How long do I have to file a premises liability claim in Texas?

In most cases, two years from the date of the accident. However, important exceptions apply: If the injured person is a minor, the statute of limitations may not begin until their 18th birthday; If the injury was not immediately discovered, the clock may start when you knew or reasonably should have known about it; If the injured person dies, the statute typically begins on the date of death; If your claim is against a government entity, the deadline can be as short as 45 to 90 days — making it critical to contact an attorney immediately

What if I was partially at fault for my accident?

You can still recover damages under Texas law as long as you are 50% or less at fault. Your compensation is reduced proportionally — for example, if you are found 25% at fault, your award is reduced by 25%. Insurance companies often try to inflate your percentage of fault to reduce their payout. We fight back against unfair fault assignments.

What if there was a "wet floor" sign — does that eliminate the owner's liability?

Not necessarily. A warning sign is one factor, but it does not automatically shield a property owner from liability. If the sign was placed improperly, was not visible, or the hazard was unreasonably dangerous regardless of the warning, liability may still exist.

What if I didn't go to the emergency room right away?

A delayed ER visit does not automatically hurt your case, but it does require explanation. Many serious injuries — including concussions, spinal injuries, and soft tissue damage — are not immediately apparent. Seeking medical care as soon as possible after the incident is always advisable, and our attorneys can help address gaps in treatment history.

Do I have a case if I was trespassing?

Generally, Texas law provides limited protection to trespassers. However, two important exceptions exist: (1) Attractive nuisance doctrine: If a dangerous man-made condition (such as an unfenced pool) attracts and injures a child, the owner may be liable; (2) Intentional harm: If a property owner intentionally injures or endangers a trespasser, liability can attach.

How much does it cost to hire a premises liability lawyer?

Nothing upfront. Our firm handles premises liability cases on a contingency fee basis — meaning we only get paid if we recover compensation for you. There is no cost to speak with us, and no fee unless we win.

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San Antonio Premises Liability Lawyers

If you were hurt because a property owner, business, landlord, or property manager failed to keep a property reasonably safe, you may have a premises liability claim. At The Law Offices of Tyler & Peery, our San Antonio premises liability lawyers help injured people and families throughout San Antonio and Bexar County pursue accountability after serious accidents caused by unsafe conditions.

A dangerous property condition can take many forms: a spill left on a store floor, a broken stairway, inadequate lighting in a parking lot, a malfunctioning elevator, poor security at an apartment complex, or a hazard that should have been repaired or clearly marked. These cases often require fast action to identify who controlled the property, preserve evidence, and show that the responsible party knew—or reasonably should have known—about the danger.

Our firm brings more than 130 years of combined experience in personal injury and wrongful death litigation. Four of our six attorneys are board-certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. We understand the challenges injured people face after a serious accident, and we work to build thorough claims that pursue fair compensation for the losses negligence has caused.

Call 210-340-0900 or contact Tyler & Peery online for a free, confidential consultation. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.

What Is Premises Liability Under Texas Law?

Premises liability is an area of personal injury law involving injuries caused by unsafe conditions on someone else’s property. In Texas, a property owner or occupier may be responsible when they fail to use reasonable care to address a dangerous condition, repair it, or provide an adequate warning to people who may be harmed.

Every case is different. Liability can depend on factors such as:

Who owned, leased, managed, or controlled the property
Why the injured person was on the property
Whether a dangerous condition existed
Whether the responsible party created the condition or knew about it
Whether the responsible party should have discovered the danger through reasonable inspection or maintenance
Whether the condition was repaired, removed, blocked off, or clearly warned about
Whether the unsafe condition caused the injury and resulting losses

A business may be responsible for unsafe conditions in a store, restaurant, hotel, or parking lot. A landlord or apartment manager may be responsible for hazards in common areas. In other cases, responsibility may involve a maintenance company, security contractor, event organizer, vendor, or another party with control over the property or the dangerous condition.

Premises Liability Accidents in San Antonio and Bexar County

Serious injuries can occur on commercial, residential, public, and private property throughout San Antonio. The setting matters because the type of property often affects the evidence that may be available and the parties who may be responsible.

