Miami Premises Liability Lawyer

Injured on Property That Should Have Been Safe

Premises liability is the area of law that holds property owners responsible when a preventable hazard hurts someone: a wet floor with no warning sign, a broken stair, a dark stairwell, a security gate that never worked. These injuries are not bad luck. They happen because someone chose not to fix a problem they knew about, or should have known about.

The owner's insurance company will not see it that way. Its adjusters are trained to say the hazard was obvious, that it had just appeared, or that you were not watching where you were going. Meanwhile, surveillance footage gets overwritten and the incident report goes straight to their lawyers.

At Leyva Law, your case is handled directly by attorney Daniela Leyva, not passed to a call center. She moves quickly to preserve the evidence, builds the case, and prepares every claim as if it will go to trial. You pay nothing unless we recover for you.

What Property Owners Owe You Under Florida Law

Under Florida common law, the duty a property owner owes you depends on why you were on the property. Lawyers sort visitors into three categories:

Invitees

People invited onto the property, like store customers, restaurant guests, and tenants and their visitors. Owners owe invitees the broadest duty: keep the property reasonably safe, inspect for hidden dangers, and warn about hazards that are not obvious.

Licensees

People on the property for their own purposes, with the owner's permission or tolerance. The owner must avoid harming them intentionally or recklessly and must warn them about known dangers they could not reasonably spot on their own.

Trespassers

People on the property without permission are owed the least. Even so, owners generally may not harm them intentionally or recklessly, and Florida courts recognize exceptions, especially for young children drawn to hazards like unfenced pools.

These labels sound technical, but they often decide a case. The insurance company will argue for whichever category pays you the least, and we push back with the facts.

Who Is Responsible: Owner, Landlord, Tenant, or Property Manager

In Miami the name on the sign is often not the company that controls the property. A shopping plaza can have an owner, a management company, a maintenance contractor, and a tenant running the store, each with its own insurance policy. Florida law generally puts responsibility on whoever had possession and control of the area where you were hurt.

That is why a fall inside a store aisle and a fall in the shared parking lot outside can involve two different defendants. The lease and the maintenance contracts usually spell out who was supposed to inspect and repair what, so getting those documents early often decides who pays.

Apartments follow their own rule. Section 83.51, Florida Statutes, requires a residential landlord to comply with building, housing, and health codes and, in buildings other than a single-family home or duplex, to make reasonable provisions for locks and keys and for the clean and safe condition of common areas. A broken lobby door or an unlit stairwell is not just a maintenance complaint. It is evidence.

Negligent Security: When Crime Was Preventable

Property owners can also be responsible when a crime, like an assault or a robbery, happens because the property lacked reasonable security. Broken gates, burned-out lights, missing cameras, and no guards in an area with a history of crime are the classic warning signs.

A 2023 Florida law made these cases tougher. Under section 768.0701, Florida Statutes, the jury must now consider the fault of everyone who contributed to the injury, including the criminal attacker, which can shrink the share the property owner pays. And section 768.0706, Florida Statutes, gives apartment complexes and other multifamily properties a presumption against liability if they substantially implemented specific security measures: cameras at entry and exit points with 30 days of stored footage, dusk to dawn lighting in parking lots and walkways, 1-inch deadbolts and locking windows in each unit, peepholes or door viewers, and a documented crime prevention assessment, among other requirements.

That presumption only protects owners who actually did those things. Our job is to find out quickly whether the property truly met the standard, and to preserve the proof before it disappears.

Slip and Fall Cases Have Their Own Statute

If you slipped on a spilled drink, a wet floor, or another transitory substance in a business, section 768.0755, Florida Statutes, requires proof that the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the hazard: either it knew the substance was there, or the substance was there long enough (or the spill happened so regularly) that the business should have known. Building that proof takes cleaning logs, camera footage, and witness accounts, and we know how to get them. You can read more on our Miami slip and fall page.

Injuries on Government Property Follow Different Rules

Falls and assaults also happen at county parks, transit stations, public schools, libraries, and public housing. A claim against a city, a county, the state, or a public agency runs under section 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the rules are stricter than a claim against a private business.

Two differences matter most. You generally must present a written claim to the agency within 3 years, and for state agencies also to the Department of Financial Services, then wait for a denial or for 6 months to pass before filing suit. Skipping that step can end an otherwise strong case. Recovery is also capped at $200,000 for any one person and $300,000 for everyone hurt in the same incident, unless the Legislature passes a separate claim bill.

If you were hurt on public property, tell us early. The notice step is easy to miss and cannot be fixed later.

How Long You Have to File a Premises Liability Claim

For injuries after March 24, 2023, you generally have two years to file a negligence lawsuit (section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes). Older incidents may fall under the previous four-year deadline.

The practical deadline is much shorter. Many businesses overwrite surveillance video within days or weeks, hazards get repaired, and witnesses move on. The sooner we start, the more evidence we can lock down. There is no cost to have us review your case.

What a Premises Liability Claim Can Cover

Florida separates what an injury costs you in money from what it costs you in daily life. Economic damages are the measurable items: medical care, future treatment, lost income, lost earning capacity, and out of pocket costs. Noneconomic damages cover pain, suffering, scarring, and the things you can no longer do. If a family member died, Florida law lets certain surviving relatives bring a wrongful death claim.

No lawyer can promise a number. What we can do is document every category, because the ones nobody writes down are the ones the insurance company never pays.

Premises Liability Cases We Handle in Miami-Dade

• Slip and Fall Accidents
• Trip and Fall Hazards
• Negligent Security and Assaults
• Apartment and Condo Injuries
• Supermarket and Retail Store Injuries
• Parking Lot and Stairwell Accidents
• Falling Merchandise
• Swimming Pool Accidents
• Elevator and Escalator Injuries

Miami Premises Liability FAQ

Sources

• Section 83.51, Florida Statutes (landlord's obligation to maintain the premises): official text. "the landlord ... shall, at all times during the tenancy, make reasonable provisions for ... The clean and safe condition of common areas"
• Section 768.0701, Florida Statutes (premises liability for criminal acts of third parties): official text. "the trier of fact must consider the fault of all persons who contributed to the injury"
• Section 768.0706, Florida Statutes (multifamily security presumption against liability): official text. "The owner or principal operator of a multifamily residential property which substantially implements the following security measures ... has a presumption against liability"
• Section 768.0755, Florida Statutes (transitory foreign substances in a business establishment): official text. "the injured person must prove that the business establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition"
• Section 768.28, Florida Statutes (claims against the state and its subdivisions, notice and caps): official text. "Neither the state nor its agencies or subdivisions shall be liable to pay a claim ... by any one person which exceeds the sum of $200,000"
• Section 95.11, Florida Statutes (two-year deadline for negligence actions): official text. "WITHIN TWO YEARS ... An action founded on negligence"
• Section 768.81, Florida Statutes (comparative fault): official text. "any party found to be greater than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm may not recover any damages"
• Section 767.04, Florida Statutes (dog owner's liability for damages to persons bitten): official text. "The owner of any dog that bites any person ... lawfully on or in a private place ... is liable for damages suffered by persons bitten"

Related: slip and fall injuries · construction accidents · brain injuries. This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.