If you suffer a slip and fall accident in Nevada, you may try to bring a negligence lawsuit against the property owner or tenant. In Clark County, many of the personal injury lawsuits against Las Vegas hotels stem from dangerous flooring conditions.
In order to win a slip and fall case, you have to prove:
- There was a hazardous surface on the premises;
- The property owner or manager knew (or should have known) about the hazard;
- The hazard caused your injuries.
If you prevail in your slip and fall lawsuit, you may be awarded compensatory damages to pay for your:
When the court finds that the defendant’s behavior was malicious or otherwise shocking, the defendant may have to pay you punitive damages as well. Depending on the case, punitive damages can amount to three times or more than the compensatory damages.
Even if you were partially to blame for your injuries, you may still be able to win a personal injury lawsuit. Under Nevada’s comparative negligence laws, property owners or tenants owe you damages whenever they were at least 50% at fault.
In this article, our Nevada personal injury attorneys will discuss:
- 1. Lawsuits
- 2. Dangerous surfaces
- 3. Hotel falls
- 4. Grocery falls
- 5. Defenses
- 6. Damages
- 7. Evidence
- 8. Statute of limitation
- Additional reading
1. Lawsuits
Slips and falls are location-specific accidents. Therefore, under Nevada’s doctrine of premises liability, the people in charge of the home or business where the fall occurred are the most likely defendants. These include the:
- property owner,
- tenant, and/or
- occupant.
(Depending on the case, you may also be able to sue any contractors, maintenance companies, or merchants who worked on the property.)
In most slip and fall cases, you sue the at-fault party for negligence. Negligence has four “elements”:
- The defendant owed you a duty of care (keeping the premises safe);
- They breached this duty (failed to keep the premises safe);
- This breach injured you (the fall);
- Your injuries resulted in damages (medical bills and other expenses).1
Here, the defendant’s “duty of care” consists of taking reasonable steps to:
- follow safety protocols and maintain the premises to prevent foreseeable accidents,
- fix any dangerous floors as soon as possible, and/or
- warn you of the dangerous floor so you can avoid it.
Should your case reach trial, you have to prove negligence “by a preponderance of the evidence.” This is the legal way of saying that it is more likely than not that the defendant’s negligence caused your fall.2
Note that if the property was a business, the business is “vicariously liable” for the negligent actions of their employees. So if an employee is at fault for failing to put out a “wet floor,” sign, you could sue the business instead of the employee.3
2. Dangerous surfaces
Dangerous flooring lawsuits in Nevada typically involve people slipping and falling in
- hotels,
- casinos,
- shops,
- restaurants,
- sidewalks, and
- parking lots.
Specifically, dangerous surfaces and conditions may arise when landowners and tenants fail to take preventative and remedial measures. Ten examples of dangerous flooring are:
- Damaged, torn, or worn carpeting, or mats and rugs without traction or grips;
- Floors slippery from spills, pipe leaks, or wax;
- Cracked, holey, loose, defective, or uneven walkways, stairs, or manholes;
- Unsecured handrails – or no handrails – on staircases and ramps;
- No warning signs/cones by slick or sticky floors or construction zones;
- Aisles, entrances, bathrooms, and exits that are blocked with debris, loose cords, clutter, obstructions, or falling objects;
- Inadequate lighting, particularly in high-traffic areas;
- Inadequate drainage to catch rainwater and mud or icy pavement outside of entrances;
- Inadequate security for crowd control; and
- (In stores) keeping product displays too close together;4
Note that falls are not the only potential hazard of dangerous flooring. For instance, flooring that contains formaldehyde can cause people to develop respiratory conditions, such as in the recent Lumber Liquidators class-action lawsuit in Las Vegas.5
Dangerous flooring injuries
The National Floor Safety Institute reports that slipping and falling injuries lead to more than one million ER visits a year.6 In Las Vegas, slip and falls often occur in “productivity zones,” such as buffet spreads in hotels or checkout counters in supermarkets.
