A trip to the mall or a quick stop at a shopping center should be routine. You run errands, pick up groceries, meet a friend for lunch, or grab a last-minute gift. Then, in a moment, everything changes. You slip on a wet spot near an entrance, trip on uneven pavement outside a storefront, or fall in a dimly lit stairwell. While initial embarrassment is common, it is quickly replaced by pain and urgent questions.
Who is responsible for what happened to you? Was it the store, the property owner, or someone else entirely?
When a fall happens in a mall or shopping center, determining who is responsible can get complicated because many of these properties include shared spaces known as common areas. This applies whether you were at a major destination like Westfield Garden State Plaza, Cherry Hill Mall, or Quaker Bridge Mall, or at a smaller retail plaza closer to home. These spaces are used by multiple businesses and customers every day.
At Cohen & Riechelson, we represent people injured in mall and shopping center incidents across New Jersey, including Mercer, Burlington, and Middlesex counties. In these cases, we focus on the details that matter most, such as who controlled the area, who was responsible for inspection and upkeep, and whether the hazard should have been repaired or clearly warned about before you were hurt.
If you were injured in a New Jersey mall or shopping center, you deserve clear information and practical guidance. If you are considering your next steps, contact Cohen & Riechelson today by phone or through our online contact form to schedule a consultation and learn how we can help you understand your options.
What Counts as a Common Area in a Mall or Shopping Center?
Common areas are shared spaces that are not limited to one specific store. In many New Jersey shopping centers, common areas often include the spaces customers use to get from the parking lot to the storefront, including crosswalks, curb ramps, and the entry corridor where weather and foot traffic meet. That is true whether you are walking through an enclosed mall corridor like you might find at The Mall at Short Hills or crossing an outdoor plaza parking lane on your way into a store.
Common areas often include:
- Walkways and corridors: Interior hallways and pedestrian paths between storefronts
- Entrances and vestibules: Main entry points, revolving doors, and covered entry areas
- Parking lots and drive lanes: Parking spaces, traffic lanes, crosswalks, and loading areas
- Sidewalks and curb areas: Sidewalks outside storefronts, curb cuts, and ramps
- Stairwells and elevators: Shared stairs, escalators, and elevator areas serving multiple locations
- Food courts and restrooms: Seating areas, shared dining space, and common restroom corridors
A mall or shopping plaza can look simple from the outside, but behind the scenes, multiple parties may be responsible for different parts of the property. That is why a fall in a public area can become a question of contracts, maintenance schedules, inspection practices, and control.
Why It’s Not Always the Store’s Responsibility
Many people assume that if they fall near a particular store, that store must be responsible. Sometimes that is true, but often it is not. In malls and shopping centers, responsibility may rest with the property owner, the management company, or a contractor hired to maintain the space.
Stores typically control and maintain the areas inside their premises. Common areas are frequently controlled by the landlord or property management. Even so, leases can allocate responsibility in different ways.
Some leases place certain duties on the tenant, such as keeping an entrance clean or maintaining an area directly outside the storefront. Others place nearly all common-area obligations on the property owner or management company. Because responsibility is often defined by lease terms and management agreements, the right defendant is not always obvious from where the fall occurred.
This is one reason these cases should be evaluated carefully. A quick assumption can lead you to pursue the wrong party, which can delay the claim and complicate the process.
How Liability Is Determined in a New Jersey Mall or Shopping Center Fall
Most slip and fall claims in New Jersey fall under premises liability. In general terms, property owners and those who control property have a duty to take reasonable steps to keep the premises safe for people who are lawfully there. In retail settings, customers are typically considered invitees, meaning property owners and those in control of the premises owe a duty of reasonable care to maintain safe conditions and conduct reasonable inspections.
To determine responsibility, we look at several key factors. If your fall happened in or near Trenton, it can help to speak with Trenton shopping mall accident lawyers who can help identify who controlled the area and what evidence should be preserved early.
Who Had Control Over the Area Where You Fell?
Control is often the starting point, because the party that controlled or maintained the area is often the party expected to inspect it, address hazards, and make repairs.
Common examples include:
- Property owner control: The owner controls interior corridors, parking areas, and shared structures in many shopping centers.
- Management company control: A property management company may handle daily operations, cleaning schedules, and vendor oversight.
- Tenant control: A store may control interior floors, displays, and sometimes the immediate entrance area, depending on the lease.
Control is not only about ownership. A management company may not own the property, but may have the responsibility to keep it safe.
What Was the Hazard, and How Long Was It There?
Hazards in common areas often include spills, tracked-in water, torn mats, uneven flooring, loose tiles, broken handrails, poor lighting, potholes, ice, and snow. The key question is whether the condition existed long enough that it should have been discovered and addressed.
In many cases, responsibility depends on notice, which can be:
- Actual notice: The party knew about the hazard and did not fix it or warn about it.
- Constructive notice: The hazard existed long enough that the party should have discovered it through reasonable inspections.
In some New Jersey cases involving certain self-service operations, courts may apply the mode-of-operation doctrine. In those situations, a plaintiff may not need to prove actual or constructive notice traditionally if the hazardous condition is a foreseeable result of the store’s self-service method of operation. This depends on the facts. A common example is where the self-service setup makes spills or dropped items a foreseeable part of how customers shop (such as produce displays, beverage stations, or other self-service areas).
