Falls at condominiums and stores raise the same first question as any premises case: who controlled the place where the person fell? At a condominium, the answer often lies in the condominium documents. At a store, the answer usually turns on what the business knew about the hazard and when it knew it. Maryland law treats each setting a little differently.
Under the Maryland Condominium Act, the common elements include everything in the condominium except the units themselves. Hallways, exterior stairs, sidewalks, parking garages, and pool decks usually fall in that category. Real Property Article Section 11-108.1 makes the council of unit owners responsible for maintenance, repair, and replacement of the common elements, unless the declaration or bylaws provide otherwise.
That allocation points a fall in a common area toward the council, which usually acts through a board of directors and a management company. Snow removal and janitorial contractors may share responsibility as well. Section 11-114 requires the council to carry insurance, including liability coverage for claims arising from the use, ownership, or maintenance of the common elements.
A tenant who rents a condominium unit deals with two parties: the unit owner, who serves as landlord, and the council, which controls the common areas. A fall inside the unit points first to the unit owner, while a fall in a hallway or on an exterior walkway points first to the council. Reading the declaration and bylaws early shows who holds responsibility for each part of the building.
A customer in a store is an invitee, the category of visitor that Maryland law protects most. A business owner must use reasonable care to discover dangerous conditions and to protect customers from them. The owner does not insure a customer's safety, however, and an injury on the premises raises no presumption of negligence.
Notice usually decides these cases. A customer must generally show that the business created the hazard, knew of it, or would have discovered it through reasonable care in time to clean it up or warn customers. Maryland courts call the last form constructive notice, and it often depends on how long the hazard existed.
In Rehn v. Westfield America, 153 Md. App. 586 (2003), a shopper slipped on a spill in a mall food court, and the evidence showed the spill had been on the floor only a few minutes. The court held that the businesses lacked time to discover and correct it.
In Maans v. Giant of Maryland, L.L.C., 161 Md. App. 620 (2005), the shopper lost because she offered no evidence of how long the water had been on the floor. These decisions explain why photographs, witness accounts, and video recorded close to the time of the fall matter so much.
In September 2026, the Supreme Court of Maryland decided DARCARS Toyota of Silver Spring v. Blackwell. An employee mopped part of a dealership floor without first posting a warning sign, then left the wet area unattended while he went to get one. A customer walked across the wet floor and fell before he returned. The trial court ruled that the dealership lacked time to post a sign.
The Supreme Court disagreed and allowed the claim to go to a jury. Because the employee created the wet floor himself, the dealership could have posted the sign before mopping or warned the customer. The Court explained that Rehn involved an employee who could not protect customers until she learned of a hazard that already existed, a different position from a business whose own employee made the floor wet.
Warning signs must also reach the place of danger. In Cador v. YES Organic Market Hyattsville, decided by the Appellate Court of Maryland in 2022, a store placed a wet floor sign in the checkout area, but the customer fell many aisles away. The court held that a jury should decide whether the sign and a nearby mop bucket gave her adequate warning.
Maryland keeps the rule of contributory negligence, which the Court of Appeals reaffirmed in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, 432 Md. 679 (2013). If the injured person failed to use reasonable care for his or her own safety and that failure contributed to the fall, the claim fails. Businesses often argue that the hazard was open and obvious, so evidence of lighting, displays, and sight lines carries real weight.
Report the fall to the manager or the condominium's management office, and ask for a copy of the incident report. Photograph the hazard and the surrounding area before anyone cleans it up, and collect the names of employees and witnesses. Keep your receipt, which shows the time you were in the store, and keep the shoes you wore.
Many businesses record over surveillance video within days or weeks, so a prompt written request to preserve it can decide the case. Get medical care promptly. Under Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article Section 5-101, a person generally must file a Maryland injury claim within three years.
Christopher L. Beard, an Annapolis attorney, represents people injured in falls at condominiums, stores, and other businesses throughout Maryland. You can read more in our article on Maryland slip and fall laws. To discuss a premises liability claim, e-mail chris@attorneybeard.com or call (410) 267-0227.
