Commercial and Residential Building Premises Liability Lawyer in NYC

In New York, the owners of commercial and residential buildings have a duty to keep their buildings reasonably safe. Unfortunately, many owners fail to maintain their buildings, allowing them to fall into disrepair and become dangerous. The dangerous conditions that are allowed to exist lead to a variety of types of accidents, from falls, to ceiling collapses, to elevator accidents. Determining exactly which parties are responsible for an accident in a commercial or residential building can be confusing. It is critical to hire a highly qualified NY premises liability attorney to assist you in bringing a lawsuit against the proper parties.

In order to bring a claim against an owner for an accident in a commercial or residential building in New York, an injured person must prove that the owner was aware or should have been aware of the dangerous condition that caused the accident. In addition, the injured person will have to prove that the dangerous condition was a substantial factor in causing the accident. To prove a case, it is vital to obtain building maintenance records, surveillance videos, photographs and find witnesses to the accident. The New York premises liability attorneys at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf perform a thorough independent investigation of every client’s accident immediately upon being retained in order to ensure that they obtain all critical evidence.

In addition to the owner of the building, there may be other parties, such as building management companies, tenants, elevator maintenance companies and security companies that are responsible for the accident. The liability of these parties depends upon a variety of factors, including whether they created the condition that caused the accident or whether they had a contractual obligation to remedy the dangerous condition but failed to do so.

Often, the documents filed as part of an “official accident report” are nothing more than a false attempt to create a defense when an individual has been severely injured due to negligence of others. The following case demonstrates why the need for a thorough investigation and hard work serves the interests of justice:

Our premises liability attorneys achieved a favorable settlement in a premises liability case involving a slip-and-fall accident in New York. The incident occurred on a rainy day, as customers came in and out of a coffee shop with wet shoes and umbrellas, tracking water across the floor. Our client had been waiting in line at the coffee shop restroom, when an employee stepped into the restroom to replace the toilet paper. Just after the employee exited, our client entered the restroom, slipped on a puddle of water, and fell and landed on her wrist. As a result, our client suffered a severely broken wrist and a nerve injury in her wrist – the latter causing numbness to parts of her hand. Thereafter, our client underwent surgery and intensive physical therapy.

Although an accident report from the coffee shop claimed the bathroom floor was dry at the time of the incident, our office performed a thorough investigation which revealed otherwise. Specifically, we located another coffee shop customer who was inside the restroom just before the employee entered to replace the toilet paper. This customer recalled that, while in the restroom, she noticed the floor was slippery and wet. In addition, the customer explained that the employee did not mop, put out a warning cone, or make any attempt to dry the floor before our client stepped into the restroom. Upon learning this information, our office secured a signed and sworn witness statement from this customer to ensure the facts were preserved.

Our office vigorously prosecuted this case to attain an excellent result for our client. At our client’s deposition, she testified that, in spite of the fact that it had rained heavily all day and that the coffee shop was highly trafficked, no employees mopped or did anything whatsoever to clean the floor – nor did they put down mats to keep the floors dry. Our attorneys also deposed multiple coffee shop employees, during which we thoroughly questioned these witnesses and obtained admissions that they had no information contradicting our client’s testimony (regarding the wet and unsafe bathroom floor).

Furthermore, following our client’s surgery, she continued to experience numbness in her hand. Although the defendants tried to argue that this numbness was due to a pre-existing medical condition, our attorneys vigorously fought such an allegation and proved that our client had never suffered these symptoms before the incident occurred.

After fighting throughout the discovery phase of the case the Insurance Company relented. The case was settled when they realized that we would prove their "official accident report" was nothing more than a fraudulent attempt to create a defense where none existed.

The following is a partial list of results the NYC premises liability lawyers at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf have achieved in commercial and residential building lawsuits:

• $4,000,000 verdict for a woman who suffered injuries and whose husband was killed as a result of inadequate security at the building in which she lived.
• $3,900,000 settlement on behalf of a man who was killed when an air conditioner fell on him.
• $3,800,000 settlement for a woman who suffered a severe shoulder injury when a building carelessly allowed ice to build up and to fall in an area where pedestrians walk.
• $1,500,000 settlement for a man who suffered a fractured femur after falling on a defective stairway.

The NY accident attorneys at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf have over 100 years of experience in representing plaintiffs injured in commercial and residential buildings. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or has died as a result of an accident in a commercial or residential building, please contact us today.

Disclaimer: Please be advised that the results achieved in any given case depend upon the exact facts and circumstances of that case. Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf cannot guarantee a specific result in any legal matter. Any testimonial or case result listed on this site is based on an actual legal case and represents the results achieved in that particular case, and does not constitute a guarantee, warranty or prediction of the outcome of any other legal matter.