401 W. Linton Blvd., Suite 202A · Delray Beach, FL 33444 · (561) 450 - 9355
Yes — if you were hurt on someone else’s property in Delray Beach, you need a lawyer. Florida gives you two years to act, and stores destroy footage fast. I’m Peter Porcaro. I take the slip and fall cases other firms won’t, and I don’t charge a fee unless we win.
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$15M+ Recovered · No Fee Unless We Win · Free Consultations · Available 24/7 · FL Bar Admitted 2006
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Slip and fall cases live under Florida’s premises liability law. A property owner owed you a duty of care, breached it, and that breach caused your injury. Simple on paper. In practice, insurance companies fight these cases hard, because the evidence is easy to destroy and easier to twist.
Florida Statutes §768.0755 governs spills, puddles, and other transitory substances. You must prove the business knew, or should have known, about the hazard and failed to fix it or warn you within a reasonable time. Here’s the part most people miss: you don’t have to catch the store in the act.
The law gives you two paths to show constructive knowledge. Either the hazard sat there long enough that a careful inspection would have caught it, or it happens on a regular basis, like a cooler that leaks every week or an entrance that stays slick after every rain. Sweep logs, inspection sheets, and maintenance records decide these cases. That’s why I send a preservation letter the day you hire me. My Florida slip and fall liability guide walks through the statute in more depth.
I earned my B.S. in Biology from Penn State in 2003 and my J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2006. I’ve been admitted to the bar since 2006, I’m licensed in Florida and Pennsylvania, and I’m admitted to the U.S. District Court and the Eleventh Circuit. I’m a member of the Palm Beach County Bar Association, and I file cases at the Palm Beach County Courthouse, home of the 15th Judicial Circuit.
I spent my early career as an insurance defense attorney in Boca Raton. I know what the other side values, what it fears, and when it folds.
Falls send about 3.6 million older adults to the emergency room every year, and the CDC reports 1 in 4 adults over 65 falls annually. Delray Beach has one of the larger retirement populations in Palm Beach County, and our condo corridors, hotel lobbies, and grocery aisles are exactly where those falls happen. A wet tile floor that a 30-year-old walks off can break a hip at 70.
Cracked slabs, sunken tree roots, potholes, broken curbs. Property owners repair these on their own schedule, not yours. Code violations and prior complaints prove they knew.
Loose railings, uneven risers, and slick pool decks around Delray’s condos and rentals cause some of the worst falls I see. These cases often involve serious fractures and head injuries, and they’re a core part of my Delray Beach premises liability practice.
There’s no calculator for this. Case value depends on your medical bills, your lost income, how long the injury lasts, and how the fall changed your life.
Every ambulance ride, MRI, surgery, and physical therapy session goes into the claim, plus the paychecks you missed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median time away from work after a fall, slip, or trip at 13 days. For a serious fall, future care and reduced earning capacity often exceed the bills you’ve seen so far. My guide to types of personal injury damages breaks down every category.
Broken hips, crushed heels, and head injuries change how you live, not just what you owe. A fall that cracks your skull on concrete can cause lasting damage, which I handle through my brain injury practice. Falls that cause permanent disability belong with my catastrophic injury work, and a fall that takes a loved one’s life is a wrongful death case. I handle all of them.
Go to Delray Medical Center or urgent care the same day, even if you think you're fine. Adrenaline masks injuries, and insurers treat a three-day delay as proof you weren't hurt. The medical record is the spine of your case.
Take time-stamped photos of the hazard, the surrounding area, and your injuries. Keep the shoes you fell in; don't wash them. Get witness names and numbers. Ask for the incident report number. Stores typically overwrite surveillance footage within 30 to 90 days, so my office sends a preservation letter the day you hire me, and I demand the inspection and sweep logs with it.
Report the fall to the manager before you leave. Then stop talking. Don't give a recorded statement, don't guess at fault, and don't accept a quick check. The adjuster's job is to get you on tape saying something they can use.
Usually, yes. Florida uses modified comparative negligence. You can recover money as long as you’re 50% or less at fault, and your award drops by your percentage of blame.
Under §768.81, the insurance company has to formally plead any fault it wants to pin on you, including fault by other people or businesses not named in the lawsuit. They can’t just mutter about it at the mediation table. I’ve written a full guide to comparative negligence in Florida if you want the details.
You have two years from the date of your fall. House Bill 837 cut Florida’s personal injury deadline from four years to two for claims arising on or after March 24, 2023. Miss the deadline and the court will likely bar your case forever, no matter how strong it is. Evidence fades faster than the deadline: footage gets overwritten and witnesses move. My guide to the Florida statute of limitations for personal injury explains the dates in detail.
| Result | Case Type |
|---|---|
| $1,800,000 | Premises Liability |
| $1,200,000 | Premises Liability |
| $415,000 | Premises Liability |
| $280,000 | Premises Liability |
| $270,000 | Premises Liability |
| $225,000 | Premises Liability |
| $190,000 | Premises Liability |
| $165,000 | Premises Liability |
| $100,000 | Premises Liability |
Every case is unique. Verdicts, settlements, and case outcomes mentioned on this website do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. See more on our case results page →
Google Reviews Widget — 5.0 rating, 401 W. Linton Blvd. office
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week. Se Habla Español. Creole assistance available.
Big firms run your claim through a call center and settle it fast. I run a solo firm on Linton Blvd, and I take the cases other firms won’t: the disputed liability, the pre-existing condition, the fall the store swears never happened.
Here’s what that means in numbers: more than $15 million recovered, a 5.0 Google rating, and 20+ years of practice, including the years I spent on the insurance side. Every case is prepared trial-ready, because that’s what makes insurers pay. We also handle dog bite and other injury claims across Palm Beach County
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