A slip and fall case lets you hold a property owner responsible when a hazard they knew about, or should have caught, caused your injury. It covers trips and falls too, not only slips. Whether you have a claim turns on a specific legal test, and it is worth reading what Louisiana requires you to prove before you assume either way. At Inzina Law Injury Attorneys, Blase and Erica Inzina handle Louisiana premises cases personally.
Call (337) 347-7177 for a free consultation, or request a free case review below and we will call you back.
Reviewed and updated September 2026.
On this page
- Do I have a slip and fall case in Lafayette?
- When is a property owner responsible for your fall?
- What should you do after a slip, trip, or fall?
- How much is a slip and fall case worth?
- What if the fall was partly your fault?
- Why Inzina Law: A Lafayette husband and wife injury team
- Slip and fall questions people ask
- Talk to a Lafayette slip and fall lawyer today
Do I have a slip and fall case in Lafayette?
You may have a slip and fall case when you were hurt because a property owner let a dangerous condition stay in place. That can be a wet or freshly mopped floor with no warning sign, a spill nobody cleaned up, a broken step or a loose handrail, a cracked or uneven walkway, poor lighting, or an unmarked cord or obstruction. Trips and falls count too, not only slips, because the question is the same: was there a hazard the owner knew about, or should have caught, that caused your fall. Not every fall is someone else’s fault, and part of an honest answer is telling you when it is not. That is exactly what the free call is for. And if another firm has already told you that you do not have a case, the second look is free.
When is a property owner responsible for your fall?
It is rarely just bad luck. Behind most falls is something an owner or a business decided not to deal with. Property owners have a duty to keep their place reasonably safe and to fix or warn about hazards they know about, or would have caught with a reasonable check. So the question we ask is not only that you fell, but why the hazard was still there. Was a spill left on the floor long enough that someone should have cleaned it? Was a broken step or a burned-out light reported and never fixed? Was the cleanup or inspection routine skipped? Whether the owner knew, or should have known, is usually what decides these cases, which is why we dig into it early. Stores, restaurants, apartment complexes, and other businesses carry commercial liability insurance for exactly this kind of injury. We ask why the hazard was still there, because holding the owner accountable is how the next person avoids the same fall.
What should you do after a slip, trip, or fall?
Report the fall to the owner, manager, or an employee and ask for a written incident report, photograph the hazard before it gets cleaned up, keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing, and get medical care even if you feel okay at first. Those first steps protect both your health and your claim, and here is the fuller list:
- Report the fall to the owner, manager, or an employee, and ask for a written incident report.
- Photograph the hazard right away, before it gets cleaned up or fixed, and photograph your injuries.
- Get the names of anyone who saw it and any employee you reported it to.
- Get medical care, even if you feel okay at first, and be honest about everything that hurts.
- Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing, just as they are.
- Do not give the property owner’s insurer a recorded statement, and do not accept a quick settlement, before you understand what your claim is worth.
- Call us. The consultation is free and confidential.
The reason speed matters here more than almost anywhere else: the spill gets mopped, the box gets moved, the broken step gets repaired, and within minutes the evidence that proves the hazard is gone. Getting a lawyer involved early is often what saves the case.
How much is a slip and fall case worth?
There is no honest flat answer to this, and you should be careful with any lawyer or website that gives you one. What a slip and fall case is worth depends on the facts: how badly you were hurt, the medical care you need now and down the road, the income you lost, how the injury changes your daily life, and how much insurance coverage is actually available to reach. A minor fall you recover from quickly is not worth what a fall that needs surgery is. Part of our job is to look at all of that honestly and give you a straight read, not a number designed to get you to sign.
What if the fall was partly your fault?
