Slip, Trip and Fall Injuries in Texas

In a Texas slip-and-fall case, the duty depends on the visitor's status. For an invitee (such as a store customer), the owner can be liable if it knew of the dangerous condition or reasonably should have known of it; a licensee must prove the owner actually knew of an unreasonably dangerous condition. The Supreme Court of Texas restated these rules in a 2024 slip-and-fall case. When a claim against a government arises from a premises defect, the government owes only the duty a private owner owes a licensee, unless the claimant paid to use the premises.

A Texas city is liable under the Tort Claims Act for damages arising from its governmental functions, which include street construction and design and street maintenance. For a premise defect, the government owes only the duty owed to a licensee (generally requiring actual knowledge of the danger), but that limit does not apply to the duty to warn of special defects such as excavations or obstructions on roads and streets. A city's charter and ordinance provisions requiring notice of a claim within a charter period are ratified by statute. The statutes read do not address liability of the owner of property next to a sidewalk.

Under the Texas Tort Claims Act, a governmental unit, including a city or county, is entitled to written notice of a claim no later than six months after the incident; the notice must describe the injury or damage, the time and place, and the incident. City charters and ordinances may set their own notice periods, which the statute ratifies. The notice requirement does not apply if the government had actual notice of the death, injury or property damage. Liability of a unit of local government is capped at $100,000 per person, $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death, and $100,000 for property damage; for a municipality the caps are $250,000 per person, $500,000 per occurrence and $100,000 for property damage. The same Act covers the State, with its own caps.

Modified comparative fault (51% bar), called proportionate responsibility. A claimant whose percentage of responsibility is greater than 50% cannot recover. Otherwise, the claimant's damages are reduced by their percentage of responsibility.

Two years after the day the cause of action accrues.