Property owners who cut costs by failing to maintain the condition of their premises should be held responsible when someone suffers a serious injury. Premises liability laws make negligent property owners responsible for conditions on their premises that injure visitors.

Going to the supermarket to pick up a few items should not end in the emergency department of a hospital because you slipped and fell on debris store employees neglected to clean up. Getting hurt on property belonging to or managed by another party may entitle you to be compensated for the damages you incur.

At the New York City offices of The Carrion Law Firm, we are committed to aggressively pursuing compensation against negligent property owners through premises liability lawsuits. We take on the insurance companies and their defense lawyers to get you the compensation you need and deserve. Call our team at (718) 841-0083 for a free case review.

Our New York City Premises Liability Attorneys Hold Property Owners Responsible

Premises liability is an area of personal injury law requiring owners, managers, and tenants of the property to take reasonable steps to keep them free of unsafe and hazardous conditions that cause injuries. Our NYC premises liability attorneys can help you navigate your legal options if you were injured on someone else’s property. Premises liability laws may apply to many of the following common properties in New York City:

• Residential properties

• Supermarkets and convenience stores
• Apartment buildings
• Condominiums
• Motels and hotels
• Amusement parks, fairs, and carnivals
• Parking lots and garages
• Shopping malls and shopping centers

A failure to maintain sidewalks and parking lots may also create dangerous conditions causing injuries to unsuspecting guests and visitors. Many situations may give rise to premises liability claims, including but not limited to the following:

• Slip-and-fall accidents
• Animal attacks and dog bites
• Negligent security
• Amusement park accidents
• Fires and electrocution
• Faulty stairs
• Broken or cracked sidewalks and parking lots

Whether you slip on a wet floor when entering an office building or trip on a torn carpet in a hotel in New York City, premises liability law may make the owner or management company responsible for paying your damages.

Who Can I Sue in a Premises Liability Lawsuit in NYC?

In a premises liability lawsuit, plaintiffs typically sue the owner of the property where they were injured. Premises liability is a rather broad area of law that includes a wide variety of properties and property owners. Whom you can sue often depends on where your accident and injuries occurred. If you are unsure about how to begin your lawsuit, our NYC premises liability lawyers can help you get started.

Store Owners/Operators

Stores, shopping centers, and retail spaces are commonly named in premises liability lawsuits. Not only do these places owe their guests a duty of care and safety, but they often see a great many guests and customers every day, making the odds of an accident higher than in private places.

If you were injured in an accident in a store or retail space, you may be able to sue the store owner for your damages. However, it might also be possible to sue people like managers who were tasked with maintaining the store and keeping the premises safe for customers (though their employers will ultimately pay damages in many of these cases).

In New York City, it is very common for stores to lease their retail spaces. This means that a defendant might run the store where your accident happened, but they do not own the physical building. Instead, a commercial landlord owns the property and rents it to the store owner. In these cases, the renter often takes responsibility for day-to-day safety issues, but owners may still operate common areas like lobbies and parking lots.

Talk to our NYC premises liability lawyers about your case before making any decisions, and we can help you decide whom you should sue.

Landlords

New York City is home to millions of residents, and many of them rent their homes and apartments instead of owning them. As such, many people have landlords in charge of their apartment buildings. If your accident happened in your apartment building, you might be able to sue your landlord for damages.

However, landlords are not responsible for every space. Private spaces like tenants’ private living areas are usually the tenant’s responsibility. Common spaces like stairwells, hallways, and lobbies are the landlord’s responsibility. You can often sue your landlord for an accident in a common area, but not necessarily for accidents in private areas.

Alternatively, if an accident in a private space can be attributed to a landlord’s negligence, you might be able to sue them. A tenant is responsible for ordinary daily upkeep in their apartment, like cleaning wet floors. However, a landlord is responsible for larger maintenance issues, like burst pipes or a collapsing ceiling. Discuss the nature of your accident with our NYC premises liability attorneys for help getting your lawsuit started.

Other Private Individuals

You can also sue private individuals in some premises liability cases if you were an invited guest in their home. For example, if you were visiting a neighbor and fell down their stairs because they failed to repair a broken floorboard, you may sue your neighbor for negligence.

Other times, you might not be an invited guest but still have access to walk across the property. In New York City, many residents – even renters – are tasked with clearing ice and snow from sidewalks in front of their homes. If you walk down the sidewalk and slip on some ice because a resident failed to clear the ice and snow, they might be liable for your injuries.

How Do I Hold Someone Liable in a Premises Liability Case in New York City?

Premises liability cases are often based on negligence. The legal definition of negligence includes four crucial elements that must be established if your case is to be successful. Because different premises liability cases may involve different accidents and defendants, the elements needed to prove a case in court will be unique to each case.

Duty

The first element, duty, refers to the defendant’s legal duty of care and safety. This duty makes the property owner responsible for keeping their property safe for visitors. How you establish this duty will depend on who your defendant is. For example, the duties of a landlord are not the same as the duties of a store owner. Our New York City premises liability lawyers can help you examine your defendant’s duty.

Breach

The second element, breach, is a violation of the defendant’s duty of care. Much like duty, the breach in your case will be based on your unique circumstances. For example, if a fire in your apartment building caused your injuries, your landlord’s breach might be a lack of working smoke detectors or fire escapes. In a slip and fall accident in a store, the breach might be the store owner’s failure to place a wet floor sign on a freshly mopped floor.

Causation

The third element, causation, is the connection between the duty and the breach. Even if your defendant does in fact breach their duty of care, they can argue that your accident and injuries were caused by something else. We have to establish that the breach is the direct cause of the accident.

Damages

Finally, you must prove your damages. Damages must be real in order to be claimed. Hypothetical damages or those that were merely possible cannot be claimed. We can use medical records to prove your physical injuries. If you lost property, we can show records of insurance claims or receipts proving the value of the lost property.

Can I File for Injuries on Someone’s New York City Property if I Was Not Invited?

Many premises liability cases involve plaintiffs who were invited guests or customers of the defendant. However, many other cases involve plaintiffs who were not explicitly or directly invited onto the defendant’s property. Even people who were not invited may hold property owners liable for injuries and accidents. Our New York City premises liability lawyers can help you figure out if you have a claim in your case.

In general, trespassers are not invited guests and are often unwelcomed. Under most circumstances, property owners do not owe a duty of care to trespassers. However, the property owners may owe a duty to known trespassers. For example, if a property owner knows that people sometimes cut across the corner of their property, they are known trespassers. That property owner might owe them a duty to clear hidden dangers and avoid setting traps to harm those trespassers.

A property owner might also owe a duty of care to people they can reasonably expect to show up. Anyone going door-to-door, like mail carriers or solicitors, can be expected to approach the front door of a home even if they are not invited. They are owed a duty of care and can sue if hidden dangers on the property injure them.

We Do the Work to Prove Your Premises Liability Claim in New York City

Proving that an owner, tenant, maintenance company, or management company breached its duty to maintain safe premises requires an investigation and analysis of the facts and circumstances. Our experienced and skilled New York City personal injury attorneys can assist you. Our unsurpassed knowledge of the law and client-focused commitment to getting you the compensation you need for lost earnings, medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other damages allow you to concentrate on recovering from your injuries while we fight for your rights.

We Make a Difference in Your NYC Premises Liability Case

If you have been injured in a premises liability accident in New York City, do not let property owners or their liability insurance companies take advantage of you with low-ball settlement offers. Let personal injury attorneys at The Carrion Law Firm review your case. Call our team at (718) 841-0083 for a free case evaluation.