Examples include:

Apartment complexes and rental properties: Unsafe stairs, broken gates, poor lighting, defective walkways, inadequate security, and unrepaired hazards in common areas.
Hotels and resorts: Wet floors, unsecured furniture, faulty elevators, inadequate security, or hazards in pools, hallways, and common areas.
Retail stores and grocery stores: Spills, merchandise hazards, damaged flooring, obstructed aisles, and inadequate inspection procedures.
Restaurants and bars: Slippery floors, unstable seating, hot spills, overcrowding, inadequate security, and unsafe entryways.
Parking lots and garages: Poor lighting, broken pavement, inadequate security, missing signage, and dangerous traffic patterns.
Schools, daycares, Playgrounds, and parks: Unsafe equipment, poor supervision, defective surfaces, or hazards that place children and families at risk.
Sports venues, concert sites, conventions, and amusement parks: Dangerous walkways, crowd-control issues, inadequate security, falling objects, unsafe temporary structures, and other site-specific hazards.

A premises liability claim is not limited to a “slip and fall.” It may arise from an assault caused by negligent security, a dog attack, food poisoning, falling merchandise, a broken handrail, or another preventable danger on a property.

Types of Premises Liability Cases We Handle

Tyler & Peery has developed a broad resource library for people injured in different types of premises liability incidents. Click any of our specialized practice areas below to learn more about distinct questions of property control, evidence rules, and insurance coverage:

Falls, Walkway Hazards, and Dangerous Conditions

Slip-and-Fall Accidents – Injuries caused by wet floors, spills, loose mats, uneven surfaces, poor lighting, and other fall hazards.
Broken Sidewalk Accidents – Trip-and-fall injuries involving cracked pavement, uneven walkways, potholes, and neglected pedestrian paths.
Broken Stairs and Handrail Injuries – Claims involving unstable steps, missing handrails, loose railings, or building code violations.
Elevator and Escalator Accidents – Injuries involving sudden stops, defective doors, misleveling, or maintenance deficiencies.
Injuries Caused by Falling Objects – Accidents involving falling store merchandise, unsecured fixtures, or construction debris.

Residential, Hospitality, and Commercial Property Injuries

Apartment Building Injuries – Claims involving dangerous common areas, neglected repairs, broken gates, and landlord negligence.
Hotel Injuries – Accidents caused by unsafe hotel rooms, pools, showers, and walkways along the River Walk and across San Antonio.
Restaurant Injuries – Slip-and-fall incidents, hot oil spills, crowded floor plans, and hazards in local dining spots.
Supermarket and Grocery Store Accidents – Spills, aisle obstructions, and display hazards in retail food environments.
Food Poisoning – Claims involving localized foodborne outbreaks, unsafe food handling, or serving contamination.

Negligent Security and Criminal Attacks

Negligent Security – Crimes, assaults, and robberies enabled by commercial properties failing to provide adequate lighting, locks, or security staff.
Texas Bar and Nightclub Injuries – Incidents involving overserving, inadequate security, overcrowding, or bouncer assault.

Recreation, Events, and Public-Facing Venues

Amusement Park Injuries – Walkway, queuing, and ride-related injuries at local venues like Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
Concert and Music Festival Injuries – Crowd crush hazards, stage collapsed materials, and event space slip-and-trips.
Sports Venue and Sporting Event Injuries – Stadium seating hazards, structural failures, or parking lot injuries.
San Antonio Convention Accident Injuries – Dangerous display exhibits, temporary floor trips, or mechanical failures.
Playground and Public Park Injuries – Failing park structures, missing ground cushions, and defective recreational equipment.

Injuries Involving Children and Animals

Daycare Facility Injuries – Inadequate child supervision, toy hazards, and neglected children’s facility safety.
Dog Bite Injuries – Unleashed dogs, broken yard fences, and animal attacks on public or private land.
Texas School and College Campus Injuries – Academic building neglect, falling stadium fixtures, or campus security failures.

What a Property Owner’s Negligence Can Look Like

Property owners and occupiers are not automatically responsible simply because an injury occurs on their property. A successful claim generally requires evidence that a dangerous condition existed and that the responsible party failed to take reasonable steps to prevent harm.

