News & Events

Commercial property owners face a number of potential lawsuit risks from the nature of their business. Shoppers, visitors, vendors, and residents visit malls, amusement parks, manufacturing shops, and other establishments throughout the day and night. Accidents such as slip-and-falls can occur frequently.

Keeping properties safe and well-maintained can go a long way to heading off these legal actions, but it’s wise to stay aware of current legislation. Owners need to understand the types of access individuals may have to the property, recent changes to the law, and ways to protect their businesses against lawsuits. Knowing more about potential liability issues helps you avoid expensive and time-consuming claims.

Let’s examine common property owner concerns and the laws governing these cases.

Commercial Property Owners and the Duty of Care

The duty of care is built upon keeping land and establishments in a reasonably safe condition to prevent injury and accidents. Upkeep and maintenance are 24/7 concerns, but hazards can develop with even the closest monitoring. In Florida, humidity, heavy rains, and wild animals can present unforeseen dangers that put the public at risk.

Regular inspections and reviews of equipment, public spaces, lighting, flooring, and other sources of hazards on commercial properties can head off potential lawsuits. One of the most common premises liability claims is a slip-and-fall accident. Florida statute Chapter 768 Section 0755 specifically addresses the presence of “transitory foreign substances in a business environment.”

This essentially translates into spilled liquids, leaks, loose material like sand, or anything that could cause someone to fall and injure themselves. When a hazard is discovered, the owner must take action to clean or repair it right away. If it can’t be fixed immediately, warnings must be displayed.

Three Types of Public Access to Commercial Properties Under Florida Law

As in nearly all states, Florida law addresses the rights of both individuals and property owners in regard to liability when an accident happens on a commercial premises. These rights depend on the status of the person during the time of their injury and can be broken down into the following categories of access:

Invitee

An invitee has a business reason for their presence on the commercial property. This could be for shopping, recreation, or conducting business. There are public invitees and business invitees. Public invitees are invited to enter or stay on the property, such as hotel occupants or individuals enjoying a public park. Business invitees enter a property to conduct business, such as working or conducting transactions.

Property owners owe the highest duty of care to invitees since they have been expressly given permission to be on the premises. This includes the standard obligations of cleaning and repairing any hazards or notifying the public about the dangers until they can be resolved.

Licensee

In Florida, licensees are those who are not specifically invited onto a property. They enter it for their own benefit and convenience. For example, if someone walks into a store to use the restroom facilities but doesn’t buy anything, they are there for their own convenience. If they injure themselves, the property owner doesn’t owe as high of a duty to them as to an invitee.

Owners must notify licensees about known dangers, but if a licensee injures themselves by a hazard the owner hadn’t discovered, the owner’s obligation may be lessened. One of the crucial arguments in a premises liability case is whether the claimant was an invitee or a licensee.

Trespasser

Commercial property owners generally don’t owe any duty of care to trespassers. They are required to avoid actively causing harm but owe them no other protections. Trespassers are defined in Florida as those who “...enter the premises of another without license, invitation, or other right…”

If a third party who does have permission to enter the property chooses to bring along someone else, then both individuals are deemed as trespassers in the eyes of the law.

An exception can occur when the trespasser is a child, especially in a situation where the property contains an “attractive nuisance,” such as a pool or amusement ride. In these situations, owners must take extra measures to keep out those who do not have permission to be on the premises.

Recent Changes Affecting Commercial Property Owners

One of the most impactful actions to happen in Florida regarding liability for commercial property owners is the signing of House Bill (HB) 837 into law. Put into effect in March 2023, this bill enacted a widespread reform of tort laws in Florida. It is more business-friendly than previous legislation and affects the ability of plaintiffs to recover often-inflated damage awards. Defendants will be less likely to face substantial verdicts that can total millions.

Both insurance companies and businesses will enjoy greater protection from lawsuits and crippling payouts. This bill shifts Florida away from a pure comparative negligence model of liability to one that examines the fault borne by all parties in a case. Specifically, if the plaintiff is more than 50% at fault for their injuries, they cannot recover compensation from the defendant.

Finally, the bill bans plaintiffs from recovering their attorneys’ fees to the detriment of the defendant. Many personal injury lawyers will offer a contingency fee structure to their clients, taking their fees as a percentage of the final settlement or trial verdict. This previously allowed them to increase their costs and build it into the plaintiff’s compensation. HB 837 eliminates that ability in an effort to balance the scales and reduce the burden property owners bear from litigation-happy plaintiffs.