Texas Slip and Fall Laws: Proving Premises Liability in the Lone Star State

To win a slip and fall claim in Texas, you must prove the property owner was negligent, that they had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition, and that their failure to remedy it caused your injury. Texas uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar, and two key doctrines, the open-and-obvious bar and the natural-accumulation no-duty rule for ice and snow, can defeat a claim before it reaches the fault-apportionment stage.

Proving a slip and fall claim in Texas

Every Texas slip and fall case is a premises liability claim. To recover damages, you must establish four elements: the landowner owed you a duty of care, the property contained a dangerous condition, the owner had actual or constructive notice of that condition and failed to remedy it, and the failure was a proximate cause of your injuries.

Texas law divides visitors into invitees, licensees, and trespassers, and the duty owed differs for each. Invitees, those present by express or implied invitation for business purposes, such as grocery store customers, receive the highest duty: the owner must exercise reasonable care to reduce or eliminate unreasonable risks. Licensees receive a lesser duty limited to warnings about conditions the owner actually knows about. Trespassers receive only the duty to refrain from willful, wanton, or grossly negligent conduct.

The notice element is critical and is contested in most premises liability cases. Actual notice means the owner or an employee knew about the specific hazard before you fell. Constructive notice means the condition existed long enough that a reasonable owner exercising ordinary care should have discovered and corrected it. Courts look at how long the condition was present, whether store employees were nearby, and whether maintenance logs or surveillance footage can establish the timeline. The Texas Supreme Court's framework in CMH Homes, Inc. v. Daenen, 15 S.W.3d 97 (Tex. 2000), and Austin v. Kroger Texas, L.P. (2015) governs the interplay between notice and the duty element in invitee cases.

The open-and-obvious doctrine in Texas

This is a duty bar in Texas, not a comparative-fault factor. If the hazard was open and obvious or already known to you, the owner may owe you no duty at all, and your claim can be defeated before any fault comparison takes place.

The Texas Supreme Court restored and clarified the no-duty rule in Austin v. Kroger Texas, L.P., 465 S.W.3d 193 (Tex. 2015). The court held that a landowner generally owes no duty to warn of or protect an invitee against premises conditions that are open and obvious or that the invitee already knows about. The rationale is that an invitee who is already aware of a risk can take precautions just as effectively as the owner, so imposing a duty adds no safety benefit.

The practical effect is significant. If a jury or judge finds that the hazard, whether a wet floor, a clearly visible curb, or a well-lit step, was open and obvious to a reasonable person in your position, the duty element fails and the claim ends. This is a stricter outcome than in states that treat open-and-obvious as a mere comparative-fault factor reducing your recovery.

Austin recognized two exceptions that preserve the landowner's duty under limited circumstances. The criminal-activity exception may arise when a dangerous condition results from the foreseeable criminal activity of third parties. The necessary-use exception may arise when the invitee necessarily must use the unreasonably dangerous premises and, despite knowing of the danger, cannot take precautions that adequately reduce the risk. In a different setting (a hospital's duty regarding careless drivers on an adjacent public road), the Texas Supreme Court held in HNMC, Inc. v. Chan (2024) that courts should not craft case-specific duties when recognized duty rules already apply to the facts.

If you believe an exception applies to your situation, you need to affirmatively argue it. Simply showing that the owner was negligent is not enough if the hazard was open and obvious.

Ice, snow, and natural accumulation in Texas

Texas applies a no-duty rule for naturally accumulated ice, sleet, and snow. Falls on naturally occurring outdoor winter accumulation generally do not support a premises liability claim in Texas.

The Texas Supreme Court held in Scott & White Memorial Hospital v. Fair, 310 S.W.3d 411 (Tex. 2010) that a natural accumulation of ice, sleet, or snow does not pose an unreasonable risk of harm as a matter of law. In that case, ice from a winter storm had accumulated on the hospital's parking lot, road, and steps, and the plaintiff fell on the road between the parking lot and the hospital; the court held that the naturally occurring ice was not an unreasonably dangerous condition, so the premises liability claim failed. The court reasoned that imposing liability for purely natural accumulations would place too great a burden on Texas landowners, who cannot realistically combat all naturally occurring weather effects.

