Premises liability claims

A premises liability claim is a negligence claim against whoever owned or controlled the property where you were hurt. It is not enough that an injury happened somewhere. The claim depends on there being a hazard the owner knew about, or should have found and fixed, and did not.

This is general information, not legal advice, and it does not tell you whether you have a case.

The duty California owners owe

California does not sort visitors into the old categories of invitee, licensee, and trespasser with a different duty for each. Since Rowland v. Christian, an owner or occupier of land owes everyone lawfully on the property a single duty: to use reasonable care to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition, which includes inspecting for hazards, repairing them, and warning of dangers that cannot be fixed right away. What counts as reasonable care scales with the risk — a grocery store with constant spills has a higher inspection burden than a quiet office.

The Legislature has carved back one piece of that rule. Under Civil Code section 847, an owner is not liable for an injury or death that happens on the property during or after the injured person commits one of a listed set of felonies, where that crime is what caused the harm. The list is specific — burglary, robbery, arson, kidnapping, assault, and similar offenses — and the section does not sort visitors by category or touch the duty owed to anyone lawfully on the property. It is an exception for people hurt while committing serious crimes, not a general trespasser rule.

Sources: Civ. Code, § 1714 (general duty of ordinary care); Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108; Civ. Code, § 847 (no owner liability for injury during or after the injured person commits an enumerated felony that causes the harm); CACI No. 1000 (premises liability — essential factual elements), Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2026 edition).

Notice: the center of most cases

The question that decides most premises cases is whether the owner had notice of the hazard.

• Actual notice. The owner or an employee knew about the condition — a complaint was made, a work order exists, someone saw the spill.
• Constructive notice. The condition existed long enough, or was obvious enough, that a reasonable owner following a reasonable inspection routine would have discovered it. A puddle that had a cart track and a footprint through it has been there a while.
• Created by the owner. If the owner or an employee caused the condition — overwaxed a floor, left a pallet in an aisle, stacked merchandise so it could fall — notice is not an issue.

Proving how long a hazard was present is often the hardest part, and it is why the sweep logs, inspection records, and surveillance video matter so much. Those are in the owner's hands and usually have to be requested formally before they are overwritten.

More: notice and inspection.

Common hazards

Slip and fall

Water, cleaning product, spilled food or drink, tracked-in rain, a leaking cooler, a freshly mopped floor with no sign. The claim turns on what the substance was, how it got there, and how long it was there before the fall.

More: slip and fall · grocery and retail.

Trip and fall

A raised sidewalk slab, a torn mat, an unmarked step, a cord across a walkway, a pothole in a lot, a height change between surfaces. Courts sometimes treat very small height differences as trivial and not actionable, but that depends on the size, the location, lighting, distractions, and whether the owner knew people had tripped there before.

More: trip and fall.

Stairs and railings

Missing or loose handrails, inconsistent step heights, worn nosings, poor lighting, and stairs that do not meet the building code. A code violation is strong evidence of an unsafe condition, and stair falls tend to produce serious injuries.

More: stairs and railings.

Inadequate security

When someone is assaulted or robbed on a property — an apartment complex, a parking structure, a bar, a hotel — the property owner can be liable for failing to provide reasonable security if the crime was foreseeable. Foreseeability usually turns on prior similar crimes at or near the location and what a reasonable owner would have done in response — lighting, cameras, locks, patrols, staffing. The more serious the precaution being demanded, the more evidence of foreseeability the law requires. The criminal act and the owner's failure to provide reasonable security are treated as concurrent causes — the owner does not escape liability just because a third party's crime was also a cause.

Sources: CACI No. 430 (causation: substantial factor); CACI No. 431 (causation: multiple causes).

More: inadequate security.

Swimming pools

Fencing and gate requirements, drain-cover safety, depth markings, missing or inadequate barriers around residential and public pools, and the special rules that apply when children are foreseeably present. Pool cases often involve building and safety codes and can involve a landlord, an HOA, a property manager, and a maintenance contractor.

More: swimming pools.

Landlords and tenants

In a leased property, responsibility can sit with the landlord, the tenant, or both, and part of the case is sorting that out:

• Common areas — hallways, stairwells, parking, walkways, shared laundry — are usually the landlord's responsibility.
• Inside a leased unit or storefront, the tenant in possession usually controls day-to-day safety, but the landlord can still be liable for a dangerous condition that existed at the start of the lease, for failing to repair after notice, or for a code violation.
• A commercial tenant that invites the public in owes its customers the same reasonable-care duty as any business.

More: apartment and landlord.