Examples of negligence may include:

Failing to clean up a spill or block off a wet floor
Ignoring reports of a dangerous condition
Failing to inspect areas that customers, tenants, or guests routinely use
Delaying repairs to broken stairs, handrails, sidewalks, elevators, doors, or lighting
Allowing clutter, merchandise, cords, or debris to create a walkway hazard
Failing to maintain safe parking lots, common areas, entryways, and stairwells
Providing inadequate lighting, locks, security measures, or access control where criminal activity is foreseeable
Failing to address recurring hazards that have caused prior complaints, incidents, or injuries
Failing to provide an adequate warning when a known hazard cannot be immediately repaired

The central issue in many cases is notice. Did the business, owner, manager, or other responsible party know about the danger? If not, should they reasonably have discovered it through proper inspection, maintenance, supervision, or security procedures?

How We Build a Premises Liability Claim

Premises liability cases can become more difficult as time passes. Dangerous conditions may be repaired, surveillance footage may be overwritten, witnesses may become unavailable, and records may be lost or changed. Our attorneys investigate the circumstances of an accident and work to identify evidence that may help establish liability.

Depending on the case, important evidence may include:

Security-camera or surveillance footage
Photographs and video of the dangerous condition
Incident reports and internal communications
Inspection records, cleaning logs, and maintenance schedules
Repair records and work orders
Prior complaints, prior incidents, or prior criminal activity
Employee, tenant, customer, or eyewitness testimony
Lease agreements and property-management contracts
Security policies, patrol records, camera footage, access-control records, and lighting documentation
Building-code, safety-code, or industry-standard evidence
Medical records documenting the injury and its effect on the victim’s life

We evaluate the facts of each case, identify potentially responsible parties, and pursue the evidence necessary to present a strong claim.

Actual Notice vs. Constructive Notice: Why It Matters

In many premises liability cases, the responsible party argues that it did not know about the dangerous condition. Our attorneys examine whether there is evidence of either actual notice or constructive notice.

Actual notice may exist when a property owner, manager, or employee was directly told about a hazard, saw it, created it, or documented it.

Constructive notice may exist when the condition was present long enough, occurred frequently enough, or was obvious enough that a reasonably careful property owner should have discovered and addressed it.

For example, evidence of routine inspection failures, recurring leaks, prior complaints, delayed repairs, or an established pattern of criminal incidents may be important in showing that a dangerous condition was foreseeable and should have been addressed.

Common Insurance Company Defenses—and How We Respond

Insurance companies and property owners often begin building defenses immediately after an accident. Their goal may be to argue that the condition was not dangerous, that they did not have notice, or that the injured person was responsible.

Common defenses include:

“The hazard was open and obvious.”
“We did not know about the dangerous condition.”
“The condition appeared only moments before the accident.”
“The injured person was distracted, careless, or wearing inappropriate footwear.”
“The property was inspected regularly.”
“There were warning signs.”
“The criminal act was not foreseeable.”
“Another company or person controlled the property.”

A thorough investigation is essential. Surveillance footage, maintenance records, inspection policies, witness statements, prior incident reports, photographs, and property-control documents may help evaluate whether these defenses are supported by the facts.

Texas law may also allow responsibility to be divided among multiple parties. That makes it particularly important to identify every person or entity that owned, managed, maintained, secured, or controlled the property.

Compensation in a San Antonio Premises Liability Case

A serious injury can affect far more than a person’s immediate medical bills. When a property owner’s negligence causes harm, an injured person may seek compensation for losses supported by the evidence, which may include:

Past and future medical expenses
Lost income and reduced earning capacity
Physical pain and suffering
Mental anguish
Physical impairment
Disfigurement or scarring
Rehabilitation and assistive-care needs
Other accident-related financial and personal losses

When a fatal injury occurs, surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim. The value and availability of compensation depend on the facts, the severity of the injury, available insurance coverage, and other case-specific factors.

