A premises liability action may be brought when a person is injured from a failure to keep property reasonably safe. This might occur, by example, in matters of structural failures, broken walkways or ice that should have been cleared away long before.
A critical part of proving such a case is the issue of notice: Did the landowner know about the defect (or should the owner have known)?
Thus, for example, if a person slipped on a banana peel in a supermarket that had been dropped 10 seconds before, one couldn’t in fairness blame the supermarket. Such a suit should not be brought.
If, on the other hand, three different market workers had been told about that banana peel four hours earlier and they didn’t do anything about it, then it is likely a jury would find the market negligent for the conduct of its employees in failing to keep the premises reasonably safe.
One further item to consider in the analysis of such cases is whether the injured person was also negligent. This is known as “comparative negligence,” and would result in a set-off against any jury award. (Thus, a hypothetical 15% finding of comparative negligence would result in a 15% reduction of any award.)
A few examples of premises liability cases that Turkewitz has handled are below. Please note that every case is different, so these are provided for illustrative purposes only:
$1.3M – Structural collapse of metal grate
This premises liability matter against the Port Authority was the subject of two jury trials in federal court (2010 and 2012) and an appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (2013). The plaintiff suffered a broken wrist and badly broken ankle that required fusion.
$400K – Slip and fall on icy NYC subway stair
Jury verdict for plaintiff that suffered badly fractured ankle (2014)
$250K for a slip and fall in a Dutchess County restaurant by a 54 year old woman resulting in a torn meniscus and rotator cuff surgery
$150K – Queens – Snow and Ice – Slip and Fall – Fractured Leg
For this Queens woman who suffered a fractured leg after a slip and fall on snow and ice
$125K Manhattan trip and fall
Woman tripped and fell on a NYC sidewalk that Con Edison had broken up for work reasons, but failed to repair
$100K New York elevator accident
Woman was injured by a malfunctioning elevator. (2009)
