Premises Liability Lawyer in San Antonio & Harlingen

If you were hurt at a store, apartment complex, hotel, parking lot, or other property: report it to the manager, get medical care, photograph the hazard and the area, and get witness names. Ask that video be saved. Texas property owners can be responsible when they knew, or should have known, about a dangerous condition.

What a Premises Liability Claim Requires

For a customer or other invited visitor, Texas law generally requires showing that:

1. The owner or operator knew, or reasonably should have known, about the condition.
2. The condition posed an unreasonable risk of harm.
3. The owner or operator did not use reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the risk.
4. That failure caused your injuries.

Keetch v. Kroger Co., 845 S.W.2d 262 (Tex. 1992).

When the hazard is something like a spill, timing often matters. The owner generally must have had a reasonable opportunity to discover it, which makes surveillance video and witness accounts important (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Reece, 81 S.W.3d 812 (Tex. 2002)).

The duty owed can depend on why you were on the property. Social guests and others on the property for their own purposes are generally owed less protection than paying customers. Claims involving government property follow different rules and shorter notice deadlines.

Common Dangerous Conditions

• Spills and other substances on the floor (slip and fall)
• Items falling from shelves or displays
• Uneven walkways, potholes, and trip hazards
• Broken stairs, missing handrails, and poor lighting
• Inadequate security in apartments, hotels, and parking lots
• Elevator and escalator malfunctions
• Unsafe swimming pools
• Accessibility problems such as broken ramps (read about the Texas Accessibility Standards)

Inadequate Security Claims

A property owner generally is not responsible for a stranger’s crime, but there are two important exceptions:

• Past crimes made it foreseeable. An owner may owe a duty to take reasonable security measures when similar crimes had happened on or near the property. Courts look at how close, how recent, how frequent, how similar, and how publicized those prior crimes were (Timberwalk Apartments, Partners, Inc. v. Cain, 972 S.W.2d 749 (Tex. 1998)).
• The owner saw it coming. Prior crimes are not the only way to show foreseeability. When an owner knows that violence is about to happen on its property, such as a fight building in a bar, a duty to act can arise from that knowledge alone (Del Lago Partners, Inc. v. Smith, 307 S.W.3d 762 (Tex. 2010)).