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Hurt by a dangerous condition on someone else's property? Henry handles Arizona premises liability claims personally — and the evidence fades fast.
No legal fees unless we win · Serving all of Arizona
If you were injured by a dangerous condition on someone else's property in Arizona — a wet floor, a broken stair, poor lighting, an uneven walkway — you may have a premises liability claim. Arizona property owners owe lawful visitors a duty of reasonable care, and a claim generally requires showing the owner knew or should have known about the hazard and failed to fix it or warn of it. The deadline is usually two years from the injury (ARS § 12-542), but much shorter deadlines apply on government property.
Premises liability is not automatic — falling on a property does not by itself mean the owner is liable. A claim generally turns on four elements:
Property owners owe lawful visitors a duty of reasonable care to keep the premises safe or warn of known hazards.
A wet floor, broken stair, poor lighting, or other hazard that created an unreasonable risk of harm.
The owner knew, or reasonably should have known, about the hazard and had time to fix it or warn about it.
That dangerous condition — not an unrelated cause — actually caused your injury.
The most common defense in a slip and fall case is that the injured person should have seen and avoided the hazard. In Arizona, that argument rarely ends a claim. Under pure comparative negligence (ARS § 12-2505), being partially at fault reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault — it does not bar it. Even a person found mostly at fault can still recover the remaining share.
Insurers know this, so they work to inflate the victim's share of blame. Documenting the hazard, the lighting, the lack of warning signs, and what the property owner knew is how that tactic gets countered.
Most premises liability claims trace back to a hazard the property owner could have fixed or warned about. Some of the conditions that most often cause serious falls in Arizona:
Spills, leaks, recently cleaned surfaces, and tracked-in rainwater with no warning sign or cone. One of the most common — and most preventable — store hazards.
Torn carpet, loose mats, cracked tile, raised thresholds, and unmarked level changes that catch a foot before anyone sees them.
Dim stairwells, dark parking structures, and burned-out fixtures that hide a hazard until it is too late to avoid it.
Loose treads, worn nosings, and stairways without a code-compliant handrail turn an ordinary descent into a fall risk.
Potholes, crumbling pavement, unmarked wheel stops, and abrupt curb drops in lots that owners are responsible for maintaining.
Merchandise, cords, debris, and storage left in aisles and paths of travel that should be kept clear.
Who is responsible depends on who owned or controlled the property where you fell. Common settings for Arizona premises liability claims include:
Arizona premises law scales the property owner's duty to your reason for being there. Your status when you fell shapes the strength of the claim.
Customers and others on the property for the owner's benefit. The owner must use reasonable care to inspect for hazards and fix or warn about them. Most slip and fall claims on commercial property involve invitees.
Social guests and others present with permission but not for the owner's business benefit. The owner must warn of known dangers that the guest is unlikely to discover.
Those on the property without permission are owed the least — generally only a duty not to willfully harm them. A heightened duty can apply to child trespassers under the attractive-nuisance doctrine.
Premises cases are won or lost on evidence that disappears within hours — a spill gets mopped, a broken step gets repaired, video gets overwritten. If you are able, these steps protect your claim:
Report it and ask for a written incident report.
Tell the store manager, landlord, or property staff and request a copy of any report they create. Note who you spoke with.
Photograph the hazard immediately.
The wet floor, the broken stair, the missing sign, the lighting — capture it before it is cleaned up or fixed. Wide shots and close-ups both help.
Get names and numbers of witnesses.
Independent witnesses who saw the hazard or your fall are powerful, and they are hard to track down later.
Seek medical care and keep every record.
Prompt treatment protects your health and creates the record connecting your injury to the fall. Gaps in care are the first thing insurers attack.
Be careful with the insurer.
You are not required to give a recorded statement to the property owner's insurance company. Those statements are routinely used to shift blame onto the injured person.
When a property owner's negligence causes a fall, Arizona law allows an injured person to seek compensation for the full impact of the injury. Recoverable categories generally include:
Arizona ethics rules prevent attorneys from quoting case values online. The value of any claim depends on the severity of the injury, the strength of the liability evidence, and the specific facts — which is what a free case review is for.
If a Government Entity Was Involved — Shorter Deadlines Apply
When the at-fault party may be a government entity — a city or county, a public school, a state agency, ADOT, a police or sheriff department, a public hospital, or a government-owned road or vehicle — Arizona imposes two deadlines that are much shorter than the general two-year period:
Missing the 180-day notice typically bars the claim entirely, regardless of how strong the case is. Early legal review helps identify whether a government defendant applies and protects both deadlines.
Henry will listen to what happened and give you an honest assessment of your premises liability claim. Free consultation, no legal fees unless we win.
