New York Slip & Fall Attorney

These kinds of cases usually occur when you are injured on someone else's property (private or public) whether a home, store, sidewalk, office building or other commercial property.  The owner (or landlord or manager) of the property may be liable to compensate you for your damages, your medical expenses and lost earnings, as well as your pain and suffering.  As with most injury cases, we must prove that the accident was the fault of the owner (or landlord or manager) of the property where the injury occurred.  A party is at "fault" in these types of cases when it can be shown that they were negligent in the maintenance of the property, or that they negligently caused, created or ignored a dangerous condition on the property that caused your injuries. Dangerous and defective conditions include all sorts of things like slippery and wet floors; foreign objects or substances on floors; raised and uneven sidewalks; defective stairs; icy sidewalks; defective and dangerous machines, devices and equipment; improper lighting; lack of security resulting in an assault on the premises; dog bits.  This list is just a small example of the many types of injuries that can occur on a premises.

A word about who is at fault: Many people's very first reaction when they fall, is to blame themselves.  Frequently, they initially think: "I didn't notice" a defect, or "I should have been more careful", or sometimes they just don't know what they fell on.  The natural human response after a fall is to try to get up and go on your way.  You certainly don't want to be hurt, and perhaps you feel a bit embarrassed.  But remember that very often a fall is the result of someone else's negligence in creating or allowing a dangerous condition.  You might not even observe that the condition is dangerous until a thorough examination is done at a later time.  (For example, a stairway might have inherently slippery materials, or might have inadequate measurements or clearances, in violation of the building code). 

First and foremost: immediately seek out good and proper medical attention and treatment for all your injuries.   If possible, report the incident right away to someone in charge of the premises. Only if your medical condition allows it, carefully observe the location where you fell.  Try to identify precisely what caused you to fall.  If there are any witnesses, try to get their names and numbers.  Pictures of the condition would be great because many dangerous conditions are repaired or changed by the time you can get back to the scene; but if you can't do this, don't worry, that's OK (But do you, or does someone else, have a cell phone camera?).  Then, contact me and let me decide if we can show that your injuries were cause by the negligence of another party.

Remember, priority #1 is to recover FROM your personal injuries (to get better).  So seek out the best medical attention and treatment.

Priority #2 is to recover FOR your personal injuries (to protect and assert your legal rights, and to recover money for the damages you have suffered).  Let me help you with priority #2.