Baton Rouge Slip and Fall Lawyer

Louisiana makes slip-and-fall cases harder than most states

If you fell in a store, restaurant, or gas station, your claim runs through Louisiana Revised Statute 9:2800.6 — the merchant liability statute. It puts the burden squarely on the injured person, and it is stricter than ordinary negligence. You have to prove all three of these:

• The condition presented an unreasonable risk of harm that was reasonably foreseeable
• The merchant created the condition, or had actual or constructive notice of it before you fell
• The merchant failed to exercise reasonable care

The notice element is where these cases are won or lost

Constructive notice is not satisfied by showing the spill was there. Louisiana courts require proof that the condition existed for some period of time before the fall — long enough that a reasonably careful merchant would have found and fixed it. A puddle that appeared thirty seconds before you walked through it generally will not support a claim. The same puddle with cart tracks through it and a dried edge often will.

That proof usually lives in the store’s own records: surveillance video, sweep and inspection logs, incident reports, employee statements. Most of it is overwritten or discarded on a schedule measured in days or weeks. This is the practical reason to call quickly — not urgency for its own sake, but because a preservation letter sent in week one is the difference between having the video and arguing about what it would have shown.

What to do at the scene

• Report the fall to a manager before you leave, and ask for the incident report number
• Photograph the substance or defect from several angles, and photograph your shoes
• Note whether a warning cone was present — and whether it appeared only after you fell
• Get names of anyone who saw it, employees included
• Get medical attention the same day

Falls that are not in a store

Not every fall runs through the merchant statute. Falls in apartment complexes, parking lots, on sidewalks, at a private residence, or on public property are governed by general premises and custodial liability rules, and public entities carry their own notice requirements and shorter deadlines. The analysis genuinely changes depending on who owned and controlled the property.

How long you have

For falls occurring on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana allows two years from the date of injury to file suit. For falls before that date, the older one-year period applies. Claims involving public entities can carry additional notice requirements that come due much sooner.