Primary Location
Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyers
2700 N Central Ave Suite 320, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States
Phone: (602) 905-7766
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Picture a Friday night at a packed restaurant on Roosevelt Row. The kitchen crew is slinging plates. Servers dodge each other carrying full trays. Somebody drops a cocktail near the bar and keeps walking. Ten minutes later, you step right through it.
That's how fast it happens. And it's not a fluke. Grease from the kitchen gets tracked into the dining room on a cook's shoes. The bathroom floor stays wet because nobody changed the paper towels near the sink. A busser dumps ice water on the tile and forgets to mop.
Restaurant owners deal with spills every single shift. They know their floors get slick. The real question is what they do about it. When the answer is "nothing" — and you end up hurt — that's negligence under Arizona law.
Common restaurant hazards that cause slip and fall injuries:
If any of these caused your fall, the restaurant may owe you compensation. A slip and fall lawyer can review what happened and tell you where you stand.
A restaurant injury can go beyond a slip and fall — burns, foodborne illness, and assault on restaurant premises all fall under the same duty-of-care framework that holds owners accountable.
Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country. It has more than 8,000 restaurants. The restaurant industry employs over 280,000 people across Arizona. That's a lot of kitchens, a lot of dining rooms, and a lot of chances for someone to get hurt.
Think about the restaurant districts you visit. Roosevelt Row is packed on weekends with people hopping between restaurants and bars. The Camelback Corridor draws dinner crowds seven nights a week. Old Town Scottsdale has block after block of restaurants and nightlife spots where spilled drinks are practically guaranteed.
Then there's monsoon season. From July through September, sudden storms dump rain across the Valley. Customers walk through the front door with soaking wet shoes. Water pools on tile floors near the entrance. Patio seating areas flood. If a restaurant doesn't put down mats or mop up the water, someone's going down.
Outdoor patios are a big part of Phoenix dining. Most of the year, the weather makes patio seating the obvious choice. But those surfaces collect dust, debris, and moisture. Uneven flagstone, loose pavers, and steps without handrails turn a casual dinner into a trip to the ER.
Here's what we see over and over. Someone slips, gets up, tells the waitress "I'm okay" because thirty people are staring. They drive home. Next morning they can barely get out of bed.
Restaurant floors don't give. We're talking tile, polished concrete, hardwood. Land wrong on any of those and you're dealing with real damage:
Some of these heal up in a few weeks. Others mean surgery, six months of physical therapy, and a permanent limp. We had a client in her 70s who broke a hip at a brunch spot near Uptown Plaza. She never fully recovered her mobility. Just because it happened over pancakes doesn't make it minor.
Your slip and fall case boils down to this: did the restaurant know about the hazard and blow it off? Or should they have caught it if anyone had bothered to look?
Sounds simple. But proving it means getting your hands on the right records before they vanish. Here's what we chase down:
Almost every restaurant has cameras now. That video tells us when the spill showed up and how long it sat there. We had a case where footage showed a puddle of water near the hostess stand for 35 minutes. Three servers walked right past it. Nobody grabbed a mop. Our client went down hard and tore her ACL. That footage won the case.
Chains and franchises usually have a clipboard in the bathroom. Staff is supposed to initial it every 30 or 60 minutes. When we pull that log and see a three-hour gap before your fall? That's gold. No log at all? Even better for us. It means the restaurant had zero system for catching hazards.
After someone falls, management fills out a report. We always get a copy. You'd be surprised what managers write down. "Floor had been wet for a while." "Sign was in the back and never got put out." Those admissions are hard to walk back.
Current and former employees are some of our best sources. The dishwasher who'll tell us the kitchen floor never gets degreased properly. The server who complained about the wobbly step at the patio entrance three times. When staff can confirm a known, repeated hazard, the restaurant can't pretend it was a surprise.
As a premises liability case, all of these pieces fit together to show a pattern of carelessness.
One of the first things a restaurant's insurance company will try is blaming you. They'll say you should have been watching where you walked. Or that you were wearing the wrong shoes. Or that you were on your phone.
Arizona uses a pure comparative negligence system under A.R.S. 12-2505. What that means for you is straightforward. Even if you were partly at fault, you still recover. Your compensation just gets reduced by your share of the blame.
Say you were looking at your phone when you slipped on a puddle of water. A jury decides you were 20% at fault. If your damages total $100,000, you still collect $80,000. Under Arizona law, there's no threshold that cuts you off. Even at 90% fault, you recover 10%.
