Austin Premises Liability Lawyers
Slip-and-fall at the Domain, falling merchandise at a big-box retailer, parking-garage injury downtown, assault at an apartment complex with inadequate security, or injury at an SXSW event venue? Texas premises liability turns on what the owner knew or should have known. We serve Austin from our San Antonio office.
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How we serve Austin clients
Patterson Law Group does not maintain a brick-and-mortar office in Austin. We serve our Austin-area clients from our physical offices in Fort Worth, Arlington, and San Antonio (about 80 miles south on I-35). The initial case review is by phone or Zoom — at no cost — and our attorneys travel to Austin for depositions, mediations, court hearings, and trial. We know Texas premises-liability law cold — the invitee/licensee/trespasser duty framework from Corbin v. Safeway, the negligent-security foreseeability test from Timberwalk Apartments v. Cain, the dram-shop framework under Tex. Alc. Bev. Code §2.02, Chapter 95 (independent contractors), the Texas Recreational Use Statute (§75.001 et seq.), and the surveillance-video preservation moves that decide premises cases at the threshold. When your case calls for an in-person attorney at the Travis County courthouse or across the mediation table, we are there.
Greater Austin cities we serve
We represent premises-liability clients across the entire Central Texas / Austin metro — Travis, Williamson, Hays, Comal, Bastrop, and Caldwell counties.
Additional cities served: West Lake Hills, Buda, Kyle, New Braunfels, Georgetown, Hutto, Manor, Dripping Springs, and Wimberley. Counties covered: Travis, Williamson, Hays, Comal, Bastrop, and Caldwell.
Where Austin premises liability cases happen
- 6th Street, Rainey Street, Red River, and East 6th Street nightlife. Bar and restaurant incidents, dram-shop liability under Tex. Alc. Bev. Code §2.02 when a visibly intoxicated patron is over-served and then causes harm, negligent-security claims after assault, slip-and-fall on wet floors and stairs, broken glass and ice-melt injuries.
- SXSW, ACL, F1 Circuit of the Americas, and other event venues. Crowd-control planning, stage-rigging, security staffing, alcohol-service training, sound and lighting maintenance, and permit-application notice. Event-permit and security-contract preservation is critical within the first 30 days.
- The Domain, the Domain Northside, Barton Creek Square, and Lakeline Mall. Shopping-district premises cases — falling merchandise, slip-and-fall on liquid spills, parking-garage assaults, and inadequate-lighting falls.
- Big-box retailers and grocery chains. Walmart, Target, HEB, Central Market, Whole Foods, Costco, Sam's Club, Home Depot, Lowe's. Liquid-spill and falling-merchandise incidents are the dominant fact pattern — the constructive-notice analysis under the Wal-Mart Stores v. Reece line of cases controls.
- Downtown hotels and the Convention Center area. Hotel pool-area injuries, parking-garage incidents, stairway falls, balcony failures, and elevator incidents at the JW Marriott, Fairmont, Hilton, Driskill, and surrounding hotels.
- Apartment complexes. Negligent-security after assault, inadequate-lighting falls in stairways and parking lots, swimming pool drownings, balcony and railing failures, dog bites by tenant pets. Common in East Austin, Riverside, North Loop, and the I-35 corridor north and south of downtown.
- Texas Capitol and state property. Capitol Complex falls, state-office-building injuries. TTCA notice deadlines and §101.023(b) damages caps apply.
- Lake Travis, Lady Bird Lake, and Lake Austin premises. Marina and boat-rental incidents, dock and pier failures, drowning at lakeshore properties, jet-ski-rental injuries. The Texas Recreational Use Statute (§75.001 et seq.) limits liability for recreational use of private property but has gross-negligence and paid-admission exceptions.
- UT Austin campus. Stairway falls, sidewalk and walkway defects, dorm-injury claims. Universities as governmental entities trigger TTCA notice and §101.023 damages caps.
- Q2 Stadium, Moody Center, Frank Erwin Center, and Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium. Large-crowd negligent-security and crowd-flow incidents, seat-collapse and railing-failure cases, alcohol-service liability.
- Construction sites during the Austin boom. Chapter 95 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code limits an independent contractor's claim against the property owner unless the owner exercised actual control and had actual knowledge of the danger. Construction-site falls are common in downtown, South Congress, and the Domain construction footprints.
- Parking garages and parking lots. Inadequate-lighting falls, vehicle-impact incidents, and negligent-security assaults in downtown, the Domain, and entertainment-district garages.
- HEB, Whole Foods, Central Market, and grocery-store entry points. Wet entry mats, tracked-in rain, ice-melt residue, and broken-jar liquid spills.
Texas premises liability law — what Austin clients should know
Two-year statute of limitations (§16.003)
Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003 sets a two-year SOL from the date of injury. Claims against the City of Austin, Travis County, UT Austin, AISD, or the State of Texas may have Texas Tort Claims Act notice deadlines as short as six months under §101.101.
