When someone is seriously injured on another person's property in Mobile — in a strip mall parking lot on Airport Boulevard, inside a Mardi Gras venue on Dauphin Street, at a warehouse near the Port of Mobile, or in any of Mobile's commercial or residential spaces — the property owner may bear responsibility under Alabama premises liability law. These cases depend on the relationship between the injured person and the property, the owner's actual knowledge of the hazard, and whether Alabama's unique legal doctrines protect the full value of the recovery. At Simmons Law, Chris Simmons handles premises liability cases throughout Mobile County.
Alabama Premises Liability — Invitee, Licensee, Trespasser
Alabama premises liability law turns significantly on the legal status of the injured person at the time of the accident. An invitee is someone who enters property for business purposes — a customer at an Airport Boulevard retailer, a guest at a Dauphin Street venue, a patient at a medical office. Property owners owe invitees the highest duty of care: reasonable inspection, maintenance, and warning of known hazards. A licensee enters with permission but for their own purposes — a social guest at a private residence in Mobile's Spring Hill neighborhood, for example. Owners owe licensees a duty to warn of known hidden dangers, but not a duty to inspect. A trespasser, with exceptions for discovered trespassers and child trespassers under the attractive nuisance doctrine, is generally owed minimal duty.
In Mobile, most serious premises liability cases involve invitees — customers, business visitors, and patrons of commercial establishments. The duty of reasonable inspection and maintenance is meaningful on Airport Boulevard, where heavily trafficked retail stores and strip malls see constant foot traffic over surfaces exposed to Mobile's 60+ annual inches of rainfall. Standing water tracked in from rain, deteriorating floor surfaces, and inadequate lighting are consistent sources of serious fall injuries in Mobile commercial premises.
Mobile's Rainfall and Seasonal Premises Hazards
Mobile is one of the rainiest major cities in the United States — annual rainfall exceeds 60 inches in most years, and the city receives precipitation on roughly 120 days per year. This creates a consistent pattern of slip-and-fall hazards that is not present in most other Alabama cities. Property owners on Airport Boulevard, Government Street, and Springhill Avenue whose businesses experience high foot traffic during rain events have a heightened duty to manage wet floor conditions, provide appropriate matting at entrances, and warn customers of wet surfaces. Failure to do so during Mobile's persistent rainfall season is a documented pattern in premises liability cases filed in Mobile County Circuit Court.
Mardi Gras season creates a distinct category of Mobile premises liability. Venues and establishments on Dauphin Street and surrounding entertainment corridors operate at maximum capacity during parade season, with overcrowding, alcohol service, and outdoor-to-indoor movement generating elevated premises hazard conditions. Mardi Gras venue injuries — including falls from overcrowded balconies, stairway falls in high-traffic venues, and parking lot injuries near parade routes — are a specific and recurring category of Mobile premises liability cases. The seasonal concentration of these incidents means that Mardi Gras-related premises liability is a genuinely local issue, not a generic legal category.
Alabama's Made-Whole Doctrine and Collateral Source Rule
Two Alabama legal doctrines are particularly important in premises liability cases involving significant medical treatment. Alabama's made-whole doctrine applies when a plaintiff has health insurance that paid for some or all of their medical treatment. Under the made-whole doctrine, a health insurer generally cannot recover the amounts it paid on the plaintiff's behalf (subrogation) until the plaintiff has been fully compensated for all of their losses — 'made whole.' This protects injured people from a situation where the insurer takes back so much of the recovery that the plaintiff ends up with inadequate compensation for their actual damages.
The collateral source rule provides that a defendant cannot reduce the damages they owe because the plaintiff received compensation from an independent third-party source — like health insurance. This means that a property owner at fault for a Mobile premises liability injury cannot reduce their liability because the injured person had insurance coverage that paid their hospital bills. Alabama's collateral source rule is not unlimited and has nuances that skilled attorneys exploit in negotiation and at trial, but its core protection — the defendant does not benefit from the plaintiff's insurance — is significant in cases involving substantial medical treatment at University of South Alabama Medical Center, Mobile Infirmary, or Springhill Medical Center.
Negligent Security Cases in Mobile
Premises liability in Mobile extends beyond slip-and-fall cases to negligent security — situations where a property owner failed to provide adequate security measures and that failure resulted in an assault, robbery, or other violent incident on the premises. Government Street entertainment venues, Airport Boulevard businesses, and certain commercial areas with documented prior crime have a heightened duty to provide appropriate lighting, security personnel, and access controls. When a property owner in Mobile was aware of prior criminal incidents on or near the premises and failed to act, Alabama premises liability law may impose responsibility for what happened next.
Statute of Limitations and Filing in Mobile County
Alabama's statute of limitations for premises liability claims is two years from the date of injury. Claims against the City of Mobile, Mobile County, or other governmental entities require a notice of claim that must be filed within a shorter window after the accident. Premises liability cases filed in Mobile are heard in the Mobile County Circuit Court, 205 Government Street, Mobile, AL 36644. Incident reports, maintenance logs, prior complaint records, and surveillance footage all need to be preserved immediately after a premises liability injury — property owners are not required to retain this evidence indefinitely, and Simmons Law acts fast to secure it.
Contact Simmons Law — Mobile Premises Liability Attorney
At Simmons Law, Chris Simmons personally handles premises liability cases in Mobile County. Chris is available directly at (251) 306-8333. There are no fees unless Simmons Law recovers. If you were injured on someone else's property in Mobile — whether on Airport Boulevard, at a Mardi Gras venue on Dauphin Street, at a Government Street business, or anywhere else in Mobile County — contact Simmons Law to discuss your case.
Simmons Law handles premises liability cases alongside dog bite cases and all other personal injury claims throughout Mobile County. Chris Simmons personally handles every file. Browse all Alabama car accident lawyers served by Simmons Law.
