Florida retail premises liability
Supermarkets combine refrigeration, produce, prepared food, customer traffic, cleaning, carts, and frequent stocking. Those operations create many possible hazards, but Florida law still requires proof tied to the specific condition and the store’s actual or constructive knowledge.
Claims we evaluate
The legal analysis starts with how the injury actually happened.
What the case may require
Florida law requires negligence proof. In a transitory-substance case, that ordinarily includes evidence that the business knew or should have known about the condition and should have acted.
The question is fact-specific: who created it, how long it was present, whether it recurred, what inspections occurred, where employees were, and what the physical evidence shows.
Constructive knowledge may be supported by evidence that a condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable. A recurring refrigeration leak, produce mist, roof intrusion, drainage problem, or repeated spill pattern can differ from an isolated event seconds before a fall.
Maintenance records, prior work orders, employee testimony, and earlier complaints may help establish whether the condition was truly unexpected.
A shopping-center owner, maintenance vendor, refrigeration contractor, cleaning company, product vendor, or another party may control the area or contribute to the hazard.
Leases, service agreements, and the exact location of the fall can affect who owed the relevant duty.
Evidence to preserve
The strongest time to protect a case is often before the property changes.
Florida slip-and-fall law
Under section 768.0755, Florida Statutes, a person who slips on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment generally must prove actual or constructive knowledge and that the business should have acted.
Constructive knowledge may be shown by circumstantial evidence that the condition existed long enough to be discovered through ordinary care or occurred with such regularity that it was foreseeable. Other types of property injuries may involve a different analysis.
Common questions
A policy can be relevant evidence, but the statutory issue is not resolved solely by whether a written policy was followed. The condition, notice, reasonable care, and causation remain central.
Color, consistency, temperature, dirt, footprints, cart tracks, drying, spread, source, odor, and location may all provide circumstantial evidence.
Yes. Do not clean, alter, or discard potentially relevant footwear or clothing. Photograph and preserve it.
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