Just some of the common types of injuries from dangerous flooring include:
- bruises, contusions, lacerations, or scars,
- twisted, torn, inflamed, or sprained tendons and ligaments,
- fractures/broken bones,
- facial injuries,
- slipped or herniated disks,
- knee injuries, including dislocated patellas or MCL or ACL injuries
- neck, shoulder, hip, tailbone, rotator cuff, or spinal cord injuries,
- wrist or elbow injuries (especially when you use your arms to break a fall)
- head injuries such as concussions and traumatic brain injury,
- nerve or organ damage,
- permanent mobility issues,
- chronic pain,
- cognitive and behavioral problems,
- other severe injuries requiring emergency room medical treatment
- catastrophic injuries, and/or
- occasionally death
Even relatively minor falling injuries can interfere with your daily activities, such as driving, cooking, dressing, or typing. It is no surprise that the elderly and people with such bone conditions as osteoporosis are most vulnerable to injuries from falling.
3. Hotel falls
Las Vegas hotels and casinos are comprised of all different types of flooring, each of which carries potential falling hazards. Common slip and fall accidents in Las Vegas hotels include:
- Slipping in the shower because the bath mat is too worn to provide non-slip protection
- Tripping over frayed carpet in the casino floor, hotel room, elevators, or restaurants
- Skidding on a spilled drink by the bar or in the lobby
- Stumbling over uneven pavement outside the hotel
- Tumbling down uneven steps or a malfunctioning escalator
- Falling off defective gym equipment
- Slipping by a swimming pool, where defective drainage is causing water to pool on the tiles
Under Nevada law, hotel patrons are considered “invitees” because hotels and patrons are in a business relationship where the hotel stands to benefit. This means that hotels have a high duty regularly to inspect the premises for potential hazards and quickly address any existing hazards.
Therefore, hotel staff is supposed to be on the constant lookout for flooring problems that could cause a slip and fall. Depending on the location and how dangerous a particular flooring condition is, the hotel must:
- cordon the dangerous area off,
- put out caution signs by the dangerous area, and/or
- fix the hazard
Note that patrons who trespass into staff-only areas of the hotel and suffer a fall may have a more difficult time proving negligence than if the accident occurred in the hotel’s public areas. Though depending on the case, even trespassers may be able to recover money damages from hotels.
See our related article, Can I sue if I had a slip and fall in a Las Vegas hotel?
4. Grocery falls
Slipping and falling is very common in supermarkets, where virtually every grocery item can become a tripping hazard if it drops onto the floor. Furthermore, shoppers often have their eyes up searching store shelves, oblivious to any spills.
Similar to hotel patrons, supermarket patrons are considered “invitees” under Nevada law. This means that the store has a high duty to actively search for any potential hazards and address them quickly.
Supermarket staff are supposed to regularly patrol the aisles in search of dangerous conditions and respond quickly when customers alert them to dangerous conditions. Once staff is aware of a problem, the staff must:
- mop up the spill,
- cordon off the area, and/or
- put out “caution: wet floor” or other applicable sign
Note that a supermarket’s high standard of care towards its customers extends to all areas of the supermarket open to the public. This includes the self-checkout aisles where customers — not staff — handle the inventory.7
What to do after a slip and fall in a grocery store
If you suffered a fall in a grocery store, you are advised to take the following steps if possible:
- Report the accident to the store manager, and obtain a copy of the accident report prior to leaving.
- If there were any eyewitnesses, get their names and contact information.
- Photograph and videotape the area with a smartphone.
- Obtain and keep a sample of the substance(s) that caused the fall, if any (this may require refrigerating or freezing the sample).
- Write down everything that happened, even minor details.
- If rainwater, snow, or debris from the wind contributed to the fall, obtain a copy of the weather report for that day.
- Place the clothing and shoes worn during the fall in a safe place for inspection later.
- Get medical care, and keep all medical records.
- Do not talk to the supermarket’s insurance company or sign anything prior to consulting with a personal injury attorney.
As a fall victim, you are advised to hire private counsel in order to deal with the supermarket’s attorneys and the insurance company.
The supermarket’s attorneys may sound friendly, but they will do everything to escape liability and pay nothing if possible. A personal injury attorney should help preserve your rights and maximize your payout.
