Long Island Premises Liability Lawyer
Serious accidents can happen just about anywhere: while you are buying groceries, shopping at the mall, or even when you are visiting a friend’s house. If you were injured on someone else’s property, a Long Island premises liability lawyer can help you file a claim for compensation under New York’s unsafe premises and property negligence laws.
Common Types of Premises Liability Claims
The number of ways that people can suffer injuries while visiting another person’s property is endless, but most injuries stem from dangerous conditions on the property. The most common types of accidents that warrant the attention of a Long Island premises liability attorney include:
Slip and Fall Accidents: Whether a store failed to remove ice and snow from their sidewalks or your next door neighbor’s car is leaking oil on their driveway, if you slip and fall on another person’s property, you might be entitled to compensation.
Falling Objects: These types of accidents are serious because falling objects — even relatively light ones — such as light fixtures, wooden beams, ceiling tiles, or signage in stores can do serious damage if they fall onto unsuspecting guests. Injuries from falling objects frequently include head and brain trauma.
Elevator or Escalator Accidents: Property owners have a duty to properly maintain all pieces of equipment or machinery on their premises. As a result, if a defective or improperly maintained elevator or escalator injures you, the property owner is legally responsible for the costs of those injuries.
Porch or Stair Collapse: Another dangerous condition guests may find when visiting another person’s property is poorly maintained stairs and porches. If a handrail breaks or a second-story porch collapses when in use, both homeowners and their guests suffer serious injuries. In these cases, the property owner will likely be to blame.
Assault: If property owners expect large crowds of people to visit their premises, — for example, if they own a sporting or concert arena or a large store during the holidays — those property owners must take special steps to preserve the safety of their guests. This means crowd control.
If a property owner failed to provide adequate security during a time when s/he knew that crowds of people would be on the premises, s/he can be responsible for assault and thefts that take place on the property.
Do Property Owners Owe a Duty of Care?
Both commercial property owners and private residence owners owe a duty of care to their guests. Essentially, New York negligence laws require that property owners maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition. Failure to do so means that the property owner will be responsible for any injuries that result from the unsafe condition.
In some cases, it is impossible to remove all dangerous conditions. If there are unavoidable dangers, the property owners must warn their guests. This is why you see so many “wet floor” signs in grocery stores and movie theaters. For private homeowners, it is enough to verbally warn your guests that they just mopped the floor and it might be slippery.
If you slipped and fell in a puddle at the grocery store, you might be entitled to compensation if there was no “wet floor” sign and if the property owner had enough time to warn guests. If someone spilled a gallon of milk and you slip in it two minutes later, you likely do not have a valid claim.
Recovering Compensation For Your Accidents
While it is impossible to say for certain how much compensation you could recover, a Long Island premises liability attorney can estimate this amount for you after sitting down to discuss your case. After hearing all the facts of how your accident happened and reviewing your medical paperwork, one of our attorneys can tell you what a fair amount for your accident looks like.
Typically, if the property owner was negligent, you can expect to receive compensation to cover:
- The cost of your medical expenses, including any future needs for doctor’s visits, medications, physical therapy, or surgery
- Compensation for your lost wages or decreased earnings due to needing time off of work while you recover from your injury
- Noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering and mental anguish
- If the property owner was severely negligent, then you may also qualify for pain and suffering damages. An example of this could be where the property owner knew about the danger for months, could easily and cheaply have repaired the dangerous condition, but actively failed to do so.
Because liability lawyer such as medical expenses and lost wages are tangible, we use your medical bills, W-2s, and pay stubs to get an exact amount of what you have lost. For damages that are more difficult such as lost earning capacity and pain and suffering, we work with medical and vocational experts to determine how the injury has affected you.
Once our premises liability lawyers in Long Island have determined all the ways your accident has affected you, we will submit our settlement demand and negotiate until the insurer gives you what you deserve. If the insurer refuses to settle, we can file suit against the property owner directly.
What are the Time Limits for Filing a New York Premises Liability Claim?
For most injuries, you have three years from the time of the accident to file suit. Once this three-year time limit, known as the statute of limitations, has expired, you will be unable to recover any compensation.
This might seem like a long time, but just determining the severity of your injuries can take a year or more. Getting in touch with a Long Island premises liability attorney as soon as possible will better protect your right to compensation.
Benefit of a Long Island Premises Liability Attorney
Before you decide to pay for your injuries on your own, speak with a Long Island premises liability lawyer. We help Long Island residents like yourself recover the compensation they deserve after an accident on someone else’s property.
We can help you value your total damages and gather the evidence you need to build a case showing that the property owner was negligent. Call today to get started.
By: Sondra Lenz
Title: Friendly and Professional Staff
From start to finish, Goldstein and Bashner was there for all of my questions and concerns. Their friendly and professional staff exceeded my expectations. I would definitely use them again, or recommend them to anyone seeking legal help.