Premises Accidents

Injured on Someone Else's Property?

If you were injured on someone else's property — a sidewalk, a staircase, a lobby, a store, a building entrance, or a subway platform — you may have a case.

Many older New York buildings still have steps and stairs that were dangerously designed and never brought up to today's safety standards. If one of them hurt you, you may have a case.

Whether you live there, work there, were shopping, or were just visiting, you may have a case.

Representing victims of personal injuries and civil rights violations throughout the New York City Area, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester since 1993.

The cases we handle

• Sidewalk falls

• Snow and ice

• Stairs, steps, and handrails

• The step you didn't see

• Falling ceilings and building defects

• Slip and fall on a spill

• Elevators

• NYCHA buildings

• Subway, transit, and MTA

• Dog bites and animal attacks

• Negligent security and assaults

Who is responsible?

The owner, the landlord, the managing agent, or a government agency — the City, NYCHA, or the MTA.

Often it is more than one of them. Part of our job is finding every one.

What do we have to prove?

In most premises cases it comes down to one question: did the people responsible for the property know about the danger, and do nothing about it?

How do you prove they knew?

We conduct a vigorous investigation, through Freedom of Information requests to every City agency involved and through discovery, to fully document the property's history — every complaint, inspection, violation, and fine.

Once your case is filed, we use the legal system to force the owner and everyone else involved to hand over their records. We find out who owns the property, who leases and uses it, who was responsible for keeping it safe, whether that responsibility was handed off to someone else, and every insurance policy that could pay you. We question them under oath and lock in what they knew and when they knew it. If they refuse to turn something over, we go to the judge and make them.

Only by documenting the full history can we identify every responsible party and hold each one fully accountable.

When the record shows that the people responsible ignored a known danger again and again, the law may allow more than ordinary damages. New York permits punitive damages in a negligence case where the conduct shows a conscious disregard for the safety of others.

What should I do after a fall?

If you are hurt, go straight to a hospital or urgent care.

Take pictures of exactly what made you fall — the sidewalk, the step, the spill — and of your injuries. Report the fall to the owner or the manager, and call the police so there is an official record. Get the names and phone numbers of anyone who saw it happen.

Then call a lawyer before the evidence disappears.

Why we have to move fast

Security cameras often record over their footage within days. Video of what actually happened is often the best evidence for holding a property owner responsible, and the sooner we demand that it be preserved, the better the chance it still exists.

The scene changes too. Defects get repaired. Spills get cleaned up. Snow melts. Witnesses move and forget.

And when a government agency is involved, the deadlines are far shorter than in an ordinary case, and they start running immediately.

Call us immediately. The consultation is free, and you pay no fee unless we recover for you.