Premises Liability Claim: What It Means and How to File in Florida

Premises Liability Claim: What It Means and How to File in Florida

A premises liability claim is a legal action you file when you are injured on someone else's property because the owner or manager failed to maintain safe conditions. In Florida, these claims are governed by specific statutes that place the burden on you to prove the property owner knew about the hazard, and the rules changed significantly in 2023 when Governor DeSantis signed HB 837 into law.

If you slipped on a wet floor at a grocery store, tripped on a broken staircase at your apartment complex, or were injured in a poorly lit parking garage, you have rights under Florida law. But those rights come with strict deadlines and new limitations that did not exist before March 2023. The filing window dropped from four years to two. The fault threshold now bars recovery entirely if you carry more than half the blame. And apartment complex owners gained a new legal shield that makes negligent security cases harder to win.

This guide explains what a premises liability claim means under current Florida law, how to file one, what compensation you pursue, and how the 2023 tort reform affects your case. If you need legal help, our premises liability attorneys in Orlando offer free case reviews with no upfront cost.

What Is a Premises Liability Claim in Florida?

A premises liability claim is a legal demand for compensation filed against a property owner whose negligence in maintaining safe conditions caused your injury. In Florida, these claims fall under Florida Statute §768.0755, which sets a specific burden of proof: you must show that the property owner or business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition that injured you.

Premises liability is a category of personal injury law focused specifically on injuries caused by unsafe property conditions. It is separate from car accident claims, medical malpractice, or product liability. The injuries stem from the property itself: a slippery floor, a missing handrail, a collapsed ceiling tile, a dark stairwell, an unsecured swimming pool.

To bring a valid premises liability claim in Florida, you need to prove four elements. The property owner owed you a duty of care. The owner breached that duty by failing to fix, remove, or warn about a known hazard. That breach directly caused your injury. And you suffered actual damages as a result, such as medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering.

In premises liability cases across Orange and Osceola Counties, proving constructive knowledge is where most cases are won or lost. A banana peel that is brown and dried out tells a different story than one that is fresh and yellow. The condition of the hazard itself is evidence of how long the property owner ignored it.

Who Is Responsible for Your Injuries?

The person or entity responsible for your injuries depends on who controlled the property where the accident happened and why you were there. Florida law assigns different levels of responsibility based on your legal status as a visitor on the property.

Invitees receive the highest level of protection under Florida law. If you were a customer at a retail store, a guest at a hotel, or a patient at a medical office, you are an invitee. The property owner owes you a duty to regularly inspect the premises, fix hazards promptly, and warn you about any dangers that are not immediately obvious.

Licensees are social guests or individuals present with permission for non-business reasons. If you were visiting a friend's home for a dinner party, you would be a licensee. The property owner must warn you about known dangers, but is not required to conduct regular inspections on your behalf.

Trespassers generally receive no legal protection, with one significant exception. Florida's attractive nuisance doctrine requires property owners to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm to children who might be drawn to hazards like unfenced swimming pools, trampolines, or abandoned structures.

Multiple parties often share liability in a single premises claim. We frequently see cases where the injured person does not realize that a shopper who slips in a leased retail space has potential claims against both the store operator and the building owner. Our team investigates every layer of ownership and insurance coverage to identify all responsible parties.

How Florida's Tort Reform (HB 837) Changed Premises Liability Claims

Florida's 2023 tort reform, known as HB 837, changed three rules that directly affect every premises liability claim filed after March 24, 2023. The filing deadline dropped from four years to two. The comparative fault threshold now blocks all recovery if you carry more than half the blame. And apartment complex owners gained a presumption against liability if they meet specific security standards. No single change makes premises liability cases impossible, but together they give property owners and their insurers significantly more leverage.

The Two-Year Filing Deadline

Florida Statute §95.11, as amended by HB 837, gives you two years from the date of your injury to file a premises liability lawsuit. Before March 2023, the deadline was four years. If your injury occurred after March 24, 2023, the shorter deadline applies.

Two years sounds like enough time until you consider what happens after a serious injury. You spend weeks recovering and attending medical appointments. You deal with insurance adjusters who are in no rush to resolve your claim. By the time you realize the insurer is not offering a fair settlement, months have passed.

