Florida’s slip and fall statute of limitations is generally two years from the date of the fall, a deadline Florida cut from four years in 2023. Under certain circumstances, the slip and fall statute of limitations can extend past two years, like when the injured person is a minor or when a government entity owns the property where the fall occurred.
The clock runs regardless of how long medical treatment continues or whether an attorney has finished building the case, and a court will dismiss a case brought after the deadline has passed regardless of how severe the injuries are or how clear the property owner’s negligence was.
Florida’s Two-Year Deadline Under § 95.11(3)(a)
Florida Statutes § 95.11(3)(a) governs the slip and fall statute of limitations in Florida and provides that a person injured in a slip and fall has two years from the date of the fall to pursue a case against the property owner.
Building a Case Within the Two-Year Deadline
A serious slip and fall injury requiring surgery or extended physical therapy can require an injured person to undergo six months to a year of treatment before a physician can determine the full extent of the damage or provide a long-term prognosis. At the same time, surveillance footage from the property gets overwritten within days or weeks and maintenance records get discarded, which means the evidence surrounding the fall may be gone by the time an injured person realizes the injuries are serious enough to pursue a case.
An attorney has to begin securing the evidence to support a slip and fall case well before the injured person’s treatment concludes, and the two-year deadline requires enough medical documentation to establish the full extent of the injuries and a physician’s prognosis before the deadline passes.
Tolling Provisions That Can Extend the Two-Year Deadline
Under Florida Statute Section 95.051 (When Limitations Tolled), the slip and fall statute of limitations can only be extended under the specific circumstances defined in the Florida statute, and Florida law does not recognize any other grounds for adding time to the two-year deadline. An injured person seeking to extend the deadline carries the burden of demonstrating to a court that one of those circumstances applies.
Slip and Fall Injuries to Minors
Under § 95.051(1)(i), tolling for a minor applies only when no parent, guardian, or guardian ad litem is available to act on the child’s behalf, when an available parent or guardian has an interest that conflicts with the child’s, or when a parent or guardian has been adjudicated incapacitated. If a capable, unconflicted parent or guardian exists, the two-year deadline runs from the date of the fall. Even when tolling applies, the deadline cannot extend beyond seven years from the date of the fall.
A parent or legal guardian can pursue a case on behalf of the child at any point, and pursuing the case sooner preserves evidence and witness recollections that become harder to obtain as time passes.
Mental Incapacity Formally Declared by a Court
For an injured person a court formally declared mentally incapacitated before the fall, the two-year deadline is tolled during the period of incapacity, subject to a seven-year outer cap from the date of the fall. Mental incapacity in this context means a judge determined the person’s condition left them unable to manage their own affairs, as in cases involving severe dementia or a profound developmental disability that required court-ordered guardianship before the fall.
Even when a person injured in a slip and fall has a court declaration of mental incapacity, the Florida statute caps the extension at seven years from the date of the fall. An injured person whose court declaration of mental incapacity is later removed has the remaining portion of the two-year deadline running from the date the court lifts the declaration.
A Property Owner’s Absence from Florida
When an individual property owner is absent from Florida after a slip and fall, the two-year statute of limitations is paused and only resumes when the property owner returns to Florida. The provision applies only to individual property owners, not to businesses or corporations registered in Florida, which can be served with legal papers through their registered agent regardless of where their owners are located.
Slip and Falls on Government Property: A Separate Set of Deadlines
A slip and fall on government-owned property in Florida is subject to a different deadline than claims against private property owners. Under § 768.28(14), negligence claims against government entities must be filed within four years. Florida Statute § 768.28 also adds pre-suit requirements that an injured person has to satisfy before bringing a case against a government entity.
Pre-Suit Notice Under Florida Statute § 768.28
Before filing a lawsuit against a government entity, an injured person has to serve the agency with written notice of the injury and the intent to seek damages. When the government entity is a county or municipality, notice to the local agency is sufficient, but when the government entity is a state agency, the notice also needs to go to the Florida Department of Financial Services.
After notice is served, the agency has six months to investigate and respond. If the agency does not respond within six months, the claim is considered denied and the injured person may proceed with filing the lawsuit.
Notice Timing and the Two-Year Deadline
Because the notice process and the agency’s response period both have to be completed within the two-year statute of limitations, an injured person pursuing a case against a government entity has less usable time than someone pursuing a case against a private property owner. An attorney has to prepare and serve the formal notice before the agency’s investigation can begin, and an injured person cannot file the lawsuit until the agency issues a denial or 180 days pass without a response.
An injured person who decides to pursue a case against a government entity with only a few months remaining on the statute of limitations may not have enough time to complete the notice process and the agency’s response period before the deadline passes.
Calculating the Two-Year Deadline
The two-year statute of limitations deadline falls on the same calendar date two years after the fall. A person who fell on June 15, 2024, for example, has until June 15, 2026 to pursue a case against the property owner.
When the two-year deadline falls on a weekend or a legally recognized holiday in Florida, the deadline extends to the next business day. For example, a person whose two-year deadline lands on a Sunday has until the following Monday to file their claim.
Wrongful Death from a Slip and Fall
When a slip and fall results in death, the Florida slip and fall statute of limitations no longer applies, and the two-year wrongful death statute of limitations under Florida Statute § 95.11(5)(e) runs from the date of death rather than the date of the fall.
For example, a person who fell on January 1, 2024 and died on June 1, 2024 from injuries sustained in the fall gives the estate a wrongful death statute of limitations expiring on June 1, 2026, two years from the date of death.
The Statute of Limitations as an Affirmative Defense
When an injured person files a slip and fall lawsuit after the statute of limitations has expired, the property owner can assert the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense. To succeed with the defense, the property owner needs to show that more than two years passed between the date of the fall and the date the lawsuit was filed, and that none of the circumstances that can extend the deadline apply to the case.
An injured person who believes a tolling provision applies can raise that argument in response. Florida requires the injured person to demonstrate that the specific tolling condition has been met, and a general assertion that tolling should apply is not sufficient without documented evidence that the condition existed.
If You Were Injured in a Slip and Fall
If you were injured in a fall on someone else’s property, the slip and fall accident attorneys at Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel, PLLC can help you understand all deadlines and take the steps needed to protect your claim. Call us at (561) 655-2028 for a free consultation.
