Buyer Beware: Premises Liability and Constructive Notice

The crux of the notice element of a slip and fall case is whether the alleged hazardous condition was allowed to develop or exist over an extended period of time.

A premises owner may be held to have constructive notice of a hazardous condition and therefore be liable if the claimant can prove “that the hazard was of such a character, or had existed for a sufficient time, that a reasonable premises possessor would have discovered it.”

Whether a hazardous condition is unusual or unforeseeable is not definitive proof of a defendant’s liability.