The key word is "natural." The Fair holding covers only naturally occurring ice. Ice that did not come from the weather, such as ice on a floor from a soft drink dispenser, can be an unreasonably dangerous condition; the court cited Brookshire Grocery Co. v. Taylor (Tex. 2006) for that point. Whether Texas recognizes a claim where the owner's conduct made a weather-caused accumulation unnatural, or where the owner knew a natural accumulation was substantially more dangerous than invitees would anticipate, is unsettled. The plaintiffs in Fair argued for these two exceptions, and the court assumed, without deciding, that they might be cognizable, but found no evidence for either. It also held that salting, shoveling, or applying deicer to a natural ice accumulation does not transform it into an unnatural one.

This means that Texas falls on outdoor ice or snow face a steep threshold. Consulting an attorney early to evaluate whether the accumulation was truly natural is important because the answer controls whether a duty existed at all.

How fault is shared: Texas's negligence rule

Texas uses the proportionate responsibility system under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ch. 33, which is a modified comparative negligence rule with a 51% bar.

Under Section 33.001, a plaintiff whose percentage of responsibility is greater than 50% recovers nothing. A plaintiff who is 50% or less at fault recovers damages reduced by their own fault share. For example, if a jury awards $80,000 in total damages but finds you were 30% responsible for your fall (perhaps because you ignored a warning sign), you recover $56,000. If the same jury found you 51% responsible, you recover zero.

Texas also has a joint-and-several liability provision. Under Section 33.013, a defendant found more than 50% responsible can be held jointly and severally liable for the entire judgment, not just their proportionate share. This is relevant when multiple defendants are involved, such as a store owner and a maintenance contractor, and one is insolvent.

Note that the proportionate responsibility framework only matters if you first survive the duty and open-and-obvious analyses described above. Both of those bars operate before the comparative-fault calculation even begins.

Deadlines: statute of limitations and government claims

The deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit in Texas, including slip and fall claims, is two years from the date the cause of action accrues, under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Sec. 16.003(a). The clock generally starts on the date of the fall. Texas recognizes narrow tolling exceptions: the limitations period is tolled during the minority of an injured child (it starts running on their 18th birthday), and the discovery rule can apply in limited circumstances where the nature of the injury was inherently undiscoverable.

For more detail on how Texas's statutes of limitations work across case types, see the Texas statute of limitations page.

Falls on government-owned property require strict notice compliance before you can sue. The Texas Tort Claims Act, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Sec. 101.101(a), requires written notice to the responsible governmental unit within six months of the incident. However, Section 101.101(b) expressly authorizes home-rule city charter provisions that impose shorter notice periods, and most major Texas cities do exactly that.

The City of Houston charter requires notice within 90 days. Other Texas cities impose notice periods ranging from 45 to 100 days. If you fell on property owned or maintained by a city, you need to identify the applicable notice deadline for that specific city immediately, because missing it waives your tort claim against that governmental unit. The 90-day figure cited here is Houston's requirement; it is not the statewide standard. Section 101.101(c) provides one narrow out: formal notice is excused if the governmental unit already had actual notice of the death, injury, or property damage. Missing the applicable notice deadline is a complete waiver; act fast. For a fall on city property, ask a Texas premises liability lawyer for a free consultation to find that city's deadline and send the written notice (attorney advertising).

What a Texas slip and fall claim is worth

A Texas slip and fall settlement or verdict can include economic damages (medical bills, future medical care, lost wages, loss of earning capacity) and non-economic damages (pain and suffering, physical impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of consortium). Texas does not cap non-economic damages in ordinary personal injury cases; the cap in Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Sec. 74.301 applies only to health-care liability claims (medical malpractice), not premises liability.

