You think slip and fall cases work like car accidents. You fall, you sue, you win.
You're wrong.
Proving liability in a slip and fall case is frequently more complicated than motor vehicle accidents cases. After a car crash, police arrive, interview the parties, observe the property damage, and determine fault. After you slip and fall, police rarely show up. Even if they do, determining liability isn't their job unless a law was broken. This is why it is crucial to hire an experienced attorney as soon as possible.
Your Legal Classification on the Property
Your legal classification as a visitor on someone else’s property when you fell can have a huge impact on your case. South Carolina classifies you as either a trespasser, licensee, or invitee.
Trespassers likely won’t be able to recover. You weren't supposed to be there in the first place. If you're trespassing and get injured, you'll likely won’t have a viable case (there are always exceptions to every rule, so speak with an experienced attorney about your case before throwing in the towel).
More often than not, if you are injured on someone else’s property, you will likely fall into one of two categories: licensee or invitee.
If you're a licensee (think social guest at someone's house), the landowner only has to warn you about dangerous conditions they knew about. They don't have to fix anything. Just warn you.
However, if you're an invitee (customer at a store, restaurant patron), you are owed the highest level of care. The landowner must warn you about known hazards, inspect the premises regularly, and fix dangers they reasonably should have known about.
That "reasonably should have known" standard is often where cases are won or lost.
The Timing Game That Decides Your Case
Here's where some cases live or die: the timing between when the hazard was created and when you got injured.
Picture this: You slip on liquid spilled by another shopper at a grocery store. If you slipped less than one minute after the spill, proving the store should have discovered and cleaned the spill before your fall will be difficult.
However, if that liquid sat there for 15, 20, or 30 minutes before your fall? Now you can argue the grocery store should have had employees periodically inspecting the aisles for dangerous conditions.
In the example above, surveillance video can become the smoking gun. The video may show how often employees actually walked the aisles and reveal whether the store followed its own internal policies and procedures. Again, this is why it is so crucial to hire an experienced attorney soon after your injury. If you wait too long and evidence (such as surveillance video is overwritten), your case will be harder to prove.
That's why attorneys will send preservation letters immediately upon representing a new client. The attorney will demand that the at-fault party preserve and maintain all relevant evidence (all surveillance video, incident reports, witness statements, inspection reports, etc.) that will support your case. If evidence gets destroyed after receiving the preservation letter, the business will be in the uncomfortable position of explaining to a jury why that evidence is no longer available.
Understanding The Most Common Defense
South Carolina follows the rule of modified comparative negligence, which means that if a jury finds you to be more than 50% responsible for causing your own injuries you will receive nothing.
Insurance companies know this. Their favorite defense? The hazard was "open and obvious." They'll argue you should have seen and avoided that spilled liquid, pothole, or raised portion of concrete in the sidewalk.
The counter-argument focuses on reasonable expectations. No one looks down at every step they take in a store aisle or on a sidewalk. You have a reasonable expectation that these walking surfaces will be safe.
Walking through an active construction site? Different story. It is probably reasonable for you to look where you're stepping.
When necessary, attorneys will use human factors experts to explain to juries where people typically look while walking through spaces they believe are safe.
What Makes or Breaks Your Case
Documenting the accident gives you the best chance for success. Video evidence, witness testimony, and/or photographs can go a long way in proving the landowner is at fault for causing your injury.
The biggest red flag? You can't explain why you fell or detail why the landowner should be held responsible. If you fell down stairs but can't articulate what caused the fall, there likely isn't a case. But if the stair risers were different heights, that’s a completely different story.
A landowner isn't responsible for your injuries simply because you got hurt on their property. The landowner had to have done something or failed to do something that directly contributed to your fall and injury.
Your Three-Year Window
South Carolina gives you three years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. This deadline can be even shorter (2 years) depending on the type of landowner, so it is always best to consult an attorney as soon as possible. This creates both opportunities and urgent deadlines.
Evidence disappears. Witnesses forget details. Surveillance video gets recorded over. The sooner you act, the stronger your case becomes.
Your slip and fall case isn't just about what happened when you fell. It's about understanding the hidden legal battlefield where your rights get determined by classifications, timing, evidence preservation, and strategic arguments most people never see coming.
The difference between winning and losing often comes down to understanding these rules before you need them.
