A duty to warn is a legal obligation to give people a clear heads-up about a danger they may not reasonably notice on their own.

In everyday terms, it means the person or business in control of a place, product, or activity may need to post a sign, give verbal notice, block off an area, or otherwise alert people before someone gets hurt. On property, that can mean warning about a wet floor, a broken stair, poor lighting, exposed wiring, ice at an entrance, or a hidden drop-off. A warning has to be timely and specific enough to help someone avoid the hazard, not vague or easy to miss.

For an injury claim, the big questions are usually simple: Was the danger hidden? Did the owner know or should they have known about it? Did they actually warn anybody? Photos, incident reports, surveillance video, weather records, and witness statements can all help show whether a warning was missing or inadequate. If there was a sign, where was it, and could a normal person realistically see it?

In New Mexico, a failed warning can support a premises liability claim. New Mexico also follows pure comparative fault under Scott v. Rizzo (1981), which means even if an injured person missed something obvious or ignored part of a warning, they may still recover damages; their share of fault just reduces the payout.