"Open and obvious" and the injured person's conduct

Premises defendants lean on the injured person's own conduct: you were looking at your phone, you were carrying something that blocked your view, you took a shortcut, you ignored a warning sign, the hazard was open and obvious. Under comparative fault, those arguments reduce a recovery rather than defeat it (see comparative fault). An "open and obvious" hazard also does not always excuse the owner — if the owner should have anticipated that people would encounter it anyway, for example because it was on the only path to the entrance, the duty to fix it can remain.

Evidence, and why speed matters

Premises cases are won or lost on evidence that disappears fast:

• Surveillance video, often overwritten within days to weeks unless a preservation demand is made.
• The incident report the business created, and the names of the employees involved.
• Sweep sheets and inspection logs showing when the area was last checked.
• The hazard itself, which gets cleaned, repaired, or replaced quickly.
• Photos of the exact condition, with something for scale, taken before anything is touched.
• Witnesses, including other customers who saw the hazard or had complained about it.

Getting a preservation letter to the property owner early is often what keeps a viable case from quietly becoming an unprovable one.

Government property

When the property is owned or controlled by a city, county, transit agency, school district, or the state, the claim is a dangerous-condition claim against the public entity, and it runs on the six-month government-claim clock. That deadline is far shorter than the general two-year limit and is easy to miss, so a public-property injury has to be evaluated for the claim requirement right away.

Sources: Gov. Code, § 835 (dangerous condition of public property); § 911.2.

What is different about working a premises case

A premises claim runs on the same track as any injury claim (the claims process), with two pressure points of its own. The first weeks are about locking down evidence — the preservation letter, the incident report, the video, the inspection logs — because a business that controls all of it has little incentive to keep it. And the notice question runs through the whole case: the defense will argue the hazard appeared moments before the fall, and the response is built from the physical condition of the hazard, the video, the sweep records, and any history of prior complaints or similar incidents at the same spot.

Injuries

Falls, especially on stairs or from height, commonly cause fractures — hip, wrist, ankle, spine — along with head injury, shoulder tears, and knee damage. Older adults are both more likely to fall and more likely to have a serious, lasting result, and the defense often tries to blame the outcome on age or a pre-existing condition rather than the fall. Aggravation of a prior condition is compensable, and the eggshell principle applies. The injury pages cover how each is documented and disputed.

More: fractures · traumatic brain injury · pre-existing conditions and your claim.

Insurance

A premises claim is usually paid by the property owner's or business's liability policy — homeowner or renter insurance for a residence, a commercial general liability policy for a business or landlord. Larger commercial properties carry higher limits and often layers of coverage. A property manager, an HOA, and a maintenance or security contractor may each carry their own policy, which is one reason identifying every responsible party matters.

More: why insurance coverage limits decide cases.

Deadlines

For an injury claim, the deadline to file suit is generally two years from the injury. Government property shortens that to a six-month written claim, then six months to sue after it is rejected. A claim for an injured child follows different timing rules. Confirm the deadline that applies to you early.

Sources: Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1; Gov. Code, § 945.6.

More: statute of limitations.

What to do after an injury on someone's property

• Report it to the owner, manager, or an employee, and ask for a written incident report.
• Photograph the exact hazard before it is cleaned or fixed, with something for scale.
• Note any surveillance cameras that cover the spot.
• Get names and numbers for employees and any witnesses.
• Get medical care promptly and keep treating.
• Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing, unwashed.
• Do not give a recorded statement to the property's insurer before advice.
• Contact a lawyer quickly so a preservation letter can go out before the video is gone.

Common questions

Does a property owner owe me a duty just because I got hurt on their property?

Not automatically. In California an owner or occupier must use reasonable care to keep the property reasonably safe (Civ. Code, § 1714; Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108). A claim requires showing a hazard the owner knew about or should have found and fixed, and that it caused the injury.

What is "constructive notice"?

It means the hazard existed long enough, or was obvious enough, that a reasonable owner inspecting the property would have found it. A spill that was on the floor for an hour is different from one that dropped a minute before the fall.

I slipped but I am not sure exactly what I slipped on. Do I still have a claim?

It is harder. A claim usually needs proof of a specific hazardous condition and that the owner had notice of it. Evidence gathered quickly — photos, the incident report, video, witness accounts — is often what makes the difference.

How long do I have to file a premises liability claim?

Generally two years from the injury (Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1). If the property is owned by a government entity, a written claim is due within six months (Gov. Code, § 911.2), with six months to sue after it is rejected (Gov. Code, § 945.6).