Miami Premises Liability Lawyer
Property owners and businesses have a responsibility to keep their premises reasonably safe for the people they invite onto their property. When they fail to address dangerous conditions, provide adequate warnings, or take reasonable safety precautions, an ordinary visit to a store, hotel, apartment complex, restaurant, or other property can result in a life-changing injury.
Sotolongo Law represents people injured because of unsafe property conditions throughout Miami and South Florida. Premises liability cases can involve everything from a wet supermarket floor to a broken stairway, inadequate lighting, negligent security, unsafe hotel conditions, and other hazards that should have been corrected before someone was hurt.
These cases are rarely as simple as proving that an accident occurred on someone else’s property. The injured person must establish that the defendant was legally responsible for the property, owed the injured person a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused injuries and damages as a result. In many cases, one of the central disputes is whether the defendant knew or reasonably should have known about the dangerous condition.
Sotolongo Law investigates what happened, determines who may be responsible, and prepares the medical and legal evidence necessary to pursue compensation. Miami premises liability lawyer Pedro P. Sotolongo brings more than 20 years of personal injury legal experience to this work, along with a background that gives the firm an important perspective on serious injury claims. Before representing injured people, he spent five years defending medical malpractice cases, developing an understanding of medicine that remains valuable when proving how an accident caused or aggravated a client’s injuries.
Premises Liability Law in Florida
Premises liability is an area of personal injury negligence law involving injuries caused by unsafe conditions on property. Depending upon the circumstances, potentially responsible parties can include property owners, landlords, tenants, management companies, maintenance contractors, security companies, businesses occupying leased space, and others who possess or control the property.
Florida law requires property owners and possessors to exercise reasonable care toward people lawfully on their premises. For an invitee, that can include maintaining the property in a reasonably safe condition, correcting dangerous conditions the defendant knew or should have known about, and warning about certain hazards when appropriate.
The precise duty can depend upon why the injured person was on the property and the circumstances surrounding the accident. Customers entering a supermarket, guests checking into a Miami Beach hotel, residents using common areas of an apartment complex, and people entering private property for different purposes may present different legal issues.
Florida law treats trespassers as well as people with a license to enter the premises differently from invited visitors. These distinctions make the facts surrounding an accident and the injured person’s reason for being on the property important from the beginning of a claim.
What an Injured Person Must Prove
Although every premises liability case is different, a negligence claim requires establishing four basic components: duty, breach, causation, and damages.
First, the defendant must have owed the injured person a legal duty. This frequently depends on the defendant’s ownership, possession, or control of the premises and the injured person’s status on the property.
Second, the plaintiff must show that the defendant breached the applicable duty of care. Evidence may establish, for example, that a business failed to inspect an area reasonably, a landlord failed to repair a known hazard, or a property operator failed to warn visitors about a dangerous condition.
Third, the plaintiff must connect that negligence to the accident and resulting injuries. It is not enough to identify a dangerous condition if that condition did not cause the injury.
Finally, the plaintiff must establish the damages resulting from the accident. Depending on the case, damages can include medical expenses, lost income, diminished earning ability, pain and suffering, disability, and other losses.
Notice of a Dangerous Condition
Knowledge of the hazard is one of the most heavily contested issues in many premises liability cases.
A defendant may have actual knowledge when an employee, manager, owner, or other responsible person knew that the dangerous condition existed. An earlier customer complaint, maintenance request, incident report, employee observation, or work order may help establish actual knowledge.
Other cases depend on what is known as constructive knowledge. Essentially, the evidence may show that the dangerous condition existed long enough that a reasonably careful property operator should have discovered it or that the condition occurred so regularly that it was foreseeable.
Florida has a specific rule for slips and falls involving transitory foreign substances in business establishments. Under Florida Statute § 768.0755, the injured person must prove that the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it. Constructive knowledge may be established through circumstantial evidence concerning how long the condition existed or whether it occurred with regularity.
