Florida Premises Liability Attorneys

Florida premises liability law distinguishes between different types of visitors and assigns different duties of care accordingly:

Invitees: customers, guests, and anyone invited onto a property for business or public purposes, are owed the highest duty of care. Property owners owe the highest duty to invitees: they must inspect the property, identify hazardous conditions, and either repair them or provide adequate warning. Owners owe the highest duty of care to this class, and failing to meet it is the basis for most commercial property liability claims.

Licensees: social guests and others permitted on the property, are owed a duty to warn of known hazards that the licensee is unlikely to discover.

Trespassers: someone on property without permission, are generally owed only a duty to avoid willful or wanton harm, with some exceptions, notably the attractive nuisance doctrine for child trespassers.

Slip and fall injuries are among the most common premises liability claims in Florida. They occur in grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, parking lots, and commercial properties of all kinds, often caused by wet floors, uneven surfaces, poor lighting, or debris. Slip-and-fall claims require proving that the property owner knew or should have known about the hazardous condition and failed to correct it.

Property owner’s negligence in maintaining a reasonably safe environment is not always obvious, and insurance companies know how to make it look that way. Liability is based on what the owner knew or should have known about the hazard, and injuries caused by unsafe property conditions that were foreseeable are exactly what premises liability law was designed to address. We investigate thoroughly, gather evidence, and build cases that hold property owners accountable.

To prove a premises liability case in Florida, the injured party must establish that the property owner had a duty of care, that the owner failed to maintain a safe environment or warn of a hazardous condition, and that this failure directly caused the injury and resulting damages, including medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

When anyone suffers an injury on a property due to the owner’s failure to maintain safe conditions, the law recognizes both the injury to others and the owner’s role in allowing it to happen. Florida follows a comparative negligence standard, meaning your compensation may be reduced if you are found partly responsible for the accident. Insurance companies use comparative negligence aggressively to reduce or deny claims. An experienced personal injury attorney knows how to counter that strategy.

Commercial property owners and business owners have specific obligations under Florida premises liability law. A commercial general liability policy does not eliminate a property owner’s legal exposure, and disputes frequently arise when the insurer denies a claim or disputes coverage. We handle both the personal injury side of these cases and the insurance coverage disputes that often accompany them.

Insurance policies (including general liability policies and commercial general liability coverage) are how most property owners manage their risk. Liability insurance are essential tools for property owners, and property insurance protects against physical losses while liability coverage addresses injury to others. General liability policies, liability coverage disputes, and commercial general liability matters are all part of how these cases resolve. We work across the full picture, from filing a premises liability claim through litigation if necessary.

Most premises liability claims involve incidents that occur on the property of the defendant, a store, a home, a commercial building, or public land. Many of these claims are resolved through the property owner’s property and liability insurance. But insurers frequently dispute liability, claim the injured on someone’s property was partly at fault, or argue that the hazard was open and obvious. Liability protection for property owners exists precisely because these disputes are common, but that same protection is what stands between you and fair compensation.

We handle the litigation when insurers won’t pay fairly. That includes premises liability lawsuit filings, discovery, retained technical witnesses, and trial.

Florida’s attractive nuisance doctrine holds property owners or occupiers responsible for injuries to child trespassers when the property contains a condition likely to attract children, such as a swimming pool, trampoline, abandoned vehicle, or construction equipment. Even if the child was on the property without permission, property owners must take reasonable steps to prevent harm when they know or should know children are likely to encounter the hazard.