Missing this deadline means the court will dismiss your case regardless of how strong your evidence is. There are no extensions for not knowing about the law.

The 51% Comparative Fault Bar

HB 837 replaced Florida's pure comparative negligence system with a modified comparative negligence rule under §768.81. If a jury finds that you were more than 50% at fault for your own injury, you recover nothing. Before this change, a person found 80% at fault still recovered 20% of their damages.

This shift has changed how insurance adjusters handle premises liability claims. Since HB 837 took effect, our team has seen adjusters become significantly more aggressive in arguing comparative fault. In a recent slip-and-fall case at an Orlando retail store, the adjuster argued our client was 55% at fault for not seeing a hazard that had been on the floor for over 40 minutes with no warning sign. Under the old law, the client would have recovered 45% of damages.

Under HB 837, the adjuster's goal was to push fault above 50% and pay nothing. We countered with maintenance logs showing no floor inspection in over three hours. The property owner's own records defeated their comparative fault argument.

The Multifamily Property Presumption Against Liability

Florida Statute §768.0706, created by HB 837, gives apartment complex owners, condo associations, and townhouse community operators a legal presumption that they are not liable for injuries caused by third-party criminal acts on their property, as long as they meet specific security requirements.

Those requirements include security cameras at all entry and exit points with at least 30 days of retrievable footage, parking lot lighting at a minimum of 1.8 foot-candles from dusk to dawn, deadbolt locks on all unit doors, locking devices on windows and exterior sliding doors, locked gates around pool areas, and peepholes on unit doors. Properties were also required to have a certified CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) assessment completed by January 1, 2025, along with documented employee crime deterrence training.

If you were injured due to a crime at your apartment complex, such as an assault in a poorly lit parking lot or a break-in through an unsecured entrance, the property owner invokes this presumption. The burden then shifts to you to prove that the owner either failed to implement the required security measures or failed to maintain them properly. A broken security camera or an unlocked gate that was supposed to be locked defeats the presumption, but you need evidence to prove it.

How to File a Premises Liability Claim in Florida

Filing a premises liability claim in Florida starts with documenting the hazard and your injuries immediately after the accident, then progresses through medical treatment, legal consultation, an insurance demand, and, if necessary, a lawsuit filed within the state's two-year deadline. Each phase has a specific purpose, and what you do in the first 72 hours affects everything that follows.

Immediately After the Injury

Get medical attention first. Your health is the priority, and medical records created immediately after the injury become the foundation of your claim. If you wait days or weeks to see a doctor, the property owner's insurer will argue your injuries were not caused by the accident or were not serious enough to require treatment.

Report the incident to the property owner, store manager, or security office. Request a copy of the incident report. If they refuse to provide one, document that refusal in writing.

Within 24 to 72 Hours

Take clear photos and videos of the hazard that caused your injury: the wet floor, the broken step, the missing handrail, the damaged lighting. Photograph your visible injuries. Collect the names and contact information of anyone who witnessed the accident.

This window matters because evidence disappears fast. Surveillance footage at commercial properties in Florida is typically overwritten every 14 to 30 days. Incident reports at retail chains get archived within 72 hours. If you do not preserve this evidence quickly, it will not exist when you need it. One of the most common mistakes we see at Louis Berk Law is clients who wait weeks to contact us, only to discover that the store's surveillance footage has already been overwritten.

Within One to Two Weeks

Consult a premises liability attorney. Most personal injury firms, including ours, offer free case evaluations and work on contingency, meaning you pay nothing unless the firm recovers compensation for you. An attorney will send a preservation letter to the property owner within 48 hours of taking your case, demanding they retain all surveillance footage, maintenance logs, inspection records, and incident reports related to your accident.

Demand, Negotiation, and Lawsuit

Your attorney will investigate the claim, identify all liable parties and insurance policies, and build a demand package documenting your injuries, medical expenses, lost income, and other damages. The demand goes to the property owner's liability insurer.

Under HB 837, insurers now have a 90-day safe harbor period after receiving notice of a claim. During this window, they evaluate the claim without exposure to bad faith liability. This means the negotiation phase often takes longer than it did before 2023.

