Property owners owe a duty to keep their premises reasonably safe. When a dangerous condition causes serious injury, accountability follows.
Premises liability holds property owners and occupiers responsible when an unreasonably dangerous condition on their property injures someone. These cases cover far more than a "slip and fall": they include falls from poor maintenance, falling merchandise or structures, inadequate or broken stairways and railings, unmarked hazards, swimming pool injuries, fires, and dangerous conditions that lead to assaults (a related claim known as negligent security).
In Texas, the duty a property owner owes depends in part on why the injured person was on the property. A business invitee—a customer or anyone there for the owner's benefit—is owed the highest duty: the owner must use reasonable care to make the premises safe and to warn of dangers it knew about or should have discovered through reasonable inspection. A licensee—a social guest, for example—is owed a somewhat lesser duty, generally to be warned of or protected from dangers the owner actually knows about. A trespasser is owed the least, usually only a duty not to injure them willfully or through gross negligence (with special "attractive nuisance" rules protecting children).
To recover as an invitee, an injured person generally must show that a dangerous condition existed, that the owner knew or reasonably should have known about it, that the owner failed to use reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the risk, and that this failure caused the injury. A central battleground is "notice"—whether the owner knew or should have known of the hazard—which is why evidence of how long a condition existed, and the owner's inspection and maintenance practices, is so important.
The general Texas deadline to sue is two years from the injury. As with other premises cases, surveillance footage and the condition itself often disappear quickly, so prompt action protects the claim.
Sorting out who actually controlled the area where the injury happened—and who was responsible for inspecting and maintaining it—is often decisive.
Texas's proportionate-responsibility rule applies: recovery is reduced by any percentage of fault assigned to you, and a finding of more than 50% fault bars recovery. Property owners routinely argue the hazard was "open and obvious" or that the visitor wasn't watching where they were going—arguments that careful evidence and investigation are meant to rebut.
Not every fall is someone else's fault—but when a property owner's neglect causes real harm, you shouldn't have to absorb the consequences alone. A confidential review can tell you where you stand.
This page provides general information about Texas law and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and the law's application depends on the specific facts of each case. For advice about your situation, speak with a licensed attorney.
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