A fall on a freshly mopped floor at a residential treatment facility

Attorney Answer

You likely have an ordinary claim against the facility for the condition of its floor, and the deadline is the question to settle first. If the residence is not a licensed health facility, or the fall counts as ordinary premises negligence, the general two-year deadline applies and no advance notice is needed. If it is a licensed health care provider and the fall is treated as tied to your care, a shorter deadline, a 90-day notice and a damages cap apply. Until the facility's license is known, the safe course is to act as though the shorter deadline might govern.

The facility's duty. Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a):

(a) Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself.

When the owner's own staff created the slippery condition, the owner is charged with knowing about it, so you need not separately prove it knew: Sanders v. MacFarlane's Candies, 119 Cal. App. 2d 497 (1953). If any share of the fault were yours, it would reduce your recovery rather than bar it: Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978).

Is the facility a “health care provider”? The shorter malpractice rules apply only to one. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.5(1):

(1) “Health care provider” means any person licensed or certified pursuant to Division 2 (commencing with Section 500) of the Business and Professions Code, or licensed pursuant to the Osteopathic Initiative Act, or the Chiropractic Initiative Act, or licensed pursuant to Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 1440) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code; and any clinic, health dispensary, or health facility, licensed pursuant to Division 2 (commencing with Section 1200) of the Health and Safety Code. “Health care provider” includes the legal representatives of a health care provider;

Many residential programs are licensed to provide nonmedical care. Cal. Health & Safety Code § 1502(a):

(a) “Community care facility” means any facility, place, or building that is maintained and operated to provide nonmedical residential care, day treatment, adult daycare, or foster family agency services for children, adults, or children and adults, including, but not limited to, the physically handicapped, mentally impaired, incompetent persons, and abused or neglected children, and includes the following:

A licensed alcohol or drug recovery residence is likewise defined by its “residential nonmedical services” (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11834.02(a)). On the statutes' face, neither is a health facility in the sense § 340.5 uses; only the residence's license settles which it is.

Even at a licensed provider. The Supreme Court of California has held that premises negligence is professional negligence only when the premises or equipment is reasonably required to treat or accommodate the patient's condition, not when it is merely incidental to care: Flores v. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, 63 Cal. 4th 75 (2016). The hospital won on its facts, a bed rail a doctor had ordered, so the case decides the line, not your fall.

What you can do

1. Ask the ambulance service and the hospital for your records from that morning.

2. Find out how the residence is licensed; the facility can tell you, and the state licensing agencies list licensed facilities.

3. Write down who mopped, whether there was any warning, and the names of anyone who saw the fall or the wet floor.

4. Keep a record of your treatment and how the injury affects you.

5. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. An ordinary injury claim has two years under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1. If the facility is a licensed health care provider and the fall is treated as professional negligence, § 340.5 requires suit within one year of discovering the injury (or three years from it), with 90 days' notice first under § 364. Plan around the shorter period until a lawyer has confirmed which applies.