Beating the Trivial Defect Doctrine in Trip-and-Fall Cases
The trivial defect doctrine ends more sidewalk cases than any other premises defense. Beating it means winning the aggravating-circumstance…
Category
Slip & Fall
Premises liability, mode-of-operation
Prying the Incident Report Loose in Premises Cases
The corporate incident report is often the most useful document in a premises file. Here is how to force its production and use its timesta…
Beating the Open-and-Obvious Defense in Premises Cases
The open-and-obvious rule rarely ends a premises case outright. It shifts the fight to the duty to maintain and to two exceptions, distract…
The Mode-of-Operation Rule: Winning Premises Cases Without Proving Notice
When a business model predictably scatters hazards, the mode-of-operation rule can carry a premises case past the notice element that sinks…
H-E-B v. Peterson and the Temporal-Evidence Wall
The Supreme Court of Texas reinstated summary judgment in H-E-B v. Peterson, reaffirming that constructive notice lives or dies on proof of…
Winning the Notice Fight in Slip-and-Fall Cases
Premises cases turn on how long the hazard sat there. Here is how to build the temporal record, preserve perishable surveillance, and answe…
Building the Notice Record in Slip-and-Fall Cases
Constructive notice still turns on duration. How recent Texas and New Jersey rulings should shape the evidence you lock down in the first t…