In Florida, if the owner or operator had told residents that a particular floor was slippery when wet, this may be enough for you to prove notice. In Florida, you may have a great case against an apartment complex if you slip and fall on a substance because it has to reasonably make the floors – in common areas — clean and safe.
Example
You live in an apartment complex in Kendall – or any city in Florida. You walked through a hallway that led to a patio (common area) where you were allowed to be. On your walk back through the hallway, you slipped on a wet spot on a tile or marble floor. Other employees, including the manager of the apartment complex, had received several complaints from residents who said that the floor was slippery when it was wet. One of the employees says that she had seen people slip in the hallway before your accident. The apartment complex notified, verbally and in writing, the apartment owners that the hallway was slippery when wet.
Other residents say that water was on the hallway floor each day, but no one knows how the water that you slipped on was there. No one swept the floor on the day of your accident or for a couple of days before your accident. The apartment complex did not have any procedures for inspecting the hallway.
The fact that the apartment complex had repeatedly warned the owners that the hallway was slippery and dangerous puts the apartment complex on notice of the repetitive problem and should get your case to a jury, which is what you want. Since you were allowed to use the hallway that you fell in, the apartment complex is required to keep the area safe and clean. Section 83.51(2)(a)3, F.S. This statute states:
(2)(a) Unless otherwise agreed in writing, in addition to the requirements of subsection (1), the landlord of a dwelling unit other than a single-family home or duplex shall, at all times during the tenancy, make reasonable provisions for:
(3) The clean and safe condition of common areas.
The apartment complex allowed water to get on the hallway floor and this violation of its statutory duty is evidence of negligence. Even if you knew that the hallway was slippery when wet, you may still have a good case. Your damages (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, etc.) would be reduced by your comparative negligence. You are entitled to get your case to a jury and try to prove that the apartment complex had failed to take reasonable care to make the hallway safer.
I took a lot of the facts from the above example from the case of Bennett v. Mattison, 382 So.2d 873 (Fla. App. 1 Dist., 1980)
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