What to Do After a Slip and Fall Accident in Texas
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What to Do After a Slip and Fall Accident in Texas
A slip and fall can interrupt an ordinary trip to a grocery store, restaurant, hotel, or apartment complex. Suddenly, you may be dealing with pain, medical bills, and time away from work.
If you are wondering what to do after a slip and fall accident in Texas, start with medical care, report the incident, and preserve evidence when it is safe to do so. These steps can protect your health and provide a clearer record of what happened.
MLF Legal, PLLC’s personal injury attorneys can review the circumstances and explain whether a premises liability claim may be available.
1. Get Medical Attention
Your health comes first. Call 911 if the injury appears serious or you need emergency assistance. Do not put yourself at further risk to collect evidence.
Tell the medical provider when, where, and how you fell. Describe your symptoms accurately, including any head impact. Follow treatment recommendations and seek further evaluation if symptoms develop or worsen.
Keep discharge instructions, medical bills, prescriptions, and appointment records. These documents help explain the treatment you received and its cost.
2. Report the Fall
Notify the store manager, property owner, apartment management, or another responsible representative as soon as reasonably possible.
Provide a factual account of the location, time, and condition involved. Avoid guessing about what caused the hazard or how long it had been there. If you do not know an answer, say so.
Ask whether an incident report will be prepared and request a copy. If a copy is unavailable, record whom you spoke with and when. Review any written statement before signing it, and ask that inaccuracies be corrected.
Reporting a fall is different from filing a lawsuit or giving legally required notice to a governmental entity.
3. Photograph the Hazard and Surrounding Area
If safe, take photographs before the condition changes. If you cannot do so, a companion may be able to help.
Useful images may show:
- The liquid, damaged flooring, loose mat, or other condition involved.
- The surrounding aisle, walkway, or stairway.
- Warning signs or barriers, including their location.
- Lighting and sight lines.
- Visible injuries and your footwear.
Take close-up photographs and wider views. Preserve original files without altering them. Never recreate a hazard or return to an unsafe area solely to take pictures.
4. Collect Witness Information
Ask witnesses for their names and contact information. Someone who saw the fall may help explain how it occurred. Someone who saw the condition beforehand may provide information about the timeline.
Write down relevant statements from employees or other witnesses as accurately as possible. Distinguish what you personally observed from what someone else told you.
For example, an employee’s statement that a leak had already been reported may warrant investigation. It does not, by itself, establish every element of a claim.
5. Preserve Footwear, Clothing, and Records
Keep the shoes and clothing you wore. Avoid washing, repairing, or discarding items that may be relevant, and ask your attorney how to store them appropriately.
Save receipts, reservations, parking records, or other documents that establish why you were on the property and when. For an apartment injury, preserve relevant repair requests and communications with management.
Write down your recollection while it is fresh, including the exact location and what happened immediately before and after the fall.
6. Act Promptly to Preserve Surveillance Footage
Video may show the fall, the condition beforehand, or staff activity near the area. However, recording systems may overwrite footage according to their retention settings.
An attorney can request preservation of relevant video, incident reports, inspection records, and maintenance documents. A preservation request does not guarantee footage exists or that it will be voluntarily provided.
Do not assume an incident report means all relevant evidence will be saved.
7. Document Expenses and Lost Work
Maintain a record of treatment expenses, related travel, missed work, and other losses you believe resulted from the incident. Keep supporting bills, receipts, pay records, and employer communications.
You may also record how symptoms affect ordinary activities. Be specific and accurate. An honest record is more useful than exaggerated descriptions.
A claim evaluation may consider medical expenses, lost earnings, pain, impairment, and other legally recoverable losses. Available recovery depends on the facts and proof.
8. Understand Insurance Requests Before Responding
An insurer may contact you to discuss the accident, request records, or offer a settlement. Before providing a recorded statement to the opposing insurer or signing a release, consider obtaining legal advice.
Ask what a document authorizes and which claims a release would resolve. An early offer may arrive before your treatment needs are clear. When considering what to do after a slip and fall accident in Texas, it is vitally important not to sign documents without consulting a lawyer.
Preserve relevant social media content and discuss it with your attorney rather than deleting material.
Does Every Slip and Fall Create a Texas Premises Liability Claim?
No. A fall on someone else’s property does not automatically make the owner responsible.
For a typical business invitee, the claim generally requires proof that the owner or operator knew or had constructive knowledge of an unreasonably dangerous condition, failed to use reasonable care to address it, and thereby proximately caused the injury.
The duty can differ depending on your visitor status, the property, and other circumstances. Open and obvious or already known dangers can also affect the duty, subject to limited exceptions. The Texas Supreme Court discusses these principles in Austin v. Kroger Texas, L.P.. txcourts.gov
This is why evidence about the hazard, notice, warnings, and timeline matters.
How Long Do You Have to File a Slip and Fall Lawsuit in Texas?
Many Texas personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years after the claim accrues, often the injury date, under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003. Exceptions may change the deadline.
If the incident involves governmental property, immunity and separate notice rules may apply. Section 101.101 of the Texas Tort Claims Act generally requires notice within six months; valid local requirements may be shorter.
Do not assume insurance negotiations extend a deadline or that reporting the accident satisfies governmental notice requirements. Have the deadlines reviewed promptly.
Contact MLF Legal After a Slip and Fall in Texas
If you were injured at a store, restaurant, hotel, apartment complex, or another property in Dallas–Fort Worth or elsewhere in Texas, MLF Legal can review what happened and explain your options.
Our team can evaluate potential responsibility, identify relevant evidence, and assess the steps needed to pursue compensation.
Contact the premises liability lawyers at MLF Legal, PLLC to discuss your slip and fall injury. You can also view our office locations.
FAQs: What to Do After a Slip and Fall Accident in Texas
You may still have a claim. Report it as soon as reasonably possible, explain the delay accurately, and preserve available evidence. A delayed report can make investigation harder.
The sign’s adequacy and relationship to the hazard matter. A warning may satisfy the applicable duty in some circumstances. Its presence does not answer every question about liability.
Possibly. Witness accounts, video, maintenance records, and other evidence may help. Tell your attorney what information is available rather than assuming the absence of photographs ends the inquiry.
You do not have to wait. Evidence may disappear and deadlines continue to run while you receive treatment. An attorney can investigate while your medical condition is being evaluated.
Immediate payment should not be assumed. Insurance coverage, liability, and the terms of any medical-payments coverage require review. Keep your bills and discuss payment options with your providers and attorney.
Injured at work in Texas and your employer doesn’t have workers’ comp?
You may have the right to sue and recover full compensation.
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