5. Defenses
Many defendants carry business insurance or homeowners insurance in the event someone gets injured on their property. These insurance companies, in turn, hire “insurance defense” attorneys who have one goal: Pay out as little as possible.
There are many strategies these attorneys may try to implement when defending against negligence lawsuits, such as trying to show that:
- The defendant sufficiently warned against the falling hazard
- The falling hazard was open and obvious
- Your injuries were caused by preexisting conditions in Nevada
- You failed to exercise due care and reasonable caution
- An intervening cause was responsible for the injury
Each of these defenses is discussed in detail below.
Note that if you signed liability waivers prior to your accident, you may still be able to recover damages: Some liability waivers are not enforceable, and others are limited to certain narrow circumstances that may not cover your injuries.
The defendant gave adequate warning
Defendants in falling lawsuits may claim that they gave adequate warning to you, such as posting a “wet floor” sign. Though the defendants could be lying, or their warnings could be inadequate:
Example: Ned goes to the Fashion Show Mall and slips on a recently mopped floor. He suffers a broken leg and sues the Fashion Show for negligence. The attorney for the Fashion Show claims they had put out a “wet floor” sign, which should have satisfied their duty to warn Ned. However, Ned’s friend took pictures of the scene after his spill, which shows that the sign was several feet away from the wet floor.
If the court in the above example determines that the warning sign was too far away from the hazard to adequately warn Ned, then Ned should be able to recover for his injuries.8
Note there are some situations where a warning sign by itself is never adequate, and the property owner should take additional measures like cordoning off the area or verbally telling people to avoid the area.
Example: Ned goes to the see the chocolate fountain at the Bellagio and slips on the recently mopped floor in front of the fountain. Even though there was a “wet floor” sign in front of the fountain, it is reasonable to expect that patrons would still try to come close to see the fountain. If Ned sues, the jury might find that it was unreasonable for the Bellagio to think that a “wet floor” sign was sufficient, especially considering the large crowds the fountain attracts.
The “open and obvious” defense
Defendants in falling lawsuits may claim that your injury was due to an open and obvious hazard that any reasonable person would have noticed and avoided. An example of an open and obvious hazard may be a big gaping hole in the ground that is visible from several yards in either direction.
However, defendants can still be liable for not addressing “open and obvious” hazards if the court finds that the defendants did not act “reasonably” under the circumstances:9
Example: Jim signs up for “boot camp” at his local gym. After a grueling first day, he lumbers into the sauna and trips over a large stack of towels that the staff left for patrons. Jim breaks his arm and brings a personal injury lawsuit for gym accidents in Nevada.
The gym argues that the stack of towels was “open and obvious,” which relieves the gym from any duties to warn or remedy the situation. But Jim’s attorney argues that it was foreseeable that gym patrons like Jim who are exhausted from boot camp would be too tired to notice a stack of towels, especially in a sauna with low visibility.
If the court in the above example agrees that the gym should have reasonably foreseen that patrons might not have been alert enough to avoid the towels, then the “open and obvious” defense would fail.
Preexisting conditions
Whenever you sue venues for your injuries, the venues’ attorneys may try to obtain your medical records in search of “preexisting conditions.” These are illnesses and injuries that predate the slip and fall, and which might have caused your accident to be more serious than it otherwise would have been:10
Example: Tom has a fractured ankle that is nearly healed. While hobbling in her cast through Cheesecake Factory, he slips on a wet floor, and the bone breaks again. Tom brings a personal injury lawsuit for restaurant injuries in Nevada for not warning against the wet floor. The restaurant counters by arguing that Tom’s preexisting condition caused his fracture: Had he not already had a broken ankle, his injury from the fall might not have been so drastic.
Nevada law requires defendants to take plaintiffs as they are, even if they are more physically fragile than the average person. Therefore, Tom should be entitled to compensatory damages to the extent that the accident aggravated his pre-existing injury.
Lack of due care and reasonable caution
Defendants in slip and fall lawsuits often try to argue that you failed to exercise due care and are therefore at fault for injuring yourself.
It is true that everyone — even “invitees” — is legally expected to act reasonably and avoid danger while on another’s property. However, it still may be possible for you to recover damages if you were partly to blame.
