How to Prove Premises Liability in New York City
Premises liability is a legal theory which states that the owner of a property has a duty of care towards the people who might visit the property and places an affirmative obligation on property owners to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition. If they fail to do so, any person who gets injured on the property can sue them for damages. In this post, we will focus on the legal elements that need to be proven in a premises liability claim in New York.
Legal Elements You Must Establish in a New York Premises Liability Claim
Duty of Care
First, you need to prove that the property owner – or the party that is responsible for maintaining the property – owed you a duty of care. This can be easily proven as all property owners in New York owe a duty of care towards the people who might visit the property under the express or implied consent of the owner.
Breach of Duty
Second, you need to prove that the property owner failed to take reasonable steps to maintain the property in a safe condition. In order to prove this part, you need to show that the owner had actual or constructive notice of the defect or hazard that caused the accident.
Actual notice means the owner actually knew about the defect or hazard in question and still did not take any step to fix it or to warn people about it. Proving this can be difficult in most cases, as the owner often claims that they had no idea about the defect in question or might claim that they did not have sufficient time to get it fixed.
Constructive notice, on the other hand, means the defect or hazard in question was so obvious and existed for so long that the owner should have known about it. Proving constructive notice can be easier, as you only need to establish that the defective condition was obvious to the point that any reasonable person would have noticed it.
Injury Caused by Breach of Duty
This is the part where you need to prove that you were injured directly as a result of the owner’s breach of duty.
Evidence Needed to Prove Negligence or Breach of Duty in a Premises Liability Claim
- Photos and videos (taken by you or your attorney) of the accident scene
- CCTV or security camera footage
- Records of complaints made by other people in the past about the defect or hazard that caused your accident
- Records of complaints made by other people in the past about other defects or hazards on the same property
- Public case records (if the owner had been sued for negligence by other parties in the past)
- Statements or testimonies from people who witnessed the accident
- Medical records
For a Winning Legal Strategy, Contact the Leading Premises Liability Attorneys in New York City
If you have been injured on someone else’s property and planning to sue them, the premises liability attorneys at the Law Offices of Michael S. Lamonsoff can help you.
We bring unmatched legal expertise and over 100 years of combined experience to the table and have the resources to take on all kinds of personal injury claims – regardless of their complexity.
Our team is led by Michael S. Lamonsoff, who is one of the top-rated personal injury attorneys in the country today and a member of the Board of Directors of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, Super Lawyers, Multi-Million Dollar Award Forum, and several other prestigious forums and associations.
We are ready to fight for you and go the extra mile to get you the compensation you deserve. Call us today at 212-962-1020 or contact us online for a free evaluation of your case by a seasoned New York premises liability attorney.