Slip and Fall / Premises Liability Demand Letter - Arkansas

DEMAND FOR SETTLEMENT - PREMISES LIABILITY / SLIP AND FALL

STATE OF ARKANSAS

[FIRM NAME]
Attorneys at Law
[Street Address]
[City, Arkansas ZIP]
Telephone: [Phone]
Facsimile: [Fax]
Email: [Email]
Licensed in the State of Arkansas

DATE: [Date]

VIA CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
AND FIRST-CLASS MAIL

[Claims Representative Name / General Counsel]
[Property Owner / Management Company / Insurance Company Name]
[Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]

RE: PREMISES LIABILITY DEMAND - SLIP AND FALL
Our Client: [Client Full Name]
Date of Incident: [Date of Fall]
Location of Incident: [Full Address of Property]
Property Owner: [Property Owner Name]
Claim Number: [Claim Number, if assigned]

Dear [Recipient Name]:

This firm represents [Client Name] ("Claimant") for injuries sustained on [Date of Incident] at premises owned and/or controlled by your insured/client, located at [Property Address] in [City], Arkansas. This letter constitutes our formal demand for settlement.

I. ARKANSAS-SPECIFIC LEGAL FRAMEWORK

A. Statute of Limitations

This letter does not commence an action or toll a deadline. Counsel must identify each claim and defendant, determine accrual and any tolling or notice issue under current controlling authority, and calendar the earliest plausible filing deadline: [__/__/____].

B. Claimant-Conduct Record

Document what Claimant saw, knew, did, and could reasonably have perceived before the fall: [________________________________]. Do not state a fault-allocation outcome until counsel verifies the current defense law and comparison required for the selected parties and claims.

C. Premises Liability Classification of Entrants

This form assumes the supported conclusion that our client was a business invitee. A property owner owes an invitee ordinary care to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition. Jackson v. Mississippi County Hospital System, 2024 Ark. App. 321, at 7-8. A licensee or trespasser claim requires a different duty analysis and counsel's revision.

D. Notice Requirements in Arkansas

For a foreign object or substance, the claimant must prove either that its presence resulted from the defendant's failure to use ordinary care or that the defendant knew of it, or reasonably should have known of it because it remained for a sufficient time, and failed to use ordinary care to remove it. Jackson, 2024 Ark. App. 321, at 8.

Factors establishing constructive notice:

• Length of time the condition existed
• Physical characteristics suggesting extended duration (dirty, tracked-through, dried)
• Frequency and adequacy of inspections
• Prior similar incidents

E. Recurring Conditions

Arkansas uses a recurring-condition analysis, not the broad “mode of operation” formulation formerly stated here. If the slippery condition is recurring rather than isolated, the question is whether the business used ordinary care to keep the premises free from dangerous conditions likely to injure invitees. Jackson, 2024 Ark. App. 321, at 8. Plead the recurrence with concrete evidence such as repeated leaks, prior reports, cleanup practices, or recurring operational conditions.

F. Open and Obvious Danger Doctrine

The known-or-obvious inquiry asks whether the invitee knew the condition and appreciated its danger, or whether both the condition and risk would be recognized by a reasonable person in the visitor's position. Jackson, 2024 Ark. App. 321, at 8-9. Do not use generic distraction, alternative-route, or false-security exceptions without authority tied to the facts.

G. Additional Defendant and Remedy Gates

Landlord, tenant, property-manager, contractor, governmental-entity, employer, and insurer roles require separate duty, control, immunity, coverage, forum, notice, and deadline research. This demand states no punitive, multiplied, capped, fee-shifting, interest, lien, or special public-defendant outcome. Add one only after current official authority is identified and applied to the facts.

II. PRESERVATION OF EVIDENCE - LITIGATION HOLD NOTICE

YOU ARE HEREBY DIRECTED TO IMMEDIATELY PRESERVE ALL EVIDENCE relating to this incident and the subject premises, including but not limited to:

• All surveillance video footage from the date of incident
• Surveillance footage from 48 hours before and after the incident
• Incident/accident reports
• Witness statements
• Maintenance logs and repair records
• Inspection records and checklists
• Prior complaints regarding hazardous conditions
• Prior incidents or falls at the same location
• Photographs of the incident location
• Written policies and procedures for maintenance
• Training records for employees
• All communications regarding the incident

Please suspend routine destruction for evidence reasonably related to this claim and confirm the preservation measures taken. Counsel must separately verify any preservation duty, privilege, control issue, or remedy before stating it as law.

