Indiana slip and fall & premises liability lawyer

When you walk into a store, restaurant, hotel, or parking lot, the business invited you there—and Indiana law expects it to use reasonable care to keep the property safe for you. A fall caused by a spill no one cleaned up, an unmarked step, an icy entrance, or a broken railing can lead to fractures, head injuries, and surgeries. Poynter & Bucheri helps people hurt by unsafe conditions at businesses throughout Indiana.

Is a business responsible if I slip and fall in Indiana?

Indiana law expects a business to use reasonable care to keep its property safe for customers, but a business is not automatically responsible for every fall—the key question is usually whether it knew, or should have known, about the hazard (notice). Most premises injury lawsuits must be filed within two years (IC 34-11-2-4).

What Indiana law requires of businesses

Indiana classifies people on property as invitees, licensees, or trespassers, and the owner’s duty depends on that status. Customers of a business are generally invitees, which carries the highest duty. Since the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision in Burrell v. Meads (1991), Indiana courts have applied the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 343 to invitees. In plain terms, a business may be liable for a dangerous condition on its property if it:

• knew about the condition, or would have discovered it by using reasonable care;
• should have realized the condition posed an unreasonable risk of harm;
• should have expected that customers would not discover the danger or protect themselves from it; and
• failed to use reasonable care to protect customers—for example, by fixing the hazard, cleaning it up, or warning about it.

Notice: the issue in most slip and fall cases

Businesses are not automatically responsible for every fall. In many cases—especially with temporary hazards such as a spilled drink or a dropped grape—the key question is notice:

• Actual notice: an employee knew about the hazard (they saw it, were told about it, or created it).
• Constructive notice: the hazard existed long enough that the business should have found it with reasonable inspections.

Surveillance video, cleaning and inspection logs, employee statements, and the condition of the hazard itself (dirty, tracked-through, or dried liquid suggests it had been there a while) can all help prove notice. When the business itself created the hazard—mopping without a sign, stacking merchandise unsafely, installing a non-compliant threshold—notice is usually easier to show.

Retail spills: what usually decides the case

In a store spill case, the business’s own records often answer the notice question: when the aisle was last inspected or cleaned, whether an employee was nearby, how long the spill appears on video before the fall, and whether anyone put out a cone or warning sign. That video and those records should be preserved quickly. Our store and retail fall guide and store fall in Indianapolis: can I sue? cover these questions in more detail.

Common business hazards

• Wet or freshly mopped floors with no warning sign
• Spills, produce, and leaking coolers or freezers
• Rain, snow, and ice tracked inside entrances, or curled and bunched mats
• Uneven thresholds, unmarked steps, and changes in floor height
• Loose or missing handrails and broken stairs
• Merchandise falling from high shelves
• Poor lighting in stairwells, hallways, and parking areas
• Potholes, broken curbs, wheel stops, and uncleared snow and ice in parking lots
• Inadequate security where crime was foreseeable (negligent security)

Guides by type of business

Who can be responsible

The business you visited is not always the only party—or even the right party. Depending on the lease and contracts, responsibility may fall on the property owner or landlord, the tenant business, a property management company, a snow and ice removal contractor, a cleaning or maintenance contractor, or a builder whose work did not meet code. In one case described on our firm website, an elderly customer tripped over the entrance threshold of a big-box clothing store and broke her hip; we named both the store and the landlord, retained an engineer who found the threshold did not comply with code, and settlements were reached with both.

What to do after a fall at a business

1. Get medical care. Hip, wrist, shoulder, back, and head injuries are common, and some are not obvious at first.
2. Report the fall to a manager and ask that an incident report be made. Ask for a copy, or at least the name of the person who took it.
3. Photograph the hazard before it is cleaned up—the spill, the step, the ice, the lighting—plus your shoes and your injuries.
4. Get names and phone numbers of witnesses, including employees who saw the hazard.
5. Keep your shoes and clothing as they were.
6. Ask a lawyer to request the video quickly. Many businesses keep surveillance footage only for a limited time before it is recorded over.
7. Be careful with the business’s insurer. You do not have to give a recorded statement, and early offers may not account for future care.

Next step: call 1-800-265-9881 or send the free case review form above. For a fuller checklist, read what to do after a store fall.

Snow and ice falls

Snow and ice falls at a business turn on the same notice and reasonable-care questions as other premises claims: what the property owner knew about the conditions and whether it had a reasonable chance to clear, salt, or warn. Weather records for the day, photos of the area, and the owner’s or snow-removal contractor’s logs can all matter. One of the results our firm has published involved a fall on an apartment complex sidewalk covered by unshoveled snow (see the results below).

Falls on government property raise extra issues. Indiana’s Tort Claims Act says a governmental entity is not liable for a loss resulting from “the temporary condition of a public thoroughfare or extreme sport area that results from weather” (IC 34-13-3-3), and written notice deadlines apply. If you fell on a public sidewalk, street, or government lot, talk with a lawyer quickly. See also our parking lot and sidewalk fall guide.

Indiana law notes for premises claims

• Two-year deadline: most premises injury lawsuits must be filed within two years (IC 34-11-2-4).
• Comparative fault: businesses often argue the hazard was obvious or that you weren’t watching where you were going. Under IC 34-51-2, your damages are reduced by your share of fault, and you are barred only if your fault is greater than everyone else’s combined.
• Government property is different: a fall on a city sidewalk, at a public building, or on state property requires written Tort Claims Act notice within 180 days (local) or 270 days (State) (IC 34-13-3-8 and IC 34-13-3-6). Claims against government entities are generally not governed by the Comparative Fault Act (IC 34-51-2-2), and Indiana’s stricter contributory-negligence rule can apply.
• Snow and ice: Indiana courts generally evaluate a business’s handling of snow and ice under the same reasonable-care standard owed to invitees, looking at what the business knew and whether it had a reasonable opportunity to act.

More slip and fall guides

Answers to common questions after a fall at an Indiana store or business:

Why talk with Poynter & Bucheri

Slip and fall cases are won or lost on details—video that gets saved or erased, a measurement of a step, a lease that says who maintains the parking lot. Founding partner Donald Poynter’s practice includes slip and fall cases, partner Richard Bucheri works extensively on slip and fall matters, and attorney John Norman focuses on premises liability among other injury cases. We work on a contingency fee: if you do not win your case, you will pay no attorneys’ fees. If there is no recovery, the client owes no fee and no costs. Case costs and expenses are paid from any settlement or recovery. Read more on our firm’s premises liability page.

General information only—not legal advice. Laws change and every case is different; deadlines can be shorter in some situations. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.