A person seeking to recover from a business for a slip and fall accident will need to establish that the person or entity in control of the property was negligent. In order to do this that plaintiff will have to establish three things: (1) that the property owner owed a duty to person who fell; (2) that the property owner breached this duty; and, (3) that the breach of the duty actually caused an injury suffered by the person who fell.
 
In a negligence suit based on a slip and fall, the nature of the duty owed by the property owner depends on the injured person’s status on the land.  For example, a higher duty of care is owed if this person is a customer rather than a trespasser.  Customers are considered “business invitees” – that is people who are “invited to enter or remain on the land for a purpose directly or indirectly connected with business dealings with the possessor of the land. A business owner owes such invitees a duty to exercise reasonable care for their protection while they remain on the property.  More specifically, the long-established, common law rule in Indiana provides:
 

A possessor of land is subject to liability for physical harm caused to his invitees by a condition on the land if, but only if he (a) knows or by the exercise of reasonable care would discover the condition, and should realize that it involves an unreasonable risk of harm to such invitees, and (b) should expect that they will not discover or realize the danger, or will fail to protect themselves against it, and (c) fails to exercise reasonable care to protect them against the danger.

 
This duty requires a property owner to act in a reasonable, common sense manner.  But it does not mean that businesses must guarantee the safety of their patrons.  A property owner cannot be held liable to a customer merely because a slip and fall occurred.  Rather, as the Indiana Court of Appeals has explained, “Falling and injuring one’s self proves nothing.  Such happenings are commonplace wherever humans go.
 
Because a finding of negligence must be based on something more than speculation, a plaintiff seeking to recover for a slip and fall injury has to present some evidence showing the existence of a dangerous condition.  For example, he has to establish that there was some foreign object on or some defect in the surface where the accident occurred that could have caused him to fall – i.e. a spilled drink or a cracked sidewalk.  And the plaintiff will have to show that the owner acted unreasonably in failing to discover and remedy this hazardous condition.
 
The ultimate determination as to whether a slip and fall injury occurred as a result of negligence generally presents a question for a jury to decide.  But business owners can increase their chances of avoiding liability by taking a common sense approach.  Don’t delay the repairs to the loose railing or the crumbling sidewalk.  Implement procedures for employees to regularly check for and promptly clean up spills.  And remember that although paying for snow removal and salt may be expensive, it is cheaper than defending a lawsuit.  This will both tend to keep your customers safe and happy and at the same time help to establish that you acted reasonably if an accident does occur.