Shopping at the mall should be fun, not dangerous. But sometimes accidents happen. You’re walking through a store, and suddenly you’re on the ground. Maybe you slipped on a wet floor or tripped over a loose wire. Now you’re hurt, confused, and wondering what to do next.
If you’ve been injured in a mall slip and fall, you might be asking yourself who’s responsible for your injuries. The answer isn’t always straightforward. Understanding your rights and knowing who can be held liable makes a big difference in whether you can get compensation for your medical bills and other expenses.
What Causes People to Slip and Fall at Malls?
Mall accidents happen for many reasons. Some are truly random, but many could have been prevented if the property owner had taken proper care of their building.
Common hazards that lead to slip and fall accidents include:
- Wet floors without warning signs after cleaning
- Spilled drinks or food in walkways
- Ice and snow tracked inside during winter months
- Poor lighting that makes it hard to see where you’re walking
- Cracked or uneven floor tiles
- Loose electrical wires or cords
- Merchandise displays blocking walkways
- Broken or missing handrails on stairs
During busy times like the holiday season, malls get more crowded. This means more chances for spills and more wear and tear on the building. Property owners need to stay on top of these problems to keep shoppers safe.
Who Actually Owns the Responsibility?
Here’s where things get complicated. Malls usually have multiple parties involved. There’s the company that owns the entire mall building. Then there are individual stores that lease their spaces. Each one has different responsibilities.
The mall owner typically takes care of common areas like hallways, food courts, parking lots, and bathrooms. If you slip and fall in one of these shared spaces, the mall owner is usually the one responsible for keeping it safe.
Individual stores handle their own shop floors. If you fall inside a specific store, that business owner or the company running that store would be responsible for hazards within their space.
Sometimes it’s not clear where the mall’s responsibility ends and the store’s begins. A good lawyer can help figure out exactly who should be held accountable for your injuries.
Understanding the Legal Side of Things
Property owners can’t be blamed for every single accident that happens on their property. The law requires you to prove they were negligent before you can win your case.
Negligence means the property owner failed to keep their building reasonably safe. You need to show one of three things:
- The mall or store created the dangerous condition
- They knew about the hazard and didn’t fix it
- They should have known about it because it was there long enough
This last point is really important. It’s called the “notice requirement.” Let’s say someone spills a soda in the middle of an aisle. If you slip in it right away, the mall probably didn’t have enough time to discover it and clean it up. But if that spill sits there for 30 minutes while employees walk past it, that’s a different story. The property owner had reasonable notice and time to deal with the problem.
Think about it like this. If you spill your own drink and immediately slip in it, you can’t blame the mall. They never had a chance to do anything about it. But if a leak from the ceiling has been dripping water on the floor for hours, the mall should have known about it and fixed it or at least put up warning signs.
What “Reasonable Caution” Really Means
Property owners are expected to use reasonable caution in maintaining their buildings. This doesn’t mean they have to prevent every possible accident. It means they need to:
- Inspect their property regularly for hazards
- Fix problems when they find them
- Warn customers about dangers they can’t fix immediately
- Prepare for predictable conditions (like putting down mats when rain is forecast)
- Keep lighting adequate throughout the building
- Train staff to report and address spills quickly
When a property owner takes these steps, they’re showing reasonable caution. This protects them from lawsuits when accidents truly couldn’t be prevented. But when they skip inspections for weeks or ignore known problems, they’re not meeting their legal duty to keep customers safe.
What You Should Do Right After a Fall
The minutes and hours after your accident really matter. How you handle things now can affect whether you’ll be able to get compensation later.
Get medical help immediately. Slip and falls can cause broken bones, torn ligaments, back and neck injuries, and internal bleeding. Some injuries don’t hurt right away, but they can still be serious. Going to the doctor creates a record of your injuries and shows you took your health seriously.
