floor and any cone or sign, get the incident report number, and take the names of employees and witnesses.

A store, an apartment, a hotel or a ship are four different claims

§ 768.0755 is written for a business establishment. Where the fall happened somewhere else, a different body of law applies — and using the wrong one is a real risk.

A rented home or apartment. Fla. Stat. § 83.51(2)(a) requires the landlord of a unit other than a single-family home or duplex to make reasonable provision for keeping common areas clean and safe, along with locks and keys. That phrase carries stairwells, breezeways, parking areas and laundry rooms. The lease is evidence, not background, because those duties can be modified in writing for a house or duplex.

A hotel. An ordinary premises case, with the added feature that hotels keep detailed housekeeping and maintenance records and frequently have far more camera coverage than a store.

A cruise ship. Not a Florida premises case at all. A passenger injury aboard is governed by the passage contract — usually six months to give written notice and one year to sue, in a court the ticket names.

A public building, transit station or county facility. Fla. Stat. § 768.28 brings a written notice requirement before suit and statutory limits on recovery.

Establishing which of these you are in is the first conversation, because it decides the statute, the deadline and what has to be proved.

Where falls happen in Miami-Dade, and what each setting turns on

Two things shape fall claims in this county more than anywhere else: the rain and the hospitality economy.

Rain is the recurring condition. Hard afternoon storms through the summer mean water tracked into every entrance in the county on a predictable schedule. That is exactly the occurred with regularity branch of the statute — a lobby or doorway that is slick every storm is foreseeable in a way a one-off spill is not, and matting, drainage and warning practice become the questions.

Hotels, restaurants and bars run on polished stone and tile, serve constantly, and employ staff who usually know about a spill before any customer does. Where staff created or knew of the condition, the analysis shifts away from constructive knowledge entirely.

Supermarkets and big-box retail along US-1, Bird Road and off the Palmetto run formal sweep schedules, which means a documented record exists either way — and restocking during trading hours means the hazard is frequently created by the store rather than by a customer.

Parking garages downtown, at the port and at the airport add oil, ramp transitions and lighting that rarely matches the design.

And apartment common areas are the largest category people do not realize is different: breezeways, exterior stairwells and laundry rooms, governed by the landlord statute rather than the business one.

Where the Miami office is, and how to get there

DAPENALAW is at 5975 Sunset Drive, Suite 102, South Miami, FL 33143, open Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:00. The direct number is (305) 662-4323.

The office is on Sunset Drive in South Miami — signed by the county as SW 72nd Street and by the state as FL-986 — a few blocks west of US-1 and close to the South Miami Metrorail station, with parking on site. From the Palmetto, exit at Sunset and head east; from US-1, turn west. A first conversation can happen by phone or video, and home and hospital visits are available when someone cannot travel.

You do not have to come in. The first conversation can be by phone or video, documents are handled electronically, and where an injury makes travel difficult the meeting happens where you are. The Sunset Drive office serves Miami-Dade generally, and most often South Miami, Coral Gables, Westchester, Kendall, Coral Terrace, Olympia Heights, West Miami, Sweetwater, Glenvar Heights, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Coconut Grove, Little Havana, Hialeah and Doral. The Homestead office on Krome Avenue is usually the shorter drive for Florida City, the Redland, Leisure City and Naranja.

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