Ortiz files premises-liability lawsuit alleging severe slip-and-fall at Clermont Home Depot

A premises-liability complaint filed in Lake County, Florida, on Feb. 20, 2026, names Home Depot U S A Inc. and alleges a shopper sustained severe injuries in a slip-and-fall at the Home Depot store in Clermont, Florida. The filing is captioned Ortiz v. Home Depot U S A Inc., but the public excerpt provided ends mid-sentence with the fragment, "The complaint, brought by the law," and does not supply a case number, counsel names, the Clermont store street address, or the date of the underlying incident.

The complaint as described in the Feb. 20 filing is sparse in the available excerpt; it alleges only that a shopper suffered "severe injuries" in a slip-and-fall at the Clermont location. The filing identifies Home Depot U S A Inc. as defendant, but the document fragment does not detail the alleged mechanism of the fall, medical treatment, surveillance evidence, or witness statements that often appear as attachments to Florida premises-liability complaints.

Records show other Florida premises suits against Home Depot in 2024 with similar claims. One May 2024 slip-and-fall filing in Orange County involved a plaintiff named Jose Ortiz and an incident inside the store at 6130 E Colonial Drive in Orlando; that complaint alleges the plaintiff "slipped and fell on a liquid substance on the floor" that was "there as a result of a Home Depot associate using a floor cleaning machine in a negligent and careless manner." That Orange County Ortiz matter appears in 2024 court listings for the 9th Judicial Circuit and is distinct in venue and address from the Lake County filing captioned Ortiz v. Home Depot U S A Inc.

Two other Florida suits from April–May 2024 assert comparable premises theories. A Pinellas County filing by Raymond Orasi alleges injuries to his head and upper body after tripping over an "unsecured/unattended flatbed cart" at a St. Petersburg store, claiming Home Depot "was negligent in maintaining the premises in a reasonably safe condition and did not warn customers of dangers it knew about and/or should have known about." A Broward County complaint by Gustavo Frances alleges a 125-pound door unexpectedly fell on his shoulder inside the Fort Lauderdale store at 1000 NE 4th Ave., with the plaintiff stating Home Depot "was negligent in failing to use reasonable care in the operation of the premises generally and specifically in the manner in which the door was stored and maintained."

The Feb. 20, 2026 Lake County filing raises a key verification issue: the Ortiz caption in Lake County must be confirmed as the same individual named in the May 2024 Orange County Ortiz filing or as a separate plaintiff with a distinct incident at the Clermont store. Concrete next steps to clarify the Lake County matter include obtaining the full Feb. 20 complaint with a case number, the plaintiff's full name and counsel, the Clermont store address and incident date, any attached incident or medical records, and to review whether Home Depot has filed an answer or other responsive pleadings in Lake County. Court dockets and those documents will determine whether the Clermont store faces fresh litigation or whether this filing overlaps with earlier Orlando-area claims.