I fell on someone else's property in Fort Myers. Do I have a claim?

Who is responsible when you get hurt on someone else's property in Florida?

Whoever controls the property owes visitors reasonable care. For a customer in a store, a guest at a hotel, or a resident walking through a condo lobby, that means keeping the place in reasonably safe condition and warning about hidden dangers the owner knows about or would find with a reasonable inspection. Control matters more than the name on the deed: in a Fort Myers shopping plaza, the tenant usually answers for the inside of its store, while the landlord or a property manager may answer for the parking lot, sidewalks, and lighting. A cleaning or maintenance contractor can share responsibility too.

To win, you generally show four things: a dangerous condition, the owner's knowledge of it (or that it should have known), a failure to fix it or warn, and an injury caused by the fall. Florida also weighs your own care. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.81, any share of fault assigned to you lowers the award, and more than 50% bars it.

I slipped on something wet in a store. What does § 768.0755 require?

Florida has a separate statute for slips on liquids and other loose material at a business: the "transitory foreign substance" rule, which covers anything that does not belong on the floor. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.0755 you must show either actual knowledge, meaning a staff member saw the substance or put it there, or constructive knowledge. There are two routes to constructive knowledge. Either the substance sat there long enough that staff exercising ordinary care should have found it, or the condition happened so regularly that it was foreseeable.

In Lee County, the regular-occurrence route comes up often. Afternoon summer storms leave entrances slick with tracked-in water, beachfront shops and restaurants deal with sand on tile floors every day, and produce and ice sections leak on a schedule. If the store knew the problem was routine and did nothing about it, such as mats, more frequent checks, or warning cones, that history can be the evidence. The statute applies only to substances in a business; a broken step, a loose handrail, or a cracked paver is judged under ordinary negligence rules.

What if I fell at a condo, an HOA community, or a vacation rental on Fort Myers Beach or Sanibel?

In a condominium, the association is responsible for maintaining the common elements, such as hallways, stairwells, elevators, parking garages, and pool areas (Fla. Stat. § 718.113). A homeowners' association has similar duties over the areas it controls. Both usually hire management companies and carry liability insurance, so a fall on a cracked walkway or an unlit stairwell typically becomes a claim against the association and its insurer, not against your neighbors.

Hotels, motels, and short-term rentals on Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Captiva, and Bonita Springs owe their guests the same reasonable care. Wet pool decks, worn outdoor stairs on raised beach homes, slick tile around outdoor showers, and boardwalks to the beach are common places to fall. If you were visiting for the season and have gone back home, you can still bring a claim here: the case is tied to where the fall happened, and much of the work can be handled by phone and video.

Does damage from Hurricane Ian change a fall claim?

It can change the facts, but not the owner's basic duty. Years after Ian made landfall on September 28, 2022, many buildings in Lee County are still being repaired, and some were patched temporarily: plywood ramps, missing or wobbly railings, uneven decking, tarps, exposed rebar, and debris left by contractors. An owner is allowed a reasonable time to fix storm damage, but while the hazard remains it has to block the area off or warn people clearly.

Storm-related falls often involve more than one responsible party. The owner, the association, the general contractor, and a subcontractor may each have played a part, and Florida divides fault among them under Fla. Stat. § 768.81. Identifying who was doing the work, and when, is an early step in these cases, because permits, contracts, and job-site photos can show who controlled the area.

What should I do in the first days after a fall?

• Tell the manager, front desk, or association right away, and ask that an incident report be written. Write down the name of the person you spoke with. You do not have to sign a statement of how it happened.
• Take photos and video of the spot from a few steps back and up close, before anyone cleans it: the floor, the lighting, any missing sign or railing, and your footwear.
• Collect contact information from witnesses, especially anyone who saw the hazard before you fell. Seasonal visitors and hotel guests leave town quickly.
• Get medical care the same day, at an urgent care, your doctor, or a Lee Health emergency room, and describe exactly how you fell.
• Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing, as they were.
• Ask a lawyer to request the video in writing. Store and hotel cameras record over themselves, often within a few weeks.
• Hold off on a recorded statement to the property's insurer until you have had advice.

What is the deadline to sue, and do public-property falls work differently?

Two years is the usual window to sue over a fall that happened on March 24, 2023 or later, counted from the day you fell (Fla. Stat. § 95.11). Putting it off until the last months makes the case harder, because the evidence that proves knowledge fades long before the time runs out.

Falls on government property follow additional rules. If you were hurt on a City of Fort Myers or City of Cape Coral sidewalk, in a Lee County park or beach access, at a public school, or at a LeeTran stop, Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6) requires a written claim to the agency and to the Florida Department of Financial Services first, and suit has to wait while the agency considers it. Those claims also have limits on the amount that can be recovered.

What can I recover after a fall on someone else's property?

You can seek payment for medical care already received and care you will need later, lost wages and lost earning ability, and for pain, mental anguish, and the activities the injury has taken from you. A premises case is not a car crash, so there is no PIP step and no permanent-injury threshold before you can claim pain and suffering. Any share of fault assigned to you reduces the total under Fla. Stat. § 768.81, and a share above 50% eliminates it.

Since HB 837, the evidence of medical expenses focuses on amounts paid or still owed instead of the sticker price on the bill (Fla. Stat. § 768.0427), so keeping your health insurance and payment records organized matters. Stores, hotel chains, and condo associations generally carry liability coverage; in most fall cases, proving what the owner knew is harder than finding insurance.

What mistakes can weaken a fall claim in Lee County?

• Leaving without reporting the fall. If no one at the property wrote it down, the owner may say it never happened there.
• Letting a few weeks pass before anyone asks for the video. Footage of how long the hazard sat there is often the most important evidence, and it is routinely erased.
• Explaining the fall in the insurer's words, such as agreeing you "weren't watching where you were going."
• Skipping the doctor because you hope it will heal. Insurers treat a gap between the fall and the first visit as a sign the injury came from somewhere else.
• Throwing out your shoes or posting about the fall and your activities on social media.
• Assuming storm damage excuses everything. Post-Ian repairs explain why a hazard existed; they do not excuse leaving it unmarked.