Invitee / licensee / trespasser framework
Texas case law assigns different duties based on the visitor's status. An invitee (customer, shopper, hotel guest) is owed the highest duty — ordinary care to reduce or eliminate an unreasonable risk of harm of which the owner knew or should have known. A licensee (social guest) is owed only the duty to warn of known dangers. A trespasser is owed only the duty not to be willfully or wantonly injured.
Knowledge requirement
The plaintiff must show the owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition. Constructive knowledge — that the condition existed long enough that the owner should have discovered it on reasonable inspection — is the central battleground in slip-and-fall cases. The Wal-Mart Stores v. Reece line of cases controls the analysis.
Modified comparative fault (§33.001)
§33.001. You can recover as long as you are 50% or less at fault. The defense will argue the condition was "open and obvious," but recent Texas Supreme Court cases have substantially narrowed that doctrine.
Texas Recreational Use Statute (§75.001 et seq.)
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §75.001 et seq. limits liability when someone is injured during recreational activity on certain property — common issue at Lake Travis, Lake Austin, and Lady Bird Lake. Exceptions exist for gross negligence, willful or wanton conduct, and paid admission.
Chapter 95 (independent contractors)
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Chapter 95 limits an independent contractor's claim against the property owner for an injury arising out of the contractor's work unless the owner exercised actual control over the work and had actual knowledge of the dangerous condition. Relevant in construction-site cases across the booming Austin construction footprint.
Dog bite liability
Texas follows a modified one-bite rule. Owner liable if they knew or should have known of the dog's dangerous propensity. Tex. Health & Safety Code §822.0421 creates statutory liability for dangerous-dog incidents.
Negligent security
Texas recognizes a duty to provide reasonable security against foreseeable criminal acts. Foreseeability is analyzed under the Timberwalk Apartments v. Cain factors: proximity, recency, frequency, similarity, and publicity of prior criminal incidents. Particularly relevant in East Austin apartments, 6th Street and Rainey Street bars, and downtown parking garages.
Dram-shop liability (Tex. Alc. Bev. Code §2.02)
§2.02 imposes liability on a provider of alcoholic beverages where the provider served a customer who was obviously intoxicated to the extent that the customer presented a clear danger to themselves and others. Highly relevant to 6th Street, Rainey Street, and Red River bar cases.
Paid or incurred medicals (§41.0105)
Limits medical-damages recovery to amounts actually paid or incurred. Critical for substantial Dell Seton trauma stays after falls and assaults.
Exemplary damages (§41.003)
Available on clear and convincing evidence of fraud, malice, or gross negligence. A property owner's conscious indifference to a long-known dangerous condition, or repeat assaults at a property without security upgrades, can support gross-negligence pleadings.
Wrongful Death Act (Chapter 71)
If the premises injury was fatal — drowning, balcony fall, or assault death — Chapter 71 gives the surviving spouse, children, and parents a wrongful-death claim. The survival statute (§71.021) preserves pre-death pain and suffering for the estate.
Where greater-Austin premises liability cases are heard
Travis County
Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse, 1000 Guadalupe Street, Austin. The 53rd, 98th, 126th, 200th, 201st, 250th, 261st, 299th, 345th, 353rd, 419th, and 459th District Courts handle the civil docket.
Williamson & Hays
Williamson County cases (Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Leander, Georgetown) go to the Williamson County Justice Center, 405 Martin Luther King Jr Street, Georgetown — the 26th, 277th, 368th, 395th, and 425th District Courts. Hays County cases (Buda, Kyle, San Marcos) go to the Hays County Government Center, 712 S Stagecoach Trail, San Marcos — the 22nd, 207th, 274th, 428th, and 453rd District Courts.
Federal court (W.D. Tex.)
Cases with diversity of citizenship or substantial federal-law issues can be filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, at 501 W 5th Street.
Comal County cases (New Braunfels) go to the Comal County Courthouse at 150 N Seguin Avenue, New Braunfels. Bastrop County cases go to the Bastrop County Courthouse at 803 Pine Street, Bastrop.
Other Austin injury cases we handle
Common questions from Austin premises liability clients
What is the deadline to file an Austin premises liability lawsuit?
What does Texas law require me to prove in a premises case?
Does it matter why I was on the property when I got hurt?
Can I recover if I was partially at fault for not seeing the hazard?
What about negligent security at an Austin apartment complex, hotel, or bar?
What about SXSW, ACL, and other event-venue injuries?
Where will my Austin premises liability case be filed?
What hospitals handle the most severe premises injuries in Austin?
Does Patterson Law Group have an office in Austin?
How much does it cost to hire Patterson Law Group for an Austin premises case?
Injured on someone else's property in Austin? Talk to a Texas trial lawyer today.
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Legally reviewed by Travis Patterson, Managing Partner of Patterson Law Group.