In this article 8 sections
Most falls happen in ordinary places. A puddle near the produce section. A loose stair tread in an apartment building. A cracked walkway outside an office. In summer, the list grows to include slick pool decks, broken gates, and backyard pools where a child got in when nobody was watching.
When you are hurt on someone else’s property, it is natural to feel embarrassed, as if the fall was your fault for not looking. Sometimes that is part of the story. Often, though, the bigger part is a property owner who knew about a hazard, or should have known, and did nothing about it.
California calls this area of law premises liability. Here is how it works, what you generally need to prove, how pool safety rules fit in, and what to do if you or your child was hurt.
The Basic Rule: Reasonable Care
California’s starting point is Civil Code section 1714(a), which makes everyone responsible for injuries caused by their “want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person.”
The California Supreme Court applied that rule to property owners in Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108. Before Rowland, a visitor’s rights depended heavily on labels like “invitee,” “licensee,” or “trespasser.” Rowland moved California away from those rigid categories. The court described the proper test as whether, in the management of the property, the owner “has acted as a reasonable man in view of the probability of injury to others.” A visitor’s status can still be relevant, but it does not by itself decide the case.
That duty applies to people who own, lease, occupy, or control property. Depending on the facts, that can include a homeowner, a landlord, a tenant, a store, a property management company, or a homeowners association.
What You Generally Have to Prove
California’s civil jury instructions lay out the core elements. Under CACI No. 1000, you must show that the defendant owned, leased, occupied, or controlled the property; that the defendant was negligent in the use or maintenance of the property; that you were harmed; and that the negligence was a substantial factor in causing your harm.
For a dangerous condition like a spill or a broken step, CACI No. 1003 explains what negligence means. The owner was negligent if:
- A condition on the property created an unreasonable risk of harm;
- The owner knew, or through the exercise of reasonable care should have known, about it; and
- The owner failed to repair the condition, protect against harm from it, or adequately warn of it.
Notice: The Heart of Most Slip-and-Fall Cases
That second element, notice, is where many cases are won or lost.
Actual notice means the owner knew about the hazard. An employee saw the spill, a tenant reported the broken railing, or there were prior complaints.
Constructive notice means the owner should have known. Under CACI No. 1011, a jury considers whether the condition “was of such a nature and existed long enough” that the owner had sufficient time to discover it and, using reasonable care, fix it, protect against it, or warn about it.
Why inspections matter: Ortega v. Kmart
In Ortega v. Kmart Corp. (2001) 26 Cal.4th 1200, the California Supreme Court addressed a common problem in slip-and-fall cases: the injured person usually has no idea how long the spill was on the floor. The court held that a plaintiff may prove a dangerous condition existed for an unreasonable time with circumstantial evidence, and that evidence an inspection had not been made within a particular period before the accident may support an inference that the condition existed long enough for a reasonably careful owner to discover it.
Ortega involved a store, and the jury instruction based on it notes that courts decide whether that inspection language applies to other types of property. Still, the practical lesson is broad: inspection logs, cleaning schedules, and surveillance video are often critical evidence, and they can disappear if no one asks for them quickly.
Trivial defects
Not every imperfection creates liability. Property owners are generally not required to keep walkways in absolutely perfect condition, and a minor, trivial, or insignificant defect may not support a claim. Whether a defect is trivial is a fact-specific question.
Pool Injuries and California’s Swimming Pool Safety Act
Pools raise the stakes. According to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), drowning is a leading cause of injury-related death among children under five, and most drowning deaths of children ages 1 to 4 occur in pools at people’s homes. A CDPH data brief covering 2016 through 2023 found that children ages 1 to 4 had the highest fatal drowning rate of any childhood age group and were most likely to drown in swimming pools or hot tubs. Across all ages, California recorded 537 unintentional fatal drownings among state residents in 2023.
California’s Swimming Pool Safety Act, Health and Safety Code sections 115920 through 115929, responds to that risk. Under section 115922, when a building permit is issued to build a new pool or spa, or to remodel an existing one, at a private single-family home, the pool must have at least two of seven drowning prevention safety features. Those include:
- An enclosure that isolates the pool from the home, meeting specific height and gate standards under section 115923 (for example, at least 60 inches tall with self-closing, self-latching gates that open away from the pool);
- Removable mesh fencing with a self-closing, self-latching gate;
- A safety pool cover meeting a specified ASTM standard;
- Exit alarms on doors and windows that open directly to the pool;
- Self-closing, self-latching devices on those doors, with the release at least 54 inches above the floor;
- A pool alarm certified to a specified ASTM standard; and
- Other independently verified means of equal or greater protection.
The statute also says certain combinations do not count, such as a safety cover paired with a pool alarm. The Act does not apply to public pools, to apartment complexes or other residential settings besides single-family homes, or to hot tubs and spas with qualifying locking safety covers.
A missing or broken safety feature does not automatically decide a case, but it can be strong evidence that an owner failed to use reasonable care. Pool cases can also involve other problems: slippery decks, missing depth markings, broken drain covers, or inadequate supervision at a pool party.
When the owner says “recreational use”
Owners sometimes point to Civil Code section 846, California’s recreational use statute. It generally says that a property owner owes no duty to keep premises safe for people who enter for recreational purposes, a list that includes water sports, hiking, and picnicking.
The statute has important exceptions. It does not limit liability for a willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, for injuries where permission to enter was granted in exchange for payment, or for people who were “expressly invited rather than merely permitted” onto the property by the owner. A guest specifically invited to a pool party, for example, may fall within that last exception. How section 846 applies is very fact-specific.
Falls and Pool Injuries on Public Property
If you fell on a city sidewalk, in a public building, or at a public pool, different rules apply. Under Government Code section 835, a public entity may be liable for a dangerous condition of its property if the condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the kind of injury you suffered and either a public employee created it or the entity had actual or constructive notice in time to fix it. Government Code section 830 defines a dangerous condition as one that creates a substantial, as opposed to a minor, trivial, or insignificant, risk of injury.
Most importantly, you generally must present a written claim to the public entity within six months of the injury under Government Code section 911.2 before you can sue. We cover that in detail in our post on government claims deadline traps.
What to Do After a Fall or Pool Injury
- Get medical care. Some fall injuries, including head and back injuries, are not obvious right away. John Reardon spent nearly two decades treating injured patients as a chiropractor before he became a lawyer, and he saw how often a “minor” fall turned into months of treatment.
- Photograph the hazard right away, along with your shoes, the lighting, and any warning signs (or the lack of them).
- Report the incident to the store manager, landlord, or property owner, and ask for a copy of any report.
- Get witness names and contact information.
- Ask that video and records be preserved. A lawyer can send a preservation letter for surveillance footage, inspection logs, and maintenance records.
Deadlines
For claims against private property owners, California’s statute of limitations is generally two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. For children, Code of Civil Procedure section 352 generally pauses the clock until age 18, but not for claims that must first be presented to a public entity. Waiting rarely helps, because evidence like video footage is often overwritten.
Talk to Us About Your Injury
A fall or a pool injury can change your life in seconds. California law expects property owners to act reasonably, but proving what they knew, and when, takes prompt work.
If you were hurt on someone else’s property, learn more about our slip and fall practice or contact us for a free consultation. We will review what happened, and you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Call 657.522.7122.