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Slip and fall accidents can lead to severe, costly injuries. If you slipped and fell on another person’s property, you shouldn’t need to pay your medical bills and other expenses out of pocket. Instead, you may be able to hold the property owner or another party financially responsible for your injuries.
At Ross & Hill, we have represented slip and fall victims in New York City for over 40 years. We’ve been a tremendous asset and source of comfort to our clients in challenging times, and we’re prepared to provide these benefits for your case as well.
Contact us today at 718-855-2324 to schedule your free initial consultation with personal injury lawyers in New York.
A slip and fall accident is a type of personal injury accident that falls under the premises liability category. When an accident occurs on private property, the property owner may be liable in some cases.
Slip and fall accidents can encompass any accidents in which a visitor to a property slips, trips, or stumbles on a hazard that the property owner had enough time to remove. Property owners are responsible for creating safe, hazard-free environments for visitors. Failing to remove hazards can leave property owners liable for injuries that occur.
Injuries involving the following hazards are common examples of slip and fall accidents:
Slip and fall accident cases follow the same standards as other premises liability cases. If you were injured in another way, you may still have grounds for an insurance claim or lawsuit.
Slip and fall accidents can lead to a wide range of injuries. The most common injuries resulting from these accidents include the following:
According to the CDC, over 800,000 patients are hospitalized yearly from fall injuries. One out of five falls leads to serious injury, such as TBI or broken bones.
The severity of the injuries depends on the circumstances surrounding the accident. Unfortunately, more severe injuries often lead to higher medical bills.
Working with our NY slip and fall lawyers can help you claim compensation equivalent to the amount of expenses you incurred after your accident.
Premises liability cases are unique from other personal injury cases in that liability is not always clear. Sometimes, property owners are at fault for injuries that occur on their premises. Other times, the victims are at fault.
Property owners have a duty to create a safe environment for certain types of visitors to their properties. The three main types of visitors include the following:
Property owners have a duty of care to invitees and licensees, not trespassers. However, their liability for invitees is more significant than for licensees.
If a trespasser becomes injured on the property, the property owner would not be financially liable in most cases. But if an invitee or licensee slipped and fell, leading to an injury, the owner may be responsible.
The owner’s liability depends on their reasonable ability to know about and remove or mitigate the hazard before the accident. If a puddle of milk had been sitting on the floor for several hours, the owner could be liable for slip and fall injuries. But if a patron spilled the milk and another patron slipped on it less than a minute later, the owner probably wouldn’t be liable.
Property owners can also mitigate risk by warning visitors of a dangerous condition. For example, placing a wet floor sign by the puddle may have removed their liability for accidents.
Your New York City slip and fall lawyer can help you determine whether the property owner was liable for your slip and fall accident, then walk you through the steps of seeking compensation.
Slip and fall accidents can lead to significant medical expenses. In 2015, medical care costs for falls across the U.S. totaled more than $50 billion.
If you experienced a significant injury from a slip and fall accident, you could seek compensation from the at-fault party’s insurance company. Homeowners and business owners should have liability coverage to pay for such incidents.
If the at-fault party does not have adequate insurance, you can consider a lawsuit instead. Your slip and fall attorney in NYC can help you seek compensatory damages, which provide direct compensation for your medical costs and other resulting expenses.
Compensatory damages can cover economic and non-economic expenses. Economic expenses may include:
Non-economic damages can consist of:
If the property owner acted recklessly to cause the slip and fall accident, you could also seek punitive damages, which punish them for their behavior.
Navigating a slip and fall accident case alone can be stressful and overwhelming. Your best course of action is to seek the assistance of a knowledgeable legal team — like our team at Ross & Hill.
We have extensive legal knowledge and personal injury experience that allows us to help clients navigate slip and fall cases successfully. Contact us today to get a free case evaluation.
Falls can be highly dangerous, especially for seniors. According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, falls lead to over 24,000 ER visits and close to 18,000 hospitalizations a year among adults over 65 in NYC.
If you suffer injuries in a slip- or trip-and-fall accident, a New York slip-and-fall lawyer can help you determine who’s responsible and guide you through filing a personal injury claim. You should also take the following steps to protect your rights.
