What does a Florida slip and fall lawyer cost?

Nothing up front. Florida attorneys take these cases on contingency, and Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5 caps the fee on a sliding scale — typically 33⅓% if the case resolves before the defendant answers the lawsuit, and up to 40% after. The firm fronts the case costs and recovers them from the settlement or verdict. If there's no recovery, you owe no fee.

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Florida Slip and Fall Attorneys

If you went down on something slick at a Florida business, understand this up front: the law here is stacked against you twice over.

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30,000+ plaintiffs served nationwide

Free Florida slip and fall case review

A Florida attorney will take a look. Or call 1-833-WELEGAL.

How we match your Florida slip and fall case

When you submit a Florida slip and fall matter, we route it through a national network of independent partner firms and put it in front of the one that fits best — based on the kind of case it is, what it is likely to involve, where it has to be handled, and who has capacity to take it on now.

Case type

A slip and fall matter needs someone who handles slip and fall work day to day, not a generalist. Practice area is the first filter.

Size and complexity

Some firms are built for catastrophic injury and multi-party litigation; others resolve straightforward claims quickly. We weigh what your matter is likely to involve against how each firm actually works.

Jurisdiction and licensing

Your matter is decided under Florida law, so it goes to an attorney licensed in Florida who regularly appears where your case would be heard.

Capacity and fit

Availability, conflicts of interest and language all matter. If the best-fit firm cannot take your case, we route it to the next one that can — or tell you plainly when no one in the network is the right answer.

Every partner reviews your case for free. Injury and workers’ compensation matters are handled on contingency — no fee unless you win. Other matters are quoted upfront, before you commit to anything.

Get started How DearLegal works

DearLegal provides marketing and matching services and is not a law firm. Submitting a case does not create an attorney-client relationship. Matches depend on case type, jurisdiction and firm availability.

Exhibit A

What happens with a slip and fall claim in Florida

Day 0
It happens.
Get medical care and keep every record — photos, names, the report number. In Florida, what you document now is what your claim is built on.
Within 24 hours
Tell us what happened.
Two minutes on this page. A Florida slip and fall attorney reviews it for free and, if it’s a fit, you’re matched within 24 hours.
Weeks 1–4
Your attorney builds the file.
Reports, medical records, witnesses, camera footage, insurance policies. This is the part insurers hope you skip.
Months 1–6
Demand and negotiation.
Your attorney sends a demand and negotiates with the insurer. Florida’s fault rule matters here — Modified comparative fault with a 50% bar.
Before the 2-year deadline
Suit is filed if it has to be.
Florida gives 2 years from the date it happened. Filing keeps your leverage; missing it ends the claim.
Resolution
Settlement or verdict.
You pay nothing along the way. The fee — typically 33% — comes only out of what’s recovered. If nothing is recovered, you owe nothing.

Statute of Limitations: 2 years
2 years for negligence claims accruing after March 24, 2023 (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(a)) — cut from 4 years by HB 837
Fault Rule: 50%
Modified comparative fault with a 50% bar (Fla. Stat. § 768.81) — switched from pure comparative fault by HB 837 (2023)
Notice Requirement (Business Establishments): Fla. Stat. § 768.0755
Fla. Stat. § 768.0755 — the injured person must prove the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the transitory foreign substance
Visitor Classification: Unified reasonableness
Largely a unified reasonableness approach for invitees and licensees (Wood v. Camp), with separate rules for trespassers
Open and Obvious Doctrine: Recognized
Recognized — owners generally aren't liable for hazards a reasonable person would notice, with exceptions where distraction is foreseeable
Typical attorney fee: 33%
33%–40% contingency — no fee unless you win

Because Florida wrote its slip-and-fall statute specifically to make these cases hard to win. The Legislature enacted § 768.0755 in 2010 to put the burden of proving notice squarely on the injured person: you must show the business had actual knowledge of the "transitory foreign substance," or constructive knowledge — meaning it sat there long enough that a reasonable inspection would have caught it, or the condition happened with such regularity that it was foreseeable. Without surveillance footage, inspection logs, or witnesses who can pin down the timeline, these claims routinely die at summary judgment. Then HB 837 made everything tighter in 2023: a two-year statute of limitations for negligence claims accruing after March 24, 2023, and a modified comparative-fault rule that bars recovery completely once you cross 50% fault. Publix, Walmart, and the big hospitality operators have defense playbooks refined over decades of Florida litigation. You want someone on your side who has seen those playbooks before.

Exhibit B

When to call a slip and fall attorney in Florida

Does any of this sound like you? Tap what applies.

0of 6 apply

Tick anything that applies. Even one is reason enough to talk to a Florida slip and fall attorney before you talk to an insurer.

Talk to an attorney anyway

Meanwhile, don’t

Leaving without an incident report — at a Florida chain store, if it isn't in their system, they'll say it never happened
Not photographing the substance itself before it's mopped up — under § 768.0755, what it looked like (dirty, tracked-through, melting) is proof of how long it was there
Throwing away the shoes you fell in — defense experts will make footwear an exhibit either way
Giving the adjuster a recorded statement about where you were looking — under the new 50% bar, those words become the comparative-fault case against you
Assuming you still have four years to file — HB 837 cut the deadline to two for claims accruing after March 24, 2023
Letting gaps open in your medical treatment, which the defense reads as proof you weren't really hurt
Settling before surgical and future-care costs are projected — Florida releases are final

Exhibit C

Slip and Fall cases we take in Florida

Which one is closest to yours?

