8 Common Causes of Slip And Fall Cases

You slipped on a wet floor, tripped over a cord or fell on ice on someone else’s property. If you’re sore, embarrassed and assuming it was your own fault, that’s a normal first reaction.

Here’s the short answer. Common causes include wet floors, ice and snow, uneven or broken surfaces, stairs and handrails, poor lighting, cords and clutter, loose mats and broken public sidewalks. But a hazard alone doesn’t make the owner responsible. Whoever controls a property is generally responsible only if it created the hazard, knew about it or should have found it, didn’t fix it or warn you in time, and the hazard caused your injury. Michigan’s rules are in the boxes marked “In Michigan.”

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Falls can be deadly: the CDC counted 48,308 U.S. deaths from unintentional falls in 2024. That count covers all unintentional falls, not only those on someone else’s property.

When is a property owner responsible for a fall?

Owners aren’t insurers of everyone’s safety. A claim over a fall on someone else’s property is usually a premises liability claim. In states that keep the traditional rules, including Michigan, what the owner owed you depends on why you were there: customers are owed reasonable care, including inspecting for dangers and fixing or warning about them; social guests are owed a warning about hidden dangers the owner knows or has reason to know of.

Many cases turn on notice: whether the owner created the hazard, knew about it (actual notice), or should have found it because it had been there long enough, or was noticeable enough, that a careful owner would have (constructive notice). Notice is also the hard part to prove, because the video and cleaning logs sit with the owner, whose insurer handles claims like yours every day. See the slip-and-fall lawsuit guide and what it takes to win a slip-and-fall case.

What are common causes of slip-and-fall accidents, and when is the owner responsible?

Here are eight hazards behind many fall claims, with what a careful owner does about each and how notice is usually shown. They’re examples: what reasonable care requires depends on the circumstances (in Michigan, usually for the jury to decide; M Civ JI 10.02).

1. Wet or slippery floors

Spills, freshly mopped floors, leaks and rain tracked in at the door.

• A careful owner checks floors often enough to catch spills, cleans them up, and puts out a warning sign or blocks off the area while it’s wet.
• Notice: If an employee mopped without a sign, the owner created the hazard, so you usually don’t need separate proof that it knew. Otherwise, it usually comes down to how long the spill was there: dried edges, cart tracks, or a long gap since the last floor check.

2. Ice and snow

Snowy walkways and parking lots, ice under fresh snow, and meltwater that refreezes. The rules vary a lot by state.

• A careful owner plows, shovels, salts or sands within a reasonable time after snow or ice builds up.
• Notice: Ice claims often turn on timing: when the snow started and stopped, and when the spot was last cleared. Weather records, photos and the owner’s plowing and salting logs can show it.

3. Uneven floors, holes and broken pavement

Cracked or raised concrete, potholes in a private lot, holes, loose floorboards and sudden changes in floor height.

• A careful owner inspects walkways and floors, repairs defects, and marks or blocks them off until then.
• Notice: repair requests, complaints, earlier falls or damage that is visibly old. For a public sidewalk, see number 8.

4. Stairs and handrails

Broken or loose steps, worn treads, uneven step heights, and missing or loose handrails.

• A careful owner keeps steps and railings in repair, and blocks off the stairs or warns people until a known problem is fixed.
• Notice: A railing that tenants or staff had reported, or a work order, shows actual notice. A tread that wore down over months may show constructive notice.

5. Poor lighting

Burned-out bulbs on stairs and in hallways, and dark parking lots. Dim light can hide other hazards, such as a step, a curb or a hole.

• A careful owner keeps lights working where people walk and replaces burned-out bulbs within a reasonable time.
• Notice: complaints, work orders or how long a light had been out.

6. Cords, clutter and objects in walkways

Cords across a path, boxes and stock in aisles, and hoses or tools left out.

• A careful owner keeps walkways clear, routes or covers cords, and makes anything its staff puts in a path easy to see.
• Notice: If an employee put it there, the owner created the hazard. Otherwise, the questions are how long it was there and whether staff should have seen it.

7. Loose mats, rugs and worn flooring

Curled entrance mats, torn carpet, loose tiles and worn, slick flooring.

• A careful owner uses mats that lie flat, replaces worn ones, and repairs torn carpet and loose tiles, warning people or blocking them off until then.
• Notice: A torn or curled mat that staff walked past for days, or one noted in an inspection log, can show the owner knew or should have known.

8. Broken public sidewalks

Heaved or sunken slabs, broken concrete and holes in a sidewalk next to a public road. If a government is responsible, immunity rules and short notice deadlines can apply, for sidewalks and public buildings alike.

Not sure whether the owner knew about what made you fall? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

Can the owner blame your shoes, or say you should have seen the hazard?

Expect the owner’s insurer to point at you: your shoes, your phone, what you were carrying or a hazard it calls obvious. But your shoes don’t erase the owner’s duty. Footwear is usually an argument about causation (the shoes, not the hazard, made you fall) or about your share of the fault. In most states, partial fault reduces what you recover rather than ending the claim, though most cut off recovery once your share reaches 50% or 51%, and a few can bar it for any fault at all (Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute). Keep the shoes you fell in, uncleaned.

A made-up example: A jury finds your damages total $50,000, the store at fault for a curled mat at a wet entrance, and you 20% at fault for sandals with worn-smooth soles. In Michigan, you’d receive $40,000.

What to do next

1. Get medical care, and tell every provider how you fell.
2. Save the evidence today: photos of the hazard, the lighting and your shoes, the incident report, witnesses’ names, and a written request that the owner keep its video and its inspection, cleaning and snow-removal records. See the checklist for after a slip and fall.
3. Find your deadline. For a public sidewalk or building, Michigan’s 120-day notice comes first. Most other Michigan fall lawsuits must be filed within three years (MCL 600.5805(2)).
4. Be careful what you say and sign. Get advice before giving the owner’s insurer a recorded statement, and don’t sign a release before you know how badly you’re hurt: a release gives up your right to sue (Cornell LII).
5. Get a free case review. A lawyer can tell you whether the evidence shows notice and what drives a fall claim’s value. Get a free case review, or, if you were hurt in Michigan, compare Michigan injury lawyers.

What waiting can cost

• Proof of notice. Spills get mopped, ice melts, bulbs get replaced and video gets recorded over.
• A claim against the government. In Michigan, notice of a defective public sidewalk or building is due within 120 days, and courts enforce it strictly (Rowland).
• The right to sue. Most Michigan fall lawsuits must be filed within three years (MCL 600.5805(2)).

What a good outcome looks like

Whoever controlled the property answers for the hazard it should have found and fixed, your medical bills and lost pay are covered, any share of fault assigned to you matches what happened, and every notice goes out on time. From assuming the fall was your own fault to knowing what caused it, what the owner knew and which deadline applies.

For other injuries on someone else’s property, browse the slip, fall and unsafe property guides.

Updated September 29, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.