Common Questions / Premises Liability
Do I have a case if I was hurt in a store or on someone's property?
Possibly, but Texas premises cases turn on notice, not just injury. As a customer you generally must prove the property owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition and failed to fix it or warn you, which makes early evidence the whole ballgame.
What a customer must prove
Texas classifies visitors by why they were on the property, and store customers are invitees, owed the highest duty. Even so, an invitee does not win by proving a fall. The elements are that a condition on the premises posed an unreasonable risk of harm, that the owner had actual or constructive knowledge of it, that the owner failed to use reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the risk, and that the failure caused the injuries. The fight in almost every case is the second element: what did the owner know, and when.
Actual versus constructive knowledge
Actual knowledge means the owner created the hazard or was told about it, an employee mopped and left no sign, a prior customer reported the spill. Constructive knowledge means the condition existed long enough that a reasonable owner should have discovered it. Texas courts demand real proof of time on the floor: how long the substance sat there, how close employees were, how conspicuous it was. That proof lives in exactly two places, surveillance video and the store's own inspection records, and both are controlled by the defendant.
Evidence that evaporates
Store camera systems commonly overwrite footage within days to a few weeks. Sweep logs, inspection sheets, and incident reports get filed away or purged on schedules you cannot see. This is why the first move in a premises case is a written preservation demand identifying every category of evidence, sent before the footage cycle runs, and why waiting a month to call a lawyer can quietly decide the case. Report the incident before leaving, get it in writing, photograph the condition and your footwear, and identify witnesses on the spot.
Expect the comparative-fault defense
Every premises defendant argues the same thing: you should have watched where you were going. Texas comparative fault applies, so the argument has teeth, a finding over 50 percent against you ends the claim and every point below reduces it. The answer is built from the same evidence that proves notice: conspicuity, lighting, sight lines, and what a reasonable shopper actually looking at shelves, as stores design them to, could have seen.
Injured in Arizona? Some rules on this page are Texas-specific. Arizona differs on points that change outcomes, including pure comparative fault and government-claim deadlines. See our Arizona answers or call (888) 508-6967.
Related: Premises Liability · Am I Partly at Fault? · Submit Your Case · All Common Questions
This page is general information about Texas law, not legal advice about your specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes depend on facts; talk to a lawyer about yours.
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