Nevada courts abide by the “modified comparative negligence rule.” This permits you to recover for your injuries whenever you are no more than 50% at fault.11
Then when the court calculates the final damages, the defendant would be ordered to pay these damages minus the percentage of fault attributable to you:
Example: Helen is running barefoot and intoxicated through the Bellagio lobby in Las Vegas, NV. She slips on a spilled drink and fractures her wrist. She racks up $100,000 in medical bills and lost wages. Helen brings a personal injury lawsuit for casino injuries in Nevada against Bellagio for not cleaning up the spill. The judge determines that Bellagio breached its duty of care for not cleaning up the spill, but it also determines that Helen was 50% at fault: Any reasonable person would know that running barefoot on a mosaic tile floor while drunk is hazardous. Therefore, the court orders Bellagio to pay Helen 50% of the damages, which amounts to $50,000 (half of $100,000).
If you blame yourself for your slip and fall, you should still consult with a personal injury attorney about bringing a lawsuit. If your attorney can show that you were no more at fault than the venue, then you may still be entitled to a substantial financial award.
Intervening causes
A typical defense in falling lawsuits is that an “intervening cause” that was beyond the defendant’s control was responsible for your injuries. Though in many cases, these intervening causes could have been prevented or remedied by the defendant:12
Example: Max is waiting to get into the T-Mobile Arena one evening for a concert. Max then slips on a puddle of rainwater from that morning’s rainstorm and sprains his ankle. Max brings a personal injury lawsuit for concert injuries in Nevada against the venue for not clearing away the rainwater or warning against it. The venue’s attorneys argue that it should not be held liable for an “act of God” like an unpreventable rainstorm. In response, Max’s attorney argues that the venue should have foreseen that people might slip on the puddle since it was night, and inadequate lighting made the water difficult to discern.
Certainly, the Arena in the above example should not be blamed for the rainstorm. Though the venue can be blamed for responding negligently to it.
If the court agrees that the venue should have provided better lighting or warned against any rain puddles that were hard to see at night, then it would probably reject its “intervening cause” defense.
6. Damages
The term “damages” is the legal way of referring to the money that defendants owe you for causing your injuries. In a standard slipping and falling negligence case, you sue defendants for “compensatory damages.”
Compensatory damages are meant to cover the following expenses:
- Medical bills: This comprises such expenses as hospital bills, outpatient doctor’s visits, rehab, physical therapy, home health care, and medications.
- Lost wages: This includes any money you were unable to earn while you were injured; this can include tips and bonuses as well as salaried payments.
- Future lost wages: This includes any money you will be unable to earn due to your injuries; this can include tips and bonuses as well as salaried payments. (Evidence of lost earnings typically can be calculated from past W-2 forms, paycheck stubs, and doctor’s letters explaining why you cannot work.)
- Pain and suffering: This comprises physical pain, loss of enjoyment of life and mental anguish. Though this is difficult to calculate, the purpose of “pain and suffering” damages is to compensate for your physical and emotional stress from the injuries.
When the defendant’s behavior that caused the injury was malicious or otherwise egregious, the court can take the rare move of ordering the defendant to pay punitive damages as well. Punitive damages can be far greater than compensatory damages, and they are meant to
- punish the defendant and
- deter others from being similarly negligent.13
Note that if the victim died from their injuries, the victim’s spouse, children, parents, siblings, or other next-of-kin may be able to bring a wrongful death lawsuit in Nevada against the defendant. Potential damages include loss of support, loss of companionship, funeral expenses, medical expenses, and grief and sorrow.
7. Evidence
One of the most important functions of personal injury attorneys is compiling evidence that demonstrates or suggests that the defendant breached its duty of care towards you.14 Your attorney can then use this information as bargaining chips when negotiating with the defendant.
