Premises Liability
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Types of Premises Liability:
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→ Trip/Slip and Fall Accidents
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→ Ceiling Collapse
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→ Construction site accidents
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→ Snow and ice liability
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→ Sidewalk defects
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→ Building hazards
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→ Defective stairs
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→ Inadequate lighting conditions
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→ Childcare negligence
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→ Liability of Amusement Parks and Recreational Centers
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→ Negligent supervision
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→ Dog-bite cases
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Premises Liability - Best Personal Injury Attorney, NY & NJ
If you or your loved one is injured on someone else’s property, you may be entitled to compensation. Every landowner has a duty to maintain his or her property in a reasonably safe condition. Moreover, that duty may extend beyond the actual deeded owner of the property. In certain instances, the responsibility for your injuries may lie with any party occupying a property such as tenants or contractors. For instance, if you trip and fall due to a defective sidewalk in front of a property being renovated, you are eligible to pursue recovery against both the owner and the contractor. Similarly, if you suffer injury due to a ceiling collapse in your apartment, you may sue your landlord, the management company for the building, and any other party responsible for compromising the structural integrity of the ceiling.
Perhaps, the tenant living directly above your apartment has caused a water leak that contributed to the collapse. Now, you may pursue a claim against, not only the landlord and management, but also against that tenant. Another example is where a store owner clears snow and ice from a sidewalk in a negligent manner. If you slip and fall, you may pursue a claim against the owner of the building and the store leasing the property.
The laws governing premises liability cases are complex. For nearly a decade, our law firm has had an opportunity to successfully handle all types of premises cases. At the outset, we thoroughly investigate each property in order to ensure maximum recovery. Frequently, the injury-causing condition on a property may not be visible. For instance, we have handled numerous cases involving stairs. Many stairwells, both new and old, have no visual defects. There are no cracks or protrusions.
However, a person descending that stairwell may have fallen despite exercising the utmost care. In such cases, our firm engages an experienced structural engineer to inspect the stairwell for hidden dangers. These dangers may lie in improper construction of handrails, the uneven height of risers, or a combination of both. In a different scenario, a worker at a construction site suffers an injury and the cause is not easily ascertainable. That is a task for an occupational safety expert who will investigate the site and report all violations causing injury to the worker. Our law firm has the expertise and resources necessary to maximize recovery for our clients.
Here are a few examples of frequently asked questions we encounter in our day-to-day practice:
Why do I have a right to recover when I fall on someone else’s property?
Many of our clients suffer injuries due to the presence of slippery conditions such as water, food, snow, and ice. Others fell on a broken portion of a stairway or a mis-leveled sidewalk. Generally, a building owner is responsible for keeping his or her property and adjacent sidewalks in a reasonably safe condition. A property owner is responsible for dangers he or she creates, such as a hole in a sidewalk during construction.
However, even if someone else creates a dangerous condition (no necessarily the property owner), the owner may still be responsible if he or she knew of the dangerous condition or should have known of its existence through reasonable inspections. In the second scenario, the landowner is held responsible for knowingly permitting the danger to exist and to pose an ongoing hazard to the public.
I fell due to a broken stair while coming out of an office building. At that time, I did not call an ambulance to the scene. In fact, I did not report the accident to anyone. Instead, I called a taxi and went home where I took pain relief medication. However, the pain was getting progressively worse. Five hours later, my husband drove me to the emergency room. There were no known witnesses to my accident. Can I still bring a claim? How will I ever prove that the accident even happened?
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If you do not have a police or an ambulance report, you can still bring a personal injury claim. That is not to say that failure to report an accident has no consequences on the outcome of the case. Yes, it does make the case more difficult. However, our firm has handled numerous unreported accident claims and we are equally successful in recovering compensation in such instances. There can be a million reasons why a person does not report an accident right away. But, if you are credible and a truthful person, the Court will believe you even if you did not immediately report the accident to anyone.
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