This is why evidence collected immediately after an accident can become so important. Surveillance footage, photographs, inspection records, cleaning logs, employee testimony, prior complaints, maintenance documents, and witness statements may reveal facts that are impossible to reconstruct months later.
Common Types of Dangerous Property Conditions in Miami
Premises liability is much broader than slip-and-fall accidents. Miami properties can expose visitors and residents to many preventable hazards, including:
- Wet, slippery, or contaminated floors
- Broken or uneven sidewalks and walkways
- Potholes and damaged parking areas
- Loose carpeting, mats, or flooring
- Broken stairs and missing or defective handrails
- Inadequate lighting
- Falling merchandise or objects
- Unsafe balconies, railings, and elevated areas
- Swimming pool hazards
- Defective elevators and escalators
- Construction or maintenance hazards
- Dangerous conditions at hotels and resorts
- Inadequate security measures
- Hazards in apartment and condominium common areas
Determining why the condition existed can be just as important as identifying the hazard itself. A broken step, for example, may point to inadequate maintenance, ignored repair requests, defective construction, or repeated temporary repairs that never corrected the underlying problem.
Serious Injuries From Premises Accidents
A fall or other premises accident can cause injuries far more serious than bruises or soreness. A person who falls on hard tile, concrete, stairs, or pavement may suffer fractures, traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, torn ligaments, herniated discs, or permanent mobility limitations.
Older adults can be particularly vulnerable to devastating consequences from falls, including hip fractures and complications that substantially affect independence and quality of life. Other accidents may cause shoulder and knee injuries requiring surgery, nerve damage, chronic pain, or permanent impairment.
The medical evidence must do more than show that an injury exists. Insurers frequently dispute whether an accident actually caused the condition being treated, particularly when imaging reveals arthritis, degenerative disc disease, or another preexisting condition.
This is an area where Sotolongo Law’s medical background can be especially valuable. Pedro P. Sotolongo’s prior experience defending medical malpractice claims taught him how to analyze medical records, communicate with physicians, and work with medical experts. Every serious personal injury claim has a medical component. Understanding both the medicine and the law can be critical when an insurance company attempts to minimize an injury or attribute a client’s symptoms to something that existed before the accident.
Common Insurance Company Defense Tactics
Property owners and their insurers may begin investigating an accident almost immediately. Their investigation is designed to protect their interests, and several defenses arise repeatedly in premises liability claims.
One is simply disputing liability. The defendant may argue that no dangerous condition existed, that the property was reasonably maintained, or that employees had no reasonable opportunity to discover the hazard.
Another is disputing notice. A business may contend that a spill occurred only moments before a customer fell and that no employee knew or reasonably could have known about it.
Defendants may also argue that the condition was open and obvious. Whether that defense succeeds depends on the circumstances and the particular duties at issue. The existence of an observable condition does not automatically resolve every question concerning a property owner’s responsibility.
Another common strategy is blaming the injured person. The defense may claim that the plaintiff was distracted, wearing inappropriate footwear, using a phone, ignoring a warning, entering an unauthorized area, or simply failing to watch where he or she was going.
Florida’s modified comparative fault law makes these allegations particularly important. An injury victim found more than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm cannot recover damages, while a claimant who is 50 percent or less at fault may have damages reduced according to the assigned percentage of fault.
Finally, insurers frequently attack damages even when they cannot completely avoid responsibility for the accident. They may argue that treatment was excessive, a surgery was unnecessary, the plaintiff could have returned to work sooner, or symptoms resulted from a preexisting condition rather than the accident.
A well-prepared premises liability case must anticipate these arguments rather than waiting for the defense to raise them.
Evidence Can Disappear Quickly
Premises cases often depend on evidence controlled by the property owner or another defendant.
Surveillance video can be overwritten. A spill can be cleaned. A broken tile can be replaced. Employees can leave their jobs. Maintenance records can become difficult to locate. Witnesses who saw the accident may disappear without anyone obtaining their contact information.