Your recovery is reduced by your own percentage of fault under the proportionate responsibility system. At 51% or more fault, recovery is zero. Beyond comparative fault, the open-and-obvious and natural-accumulation bars discussed above can prevent recovery entirely if the duty element fails.

Cases involving fractures, traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, or lengthy surgeries and rehabilitation typically produce higher values. Cases with short recovery periods, pre-existing conditions, or where the hazard was arguably obvious carry lower values and greater risk of the claim being defeated at the duty stage.

Use the Texas slip and fall settlement calculator to model your potential damages before consulting an attorney. Return to the Slip and Fall Laws hub for comparisons across all 50 states.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Premises liability law varies by state and changes, and case values depend on the specific facts. For advice about a specific fall, consult a licensed attorney in Texas.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I prove a slip and fall in Texas?

You must prove four elements: the owner owed you a duty of care (you were an invitee or licensee), the premises had a dangerous condition, the owner had actual or constructive notice of it and failed to fix it, and that failure caused your injury. Notice is usually the hardest element: you need evidence that the hazard existed long enough that a reasonable owner should have discovered and corrected it, or that the owner actually knew about it.

Is Texas an open-and-obvious state?

Yes, and the rule is strict. Under Austin v. Kroger Texas, L.P., 465 S.W.3d 193 (Tex. 2015), Texas uses a no-duty rule: if a hazard is open and obvious or already known to you, the landowner generally owes you no duty to warn or protect against it, and your claim can be defeated entirely. This is a duty bar, not just a factor that reduces your damages. Two narrow exceptions exist: the criminal-activity exception and the necessary-use exception.

Can I sue for falling on ice or snow in Texas?

Generally not if the accumulation was purely natural. Under Scott & White Memorial Hospital v. Fair, 310 S.W.3d 411 (Tex. 2010), naturally accumulated ice, sleet, and snow do not constitute an unreasonable risk of harm as a matter of law, so they cannot support a premises liability claim. Ice that did not come from the weather, such as ice from a soft drink dispenser, can be an unreasonably dangerous condition. Whether the owner's conduct can make a weather-caused accumulation unnatural or substantially more dangerous is unsettled; the court assumed, without deciding, that such exceptions might exist, found no evidence for either, and held that salting, shoveling, or applying deicer to natural ice does not make it unnatural.

How long do I have to file a slip and fall lawsuit in Texas?

Two years from the date of the fall under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Sec. 16.003(a). If the fall occurred on government property, you must also provide written notice of your claim within the deadline set by the applicable governmental unit before you can file suit. For many Texas cities, that notice deadline is 90 days or less, and missing it waives your right to sue.

Can I recover if I was partly at fault for my fall?

Yes, if you were 50% or less at fault. Under Texas's proportionate responsibility system (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ch. 33), your damages are reduced by your fault percentage. If you are more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing. Be aware that the open-and-obvious doctrine is a separate bar that can defeat your claim before fault percentages are even assigned.

How much is a Texas slip and fall claim worth?

Value depends on your injuries, medical costs, lost wages, and fault percentage. Texas does not cap non-economic damages in ordinary premises liability cases. Your recovery is reduced by your fault share under the 51% proportionate responsibility rule. Fractures, spinal injuries, and traumatic brain injuries typically produce higher values. Use the Texas slip and fall settlement calculator to model an estimate before speaking with an attorney.

What happens if I fell at a government building or public sidewalk in Texas?

You must file a written notice of claim with the responsible governmental unit before you can sue. The Texas Tort Claims Act sets a six-month baseline under Sec. 101.101(a), but most major Texas cities impose much shorter deadlines through their city charters. Houston requires 90 days; other cities require as little as 45 days. Missing the applicable deadline waives your claim. You then have the standard 2-year statute of limitations to file suit after giving timely notice.