A trip to the grocery store, a restaurant, or a shop in Florence shouldn’t end with a trip to the emergency room. But wet floors, uneven walkways, poor lighting, and cluttered aisles cause serious injuries every year — and when a property owner fails to keep their premises reasonably safe, they can be held legally responsible. If you’ve been hurt in a slip and fall at a Florence business, knowing what to do in the hours and days afterward can make a real difference in your recovery and your ability to seek compensation.
Why Slip and Falls Happen at Businesses
Businesses have a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions for customers. Slip and fall accidents often happen because that duty wasn’t met, including situations like:
- Wet or recently mopped floors without warning signs
- Spilled products left unaddressed in aisles
- Uneven flooring, torn carpet, or damaged tile
- Poorly lit stairwells, hallways, or parking areas
- Loose mats or rugs that shift underfoot
- Cluttered walkways or merchandise blocking pathways
Not every fall is the result of negligence — but when a hazard existed that the business knew about (or should have known about) and failed to fix or warn customers about, that’s often where liability comes in.
What to Do Immediately After a Slip and Fall
The steps you take right after a fall can significantly affect a future claim.
- Report the incident. Ask to speak with a manager and make sure an incident report is created. Request a copy if possible.
- Take photos and video. Capture the hazard that caused your fall — the wet floor, the uneven surface, the missing warning sign — before it gets cleaned up or fixed.
- Get contact information from witnesses. Anyone who saw the fall can support your account of what happened.
- Seek medical attention. Some injuries, like concussions or soft tissue damage, aren’t obvious right away. A medical evaluation also creates a record connecting your injury to the fall.
- Avoid giving a recorded statement to the business’s insurer before speaking with an attorney. Insurance adjusters are trained to ask questions that can be used to minimize your claim.
- Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing. They can be relevant evidence, especially if there’s any dispute about footwear or traction.
Proving Liability in a Florence Slip and Fall Case
To recover compensation, you generally need to show that the property owner or business was negligent — meaning they knew, or reasonably should have known, about a hazardous condition and failed to correct it or warn customers within a reasonable time. Evidence that helps establish this can include surveillance footage, maintenance and cleaning logs, prior incident reports involving the same hazard, and testimony from employees or other customers. Because businesses and their insurers often move quickly to review or dispose of this kind of evidence, having an attorney request and preserve it early can be critical.
How South Carolina’s Comparative Negligence Rule Affects Your Claim
South Carolina follows a modified comparative negligence rule, sometimes called the “51% bar.” Under this rule, you can still recover compensation even if you were partly at fault for your own fall, as long as you’re found 50% or less responsible — though your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you’re found 51% or more at fault, you can’t recover anything. Businesses and their insurers often try to shift blame onto the injured person — arguing you weren’t watching where you were walking, for example — specifically because it can reduce or eliminate what they have to pay. This makes it especially important to document the hazard and the circumstances of your fall as thoroughly as possible.
What Compensation May Be Available
Depending on the severity of your injuries, a successful slip and fall claim may allow you to recover damages for:
- Medical expenses, both current and future
- Lost wages if your injury kept you out of work
- Pain and suffering
- Reduced earning capacity for more serious or long-term injuries
The value of a claim depends heavily on the specific facts and the extent of your injuries, which is why an individual case evaluation matters more than any general estimate.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a slip and fall claim in South Carolina?
South Carolina’s statute of limitations generally gives injured people a set number of years from the date of the fall to file a lawsuit. It’s important to speak with an attorney promptly, since waiting can jeopardize evidence and your ability to file at all.
What if I wasn’t given a warning sign about a wet floor?
The absence of a warning sign, when a business knew or should have known about a hazard, can be strong evidence of negligence, but it’s just one factor considered alongside the full circumstances of your fall.
Can I still recover damages if I was partly at fault for my fall?
Yes, as long as you’re found 50% or less at fault. Your compensation would be reduced by your percentage of fault under South Carolina’s comparative negligence rule.
Hurt in a Florence Slip and Fall? Contact Sabb Law Group
If you were injured at a business in Florence due to an unsafe condition, don’t wait to protect your rights — evidence can disappear quickly. The attorneys at Sabb Law Group can investigate what happened, deal with the insurance company on your behalf, and help you pursue the compensation you deserve. Call our Kingstree office at (843) 355-5349 or our Lake City office at (843) 374-1628 for a consultation.