III. STATEMENT OF FACTS

A. The Premises

The incident occurred at [Property Address], which is [describe property type]. At all relevant times, [Property Owner Name] owned, operated, maintained, and/or controlled the subject premises.

B. The Hazardous Condition

On the date of the incident, a dangerous and hazardous condition existed on the premises, specifically:

[DESCRIBE THE HAZARDOUS CONDITION IN DETAIL]

C. The Incident

On [Date of Incident], at approximately [Time], our client was lawfully present on the premises as a business invitee when [describe the fall in detail].

D. Notice

[Choose applicable theory:]

Actual Knowledge: Your insured had actual knowledge of the hazardous condition because [describe evidence].

Constructive Knowledge: The hazardous condition existed for a sufficient length of time that your insured should have discovered and remediated it. Evidence includes:

• [Evidence of duration]
• [Evidence of inspection failures]
• [Prior incidents]

Recurring Condition: [If supported] This was not an isolated spill. The condition recurred because [describe repeated leak, recurring operational condition, prior reports, or cleanup history].

IV. LIABILITY ANALYSIS

A. Duty of Care

As a business invitee, our client was owed ordinary care to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition. Your insured had a duty to:

1. Exercise ordinary care to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition
2. Make reasonable inspections to discover dangerous conditions
3. Warn of or remedy dangerous conditions

B. Breach of Duty

Your insured breached its duty of care by:

• Failing to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition
• Failing to conduct reasonable inspections
• Failing to discover the hazardous condition
• Failing to warn of or remedy the dangerous condition
• [Additional specific breaches]

C. Comparative Fault Analysis

Our client exercised reasonable care at all times:

• [Describe client's reasonable conduct]
• Our client had no reason to anticipate the dangerous condition
• The hazard was not open and obvious

Claimant contends that [describe the supported claimant-conduct and visibility facts]. Counsel must apply current fault-allocation and defense law before assigning a percentage or predicting a bar.

D. Causation

The dangerous condition was the direct and proximate cause of our client's injuries.

V. INJURIES AND MEDICAL TREATMENT

A. Summary of Injuries

As a direct and proximate result of the fall, our client sustained the following injuries:

[LIST INJURIES]

B. Medical Treatment

Emergency Treatment:
[Describe emergency care]

Follow-Up Treatment:
[Describe ongoing treatment]

Current Status and Prognosis:
[Describe current condition and prognosis]

VI. DAMAGES

A. Medical Expenses

Future Medical Expenses: $[Amount]

B. Lost Wages

C. Pain and Suffering

[Describe pain and suffering]

D. Summary of Damages

VII. SETTLEMENT DEMAND

Based on the supported premises theory, documented injuries, and substantiated losses summarized above, Claimant proposes settlement in the amount of:

$[DEMAND AMOUNT]

This demand will remain open for thirty (30) days from the date of this letter, expiring on [Expiration Date].

VIII. DOCUMENTATION ENCLOSED

• Complete medical records and bills
• Photographs of the incident location
• Photographs of injuries
• Incident report (if obtained)
• Employment records and lost wage documentation
• [Additional documentation]

IX. CONCLUSION

Claimant contends that the foreign-substance or recurring-condition facts selected above establish a breach of the applicable invitee duty and caused the documented injuries.

We urge prompt attention to this matter.

Respectfully submitted,

[FIRM NAME]

By: _________________________________
[Attorney Name]
Arkansas Bar Association No. [Number]
Attorney for [Client Name]

ENCLOSURES: As noted above

cc: [Client Name]
File

ARKANSAS-SPECIFIC PRACTICE NOTES

• Recurring Condition: Use the Arkansas recurring-condition analysis only when supported by evidence; do not label it a general mode-of-operation doctrine.

• Open and Obvious: Address both knowledge/appreciation and the objective visibility of the condition and risk under Jackson.

• Foreign substance: Prove either owner-caused presence or sufficient duration for actual or constructive notice and failure to use ordinary care.

• Separate research: Verify filing time, claimant conduct, all non-owner defendants, public-entity issues, recoverable damages, insurance, forum, venue, and local rules before sending.

VERIFICATION SOURCES

• Jackson v. Mississippi County Hospital System, 2024 Ark. App. 321 — https://opinions.arcourts.gov/ark/courtofappeals/en/522796/1/document.do