How an Injury Attorney Handles a Slip and Fall Case

If you or a family member was injured in a New York slip and fall accident on someone else's property due to unsafe conditions, you may be entitled to compensation for your injury. This may include monetary expenses such as medical and rehabilitative bills. It can also include non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, or loss of enjoyment of life. Whether you file a claim with the property owner's insurance or file a personal injury lawsuit, there are New York laws and rules you must follow in order to receive the settlement for your slip and fall injury that you deserve.

At this stressful time when you are trying to recover from your injuries, a personal injury attorney can make sure your case is handled properly according to New York law. Your attorney can investigate the slip and fall accident, examine the facts and determine who was responsible, negotiate with insurance companies, and determine the best approach to take to prevent costly mistakes.

How Does a Slip and Fall Lawsuit Work?

For a successful slip and fall lawsuit, you must have fallen on someone else's property and suffered an injury due to their negligence. The responsible party is frequently the property owner or manager, but there may be multiple parties involved, such as joint owners and management companies. Your personal injury attorney will strive to prove that the defendants in the case were at fault.

Under New York law, responsible parties have what is known as a duty of care to make sure their property is properly maintained to prevent injuries to others and fix unsafe conditions in a timely manner. If they fail to do so and you are injured due to this negligence, you have a valid slip and fall case.

To win the case, your attorney must be able to establish there was negligence by a responsible party because:

1. There was a dangerous condition on the party's property,
2. The party knew or should have known about the condition,
3. The party had time to remedy the dangerous condition but did not, and
4. The party was negligent and failed to properly fix the defect which led to your accident.

Relevant New York Laws

There are New York personal injury laws that directly affect your slip and fall case.

These include:

• Statute of Limitations – New York has a time limit, called a statute of limitations, a deadline for filing personal injury lawsuits. Under New York Civil Practice Laws & Rules section 214, anyone who was injured or suffered property damage in a slip and fall on someone else's property must file their lawsuit within three years from the date of the incident. There are a few exceptions, but if you miss the deadline the courts are likely to dismiss your case.
• Comparative Negligence – New York has a "pure comparative negligence rule." It determines how much you can recover if you have contributed to the accident, such as through carelessness. The property owner will try to argue that you were at least partially to blame for your slip and fall in order to reduce your settlement, and your lawyer will argue that the other party was mostly or totally at fault. Any settlement award you receive will be reduced according to the percentage you were determined to be at fault, but you would still be entitled to the rest of the settlement.

Our Lawyers Can Handle Your Slip and Fall Case

When you hire an attorney to represent you after an injury, you can prioritize your health and recovery. Slip and fall law is complicated, and the experienced New York personal injury lawyers at Kaplan Lawyers PC will help you understand them and make sure your case is filed properly and in a timely matter. We will handle communications with insurance companies and opposition lawyers, file appropriate papers, gather evidence and interview witnesses, prepare presentations to strengthen your claim, negotiate a fair settlement, represent you in court if necessary, and fight to get you the best settlement possible.

We offer a free consultation to examine the individual facts of your case and show you how we can help. For help with a legal claim after a slip and fall accident, contact Kaplan Lawyers PC at (516) 399-2364 today.