Does our general liability cover a visitor who falls in the lobby?

A family member, vendor or prospective resident who slips on a wet lobby floor is a premises claim. The elements are the ordinary ones: a dangerous condition, notice actual or constructive, and failure to remedy or warn. Coverage is under the general liability policy, subject to the general liability retention.

Defense is also ordinary, and the documentation that wins is ordinary: inspection logs, floor care schedules, wet floor signage practice, weather logs for entryway conditions, and video where it exists.

A resident who falls in the same lobby is not a premises case in the eyes of plaintiff counsel. The complaint will allege that the resident had a documented fall risk, that the care plan required an intervention, and that the intervention was not provided. That is a professional liability claim about assessment and supervision, and the floor condition becomes a secondary allegation.

The practical consequences: a different retention applies, a different limit applies, and on a split general and professional program there can be a genuine allocation question about which policy funds the defense. On a combined form that argument disappears, which is one of the strongest arguments for combining the two.

An employee injured in the same fall is a workers compensation claim, not a general liability one, and the exclusive remedy doctrine normally bars a tort claim against you.

A contractor employee is a general liability claim against you, plus a potential subrogation claim from the contractor workers compensation carrier. That is why waiver of subrogation and additional insured status in vendor contracts matter even for routine vendors like landscapers and housekeeping suppliers.

Treat visitor incidents with the same documentation discipline as resident incidents. Photograph the condition immediately, preserve the video before it overwrites, record witness names, and log the inspection history for that area. Video retention cycles in most communities are short, and the single most common evidentiary loss in these cases is footage that overwrote before anyone requested it.

Do not have staff give opinions about cause in the incident report. Record observations. The report is discoverable and an opinion written by a staff member on the day is a plaintiff exhibit.