Premises Liability for a Fall at Another Person's Property

Attorney Answer

Possibly — but a property owner is not automatically responsible just because someone is hurt on the property, and if you were there for work the claim may run through workers' compensation instead of a premises suit. Both questions need answering, and one of them has a deadline measured in days.

Take the premises question first. In Corbin v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 648 S.W.2d 292 (Tex. 1983), the Texas Supreme Court described the duty owed to an invitee as a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect against unreasonable risks of harm the occupier knows about or should know about. Keetch v. Kroger Co., 845 S.W.2d 262 (Tex. 1992), sets out what a claimant must establish: actual or constructive knowledge of the condition, that the condition posed an unreasonable risk of harm, that the owner failed to exercise reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the risk, and that the failure proximately caused the injury. Keetch also holds that an owner's having created the condition permits a finding of knowledge but does not compel one.

That is the honest limit on your claim. A tub being old is not, by itself, an unreasonable risk of harm, and it does not by itself show what the owner knew. What matters is the specific condition — a loose or missing grab bar, a worn non-slip surface, a leak, a broken fixture — and whether the owner knew or should have known about it. Be aware too that the duty owed depends on why you were on the property. The duty described in Corbin is the one owed to an invitee; a social guest is generally owed less. Which category applies to you is a question for a Texas attorney on your facts.

Now the part with the clock. You describe this person as your boss. If you were injured in the course of your employment, Tex. Lab. Code § 408.001(a) makes workers' compensation benefits the exclusive remedy of a covered employee against the employer for a work-related injury. But Texas lets employers go without coverage, and an employer that does not subscribe is outside § 408.001 and loses the usual common-law defenses. Either way, the notice deadlines are short: § 409.001(a) requires an employee to notify the employer of an injury not later than the 30th day after the injury occurs, and § 409.003 requires a claim to be filed with the division not later than one year after the injury.

Last, on the bills: nothing obliges a property owner or an employer to pay medical bills as they come in. Payment normally comes at the end, through insurance or a resolved claim.

What you can do

1. If this happened at work or while working, give your employer written notice of the injury now if you have not already, and keep a dated copy. Section 409.001(a) sets 30 days from the injury.

2. Ask your employer in writing whether it carries workers' compensation insurance coverage. The answer changes which path your claim takes.

3. Photograph the bathroom and the tub as they are, if you still have access, and preserve any texts or messages about the fall and the bills.

4. Collect your complete medical records and itemized bills, and keep following through on treatment.

5. Ask a Texas attorney about the § 409.003 one-year claim deadline and about a premises claim against the property owner before you sign any release or settlement.

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

⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) requires a personal-injury suit to be brought not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues, and the workers' compensation deadlines in Tex. Lab. Code §§ 409.001 and 409.003 are far shorter. Which of these applies to you depends on your facts, so get them in front of a Texas attorney rather than counting from a page like this.