Hialeah Slip and Fall Lawyer

Hialeah is a city of shopping centers, supermarkets, apartment buildings and busy transit stations, and a wet floor, broken step or poorly lit walkway can cause a serious fall in any of them. When it happens, the property owner's insurer will often say you should have been more careful. A Hialeah slip and fall lawyer can investigate what the owner knew and when. Tomas Robirosa represents people hurt in falls throughout Hialeah and Miami-Dade County, and he explains your rights directly, in English or Spanish.

Where People Slip, Trip and Fall in Hialeah

• Westland Mall Located at 1675 West 49th Street, the mall has more than 100 stores and several restaurants. Spilled drinks, freshly mopped floors and wet entrances on rainy days are common hazards.
• West 49th Street shopping centers The Palm Springs Mile stretch of 49th Street is a commercial corridor lined with stores. Cracked parking lots, uneven curbs and wet aisles in supermarkets can all lead to falls.
• Hialeah Park The historic former racetrack at 2200 East 4th Avenue now operates as a casino. Busy entrances, stairs and restrooms in large venues need regular inspection and cleaning.
• Metrorail and Tri-Rail stations Hialeah has the Hialeah, Okeechobee and Tri-Rail/Metrorail Transfer Metrorail stations and the Hialeah Market Tri-Rail station. Wet platforms, stairs and escalators can be dangerous.
• Apartments and condominiums Broken stairs, loose handrails, poor lighting in hallways and parking areas, and leaks in common areas can make a building owner or association responsible.

A fall is not automatically someone else's fault, but when an owner ignores a hazard, the injured person may have a claim.

Florida Slip and Fall Laws That Affect Your Claim

Property owners in Florida must keep their premises reasonably safe for visitors and warn them about dangers they know about. For falls caused by a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, such as a spilled liquid or dropped food, Florida Statute 768.0755 requires the injured person to prove the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition. Actual knowledge means employees knew about it. Constructive knowledge can be shown if the condition existed long enough that the business should have known, or if it happened regularly and was foreseeable.

Florida's modified comparative negligence rule also applies. Your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, and if you are found more than 50% at fault you generally cannot recover.

What to Do After a Slip and Fall in Hialeah

1. Get medical care right away. Call 911 if you cannot get up or are seriously hurt. Falls can cause hip, back and head injuries that are not obvious at first.
2. Report the fall to the manager. Ask the store or property to write an incident report and ask for a copy or the report number.
3. Photograph the hazard. Take pictures of the floor, the spill, the broken step or the lighting before anyone cleans or fixes it. Include your shoes.
4. Get witness names. Customers or employees who saw the fall, or saw the spill before, can help prove how long the hazard was there.
5. Ask about security video. Many businesses have cameras, but video may be erased. A lawyer can request that it be preserved.
6. Do not give a recorded statement. The property's insurer may call. Speak with a lawyer first.

Injuries and Compensation After a Fall in Hialeah

Falls often cause broken wrists and hips, knee and shoulder injuries, back injuries and head injuries, especially for older adults. A claim may include medical bills, future treatment, lost income, pain and suffering and the loss of normal daily activities. Learn more on our slip and fall practice page or return to our Hialeah personal injury page.

A Bilingual Hialeah Slip and Fall Lawyer

Tomas Robirosa serves Hialeah and all of Miami-Dade County. He gathers the evidence, including incident reports, video and maintenance records, finds every policy that may apply and explains each step directly in Spanish or English. If you were hurt by a vehicle while walking, see our Hialeah pedestrian accident page. The consultation is free, and we work on a contingency basis: no fee unless we recover. Call (305) 600-0529.

Frequently Asked Questions