I fell in a supermarket in Hialeah. Why the first 30 days decide the case

Slip and fall cases in Florida are won or lost on one question: how long was the hazard there? Since 2010, Fla. Stat. § 768.0755 has put the burden on the injured person to prove the store knew about the substance on the floor or should have known, either because it had been there long enough or because it happened regularly. In a Hialeah supermarket, the only witness to “how long” is usually the camera above the aisle. And that camera keeps its footage for about 30 days.

What Fla. Stat. § 768.0755 actually requires

If you slip on a “transitory foreign substance” in a business establishment — water, produce, oil, a spilled drink — you must prove that the business had actual or constructive knowledge of it and should have taken action. Constructive knowledge can be shown by circumstantial evidence that:

• the substance existed for such a length of time that, in the exercise of ordinary care, the business should have known of it; or
• the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.

That is the whole case. Not “there was water,” but “there was water long enough that they should have found it,” or “there is always water there.” Employee walk-throughs, sweep logs, prior incidents, and, above all, video are how that is proven.

What the video shows that nothing else can

A supermarket’s surveillance system typically records every aisle continuously. When we obtain footage of a fall, we look at the two hours before it: when the spill appeared, whether an employee walked past it, whether a cart leaked, whether the same spot has been mopped repeatedly, whether a caution sign was ever placed and when. That is § 768.0755’s “length of time” and “regularity” evidence, on tape. Without it, the case rests on your memory and the store’s incident report, which the store wrote.

Most systems overwrite on a rolling basis, commonly 14 to 30 days, sometimes 60 or 90 for larger chains. A store has no obligation to keep footage of an ordinary day. It does have an obligation to keep it once it has been put on notice that a claim exists.

The preservation letter

A preservation (spoliation) letter is a written demand, sent to the store and its parent company, identifying the date, time, and location of the fall and demanding that all video, incident reports, sweep logs, employee schedules, and prior-incident records be preserved. Once received, destroying that evidence exposes the store to spoliation sanctions, including a jury instruction that the missing evidence would have been unfavorable to it. Wolfson & Leon sends this letter the day we are retained, by certified mail and email, and follows up in writing.

What to do the day you fall

1. Report it to a manager and ask for an incident report. Get the manager’s name. Do not sign a statement about how it happened; sign only an acknowledgment that you reported it.
2. Photograph the spot before it is cleaned: the substance, the surrounding floor, any sign or lack of one, your shoes and clothing.
3. Get witness names and numbers. Other shoppers leave in minutes and cannot be found later.
4. See a doctor that day and describe exactly how you fell.
5. Keep your shoes unwashed. The defense will argue about footwear; keep the evidence.
6. Call a lawyer within days, not weeks. The clock on the video is already running.

Where these falls happen in Hialeah

The same places every week: the produce and freezer sections of the big supermarkets on W 49th St and W 68th St, the entrances of pharmacies and dollar stores on Palm Avenue and E 4th Ave when it rains, restaurant restrooms, and the parking lots of the shopping centers along Okeechobee Road, where broken pavement and poor lighting are the hazard rather than a spill. Parking-lot falls are governed by ordinary premises liability rather than § 768.0755, but the video, and the 30 days, matter just the same.

What Wolfson & Leon does on the first call

We ask where and when you fell, whether you reported it, whether you were treated, and whether you have photos. If the fall was recent, we send the preservation letter that day. Then we obtain the incident report and video, your medical records, and the store’s sweep logs and prior-incident history, and we build the “how long” case that § 768.0755 demands. Call (305) 285-7071. Free consultation, English or Spanish, no fee unless we recover money for you.