Unless you need urgent medical treatment, take a few minutes to report your accident. If the incident occurred in or near business premises, talk to the property owner or manager and let them know you suffered a fall. Stay polite and try to avoid confrontation.
It’s better if you give your message both verbally and in writing. If the business has an established protocol for documenting accidents, follow it. You should also file an accident report to give your claim more weight. Save any written communication or reports to share with your Brooklyn or Manhattan slip-and-fall lawyer later.
While you’re on the accident scene, you have a one-time opportunity to collect evidence that will be gone soon. If you can, take pictures of the icy sidewalk, loose floorboard, poorly lit area, or whatever hazard led to your accident. Focus on the exact spot where the fall occurred.
Did anyone else witness your fall? Ask these people for their contact information. Neutral witnesses can help establish your case if the at-fault party denies responsibility.
About 5% of all people who fall will suffer fractures. Slip-and-fall accidents may seem trivial, but falls are the number one cause of injury-related death among adults over 65, according to the CDC.
If your fall leads to a severe injury, seek emergency care before doing anything else. However, even if you only notice a few bruises after your fall, run no risks and see a doctor ASAP, preferably on the same day.
You need a fast and thorough medical examination for two reasons. One, you should rule out any serious and potentially life-threatening conditions, like a TBI. Two, you’ll need your medical documentation to be as detailed as possible to support your claim. Save every record and bill.
It may seem natural to post about your accident on social media, but be careful with what you say. The liable party’s insurance company may start keeping tabs on you and try to use anything you share to prove your injuries aren’t as serious as you say.
An insurance adjuster may call you with a settlement offer or “just to clear up some details.” Proceed with extreme caution when talking to insurance company representatives. It’s better to say nothing beyond confirming the technicalities of the accident (time, date, location).
Never accept a settlement offer before consulting a personal injury lawyer for slip-and-fall accidents in NY. As soon as you sign a settlement offer, you forfeit any rights to pursue further legal action, even if it turns out the settlement hardly begins to cover your losses.
Start looking for slip-and-fall legal representation in NYC as soon as you can. Choose a New York slip-and-fall lawyer with solid courtroom skills and plenty of experience in similar cases. Although only about 3% of personal injury cases go to trial, the other side is likelier to make a reasonable offer if they know your attorney is ready to defend your rights in court.
Your lawyer will review all available evidence and let you know who’s likely responsible in your case. Then, the lawyer will help you calculate your losses based on your medical condition and prognosis.
Your slip-and-fall attorney in Brooklyn will proceed to send the demand letter to the liable insurance company. A negotiation process will likely follow. At some point, you may have to decide whether to accept the settlement offer or proceed to file a lawsuit.
Regardless of the causes of slip-and-fall accidents, victims often deal with painful recovery, missed days at work, and huge medical bills. In this situation, you need skilled NYC slip-and-fall lawyers to stand up for your rights.
At Ross & Hill, we help accident victims and their families fight for compensation. Contact us for reliable legal counsel and assertive representation after your slip-and-fall accident in NYC.
Call 718-855-2324 (Brooklyn) or 646-351-6222 (Manhattan) for a free consultation with a New York slip-and-fall lawyer to learn more about your rights.
Generally, you have three years from the slip-and-fall accident to file a personal injury claim. However, if your accident occurred on public premises, and you’re taking legal action against the City of New York, you only have 90 days to give notice of claim and a year and 90 days to file a lawsuit. Please consult a New York trip-and-fall lawyer to ensure your claim meets the proper deadlines.
You can still claim compensation in New York if you’re partly at fault for the slip-and-fall accident. However, your settlement will be lower proportionally to your degree of responsibility.
Every slip-and-fall case is different. Your case’s worth depends on the severity of your injuries, the accident’s impact on your employability, and other factors. A slip-and-fall compensation lawyer in NY can help you calculate your eligible losses.
Like other reputable New York City premises liability attorneys, we at Ross & Hill charge you nothing up front. You’ll only pay us when we settle your case.
45 Broadway
Suite 1110
New York, NY 10006
Phone: 646-351-6222
16 Court Street
35th Fl
Brooklyn, NY 11241
Phone: 718-855-2324