If the insurer refuses to offer a fair settlement, your attorney files a premises liability lawsuit in court. The litigation process includes discovery, depositions, expert testimony from safety engineers and medical professionals, and either a settlement during litigation or a trial. Most premises liability cases in Florida resolve without going to trial, but preparation for trial is what creates leverage in settlement negotiations.

What Compensation Can You Recover?

In a Florida premises liability claim, you recover compensation for the full range of losses caused by the property owner's negligence. These damages fall into two primary categories, with a rare third category available in extreme cases.

Economic damages cover your measurable financial losses: medical bills, past and future, lost wages during recovery, reduced earning capacity if the injury affects your ability to work long-term, rehabilitation and physical therapy costs, and any out-of-pocket expenses related to the injury.

Non-economic damages compensate for losses that do not have a receipt: physical pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, scarring or disfigurement, and loss of consortium, a spouse's claim for the impact on the marital relationship.

Punitive damages are awarded only in rare cases involving gross negligence or intentional misconduct by the property owner. Florida law sets a high bar for punitive damages, and they are not available in most premises liability claims.

One HB 837 change that affects compensation: the law now limits evidence of medical costs at trial to amounts paid, regardless of the source of payment. Letters of Protection, which allowed doctors to defer payment until a settlement was reached, now carry new disclosure requirements. This reduces the perceived value of medical treatment presented to a jury.

The compensation in a premises liability case depends on the severity of your injuries, not the type of property. Our team has handled cases ranging from fractured wrists at grocery stores to traumatic injuries from structural failures at commercial buildings. The key variable is how well the injuries and the property owner's negligence are documented from the first day.

Common Defenses Property Owners Use (and How to Counter Them)

Property owners and their insurers rely on several predictable defenses to fight premises liability claims. Understanding these tactics helps you prepare a stronger case from the start.

"Open and Obvious" Defense

The property owner argues the hazard was clearly visible and you should have seen it. In Florida, this defense does not automatically bar your claim. The question is whether the owner took reasonable steps to fix or warn about the hazard, not whether the hazard was theoretically visible. A puddle of water near a store entrance is visible, but if the store failed to place a warning sign or mop it up for 30 minutes, the owner's negligence still matters.

Comparative Fault Defense

Since HB 837, this has become the most common defense tactic. The adjuster argues you were distracted by your phone, wearing inappropriate footwear, or ignored a warning sign. The goal is to push your share of fault above 50% and eliminate the claim entirely.

Our team counters with the property owner's own inspection logs. If they cannot show a documented inspection within a reasonable time before the accident, their argument that the hazard was obvious or avoidable loses its foundation.

"No Knowledge" Defense

The property owner claims they did not know about the hazard. You counter this by establishing constructive knowledge: the hazard existed long enough that a reasonable inspection would have found it. Maintenance logs, inspection schedules, prior customer complaints about the same condition, and the physical state of the hazard itself, a dried-out spill versus a fresh one, all serve as evidence of constructive knowledge.

Assumption of Risk

The property owner argues you voluntarily entered a known dangerous area. This defense has limited applicability in Florida and is typically reserved for inherently risky activities, not everyday visits to stores, apartments, or public spaces. Walking into a grocery store is not an assumption of risk for a wet floor.

What to Do Next

If you were injured on someone else's property in Florida, the most important step to take right now is to preserve evidence and speak with a premises liability attorney before the two-year filing deadline passes.

If your injury happened recently, document the scene, get medical treatment, and do not give a recorded statement to the property owner's insurance company before consulting with a lawyer. Everything you say to an adjuster will be used to reduce your claim or argue that you were mostly at fault.

If your injury happened weeks or months ago, you still have time, but the clock is running. Surveillance footage might already be overwritten. Witnesses' memories are fading. The sooner an attorney sends a preservation letter and begin investigating, the stronger your case will be.

At Louis Berk Law, our team handles premises liability cases across Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties. We speak English and Spanish. Every consultation is free, and we do not charge a fee unless we recover compensation for you. If you are unsure whether you have a case, a free case review costs nothing and gives you clarity about your options. Call us at (407) 906-0500.

For more information about slip and fall settlements in Florida or to understand how a personal injury claim works, explore our guides.

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Disclaimer: This page is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different. For advice about your specific situation, contact a licensed attorney. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.