Category: Premises Liability

Property owners in California owe a duty of ordinary care to keep their premises reasonably safe. That duty comes from Civil Code §1714(a), and the factors courts weigh when applying it come from Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108.In practice, a slip, trip, or fall case rarely turns on whether a hazard existed. It turns on notice. The injured person generally has to show the owner either created the dangerous condition, knew about it, or should have discovered it through reasonable inspection. That is why the first few days matter so much: incident reports, surveillance footage that gets overwritten on a short loop, and inspection logs showing how often a floor was actually checked.Comparative fault applies, so an owner will usually argue the hazard was open and obvious, or that the visitor simply was not looking. The two-year deadline in Code of Civil Procedure §335.1 applies to most claims, and much shorter government-claim rules apply when the property belongs to a public entity.The guides below cover grocery stores, parking lots, swimming pools, and short-term rentals.