Restaurants love to use this defense. But "you should have watched where you were going" only gets them so far. If they left grease on the floor for an hour without cleaning it, their negligence is the main problem. Not the fact that you glanced at your phone.
Also important: Arizona gives you two years from the date of your fall to file a lawsuit. That's the statute of limitations under A.R.S. 12-542. Two years sounds like plenty of time, but evidence disappears quickly. Surveillance tapes get erased. Witnesses quit and move away. The sooner you call, the stronger your case.
$600 million recovered. Over 250 years of combined experience on our team. We've been doing this long enough to know that restaurant chains and their insurers fight every claim. So we fight harder.
Here's how it works when you call us:
We talk first. You tell us what happened. We ask a few questions. Then we give you an honest answer about whether it's worth pursuing. No charge for that conversation.
We lock down evidence fast. Preservation letters go to the restaurant within days — telling them to save every camera recording, cleaning log, and incident report. Before anything gets "accidentally" deleted.
We dig into everything. We'll visit the restaurant if we need to. We'll photograph the hazard, talk to witnesses, pull employee records. If there's a building code violation, we'll find it.
We don't take lowball offers. Insurance adjusters always start with a number that's insulting. We counter with what your injuries actually cost — including what they'll cost five years from now.
We go to trial when we have to. Most cases settle. But when an insurer won't budge, we take them in front of a jury. We're trial attorneys. We've done it hundreds of times.
You pay nothing upfront. No fee unless we win your case. If you fell in a restaurant anywhere in Phoenix, call our Phoenix personal injury lawyer team at (602) 905-7766 for a free consultation.
Our attorneys have handled personal injury cases across Arizona and California. We know how Phoenix insurance companies operate, and we know how to push back.
That number reflects real results for real families — medical bills paid, lost wages recovered, and futures protected.
You pay nothing upfront. Our fee comes out of your settlement or verdict. If we do not win your case, you owe us nothing.
Accidents do not follow business hours. Neither do we. Call (602) 905-7766 any time — nights, weekends, and holidays.
Our Phoenix team works out of 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320. We know the roads, the courts, and the insurance adjusters you are up against.
“After a crash, you need a team that answers the phone, explains your options, and fights for every dollar you are owed. That is what we do at The Simon Law Group.”
Over 250 years of combined attorney experience
Phoenix office at 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320 |
Licensed in Arizona and California
The restaurant owner or operator is usually liable. Under Arizona premises liability law, businesses must keep their property safe for customers. If they knew about a hazard like a wet floor or greasy walkway and didn't clean it up or warn you, they're responsible. In some cases, a property management company or landlord may also share liability if they control the building's common areas.
Bathroom falls are some of the most common restaurant slip and fall cases. Restaurants have a duty to inspect and clean bathrooms on a regular schedule. If they can't show they were checking the bathroom regularly, that gap in maintenance becomes strong evidence of negligence. Water on the floor, missing floor mats, and broken fixtures are all hazards a restaurant should address before someone gets hurt.
A wet floor sign helps, but it doesn't automatically protect a restaurant from liability. If the sign was placed far from the actual hazard, or if it was knocked over and not replaced, it doesn't count. More importantly, a sign is a temporary measure. The restaurant still has to clean up the spill within a reasonable time. Leaving a sign next to a puddle for an hour instead of mopping it up is still negligence.
Take photos of whatever caused your fall. Get the floor, your shoes, and the surrounding area in the shot. Ask the manager to fill out an incident report and get a copy. Write down the names of any employees or witnesses who saw what happened. Save the receipt from your visit since it proves you were there at that time. Seek medical attention the same day, even if you feel okay. Medical records tie your injuries directly to the fall.
Two years from the date of your fall. That's the statute of limitations under A.R.S. 12-542. If you miss that deadline, the court will almost certainly dismiss your case. But don't wait anywhere close to two years. Restaurants overwrite surveillance footage in as little as 30 days. Cleaning logs get tossed. Employees leave. The faster you act, the more evidence we can preserve.
You can still recover compensation. Arizona follows a pure comparative negligence rule under A.R.S. 12-2505. Your payout gets reduced by your percentage of fault, but you're never completely barred from collecting. If a jury finds you 30% responsible and the restaurant 70% responsible, you receive 70% of your total damages. The insurance company will try to shift blame onto you. That's where having an experienced attorney matters.
Our Location