Long Island Slip & Fall Lawyer
A slip and fall or trip and fall accident can cause severe injuries, including concussions and traumatic brain injuries, facial lacerations that leave scars, back injuries and broken bones. A person trying to break a fall can fracture a wrist or twist an ankle, and a broken hip in a fall can send someone to a nursing home for a lengthy and difficult period of recovery. Fall injuries also take the lives of 15,000 people every year.
Property owners can and should be held liable when a slip and fall or trip and fall occurs because of a dangerous condition on their property that they didn’t bother to fix or warn the public about. Owners and managers have a duty to periodically inspect their premises and maintain them in a reasonably safe condition, promptly fixing or warning of any hazards. New York has been named America’s most walkable city, but seasonal rain, snow and ice combined with lack of maintenance and disrepair create very real dangers for pedestrians on city streets and sidewalks, as well as visitors to grocery stores, bars and restaurants, department stores and apartment buildings.
Slip and fall accidents send a million people to the ER every year across the country. If you’ve been hurt in a slip and fall or trip and fall in Nassau County, Long Island or New York City, and you believe the property owner’s negligence may be to blame, call Giuffré Law Offices in Garden City, Brooklyn or Bayside for a free consultation. Our Long Island slip & fall lawyers listen to what happened, gather the facts of the case, and let you know how we can help you recover compensation for your medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and other legal damages.
Call Giuffré Law Offices after a slip or trip and fall based on any of the following:
- Icy sidewalks that weren’t cleared after a storm
- Cracked or broken sidewalks due to tree roots, neglect or faulty repair
- Broken steps
- Missing handrails
- Malfunctioning elevators and escalators
- Malfunctioning sliding doors, revolving doors, or automatic doors
- Wet and slippery entryways
- Unmarked steps
- Objects falling off of shelves or blocking the aisles
- Torn or defective carpeting
- Inadequate lighting
- Bus drivers who lurch forward before you are seated or while you are entering or exiting the bus, or who stop too far away from the curb
Premises liability accidents can be challenging claims to prove
Slip and fall accidents and trip and fall accidents, collectively known as premises liability, can be difficult claims to pursue for compensation. As the injured plaintiff, you have the burden of proving that the property owner knew about the dangerous condition but failed to address it in time. You don’t necessarily have to prove they had actual knowledge of the danger; it is enough to prove constructive knowledge – the owner should have known about the danger. This can be especially difficult in the case of a temporary condition, such as a food or drink spill. How do you prove how long the spill was there before you slipped and fell? As an experienced New York personal injury lawyer, John Giuffré knows the steps to take to collect evidence and build a strong case that proves the property owner’s liability.
Property owners and their insurance companies will try to get out of liability by claiming the accident was your own fault because you weren’t watching where you were going. Had you been paying better attention, they’ll say, you could have avoided that slippery spot or broken step. Any amount of blame they can put on you will reduce the amount of money they have to pay you. Part of our job as your lawyer is to keep you from being unfairly blamed for an accident that wasn’t your fault while proving the property owner’s liability and maximizing the compensation owed to you.
Insurance companies are also notorious about downplaying injuries in a slip or trip and fall. If you didn’t break a bone or need stitches, they’ll say you weren’t hurt very bad, even though you might have experienced a painful muscle strain or sprain that takes months of medication, rest and physical therapy to get over. They might also claim your injury is an exaggeration of some preexisting condition or degenerative disease they aren’t responsible for. Don’t just take their word for it. We know the law and will work to hold property owners and their insurers fully accountable for their responsibility to you.
Slip and fall on government property
Between public transit, public sidewalks, government workers and government properties, there are lots of possibilities for slip and fall or trip and fall accidents involving municipal claims in New York. When an accident happens on government property, you only have 15 months to file a claim (less than half the three years for other types of personal injury), and you must notify the city within 90 days of the accident of your intent to file a claim. To make matters worse, many New York Towns have “prior written notice” statutes. In these townships, you can’t apply the rule of constructive knowledge – that property owners are liable for dangers they should have known about. If a prior written notice statute is in place, the town is only liable if it had previously received written notice about a dangerous condition yet failed to remedy it before the accident occurred. Giuffré Law Offices will give you a free consultation and let you know whether we think you have a viable claim against the town.
Dedicated, Experienced Help After a Slip/Trip and Fall in Long Island or New York City
If you got hurt in a slip and fall or trip and fall accident on somebody’s dangerous property, including private persons or government property, call Giuffré Law Offices in Stewart Manor, Brooklyn or Queens. Our Long Island slip & fall lawyers serve clients throughout Nassau County and New York City. If you can’t come to our offices, we’ll come to you. There’s no cost for your consultation, and we only charge a fee when we are successful in recovering compensation for you.
