One second on a wet tile floor can cost you a wrist, a hip, or a year of work. Scott Templeton is a San Angelo slip and fall accident lawyer who builds these claims around the one thing insurance companies fight hardest: proof that the business knew the hazard was there and left it alone. Templeton Law Firm serves injured people throughout Tom Green County and the Concho Valley.
Free case review. Call 325-482-9120 or contact the firm online.
Why Are Slip and Fall Cases Harder to Win Than People Expect?
Because falling is not enough. Texas law does not make a store responsible simply because you were hurt on its floor. You have to show the business knew about the spill, the loose mat, or the broken curb, or that it had been there long enough that a reasonably careful employee would have found it.
That single requirement decides most of these claims. It also explains why the first two weeks after a fall matter more than the two years you technically have to file.
How Do You Prove a Store Knew About the Hazard?
With records the business already has and would rather not produce. Three sources carry most of the weight.
What does the surveillance video show, and how fast does it disappear?
Video is the strongest evidence available, because it answers the timing question directly. It also has a short life. Many retail and restaurant systems overwrite footage on a loop measured in days or weeks, not months. A written preservation demand sent quickly is often the difference between a provable claim and a swearing match.
What is in the incident report?
Most chains require an employee to fill out a report the same day. Those forms capture the time, the condition, the witnesses, and sometimes an admission that a spill had been reported earlier. Businesses rarely hand them over voluntarily, and they usually surface only once a claim is formally opened.
Do sweep logs and inspection records help?
Often more than anything else. A store that documents floor checks every 30 minutes has just created a record of exactly when the last check happened. A store with no logs at all has a different problem, because it cannot show it was inspecting anything.
Ask about preserving this evidence before it is gone. Call 325-482-9120.
Why Do Insurers Treat a Fall as a Minor Injury?
Because the first medical note often understates it. Falls produce fractures, torn rotator cuffs, herniated discs, and head injuries that do not fully surface for days, and the adjuster's file is opened long before that happens.
The stakes are not small. The CDC reports that more than 95 percent of hip fractures are caused by falling. An early "it was just a stumble" framing deserves a careful second look, especially for an older client.
What Do Insurance Companies Argue in Slip and Fall Claims?
Four arguments come up again and again, and each one has a counter.
The first is that the hazard was open and obvious, so you should have seen it. The second is your footwear, especially sandals, boots with worn soles, or heels. The third is distraction, and adjusters now ask directly whether you were holding a phone. The fourth is that the injury came from something else entirely, such as an old back problem or a previous surgery.
None of these end a claim by themselves. Under Texas proportionate responsibility rules, being partly responsible reduces what you recover rather than erasing it, and it only bars recovery if your share of the fault goes above 50 percent.
Does It Matter That Another Customer Caused the Spill?
Not as much as businesses suggest. A store does not escape responsibility just because it was not the one who dropped the jar. What matters is whether staff had a reasonable opportunity to find the mess and clean it up.
A spill reported to an employee ten minutes earlier is a strong claim. A spill that happened seconds before you rounded the corner usually is not. That gap is exactly what video, sweep logs, and witness accounts are used to measure.
What Should You Do in the First Week After a Fall?
Get evaluated, then document. Emergency rooms and urgent care clinics create the medical record that ties the injury to the date, and adrenaline routinely masks fractures and soft tissue damage for a day or two.
Beyond that, photograph the exact spot from several angles including the lighting, keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing without washing them, write down the names of any employee who came over, and ask for a copy of the incident report in writing. Save the receipt or app order that proves you were there.
What Damages Can You Recover After a Fall in Texas?
Texas allows recovery for economic and non economic losses. Economic losses include emergency care, imaging, surgery, physical therapy, medication, and the wages you lost while you were out. If you cannot return to the same work, the reduced earning capacity going forward is part of it too.
Non economic losses cover physical pain, physical impairment, disfigurement, and mental anguish. No lawyer can tell you a number at the first meeting, because the value depends on the medical picture that has not finished developing yet.
What Decides Whether a Fall Claim Succeeds?
Documentation, gathered early. I have practiced law in West Texas since 1998, I grew up in San Angelo, and I handle these files personally rather than passing them to a case manager.
Falls are one part of a broader area of law covering unsafe property. If your injury involved a structural defect, a pool, or a poorly maintained apartment complex rather than a floor hazard, the firm's San Angelo premises liability page covers the wider framework, and it sits alongside the firm's other San Angelo injury claims.
How Long Does a Fall Claim Usually Take?
Longer than most people expect, and for a good reason. A claim should not settle until the medical picture is stable, because an offer accepted in month two cannot be reopened when a surgeon recommends an operation in month six.
Straightforward claims with clear liability and a short course of treatment often resolve within several months of that point. Claims involving surgery, disputed liability, or a chain retailer's national claims office take longer, and filing suit adds a court schedule on top. A realistic timeline is something to ask about at the first meeting rather than at the end.
Talk to Scott Templeton before accepting any offer. Call 325-482-9120.
How Long Do You Have to Sue Over a Fall in Texas?
Two years from the date of the fall in most cases, under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Waiting that long is rarely wise, because the video and the staffing records will not survive the wait. Falls on government property run on a far tighter schedule, sometimes as short as 45 days.
A Fall Is Not Clumsiness, and It Should Not Be Treated Like it
People who fall in public tend to apologize for it. The business that let the hazard sit there is counting on that instinct, and so is its insurer.
The office is at 905 S. Abe Street in San Angelo, open weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM, with service in English and Spanish. Case reviews for fall injuries are free, and there is no attorney fee unless there is a recovery. Call 325-482-9120, email scott@templetonlawfirm.com, or schedule a free consultation about your fall.
Slip and Fall Questions People in San Angelo Ask
I fell on a city sidewalk. Is that the same kind of claim?
No, and the deadline is far shorter. Claims against a city, county, or other governmental unit fall under the Texas Tort Claims Act, which requires formal written notice within six months, and many city charters shorten that to as little as 45 or 90 days. Governmental immunity also limits which conditions can support a claim at all.
There was a wet floor sign out. Do I still have a case?
Possibly. A sign is a warning, and a warning can satisfy the store's duty, but only if it was actually visible from where you were walking and actually addressed the hazard you encountered. A cone sitting three aisles away, or a sign left out permanently as decoration, carries much less weight.
I fell at the apartment complex where I live. Does my lease change anything?
It changes who is responsible for what. Bring the lease and any maintenance request you submitted, because those two documents usually decide whether the claim runs against management, a contractor, or both. How Texas splits that responsibility is covered on the premises liability page.
I have no health insurance. How do I get an MRI I cannot pay for?
Many Texas providers will treat on what is called a letter of protection, an agreement that the bill gets paid out of the eventual settlement instead of up front. Arranging that is part of what a lawyer does early in a case, and it keeps a lack of insurance from becoming a lack of evidence.