You may still have a case. Louisiana changed how fault affects a recovery. If your fall happened on or after January 1, 2026, Louisiana bars recovery when you are 51 percent or more at fault, and reduces what you recover in proportion to your share below that. See La. Civ. Code art. 2323. If your fall happened before that date, the older rule applies and being partly at fault does not bar you at all, it only reduces your recovery. Which one governs your case depends on the date of the fall, not the date you file. We can walk you through it. What has not changed is that the other side has every reason to push the blame onto you, and in a fall case they almost always argue that the hazard was obvious and that you should have watched where you were going. That is exactly why an early recorded statement is so risky, and why you should not accept that a fall was your fault before someone on your side has looked at the evidence.
Why Inzina Law: A Lafayette husband and wife injury team
Inzina Law Injury Attorneys is Blase and Erica Inzina, a husband and wife team in Lafayette. Blase or Erica personally oversees your case. You are not handed off to a file number or a case manager you never meet. Blase spent more than twelve years defending insurance companies, including the carriers that stand behind stores and property owners, which is why we know how they defend a fall claim. Erica, a former teacher, makes sure you understand what is happening at each step, in plain language and without pressure. We take a hard look at the cases other firms pass on, and we ask the harder questions, because the goal is not only to help you. It is to make an owner fix what they broke so the next person does not fall.
Call (337) 347-7177 for a free consultation. No fee unless we win.
Slip and fall questions people ask
Is it worth suing for a slip and fall?
Often yes, when you were genuinely hurt, a property owner was responsible for the hazard, and there is insurance coverage to reach, because the costs of a real injury add up fast and quickly outrun what an adjuster offers on a phone call. Sometimes the honest answer is no, and we will tell you that too. A free consultation is how you find out which situation you are in, before you spend anything.
What are the 4 things to prove negligence?
You will see “four things” lists online, but a real case comes down to a few plain questions rather than a rigid checklist: Was there a dangerous condition? Did the owner create it, know about it, or have enough time that they should have known? Did they fail to fix it or warn about it? And did that cause your injury? Louisiana also holds stores and businesses to a specific standard on this, which is one reason it helps to have someone look at your exact facts. We will do that for free.
What is the statute of limitations on a slip and fall in Louisiana?
For a fall on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana generally gives you two years from the date of the fall to file. Before that date the general rule was one year. See La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1. Miss the deadline and you can lose the right to recover, no matter how strong your case was. The exceptions run shorter, not longer: a fall on government property carries its own notice requirements that can arrive far sooner, and a case involving a minor, a death, or a deadline written into an insurance policy can work differently again. So use two years to understand where you stand, not to decide how long you can wait. If you want the exact date that applies to your fall, ask us. That call is free.
How to win a slip and fall settlement?
The cases that succeed usually do the same things early. Get medical care and follow through with it. Document the hazard and how the fall happened, with photos and the incident report. Preserve what you can, including your footwear. Be careful with recorded statements and early offers. And be ready to show that the owner knew, or should have known, about the hazard and did nothing, because that is often what a slip and fall case turns on. A lawyer helps you do all of this before the evidence disappears.
Related: we also handle premises liability claims, car accidents, truck accidents, wrongful death claims, and work injuries. If your situation does not fit neatly into any of these, our personal injury lawyer in Lafayette page is the place to start.
Read more about slip and fall claims
- Slip and Fall Accidents in Louisiana Stores: What Evidence Helps Prove Your Claim?
- Slip and Fall Lawsuit: Who is Responsible in Louisiana?
A recent premises result, and what it took
Fall cases are hard to win on liability. This one had been turned down twice before it reached us.
- $140,000 Fall in a pothole in a commercial parking lot, Lafayette Parish. Read about this case
Figures shown are rounded; the exact amounts are on file. Past results are not a guarantee of future successes. Each case is different and is evaluated on its own facts.
Talk to a Lafayette slip and fall lawyer today
Call (337) 347-7177 for a free consultation. No fee unless we win. Prefer to type it out? Request a free case review and we will call you back.
Inzina Law Injury Attorneys
3861 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy Ste 601, Lafayette, LA 70503
(337) 347-7177 · inzinalaw.com