Prompt investigation can help preserve this evidence. Depending on the circumstances, an attorney may seek surveillance recordings, incident reports, photographs, inspection schedules, cleaning records, maintenance histories, repair invoices, employee information, prior complaints, and other documents.
The investigation should also identify every person or company that controlled or maintained the area. A property owner may not be the only potentially responsible party. A commercial tenant, property management company, janitorial contractor, maintenance company, security contractor, or another entity may have responsibilities relevant to the accident.
Building a Claim Around the Full Impact of an Injury
Premises liability claims are not only about proving why someone fell or was otherwise injured. They are also about establishing what the accident has taken from that person’s life.
Serious injuries may generate emergency room bills, hospitalization costs, surgery expenses, rehabilitation, physical therapy, medication costs, and future medical care. An injured person may lose weeks or months of income or become unable to return to the same occupation.
Some losses cannot be measured by invoices. Chronic pain, physical limitations, loss of independence, inability to participate in activities, and disruption of family life can become significant parts of a serious injury claim.
Sotolongo Law approaches these cases with the personal attention of a boutique firm while preparing to confront major insurers, corporations, property owners, and other defendants. Because We Care® reflects the firm’s commitment to understanding not merely how an accident happened, but how it has affected the person and family behind the case.
The firm also serves Miami’s diverse Spanish-speaking community, including Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Argentinian, and other families throughout Miami-Dade County. Clients should be able to understand their case, their rights, and the decisions they face throughout the legal process.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to bring a premises liability claim in Florida?
Florida imposes deadlines on negligence lawsuits, and determining the applicable deadline can depend on when the claim arose and other circumstances. The general rule is two years from the date of injury, but circumstances can make that period longer or shorter. For instance, claims involving governmental property or other special defendants may involve additional notice requirements or deadlines. Speaking with an attorney promptly also provides more time to preserve evidence before it disappears.
What happens if the property owner says I should have seen the hazard?
That allegation does not necessarily end a premises liability claim. The visibility of the condition can affect issues involving warning duties and comparative negligence, but the complete circumstances matter. An investigation may examine whether the defendant should nevertheless have corrected the hazard, whether the condition was actually apparent from the injured person’s perspective, and whether other circumstances contributed to the accident.
Can I recover if I was partially responsible for my accident?
Potentially. Florida applies a modified comparative negligence system to covered negligence claims. A claimant who is 50 percent or less responsible can recover compensation, but their award will be reduced according to the percentage of fault assigned to them. A claimant found more than 50 percent responsible cannot recover any damages for a premises liability injury.
Does a business have to pay if I was injured on its property?
Not necessarily. An injury occurring on someone’s property does not by itself establish negligence. The injured person must prove the elements of a premises liability claim, including a breach of the applicable duty and a causal connection between that breach and the injuries. In certain slip-and-fall cases involving a transitory foreign substance at a business establishment, Florida law also specifically requires proof that the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition.
Should I give the property owner’s insurance company a recorded statement?
It is sensible to understand your legal rights before providing a recorded statement to an opposing insurance company. Questions about how the accident occurred, what you saw, where you were looking, prior injuries, and current symptoms can later become important disputed evidence. An attorney can advise you about your obligations and communicate with the insurer on your behalf when appropriate.
Contact a Miami Premises Liability Lawyer
If unsafe property conditions caused you or a family member to suffer a serious injury in Miami or elsewhere in South Florida, Sotolongo Law can investigate what happened, identify the responsible parties, preserve important evidence, and pursue the compensation available under Florida law.
With more than 20 years of personal injury legal experience and a distinctive understanding of the medical issues involved in serious injury claims, Pedro P. Sotolongo is prepared to take on insurance companies and major defendants while providing the individual attention clients expect from a boutique law firm. Contact Sotolongo Law today for a free consultation. You pay no attorney’s fee unless the firm obtains a recovery for you.