Maryland Premises Liability Law
Slip and fall claims in Maryland are governed by premises liability principles. The duty of care a property owner owes to a visitor depends on the visitor's status on the property:
- Invitee — A person invited onto the property for a business purpose (customer in a store, patron of a restaurant). Property owners owe invitees the highest duty of care: a duty to inspect for, discover, and correct dangerous conditions, or to warn of conditions they know about or reasonably should discover.
- Licensee — A person on the property with permission but for their own purposes (social guests). Property owners owe licensees a duty to warn of known dangers that the licensee could not reasonably discover.
- Trespasser — A person on the property without permission. Property owners generally owe no duty of care to trespassers, with the significant exception of child trespassers under the attractive nuisance doctrine.
Most slip and fall cases involve business invitees, and the critical legal question is whether the property owner knew or reasonably should have known about the dangerous condition that caused the fall.
What Must Be Proven in a Maryland Slip and Fall Case
- The defendant owned, controlled, or occupied the property where the fall occurred
- The plaintiff was an invitee (or licensee) on the property
- A dangerous condition existed on the property
- The defendant knew about the condition, or the condition existed long enough that the defendant reasonably should have discovered it
- The defendant failed to correct the condition or provide adequate warning
- The dangerous condition caused the plaintiff's fall and injuries
- The plaintiff suffered actual damages as a result
The Notice Requirement
The notice element is where most Maryland slip and fall cases are won or lost. The plaintiff must show either that the property owner had actual notice (was told about or directly observed the dangerous condition) or constructive notice (the condition had existed long enough that a reasonable inspection would have discovered it).
Evidence of constructive notice includes: how long the dangerous condition had been present, whether it was in an area subject to regular inspection and cleaning, whether employees had passed the area before the fall, whether there were previous incidents in the same location, and the nature of the condition (a large water spill is harder to miss than a small one).
The evidence that establishes notice — surveillance footage, inspection logs, incident reports, witness statements — is most accessible immediately after the incident. Surveillance footage may be overwritten within 24 to 72 hours. Inspection logs may be difficult to obtain once litigation begins. If you have been injured in a slip and fall, document the scene immediately with photographs, identify witnesses, and contact an attorney as soon as possible.
Maryland's Contributory Negligence Rule in Slip and Fall Cases
As with car accident cases, Maryland's contributory negligence doctrine applies to slip and fall claims. If a court determines that the plaintiff was in any way at fault for their own fall — by failing to watch where they were walking, by wearing inappropriate footwear, by ignoring a warning sign, or by proceeding into a known dangerous area — the claim may be barred entirely.
Defense attorneys in Maryland premises liability cases routinely argue that the plaintiff assumed the risk of an obvious condition or was contributorily negligent. An experienced attorney anticipates these arguments and develops the evidence to defeat them.