Slip & Fall Lawyer in Wyoming

Wyoming's four-year personal injury SOL under Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105(a)(iv) is generous — but it says nothing about how long evidence lasts. Businesses in Cheyenne, Casper, and Jackson overwrite surveillance camera footage within 24 to 72 hours as part of routine recording-loop protocols. Incident reports are sometimes "misplaced" after a claim is anticipated. Maintenance logs showing prior notice of the same hazardous condition — the most powerful evidence in any Wyoming premises case — are internal documents that vanish without a formal preservation demand. Wyoming's Clarke v. Beckwith unified standard focuses the analysis on whether the owner acted reasonably under all the circumstances, and the maintenance and notice record is the primary evidence that answers that question.

Clarke v. Beckwith, 858 P.2d 293 (Wyo. 1993) abolished the entire invitee/licensee/trespasser classification system in Wyoming. The Wyoming Supreme Court established a single duty of reasonable care for all who enter property — including trespassers — with visitor status remaining only as a factor the jury considers when evaluating reasonableness. This is the broadest premises liability standard in the United States. Even a trespasser in Wyoming receives the benefit of the reasonable care analysis; the defense cannot automatically defeat the claim by establishing that the victim lacked permission to be on the property. The specific facts of how foreseeability, burden of remediation, and the parties' relationship bear on reasonableness are what the jury decides — not a predetermined legal rule based on visitor status.

Open-and-obvious hazards in Wyoming do not automatically bar a premises liability claim. Under the Clarke framework, an open-and-obvious condition is a factor in assessing reasonableness and comparative fault — it can reduce the victim's recovery through Wyoming's 51% bar under § 1-1-109, but it does not eliminate the owner's duty as a matter of law. A hazard that was visible to the victim can still support liability if the owner should have reasonably remediated it given foreseeability, burden, and the circumstances. Wyoming's 51% bar means the critical line is whether the victim's fault from encountering an open-and-obvious hazard, combined with other fault, reaches or exceeds 51%. Below that threshold, recovery is reduced but not eliminated.

Falls on Wyoming government property — WYDOT-maintained highways, county roads, state parks, and municipal facilities — require navigating the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act. Under § 1-39-113, written claim presentation to the appropriate government entity must be completed within two years of the act, error, or omission. After claim disposition, a claimant has at least one additional year to file suit. The two-year written claim deadline runs inside the four-year PI SOL — miss the written claim deadline and the government defendant is permanently eliminated regardless of how much time remains on the general statute. Wyoming's harsh winter climate, with its ice, freeze-thaw cycles, and wind-driven snow accumulation, makes government-maintained walkways, stairways, and public entrances recurring sources of serious slip and fall injuries.