Supermarket and grocery falls

Spilled liquids, dropped produce, and leaking cases at Publix, Winn-Dixie, Walmart, and Sedano's. These are the classic § 768.0755 cases — the entire fight is over how long the substance was on the floor.

Sound like yours? A Florida attorney reviews it free — no fee unless they win.

Start my free review

Exhibit D

How much do Florida slip and fall attorneys cost?

Sample settlement statement

Florida · Slip and Fall

Recovery$100,000

Attorney fee · 33%− $33,000

Case costs (advanced by firm)repaid at the end

To you$67,000

Due today$0

Try a different recovery$100,000

$5,000$3,000,000

Illustrative only. Your fee terms are set in a written agreement with your attorney and may include costs and expenses regardless of outcome.

Most Florida slip and fall attorneys work on contingency: the fee is a share of what they recover, and nothing if they don’t.

You won't pay hourly fees. Florida slip-and-fall attorneys work on contingency, and Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5 caps the percentage on a sliding scale — typically 33⅓% before the defendant files an answer and up to 40% after. Given that § 768.0755 cases live or die on fast, expensive evidence work — footage preservation, inspection-log discovery, sometimes flooring experts — the firm advancing those costs and eating them if you lose is the only sensible arrangement. Just don't sit on the new two-year deadline.

A good attorney walks through every number at your free consultation — before you sign anything.

Get startedTakes about two minutes. No obligation.

Exhibit E

What your Florida slip and fall compensation can include

A Florida slip and fall recovery is built from several parts. Tap one to see what it covers.

Medical Care, Past and Future

ER bills, imaging, surgery, hardware, rehab, and the future care a serious fall injury demands. No damages cap applies in ordinary Florida premises cases.

DearLegal is a legal referral service, not a law firm. We connect individuals with licensed attorneys who can evaluate their case. Nothing on this page constitutes legal advice. Results vary based on individual circumstances.

Exhibit F

Florida slip and fall questions, answered

Still unsure? Tell us what happened and a Florida attorney will review it for free.

Start free review

It's the spilled drink, dropped grape, tracked-in rainwater, or leaked freezer puddle you slipped on — anything on the floor that doesn't belong there. Section 768.0755 says a business isn't liable just because the substance existed; you have to prove the business knew about it or should have known. That single requirement is where most Florida slip-and-fall cases are won or lost, which is why the early evidence fight matters more here than almost anywhere else.

Two routes. Actual knowledge: an employee saw it, caused it, or someone reported it. Constructive knowledge: circumstantial proof the substance was there long enough that reasonable care would have found it — dirt and cart tracks through the puddle, a melted ice patch, footage showing twenty minutes with no inspection — or proof the condition occurred with regularity (the produce misters that always wet the floor). Surveillance video and the store's own inspection logs are the case. They get overwritten and "lost" fast, which is why a preservation letter in the first days is non-negotiable.

Two big things. First, the statute of limitations dropped from four years to two for negligence claims accruing after March 24, 2023 — people still operating on the old four-year assumption are losing claims. Second, Florida abandoned pure comparative fault: under the new 50% bar, if a jury finds you more than half responsible — you were on your phone, ignored a cone, wore the wrong shoes — you recover nothing at all. Defense lawyers now litigate your share of fault as hard as they litigate notice.

Not automatically. A warning has to be adequate — actually visible, placed at the hazard rather than thirty feet away, and put out before you fell, not after. Florida's open-and-obvious doctrine also has a recognized exception where the owner should anticipate that customers will be distracted, and retail environments are engineered to distract you with displays at eye level. The sign becomes one fact in the comparative-fault fight, not a trump card.

The legal framework is the same — § 768.0755 for substances, ordinary premises liability for structural hazards — but the opponent is different. Disney, Universal, and the major resort operators run sophisticated in-house claims operations, document everything on their own terms, and defend cases with some of the most experienced premises counsel in the state. Their incident report is written to protect them, not you. Get your own photos, your own witnesses, and your own lawyer early.

A lot. Fla. Stat. § 768.28 waives sovereign immunity for negligence but caps recovery at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident — anything above that requires a claims bill passed by the Legislature, which is rare. You must also present written notice of the claim (within 3 years for most claims) before suing. The caps and procedure make these cases a specialty; don't treat a courthouse-steps fall like a supermarket fall.

Often, yes. Florida condo and homeowners associations owe a duty of reasonable care over the common elements they control — lobbies, walkways, pool decks, parking structures — and they carry liability insurance for exactly this. The wrinkle is sorting out who controlled the spot where you fell: the association, a management company, or a maintenance contractor. Florida premises cases frequently end up with two or three defendants pointing at each other, which is an argument for counsel, not against a claim.