Florida Premises Liability Lawyer | Broward County & South Florida

A Real Case: Liability Where You Wouldn’t Expect It

One of the most instructive cases in our firm’s history involved a client who was not a customer or employee at the property where he was injured. He was helping a FedEx employee when two pieces of metal severed his fingers so severely they required amputation. Because our client was not a FedEx employee, the challenge was proving that FedEx owed him a duty of care and that their employee’s negligence made the company liable.

$100,000 — Traumatic finger amputation while assisting a FedEx employee. Not employed by FedEx. We proved vicarious liability — the employee’s negligence was attributable to the company — and recovered $100,000.

This case illustrates a fundamental point: the fact that you were not an invited customer or an employee does not automatically eliminate your legal right to recover. The relationship between the negligent party and the property or entity that controlled them matters enormously — and that analysis requires an attorney with real premises liability experience.

What Florida Law Requires of Property Owners

Florida law requires property owners, managers, and occupiers to maintain reasonably safe conditions for the people who enter their premises. The duty owed depends on the visitor’s legal status:

Invitees

Customers in a store, guests at a hotel, patients at a medical office — anyone who enters property for a purpose for which it is held open to the public. Property owners owe invitees the highest duty of care: regular inspection, identification of hazards, and correction or adequate warning.

Licensees

Social guests — someone you invite to your home, for example. Property owners must warn licensees of known dangers the visitor would not reasonably discover on their own.

Trespassers

Even trespassers carry some legal protections under Florida law. Property owners may not willfully harm trespassers. For children — particularly in swimming pool cases under Florida’s attractive nuisance doctrine — significantly stronger protections apply.

Types of Premises Liability Claims We Handle in South Florida

Slip, Trip, and Fall Accidents

The most common form of premises liability. Florida Statute Section 768.0755 governs slip and fall cases in business establishments involving transitory foreign substances. We handle falls on liquids, debris, broken flooring, uneven surfaces, and defective stairs — and we know exactly how to preserve the surveillance footage and maintenance records needed to prove the case.

Negligent Security

When an assault, robbery, or violent crime occurs on commercial property — a parking garage, hotel, apartment complex, or convenience store — and the crime was foreseeable based on the property’s location and history, the property owner may be liable for failing to provide adequate security. Negligent security cases require analyzing prior incidents, adequacy of lighting, cameras, locks, and security personnel.

Swimming Pool Accidents

Florida requires strict pool fencing, barriers, and safety equipment standards. When a child is injured or drowns because a property owner failed to meet these requirements, both civil liability and criminal exposure can result. Pool cases are highly time-sensitive — physical evidence, maintenance records, and witness recollections must be preserved immediately.

Elevator and Escalator Injuries

Building owners and management companies have a duty to ensure elevators and escalators are properly maintained and inspected. Sudden drops, door malfunctions, and uneven landings all fall within premises liability.

Falling Objects

Merchandise falling from store shelves, construction materials from scaffolding, or improperly secured signage — when a falling object causes injury because a property owner or contractor failed to secure it properly, a premises liability claim may exist.

Parking Lot and Garage Injuries

Poorly lit garages, crumbling pavement, unmarked speed bumps, and inadequate security create dangerous conditions for customers. Florida property owners have a duty to maintain parking areas to a reasonably safe standard.

Dog Bites and Animal Attacks

Florida Statute Section 767.04 imposes strict liability on dog owners for bites that occur in public or on private property when the victim was lawfully present. Dog bite cases are handled as part of our premises liability and personal injury practice throughout South Florida.

What You Must Prove in a Florida Premises Liability Case

• The defendant owned, occupied, or controlled the property
• The defendant owed you a duty of care based on your visitor status
• The defendant knew or should have known about the dangerous condition
• The defendant failed to correct the condition or provide adequate warning
• That failure directly caused your injuries
• You suffered actual damages as a result

The knowledge element is most often disputed. Property owners routinely deny awareness of a hazard. Our work involves gathering surveillance footage, maintenance logs, inspection records, prior incident reports, and expert testimony to demonstrate the dangerous condition existed long enough that a reasonably diligent owner would have discovered and corrected it.

Florida’s Modified Comparative Negligence and Premises Claims

If the property owner’s insurer argues you were partially at fault — not watching where you were walking, ignoring a warning sign — your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault but not eliminated unless you are found more than 50% responsible. Susan Brown’s experience as a former adjuster means she knows exactly how these arguments are constructed — and exactly how to defeat them.

Statute of Limitations and Government Property

Florida law gives you two years from the date of injury to file a premises liability lawsuit. If the property is owned by a government entity — city, county, or state — you must file a formal pre-suit notice within three years, and damage caps under Florida’s sovereign immunity law apply. Contact us as early as possible.

About Attorney Susan Brown — Florida Advocates Personal Injury Lawyers

Susan Brown oversees the personal injury division at Florida Advocates. Before becoming an attorney, Susan worked as an insurance adjuster handling bodily injury and workers’ compensation claims. She was then recruited by the state’s largest personal injury firm — which is where she decided to pursue her law degree. That inside knowledge of how insurance companies evaluate, delay, and undervalue claims is what sets her apart from attorneys who have only ever worked on one side of a case.

Susan earned her J.D. with Honors from the University of Florida College of Law (1999), receiving the Book Award in Legal Drafting and a Trial Advocacy Scholarship. She is admitted to the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida, and has argued and won cases before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Susan is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum — a designation reserved for attorneys who have achieved million-dollar-plus verdicts and settlements — and the Broward County Trial Lawyers Association.

Frequently Asked Questions — Florida Premises Liability

Serving Premises Liability Clients Across South Florida

Florida Advocates Personal Injury Lawyers represents clients injured on commercial, residential, and government-owned properties throughout Broward County, Miami-Dade County, and Palm Beach County — including Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Coral Springs, Plantation, Weston, Hallandale Beach, Miramar, Boca Raton, and all surrounding communities.

Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation. We work on contingency — you pay nothing unless we recover for you. Your family matters. Let ours help yours.