Report the accident to mall management or store employees as soon as possible. Tell them exactly what happened and where. They should write up an incident report. Ask for a copy if you can get one. This official record proves the accident happened and puts the property owner on notice.
Take photos if you’re able to do so. Get pictures of the hazard that caused your fall. If there was a wet floor with no warning sign, photograph it. If you tripped on a broken tile, capture that. Also take photos of your injuries. This evidence can disappear quickly once the property owner knows about the problem.
Look for witnesses who saw what happened. Get their names and contact information. Your lawyer might need to talk to them later to support your version of events.
Keep all your medical records and bills. Save receipts for medications and any other expenses related to your injury. If you had to miss work, get documentation from your employer showing your lost wages.
Time Limits You Need to Know About
You can’t wait forever to file a claim. Every state has what’s called a statute of limitations. This is a deadline for filing your lawsuit. In many places, you have two years from the date of your accident to take legal action.
Two years might sound like a long time, but it goes by fast when you’re recovering from injuries. Plus, waiting too long makes your case harder to prove. Security camera footage gets erased. Witnesses forget details or move away. Physical evidence disappears when the property owner makes repairs.
Starting your case early gives your lawyer time to investigate properly. They can gather evidence while it’s still fresh and available.
What If You Were Partly at Fault?
Maybe you were texting while walking. Or perhaps you were wearing shoes that weren’t great for the weather. Does this mean you can’t recover any compensation?
Not necessarily. Many states use something called comparative negligence. This means you can still get money even if you were partially responsible for the accident. Your compensation just gets reduced by your percentage of fault.
Let’s say your total damages are $10,000. If a jury decides you were 20% at fault for not paying attention, you would still receive $8,000. The property owner can’t escape responsibility just because you weren’t being perfectly careful.
Don’t let a property owner try to blame you for the accident. They often do this to avoid paying claims. A lawyer can protect you from these tactics and make sure you get treated fairly.
What Kind of Compensation Can You Get?
When you win a slip and fall case, you can recover money for several types of damages. Medical bills are the obvious one. This includes emergency room visits, doctor appointments, surgery, physical therapy, medications, and any future medical care you’ll need.
You can also get paid back for wages you lost while recovering. If your injury keeps you from working in the future, you can claim those lost earnings too.
Pain and suffering compensation covers the physical pain and emotional distress your injury caused. These damages can be significant, especially if you have permanent injuries or long-term problems.
In some cases, you might recover money for property damage, like a phone or glasses that broke during your fall.
Why Working With a Lawyer Matters
Slip and fall cases are harder to win than most people think. Property owners and their insurance companies have lawyers working to deny or minimize claims. They know the law and they’ll use it against you.
A personal injury lawyer levels the playing field. They understand how to prove negligence and establish the property owner’s liability. They know what evidence to look for and how to build a strong case.
Insurance companies often make low settlement offers hoping you’ll take the money and go away. An experienced lawyer knows what your case is actually worth and won’t let you settle for less than you deserve.
Most personal injury lawyers work on contingency. This means you don’t pay anything upfront. They only get paid if you win your case. You’ve got nothing to lose by at least talking to a lawyer about what happened to you.
Get Help With Your Mall Slip and Fall Case
Nobody plans to get hurt at the mall. But when it happens, you shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s negligence. Medical bills add up fast, and missing work makes everything harder. You deserve compensation that covers your expenses and helps you move forward.
The team at Philly Slip and Fall Guys knows Pennsylvania slip and fall law inside and out. We’ve helped many people who were injured in malls and shopping centers get the money they needed to recover. We’ll investigate your accident, gather evidence, deal with the insurance companies, and fight for maximum compensation.
Don’t wait to get legal advice. Call us today at 215-268-6898 for a free consultation. We’ll listen to your story, answer your questions, and tell you honestly whether you have a case. There’s no cost to talk with us, and you’ll never pay us a penny unless we win money for you. Let us handle the legal stuff while you focus on getting better.