What To Do After an Injury on Someone Else’s Property

Your health and safety come first. If you are able, taking certain steps after a property-related injury may help protect your well-being and preserve information that could matter later.

Seek medical care promptly. Some injuries may not be immediately apparent, and medical records are important evidence.
Report the incident. Tell a manager, property owner, employee, security officer, or other responsible person. Ask whether an incident report was prepared.
Document the scene. Take photographs or video of the hazard, surrounding area, lighting, warning signs, clothing, footwear, and visible injuries, if you can safely do so.
Get witness information. Obtain names and contact details for people who saw the accident or the dangerous condition.
Preserve relevant items. Keep the shoes, clothing, receipts, photographs, and other items connected to the incident.
Avoid giving a recorded statement to an insurer before getting legal advice. Insurance adjusters may ask questions designed to limit or dispute a claim.
Contact an experienced premises liability attorney. Quick legal guidance can help identify evidence that should be preserved.

Why Choose Tyler & Peery for a Premises Liability Claim?

Premises liability cases are often contested. Property owners and insurers may have teams of adjusters, investigators, and attorneys working to minimize responsibility. Tyler & Peery provides experienced legal representation for injured people facing serious and complex claims.

Clients choose our firm because we offer:

More than 130 years of combined legal experience in personal injury and wrongful death litigation
Four board-certified personal injury trial lawyers among our six attorneys, certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
A San Antonio-based team focused on helping injured people and families in Bexar County and across Texas
Thorough case preparation built around the specific property, hazard, evidence, and parties involved
Trial experience and determined advocacy when an insurer refuses to make a fair offer
Personal service and communication throughout the legal process

We know that a serious accident can leave you overwhelmed by pain, lost income, medical care, and uncertainty. Our attorneys handle the legal work so you can focus on your recovery.

Speak With a San Antonio Premises Liability Lawyer Today

If you were injured on unsafe property in San Antonio or Bexar County, do not assume that the property owner’s insurance company will fairly evaluate your claim. Learn about your legal options from an experienced attorney at The Law Offices of Tyler & Peery.

Call 210-340-0900 or contact us online for a free, confidential consultation. We handle premises liability cases on a contingency-fee basis, meaning you pay no attorney’s fee unless we recover compensation for you.

Frequently Asked Questions About Premises Liability in San Antonio

How long do I have to file a premises liability lawsuit in Texas?

Many Texas personal injury claims are subject to a two-year filing deadline, but the applicable deadline can vary based on the facts and parties involved. Claims involving governmental entities may have much shorter notice requirements. Speak with an attorney as soon as possible to understand the deadline that may apply to your case.

Can I bring a claim if I was partly at fault?

Possibly. Texas uses a proportionate-responsibility system. Depending on the facts, an injured person may still pursue compensation even if they share some responsibility for an accident. However, the amount of recoverable damages may be affected, and recovery may be barred if the person is found more than 50% responsible.

What if the dangerous condition was repaired after I was hurt?

A repair does not erase what happened, but it can make evidence harder to obtain. This is one reason photographs, witness information, incident reports, and prompt legal guidance can be important after an accident.

Is a business responsible for every injury that happens on its property?

No. An injury alone does not prove negligence. The evidence must show that a dangerous condition existed and that the responsible party failed to use reasonable care under the circumstances. An attorney can evaluate whether the facts support a claim.

Can I sue if I was assaulted at an apartment complex, hotel, parking lot, or bar?

A property owner may be liable for injuries caused by criminal acts in certain circumstances, particularly when the risk was foreseeable and reasonable security measures were not provided. These cases are highly fact-specific and often require investigation into prior incidents, lighting, access controls, surveillance, security practices, and other evidence.

What if I fell in a grocery store or restaurant but did not see what caused the fall?

You may still have a claim, but evidence is important. Surveillance video, incident reports, witness accounts, inspection logs, employee statements, and photographs may help establish what caused the accident and whether the business had notice of the condition.

How much is my premises liability case worth?

There is no standard value for a premises liability case. The potential value depends on the nature and severity of the injury, medical treatment, lost income, long-term effects, available insurance, liability evidence, and other facts. An attorney can assess your situation during a confidential consultation.