Slip Fall Store Restaurant Demand Letters
Store and restaurant slip and fall injuries: When you’re injured in a slip, trip, or fall at a retail store, grocery store, restaurant, or other commercial property, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Property owners and business operators have a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe premises for customers and visitors.
Successful slip and fall claims require proving the owner or occupier knew (or should have known) about the dangerous condition and failed to fix it or warn you. This guide covers how to build a slip and fall demand letter, what evidence you need, and how stores and restaurants typically respond.
I handle slip and fall demand letters personally. This page focuses on general U.S. premises liability law. If your accident occurred in California, I have California-specific guidance that addresses state law in detail.
Premises liability is the area of law that governs injuries on someone else’s property. When you’re injured in a slip or fall at a commercial business, the owner or occupier may be liable if they failed to maintain safe conditions.
Most states classify visitors into three categories, each owed a different duty of care:
| Visitor Status | Definition | Duty Owed |
|---|---|---|
| Invitee | Customer, patron, or business visitor invited for mutual benefit (stores, restaurants, banks, hotels) | Highest duty: Owner must inspect, discover hazards, repair or warn, and maintain reasonably safe conditions. |
| Licensee | Social guest or visitor on property for their own purpose (friend visiting, salesperson at door) | Moderate duty: Owner must warn of known hazards but generally not required to inspect or discover hidden dangers. |
| Trespasser | Person on property without permission | Minimal duty: Owner must not intentionally harm or set traps; limited duty to warn of hidden dangers. |
To succeed in a slip and fall claim, you must prove:
- Duty: The owner/occupier owed you a duty to maintain safe conditions (established by invitee status in most states).
- Breach: The owner/occupier breached that duty by failing to inspect, repair, or warn of the dangerous condition.
- Causation: The breach caused your fall and injuries (the hazard was the reason you fell).
- Damages: You suffered actual injuries and losses (medical bills, lost wages, pain-and-suffering).
Most states apply comparative negligence, which reduces your recovery if you were partially at fault for your fall. Common comparative fault arguments include:
- Failure to watch where you were walking: You were distracted by your phone, talking, or looking at merchandise instead of watching the floor.
- Obvious hazard: The dangerous condition was open and obvious, and you should have seen it.
- Ignoring warning signs: Wet floor cones or caution tape were present, and you ignored them.
- Inappropriate footwear: You were wearing high heels, flip-flops, or shoes inappropriate for conditions (e.g., smooth soles in ice/snow).
- Intoxication: You were under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The most critical element in slip and fall cases is notice. Property owners are generally NOT liable for hazards they did not know about and could not reasonably have discovered. You must prove the owner had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition.
Actual notice means the owner or employee knew about the hazard before your fall. Evidence of actual notice includes:
- Employee created the hazard (spilled water while mopping, left box in aisle).
- Employee saw the hazard and failed to clean or warn (witness saw employee walk past spill without cones).
- Prior complaints or incident reports about the same hazard.
- Surveillance video showing employees aware of the condition.
Constructive notice means the owner should have known about the hazard through reasonable inspections. You prove constructive notice by showing:
- Duration: The hazard existed long enough that reasonable inspections would have discovered it.
- Inspection failure: The owner failed to inspect or inspected inadequately given the nature of the business.
- Recurring problem: Similar spills or hazards occur frequently in this location, requiring more frequent inspections.
Some states apply mode of operation theory to shift the burden of proof in self-service or high-traffic areas. Under this doctrine:
- If the store’s business model creates foreseeable risks (salad bars, produce aisles, beverage displays), the store may be liable for spills even without proof of notice.
- The store must show it had reasonable inspection and clean-up procedures in place, or it is presumed negligent.
- Common in grocery stores, big-box retailers, and self-service restaurants.
Stores and restaurants typically have:
- Sweep logs: Employees initial time-stamped logs showing when aisles or areas were inspected and cleaned.
- Maintenance schedules: Floor waxing, mat replacement, lighting checks.
- Incident reports: Records of prior falls or complaints in the same location.
- Security video: Cameras showing when the hazard appeared and how long it existed before your fall.
In your demand letter and litigation, request these records via discovery or preservation letters. Lack of inspection logs can support constructive notice (if they can’t show recent inspections, the jury may infer the hazard was there long enough to be discovered).
Slip and fall liability can involve multiple parties depending on the business structure and property ownership:
I personally draft and negotiate slip and fall demand letters for clients injured at stores, restaurants, and other commercial properties. These cases require careful evidence gathering, notice analysis, and strategic negotiation with corporate insurers.
Photos are extremely helpful but not absolutely required. You can still pursue a claim based on:
- Your testimony describing the hazard
- Witness statements corroborating the condition
- Incident report filed by store documenting the hazard
- Surveillance video showing the condition
- Store’s lack of inspection records (suggests hazard was there long enough to be discovered)
However, cases without photos are weaker and settle for less because the insurer can dispute what the condition actually looked like. Always try to photograph the hazard immediately after the fall, or have a witness do so.
This is the “open and obvious” defense. Insurers argue that if a hazard was obvious, the store had no duty to warn you because you should have seen and avoided it.
Counter-arguments:
- The hazard was NOT obvious (clear liquid on shiny floor, poor lighting, debris same color as floor)
- You were distracted by a reasonable task (reading product labels, looking for items, talking to employee)
- Even if obvious, store still had duty to remove or warn (varies by state)
- Store’s own conduct created urgency or distraction (employee directed you to aisle, sale signs drew attention)
In comparative negligence states, “open and obvious” may reduce your recovery but not bar it entirely.
Statute of limitations for slip and fall claims varies by state:
- 2 years: California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, many others
- 3 years: New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan
- 4-6 years: Some states allow longer periods
The clock starts on the date of your fall. If you miss the deadline, your claim is permanently barred.
Special rules: Government property (city sidewalk, county building) often requires filing a tort claim within 6 months to 1 year before filing suit. Check your state’s government claims act.
Incident reports are helpful but not required to pursue a claim. You can still recover based on other evidence.
Why incident reports matter:
- Creates contemporaneous record of the accident
- Harder for store to deny it happened
- May contain employee admissions or descriptions of hazard
- Provides store’s insurance information
If you didn’t file one: Send a written notice of the incident to store management and corporate headquarters immediately, describing what happened, when, and where. Request they preserve all evidence (video, logs, witness contact info). This creates notice even without a formal report.
Yes, but your recovery will likely be reduced under comparative negligence rules. Looking at your phone is a common comparative fault argument—insurers will claim you were distracted and should have seen the hazard.
How this affects your claim:
- In pure comparative negligence states (e.g., California), jury might find you 20-30% at fault, reducing your award by that percentage.
- In modified comparative negligence states, if you’re found 50%+ at fault, you recover nothing.
Mitigating arguments:
- You were using store’s app to find items or check prices (reasonable activity)
- Hazard was not obvious even to attentive walker
- Store’s failure to warn or clean was primary cause, not your distraction
Economic damages:
- Medical bills (past and future)
- Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
- Out-of-pocket expenses (medications, assistive devices, transportation to medical appointments)
Non-economic damages:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Permanent disfigurement or disability
Punitive damages: Rarely available in slip and fall cases. Only if store’s conduct was grossly negligent or intentional (e.g., knowingly ignored repeated complaints about serious hazard causing multiple injuries).