Slip and Fall on Icy Sidewalk in NYC?

New York Slip and Fall Injury Attorney

Video Transcript:

Jeffrey Antin: Again, you gotta... You know... You have to hire a lawyer right away.

Rob Rosenthal: 

If you're injured after slip and fall in New York City, could you have a case to sue? And how do you get help? We're gonna find right out now on this episode of "Ask The Lawyer." Hi again, everybody. I'm Rob Rosenthal with askthelawyers.com. My guest is New York City attorney, Jeffrey Antin, and I will remind you right off the top, if you'd like to ask Jeff questions about your situation, it's easy: Go to askthelawyers.com. Click the button up at the top that says "Ask A Lawyer," and fill out the very simple form. Doesn't cost you anything to ask your questions, or you can call the phone number that you'll see on the screen during our conversation. Jeff, it's nice to see you again. Thank you for making some time to help us out.

Jeffrey Antin: 

Thank you. I'm happy to be here. Thank you.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So, do you see a lot of these... In the city? And where, generally, most of these happen? Are they... City sidewalks or business, residences? Help me out.

Jeffrey Antin: 

Basically, you know... I mean, basically, city is just, you know, one big sidewalk, and... You know, a lot of times these sidewalks are not level. Pieces or sections of sidewalk could be higher than other sections of sidewalk. I mean, there many tripping hazards out there that if you're not looking down, which nobody does. Who's looking down as you're walking down the street? Most people just look straight ahead. So if you're not looking down every step of the way, there's a good chance that you're gonna catch your foot on a... On a tripping hazard.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So, in that situation, Jeff, whose responsibility is it, for those sidewalks? Is it the city? Is it landowner? The landlord? Who's responsibility?

Jeffrey Antin: 

Alright, well, about about 18 years ago, the City transferred liability for maintenance of the sidewalks basically from the city itself to commercial and more than three-family residential buildings. So now if you happen to trip and fall, or slip and fall, we could be talking about a snow and ice case as well. If you trip and fall, or slip and fall in front of an apartment building, or a commercial building, or a store, as a practical amount of that, that's whatever... Building, store, business. Whoever owns that piece of property is technically liable for the maintenance of the sidewalk, and then potentially for your injuries, if you can prove that it was... That you fell because of something that they did or didn't do.

Rob Rosenthal: 

In your experience, tell me about these injuries a little bit, how serious can these injuries be?

Jeffrey Antin: 

Listen, these can be multiple, you know... People... Who's to say multiple fractures, I've seen bimalleolar or trimalleolar fractures, ankle fractures, you know, needing multiple surgeries. Listen, you could break your nose, you could smash your face, I mean... The injuries run the whole... The whole gambit. There's no minimum or maximum, I guess.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Is there a quick rule of thumb, maybe Jeff, that someone could go by to determine whether they may actually have a case, or do you recommend they contact an attorney in any situation where they're injured in a slip, trip or fall to see if they have a case?

Jeffrey Antin: 

If you're the injured person, show the lawyer where exactly you fell, and the lawyer will be able to tell you whether or not there's some... Lawyer will be able to give you a general idea of whether or not there might be some kind of actionable defect. Oftentimes, an attorney might have to rely upon an engineer or somebody to come out and do... Take some kind of measurements to determine whether or not there is a defect that caused someone to fall.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Let's talk a little bit about those slip and falls, weather-related conditions, hazardous conditions. What's the responsibility there for the land owner or the business owner? Well, what's the responsibility?

Jeffrey Antin: 

Well, basically, I mean, if you slip in fall during a storm, you have no case. Okay, let's start there. There's a storm in progress doctrine in New York, basically that just says you can't... There's no obligation for the property owner to do anything with regard to maintaining the sidewalk until after a reasonable time. 'Till after a reasonable time after it stopped the precipitation. And then there's also a period of time, I believe, in the morning... In other words, I think, let's say it snows overnight, well you get until... I'm not sure if it's 8 o'clock... It might be 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock in the morning, you know, until you're obligated to make any kind of efforts to clear the snow or ice from the sidewalk.

Rob Rosenthal: 

What about private businesses? Stores, that sort of thing, I would imagine during the winter time, there's a lot of people coming in with wet shoes and slushy, and all that sort of stuff. What's the responsibility for the store to maintain that?

Jeffrey Antin: 

Yeah. Those are harder cases. Again, it's during a storm in progress, it's the same thing, they don't have... The way the case is basically read it, they don't really have any obligation to put down any mats or anything like that inside a store. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, but it's the same thing as storm in progress, and if you get hurt in a store while it's snowing out or raining out or whatnot, and you... Part of it has to do with the fact that people drip water into the store, so a lot of times it's hard to... Nobody can say for sure how long water was on the floor before you fell. People walk in with umbrellas all the time. You know, they're wet umbrellas, they drip water. So unfortunately, the defense is gonna rely upon or try to rely upon the fact that you can't say for how long a period of time the floor was wet before you fell. That's the problem with those kinds of cases.

Rob Rosenthal: 

I think you've helped a lot of people clarify a lot of information for us today, Jeff. Thank you so much for making some time to help us out.

Jeffrey Antin: 

Thank you again. Thank you too.

Rob Rosenthal: 

That will do it for this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest has been New York City Attorney Jeff Antin. I will remind you, if you'd like to ask Jeff questions about your situation, go to askthelawyers.com. Click the button up at top the page that says, "Ask A Lawyer." And it'll walk you through the process right there, it doesn't cost you anything to ask your questions. Thanks for watching. I'm Rob Rosenthal with Ask The Lawyers.

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