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New Yorkers know a thing or two about subzero temperatures and snow in the wintertime. While other parts of the country fret about a couple of inches of snow, New Yorkers often run out on errands without a parka in the freezing cold.
New York often sees temperatures in the 30s in February, with lows well below freezing. A couple of inches of snow are often the icing on the winter cake.
Although New Yorkers are used to this type of weather, it doesn’t mean that accidents don’t happen in those icy city streets. Slip and fall accidents still occur in New York and if it happens to you, it’s not something you should brush off.
New York law allows its residents to pursue damages in these types of personal injury claims. Here’s what you need to know about slip and fall claims in New York so you can understand what legal remedies are available to you.
Slip and fall accidents in New York occur for a variety of reasons. There might be a dangerous condition that a property owner failed to fix or even loose debris such as garbage on the sidewalk that causes someone to fall.
In New York, many slip and fall accidents happen in the service industry, where employees face dangerous conditions in the workplace that cause them to slip and fall.
In fact, not just in New York but throughout the United States, slip and fall injuries are the most common type of work accident.
If you are in a slip and fall accident, the first thing to do is get medical care. If you need an ambulance, call one.
Chances are the police will also come to the scene and can document the area and get witness information from which they’ll file a report.
If you don’t need immediate medical care, then attempt to find the cause of the accident and document it yourself. Also, get contact information from witnesses and then get yourself to a doctor to have yourself evaluated for injury.
In New York, there is a statute of limitation in slip and fall cases. That means you only have a certain amount of time from the incident that caused your injury. In New York, that is three years from the date the slip and fall occurred.
When you take a person or business to court in a slip and fall case, then you must show that the property owner is responsible for your accident. In New York, there is one more factor that comes into play called comparative negligence.
The court or insurance company will determine what amount of fault you have in the accident if any, and that amount of fault will have an impact on the value of your slip and fall case.
For example, if it was determined that you were 50 percent responsible for the accident and you were awarded $100,000 in damages, then you would only be entitled to 50 percent of the awarded damages, so $50,000.
A slip and fall accident is never something you should simply brush off. Make sure to get yourself taken care of — by a professional — before you do anything else.
If no major injuries are found, that’s great news. However, if injuries are identified and treated, then you may want to consider filing a slip and fall claim.
