A fall on someone else’s property becomes a claim only when the evidence shows the owner knew about the hazard. Proving that knowledge is where most Dallas cases are won or lost, and the Supreme Court of Texas tightened the standard in April 2026. The Texas Chongo Personal Injury Lawyers handle premises liability claims throughout Dallas and the surrounding metroplex.
Our founding attorney is board-certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has tried more than 100 jury trials. If you were hurt in a fall at a store, apartment complex, parking garage, or job site, a Dallas slip and fall accident lawyer from our firm can review what happened. Call (972) 529-3476 for a free case evaluation.
Premises liability is not a side practice for our firm. Two of our founding attorney’s jury verdicts were ranked among the Top Five in Texas by VerdictSearch Texas, and both came from premises and workplace accident cases.
Our record includes:
Our office is located at 220 O’Connor Ridge Blvd in Irving, minutes from Dallas, and we take slip-and-fall cases on a contingency-fee basis. Ask about the exact fee terms during your case evaluation.
Texas does not treat a fall as automatic proof of negligence. A property owner is liable only when specific facts are established, and the injured person bears the burden.
In H-E-B, LP v. Peterson, decided April 10, 2026, the Supreme Court of Texas restated what a person injured on business property must prove:
Each element requires its own evidence. Missing one ends the claim, no matter how serious the injuries are.
Actual knowledge means someone at the property knew about the hazard. Constructive knowledge means the hazard existed long enough that a reasonable owner should have found it and addressed it.
The Peterson opinion drew a hard line on the second one. The court held that “absent temporal evidence of the duration the danger existed, the law does not charge a premises owner with constructive notice.”
In practical terms, a photograph of a puddle is not enough by itself. Our attorneys gather evidence to establish how long a condition existed, including surveillance footage, sweep and inspection logs, employee statements, work orders, and prior complaints at the same location.
The property type shapes the claim because different owners owe different duties and follow different rules.
Texas does not require private employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Employees of a nonsubscribing employer can bring a negligence claim directly against that employer.
Under Texas Labor Code Section 406.033, a nonsubscribing employer cannot defend the case by arguing that the employee was contributorily negligent, assumed the risk of injury, or was hurt by a fellow employee’s negligence. The employee still must prove the employer’s negligence. That combination makes a workplace fall a materially different case from a store fall.
Claims against a governmental unit are governed strictly by the Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA). For premises defects, Section 101.022 limits the government’s duty to that owed to a licensee (a lower standard than the duty owed to retail customers).
Deadlines also shrink sharply. Section 101.101 requires notice to the governmental unit within six months of the incident. The Dallas City Charter separately requires written notice to the city within six months, stating when, where, and how the injury occurred, the full extent of the injury, and the damages claimed.
Municipal liability is also capped. Under Section 101.023, a municipality’s liability is limited to $250,000 for each person and $500,000 for each occurrence for bodily injury or death.
Texas law separates recoverable losses into two categories. Both require documentation, and the amount available depends on the evidence, not the severity of the fall alone.
Economic Damages
Non-Economic Damages
Falls frequently produce fractures, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and spinal cord damage. Those injuries often require long treatment timelines and come with unpredictable costs. Our attorneys document future care needs with treating physicians before responding to any settlement figure, because an early number rarely accounts for a second surgery or a permanent work restriction.
Property owners routinely argue that the injured person was distracted, wearing improper footwear, or ignoring visible signs. Texas comparative fault law gives significant weight to these defenses.
Under Section 33.001 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code (Modified Comparative Fault):
Example: If a jury awards $200,000 in damages but finds you 25% responsible, your final recovery is $150,000. If assigned 51% responsibility, your recovery is $0. We build cases specifically to defeat shared-fault allegations.
Under Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, you generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. Missing this deadline permanently bars your right to recover damages.
Two years sounds generous. It is not, because surveillance footage is often overwritten within 30 to 90 days, and incident reports and sweep logs are discarded on retention schedules far shorter than the filing deadline.
Government claims run on a separate and much shorter clock. Sending a preservation letter in the first weeks often determines whether a claim is provable.
Evidence disappears quickly in premises cases, so the work starts immediately.
Our team:
Insurance companies evaluate premises claims on the strength of the notice evidence. When you develop that evidence early and thoroughly, your negotiating position changes. Our attorneys prepare each file as though a Dallas County jury will decide it, because settlement leverage comes from being ready to try the case.
There is no standard figure. Value depends on documented medical expenses, lost income, the permanence of the injury, the strength of the notice evidence, and the percentage of fault assigned to you. A case with clear video of a hazard sitting untouched for an hour is worth more than an identical injury with no timeline evidence.
Premises cases are among the harder personal injury claims to prove, largely because of the constructive notice requirement. Outcomes turn on whether duration evidence exists and was preserved, which is why the early investigation carries so much weight.
Avoid guessing. Do not estimate how long the hazard was there, speculate about your own carelessness, or describe your injuries as minor before treatment is complete. Recorded statements are regularly used to build the shared-fault argument that reduces or bars recovery.
Possibly. Eyewitnesses help, but they are not required. Surveillance footage, maintenance records, the condition of your clothing and footwear, medical records documenting the mechanism of injury, and statements from on-duty staff can establish what happened.
We work on a contingency-fee basis. You pay no upfront retainers or court costs out of pocket. You only pay legal fees if we win a financial recovery for you.
Not automatically. A warning is one factor in whether the owner exercised reasonable care, and its placement, visibility, and timing all matter. A cone set down after a customer has already fallen does nothing to address the earlier hazard.
Deadlines and disappearing evidence both work against a claim that sits. The Texas Chongo Personal Injury Lawyers investigate Dallas premises liability claims from our Irving office, and attorney David Sanchez is board certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Tell us where you fell, what the property looked like, and what treatment you have had so far. Case evaluations are free, and we handle these claims on a contingency fee basis in English and Spanish.
Call (972) 529-3476 to speak with a Dallas slip and fall accident lawyer about your options under Texas law.