Common evidence in slipping and falling lawsuits include:
- building codes, affidavits, and contracts, that show that the defendant had a duty to maintain safe surfaces;
- eyewitnesses and surveillance video, to reveal that the flooring was a fall hazard at the time of the accident;
- residue from your shoes or clothes from the time of the accident, to show that the flooring was a fall hazard;
- medical records and photographs, to show that you have been hurt by a fall;
- expert medical testimony, to link the dangerous flooring and surface conditions to your injuries;
- testimony by accident reconstruction experts, to explain how the fall resulted from the defendants’ breach of duty and not by any unreasonable behavior of you.
If your case goes to court, it is up to the jury to determine whether the property owner failed to behave reasonably under the circumstances to prevent your accident. Though in practice, most slip and fall cases settle without a trial.
Often a personal injury attorney can negotiate a favorable resolution without much litigation. Sometimes the personal injury attorney and defendant engage in formal mediation to hash out a deal.15
If you have a fall accident – and if you are able – use your phone to take photos and videos of the scene right away, and request a copy of any surveillance footage. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and this evidence may prompt the defendant to make a generous slip and fall settlement offer upfront.
Remedial measures by the defendants post-fall
After someone suffers a fall, it is common for the landowner or tenant to quickly repair the dangerous flooring hazard. Logically, these remedial measures seem like evidence of the defendants’ guilt.
However, Nevada law states that courts may not use evidence of these post-accident remedial measures as evidence that the defendants breached their duty of care towards you. Instead, personal injury attorneys focus on the defendants’ actions prior to and during the fall to show that the defendants failed to act reasonably to prevent foreseeable falls.16
8. Statute of limitations
Under Nevada personal injury law, there is a two-year statute of limitations to sue the at-fault parties following a slip and fall accident. Though this two-year clock may pause (“toll”) in certain situations, such as
- if you are in a coma or
- if the at-fault party (defendant) is not in Nevada.17
Additional reading
For more information, refer to our related articles by our Las Vegas slip and fall lawyers:
- What’s the statute of limitations for “slip and fall” in Nevada?
- Can I sue if I had a slip and fall in a Las Vegas hotel?
- Can I sue after falling on a slippery floor at a Vegas nightclub?
- How to file a slip and fall claim in Las Vegas – 5 key steps.
- I had a slip and fall in a Las Vegas hotel. Can I file a lawsuit?
Legal References:
- Rolain v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., (2013) U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42373; Hammerstein v. Jean Dev. West, (1995) 111 Nev. 1471, 907 P.2d 975; Restatement (Third) of Torts: Physical and Emotional Harm, § 51.
- See, for example, Deiss v. Southern Pac. Co., (1936) 53 P.2d 332, 56 Nev. 169.
- See also Asmussen v. New Golden Hotel Co., (1964) 80 Nev. 260; Worth v. Reed, (1963) 79 Nev. 351.
- NRS 41.515; NRS 41.515.
- Carrie Geer Thevenot, Report on Lumber Liquidators flooring leads to Vegas lawsuits, Las Vegas Review-Journal (March 19, 2015).
- National Floor Safety Institute Quick Facts.
- Sprague v. Lucky Stores, (1993) 109 Nev. 247.
- Harrington v. Syufy Enters., (1997) 113 Nev. 246, 250 (“[T]he obvious danger rule only obviates a duty to warn. It is inapplicable where liability is predicated upon acts other than a failure to provide adequate warning of a dangerous condition. Consequently, even where a danger is obvious, a defendant may be negligent in having created the peril or in subjecting the plaintiff to the peril.”).
- State Indus. Ins. Sys. v. Kelly, (1983) 99 Nev. 774; Perez v. Las Vegas Medical Ctr. (1991) 107 Nev. 1; FGA, Inc. v. Giglio, (2012) 128 Nev. 271.
- NRS 41.141; Humphries v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court of State, (2013) 312 P.3d 484, 129 Nev. Adv. Rep. 85.
- Bower v. Harrah’s Laughlin, Inc., (2009) 125 Nev. 470, 215 P.3d 709.
- NRS 42.005.
- See Eldorado Club v. Graff, (1962) 78 Nev. 507. Worth v. Reed, (1963) 79 Nev. 351, 356 (“A slip and fall, standing alone, does not prove either that she was, or was not, negligent.”).
- Same.
- NRS 48.095.
- NRS 11.190; NRS 11.300; NRS 11.310.