Can a person recover from a store for injuries sustained when he or she slipped on a spilled liquid and fell?
Whether a person (classified as an invitee) injured in a slip and fall accident at a retail store can recover from that store depends on the specific facts of the case. Generally, stores have a duty to use reasonable and ordinary care to keep the property, including the floors, reasonably safe for customers. The store has a duty to make reasonable inspections to discover dangerous conditions and to make them safe, and employees should routinely inspect areas the public uses to discover any potentially dangerous conditions, such as a spill. If the spilled liquid was so obvious and visible that the customer should reasonably have seen it, the store does not have a duty to warn. However, a spill might not be considered obvious if a store’s display distracts a customer and the customer does not see the spill.
