You slipped in a store aisle or on an apartment stairwell, got up, and told everyone you were fine. Days later, the headaches started, or the wrist you thought was sprained turned out to be broken. A fall becomes a serious injury case in New Jersey when it causes lasting harm and the business, landlord, or tenant that controlled the spot failed to use reasonable care. A New Jersey slip and fall attorney at Bendit Weinstock can review what happened, who controlled the property, and which deadlines apply to you.
Why a Fall That Seemed Minor Can Turn Serious
Many people stand up after a fall, feel embarrassed, and go home. The serious part of the injury shows up later. The CDC reports that some concussion symptoms appear right away, while others may not appear for hours or days after the injury. Those symptoms include headaches, dizziness, and trouble concentrating. The CDC also notes that a person with a concussion does not always recognize the problems.
Falls can also break a wrist, arm, ankle, or hip, and among adults 65 and older, falls caused 88% of emergency department visits and hospital stays for hip fractures, according to the CDC. A fracture that needs surgery, a head injury that keeps you out of work, or a lasting loss of mobility is the kind of harm that turns a fall into a serious injury case. The next question is whether the property owner caused it.
Where Serious Falls Happen in Stores, Apartment Buildings, and Mixed-Use Properties
Serious falls happen in places people pass through every day, such as:
- A spill, a leaking cooler, or tracked-in rain on the floor of a supermarket, pharmacy, or restaurant
- A broken stair tread, a loose handrail, or a burned-out light in an apartment building stairwell
- Torn carpet or wet tile in a lobby, laundry room, or parking garage that tenants share
- A cracked sidewalk or a broken entrance step outside a building with shops on the ground floor and apartments above
Many of these places also have a tenant, a property manager, or a maintenance contractor. The first question in determining fault is who controlled the spot where you fell.
What New Jersey Businesses Owe Their Customers
In Prioleau v. Kentucky Fried Chicken, decided in 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court explained that a business owes its customers due care under all the circumstances, including a reasonable inspection to discover hidden dangers. Ordinarily, the injured customer must show that the business knew or should have known about the hazard. The court described two settings that change that burden.
If the business or its employees created the hazard, the customer does not have to prove the business knew about it. When the hazard comes from the self-service setup itself, such as loose produce that shoppers handle and drop, the law infers negligence, and the business must come forward with evidence that it used reasonable care. A store simply having self-service aisles is not enough. Rain that customers track in from the street does not count as self-service, because that risk exists at almost any building that admits people from the sidewalk. For that kind of fall, records of floor checks, cleaning, and warning signs become key evidence.
Who Is Responsible in an Apartment or Mixed-Use Building
In apartment and mixed-use buildings, control can be split. A landlord can maintain the lobby, stairs, and hallways, while a ground-floor store leases its space and runs it day to day. In Shields v. Ramslee Motors, the New Jersey Supreme Court repeated that a landlord must use reasonable care to guard against foreseeable dangers in the parts of a rental property it keeps control over. The court then held that a commercial tenant with complete control of its leased property, under a lease that made it responsible for maintenance, was solely responsible for the snow and ice where its visitor fell.
Sidewalks follow a separate rule. In Padilla v. Young Il An, decided in 2024, the court held that all commercial property owners owe a duty to maintain the sidewalks next to their property in reasonably good condition. The court recalled its earlier comment that apartment buildings should be treated as commercial property, and it described how lower courts sort mixed-use properties case by case.
As part of our premises liability work, we review contracts, leases, and maintenance agreements to determine who controlled the area where you fell.
Falls on Public Property Follow Stricter Rules
A fall in a town hall, a public library, or other property that a New Jersey town, county, state agency, or housing authority controls brings in the New Jersey Tort Claims Act, the law for injury claims against these government entities. Three of its rules matter most when the injury is serious:
Notice
The act’s notice section requires you to present the claim to the public entity within 90 days after the claim accrues, meaning the date the law treats the claim as starting. Determining the exact public entity responsible and serving them with proper notice is a strict and crucial deadline. In very limited circumstances, a judge can allow late notice within one year of accrual for extraordinary circumstances if the public entity was not substantially prejudiced.
Liability
Under the act’s dangerous-condition section, you must prove that a dangerous condition of the property caused the injury and created a foreseeable risk of that kind of injury. You must also prove that a public employee’s negligent or wrongful act on the job created the condition or that the entity knew about it, or should have found it, in time to protect against it. Even then, the entity is liable only if what it did, or failed to do, about the condition was palpably unreasonable, meaning so plainly wrong that no prudent person would approve of it. That standard is harder to prove than ordinary carelessness.
Pain and Suffering Damages
The act bars damages for pain and suffering against a public entity unless the injury is a substantial permanent loss of a bodily function, a permanent disfigurement, or a dismemberment, and the medical treatment expenses exceed $3,600. The Legislature last amended that section in 2025. On public property, the seriousness of the injury decides whether you can recover for pain and suffering at all. A sprain that heals completely does not meet that test.
How Shared Fault and the Two-Year Deadline Affect Your Claim
Expect the insurer to argue that you should have watched your step. New Jersey’s comparative negligence statute sets the rule. Your share of fault does not bar recovery if it is not greater than the fault of the party you sue, or the combined fault of all the parties you sue. Your damages are reduced by your percentage. A person found 20% at fault recovers 80% of the damages, but a person found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing.
For a claim against a business, landlord, or other private property owner, New Jersey’s general deadline for an injury lawsuit is two years after the claim accrues. A lawsuit against a New Jersey public entity must also be filed within two years after the claim accrues. Claims against the Port Authority, which runs Newark Airport, have their own notice rule and a one-year deadline to sue. The safest course is to count both that deadline and the 90-day public-entity deadline from the day you fell. Do not wait for treatment to end before you talk with a lawyer.
Steps to Take When a Fall Turns Out to Be Serious
If your symptoms worsened after a fall, follow these steps protect your health and your claim:
- See a doctor, and tell the provider that you fell, where, and when the symptoms started.
- Keep every medical record and bill, plus notes on missed work and the activities you can no longer do.
- Write down the date, time, location, what you slipped on, the lighting, any warning signs, and witness names.
- Keep the shoes and clothing you wore, and photograph the spot if you can return safely.
- Report the fall in writing to the store manager, landlord, or property manager, and keep a copy.
- Find out whether a New Jersey government body owns or controls the property, because that claim carries the 90-day notice deadline.
A recorded statement to an insurer or a signed release can affect your claim, so talk with a lawyer before you give either one.
Talk With a New Jersey Slip and Fall Attorney
Founded in 1957, Bendit Weinstock represents people hurt in falls at stores, apartment buildings, and other properties across New Jersey. Our trial-ready attorneys work with qualified experts, identify all potentially responsible parties, and keep you informed. Contact us to schedule a free case evaluation.