Fault & Liability
What if I slipped and fell in a Georgia store?
Short answer
A fall alone is not a claim — what matters is what the store knew or should have known. Georgia owners owe invited customers ordinary care to keep the premises safe, which generally means showing the hazard existed, that the store had actual or constructive knowledge of it, and that you did not have equal knowledge of it and could not have avoided it with ordinary care. That is why immediate documentation — photographs of the hazard, an incident report, witness names and preserved footage — decides most of these cases.
What Georgia law says
O.C.G.A. § 51-3-1 requires an owner or occupier who invites others onto the premises for a lawful purpose to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe. Georgia limits the duty owed to licensees to avoiding wilful or wanton injury under O.C.G.A. § 51-3-2, so a visitor's status matters. Fault is apportioned under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, which reduces recovery by the injured person's share and bars recovery at 50 percent, and the two-year personal injury deadline in O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 applies.
What this means after an accident
Practically, the store's knowledge is the battleground. Was the spill there for two minutes or two hours? Had an employee walked past it? Was there an inspection schedule, and was it followed? These questions are answered by records the store controls and by video that is often overwritten within weeks.
How this actually works
What to do and what gets litigated: photograph the hazard itself before it is cleaned, from several angles and including the surrounding area, lighting and any warning signs or their absence; report the fall to a manager and ask for a written incident report and a copy; get the names of employees and witnesses; keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing; and get medical evaluation the same day. Then the case turns on the store's records — inspection and sweep logs, maintenance and cleaning schedules, prior incident history at the same location, employee statements and surveillance footage. A written preservation request for video sent within days is often the difference between a provable and an unprovable claim. The most common defenses are that the hazard was open and obvious, that you were distracted or wearing unsuitable footwear, that the store had no knowledge of the hazard, and that a reasonable inspection programme was in place.
What you should do
- 01Photograph the hazard before it is cleaned, including lighting and any warning signs.
- 02Report the fall to a manager and request a copy of the incident report.
- 03Get names of employees and witnesses at the scene.
- 04Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing.
- 05Ask in writing that surveillance footage be preserved, as soon as possible.
Important exceptions
Exceptions and complications: a visitor's legal status can change the duty owed, government-owned property brings short notice deadlines and immunity questions, a leased space may involve both a tenant and a landlord, and claims arising from criminal acts on the premises are analysed differently as negligent security. Each of these needs individual assessment.
When an attorney may help
Legal help matters immediately, because the evidence that establishes knowledge — video and inspection logs — sits with the store and disappears on a routine schedule. Once it is gone, the claim usually cannot be rebuilt.
Attorney
Who handles this type of case at MCA
Licensed in Georgia and mapped to this case type in the MCA attorney bench. Attorney availability is not a statement that this page has been legally reviewed.
MCA Answers
What you may need to know next
Straight answers built around Georgia law, authoritative sources and practical guidance.
- What if a dog bit me in Georgia?Georgia is not a pure strict-liability state for dog bites. Liability generally requires showing that the animal was vicious or dangerous and that the owner knew it, or that the animal was not at heel or on a leash in violation of a local ordinance and was allowed to go at large. That second route matters: in many Georgia communities a leash-law violation supplies the element that would otherwise require proving the dog's history. Reporting the bite to animal control and documenting the wound immediately are the two steps that protect the claim.
- How long do I have to file a car accident claim in Georgia?In most Georgia car accident cases you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, and four years for property damage. Claims against a city, county or state agency require written notice far sooner — in some cases within six months — and other exceptions can change these deadlines.
Next step
What happens next?
1
Tell us what happened
Complete the short case review or call MCA. It takes a couple of minutes and costs nothing.
2
We review the accident
Our intake team identifies the location, accident type, injuries and any immediate issues.
3
If we can help, you meet your legal team
Your attorney is licensed in the jurisdiction handling your matter.
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