Entrances can also become predictable problem areas during rain or snow, where tracked-in water creates slick conditions. In those situations, liability often turns on whether reasonable steps were taken (such as mats, timely mopping, and clear warnings), given the traffic and weather conditions.
In colder months, slip hazards often arise where snowmelt refreezes near curb lines and pedestrian routes. In warmer months, common issues include spills, wet floors near entrances, and worn walking surfaces in high-traffic areas. In busy retail settings, a hazard does not necessarily need to remain for hours to pose a serious risk; the focus is on whether inspection and cleanup or warning practices were reasonable for the conditions.
Were Reasonable Inspections and Maintenance in Place?
Shopping centers are high-traffic properties. That means owners and managers are expected to have consistent inspection and maintenance practices.
We often evaluate practical questions such as:
- Inspection frequency: Whether the property had routine walkthroughs of common areas.
- Cleaning protocols: Whether staff or contractors had a plan for wet floors, spills, and tracked-in water.
- Seasonal safety steps: Whether snow and ice removal and treatment were reasonable under the conditions, including during storms and refreeze cycles.
- Warning methods: Whether cones, signs, or temporary barriers were used when hazards were present.
These details matter because they help show whether the property was managed responsibly or whether a preventable hazard was allowed to linger.
Did a Contractor Contribute to the Unsafe Condition?
Many shopping centers use third-party companies for cleaning, snow removal, landscaping, lighting maintenance, and repairs. If a contractor created a hazard or failed to address one properly, that contractor may share responsibility.
For example, a snow removal contractor may plow snow into an area where melting and refreezing create ice. A cleaning contractor may leave a floor wet without placing warning signs.
When contractors are involved, determining responsibility can require digging into work logs, contracts, and service schedules. At Cohen & Riechelson, we often look at maintenance agreements, vendor logs, and incident documentation to understand whether responsibility rests with the property owner, a management company, a tenant, a contractor, or more than one party.
What You Should Do After a Mall or Shopping Center Fall
In the days after a fall, it is easy to focus only on pain and recovery. That is understandable. At the same time, evidence can disappear quickly after a retail slip and fall. A spill may be cleaned before you leave the property, and video systems may overwrite footage on a routine schedule. Acting early can make a difference in what evidence is still available.
Here are steps that can protect both your health and your ability to seek compensation:
- Get medical attention: Seek care right away, even if your symptoms feel manageable at first.
- Report the fall: Ask for an incident report and request a copy if available.
- Document the scene: Take photos or video of the hazard, the surrounding area, and any lack of warnings.
- Collect witness information: Get names and contact details of anyone who saw the fall or the condition.
- Preserve what you wore: Keep your shoes and clothing in the same condition after the incident.
- Write down details: Note the time, location, weather, lighting, and what happened just before you fell.
The intent of these steps is not to provoke conflict. It’s about preserving the facts. Because deadlines can apply quickly, it is often best to get legal guidance sooner rather than later.
In New Jersey, most slip and fall claims are subject to a two-year statute of limitations. That being said, shorter notice requirements may apply in certain situations, including when a public entity or public property is involved, which can require formal notice within 90 days of the incident.
Because deadlines and notice requirements can vary, it is wise to get legal guidance as soon as possible.
What Compensation May Include in a New Jersey Premises Liability Claim
Every case is different, and compensation depends on the nature of your injuries and the impact on your life. In general, a claim may seek compensation for both financial losses and personal harm connected to the fall.
Results depend on the facts, and not every injury leads to a valid claim. Depending on the circumstances, damages can include medical costs, rehabilitation, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, and pain-related impacts.
Our role is to evaluate the full picture, document the harm, and pursue compensation that reflects what you are dealing with now and what you may face in the future.
Why Mall and Shopping Center Cases Require Careful Investigation
Common-area claims often involve multiple defendants and overlapping responsibilities, and the most important work often happens early, before key evidence disappears. Because these cases can involve landlords, property managers, and contractors, speaking with Mercer County NJ slip and fall injury attorneys can help ensure the right parties are identified and that key records are requested in time.
At Cohen & Riechelson, we look closely at where the fall occurred, who maintained that area, what inspection and safety practices were in place, and what documentation exists.
That process may include reviewing incident reports, requesting surveillance footage before it is overwritten, examining maintenance and vendor logs, and identifying whether responsibility falls on a landlord, management company, tenant, contractor, or more than one party. In many cases, the liability picture only becomes clear after a detailed investigation.
If you were hurt in a shopping center fall, you should not have to untangle that liability puzzle on your own while trying to recover. That is what we are here to handle.
Contact Cohen & Riechelson Today for a Consultation About Your Case
If you suffered a slip and fall at a New Jersey mall or shopping center, Cohen & Riechelson can help you understand how responsibility may be determined and what steps may support a claim. We can evaluate the facts, explain your options, and handle communications with the parties involved so you can focus on your health and recovery.
Call Cohen & Riechelson today or reach out through our online contact form to schedule a consultation and learn how we may be able to help.
Disclaimer: This content is general information and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our law firm directly.