Texas Slip and Fall Lawyer: Premises Liability for Falls at Stores, Apartments, Hotels, Parking Lots and Government Property (Updated November 2026)

By the Beverly Law legal team. Updated November 2026.

What to do after a fall in Texas

1. Get medical care the same day if you can. Keep every record and bill.
2. Report the fall to the manager, front desk or landlord and get a copy or number for the incident report.
3. Photograph the hazard before it is cleaned up. In Texas the key question is usually how long the hazard was there, so look for signs of age: footprints or cart tracks through a spill, dried edges, dirt in the liquid, a melted ice puddle.
4. Get witnesses, especially anyone who saw the hazard before you fell. See what to do after a fall with no witnesses.
5. Ask in writing for the video right away. Camera footage from the minutes or hours before the fall is often the only proof of how long the hazard sat there.
6. If the property is public, note the exact location and calendar the notice deadline below. In Houston it is 90 days.

More detail is in our page on what to do after a slip and fall.

Why your reason for being there matters in Texas

Unlike California, Texas still ties the owner’s duty to the visitor’s status.

Invitees. A landowner must make safe or warn invitees of concealed dangers that the owner knows about or should know about and the invitee does not (Austin v. Kroger).

Licensees. The owner must not injure a licensee through willful, wanton or grossly negligent conduct, and must use ordinary care to warn of, or make reasonably safe, a dangerous condition the owner is aware of and the licensee is not. A licensee has to prove the owner actually knew of the condition and that the licensee did not (Sampson v. Univ. of Texas at Austin).

The difference is real. An invitee can win by showing the owner should have known about the hazard. A licensee generally has to prove the owner actually knew.

Proving the owner knew: the Texas time-notice rule

An invitee must prove four things: the owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the condition; the condition posed an unreasonable risk of harm; the owner did not use reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the risk; and that failure caused the injury (Keetch v. Kroger).

Constructive knowledge is where most Texas fall cases are won or lost. The Texas Supreme Court requires some proof of how long the hazard was there before liability can be imposed. Evidence that an employee was nearby can be relevant, but by itself it shows only that the hazard could have been found, not that it should have been (Wal-Mart v. Reece). That is why video and witness accounts of the minutes before the fall carry so much weight here.

The open-and-obvious rule in Texas

In 2015 the Texas Supreme Court confirmed that a landowner generally has no duty to warn of hazards that are open and obvious or known to the invitee. The case came from a Kroger store in Mesquite, where an employee slipped while cleaning up a spill (Austin v. Kroger).

The court recognized two exceptions. One applies when the dangerous condition results from the foreseeable criminal activity of third parties. The other, the necessary-use exception, applies when the invitee had to use the dangerous premises and the owner should have anticipated that the invitee could not avoid the risk. The court treats this as a question of the owner’s duty, which a judge decides, so the store will often raise it early to try to end the case.

A hazard is not “obvious” just because the store says so. Lighting, crowding, displays that draw the eye, and where the spill was all bear on whether a reasonable shopper would have seen it.

The 51% bar and the two-year deadline

Texas uses proportionate responsibility with a bar: a claimant cannot recover if his or her percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent (CPRC § 33.001). At 50% or less, your recovery is reduced by your share. This is why stores in Texas argue so hard that you should have seen the hazard. Our page on comparative fault in California, Texas and Washington shows how the numbers work.

A personal injury suit must be filed within two years after the cause of action accrues (CPRC § 16.003). See our page on the slip and fall deadline. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou.

Falls on Texas government property

The Texas Tort Claims Act waives immunity for personal injury caused by a condition or use of real property if the government unit would be liable as a private person (CPRC § 101.021). For a premise defect, though, the government owes only the duty a private owner owes a licensee, unless you paid to use the premises (CPRC § 101.022(a)). So you usually must prove the agency actually knew about the hazard.

The Sampson case shows how hard that can be. A man tripped over an extension cord strung across a walkway at the University of Texas at Austin. The Texas Supreme Court held it was a premises defect claim and dismissed it because there was no evidence the university actually knew of the tripping hazard (Sampson).

The licensee limit does not apply to the duty to warn of special defects such as excavations or obstructions on highways, roads or streets (§ 101.022(b)).

• Notice. The government is entitled to written notice within six months describing the injury, the time and place, and the incident, unless it had actual notice of the injury (CPRC § 101.101). The same section lets city charters set their own notice periods. Houston’s charter requires notice within 90 days (City of Houston).
• Caps. Damages are capped at $250,000 per person for the state and for cities, and $100,000 per person for other local units such as counties (CPRC § 101.023).
• Where to sue. In state court in the county where the claim arose (CPRC § 101.102).

Falls in Texas: the numbers

CDC numbers count falls from every cause, including at home, but they show what a fall can do.

• In 2023, 2,192 Texans age 65 and older died from unintentional falls, a rate of 52.3 per 100,000. The national rate was 69.9, with 41,400 deaths (CDC/NCHS Data Brief 532).
• Nationally, more than one in four older adults falls each year, and falls lead to about 4.5 million emergency department visits a year among older adults (CDC).
• Falls cause 88% of hip fracture emergency visits and hospital stays in older adults (2019 data) and are their most common cause of traumatic brain injury (CDC).

Where Texans get hurt

• Stores. See our Texas pages for Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s, and our answers on falls at H-E-B and Albertsons. Convenience store falls are covered on our 7-Eleven slip and fall page.
• Apartments. Stairs, balconies, pool areas and dark parking lots. The owner and the management company are both possible defendants.
• Hotels and restaurants. Pool decks, wet tile and greasy kitchen entrances.
• Parking lots. Potholes, wheel stops and poor lighting. For cars in lots, see who is at fault in a parking lot accident.

We take fall cases across Texas, including Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso and Fort Worth. Our Austin injury page covers Travis County, and our Texas store slip and fall page lists every city page.

Evidence that decides a Texas fall case

• Video from before the fall, to show how long the hazard was there.
• Inspection and cleaning records and the names of employees in the area.
• Photos that show the hazard’s age and how visible it was.
• Prior incidents and complaints about the same spot.
• Medical records from the first visit on.

See our page on slip and fall evidence.

Texas, California and Washington compared

Texas is the only one of the three states with the more-than-50% bar and a two-year deadline paired with a strict time-notice rule.

Related pages

• What you must prove in a Texas slip-and-fall or premises liability claim
• California slip and fall lawyer
• Washington slip and fall lawyer
• Store slip and fall lawyer (Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s)
• 7-Eleven slip and fall lawsuits
• Is it worth suing for a slip and fall?
• How long does a slip and fall case take?

Common questions

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.