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.

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.

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.

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

Related: property insurance claims · all personal injury cases · meet the attorney. This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.