Slip and Fall Lawyer

Slip and Fall Lawyer in NYC

If you were hurt in a slip and fall on someone else’s property in New York, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. These are premises liability claims, and they turn on whether the property owner knew about a hazard and failed to fix it. A NYC slip and fall lawyer can prove that fault and pursue your recovery.

This page is part of our NYC personal injury practice. Konta, Georges & Buza, P.C. represents people injured in falls across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, in stores, apartment buildings, offices, and on public sidewalks. Our NYC slip and fall lawyers handle these cases on a contingency basis, which means there is no fee unless a recovery is obtained, and this page answers the questions injured people ask most.

Do I Have a Slip and Fall Case in New York?

You likely have a case if a dangerous condition on someone’s property caused your injury and the owner either created that condition or knew about it and failed to fix it. New York premises liability requires proof of a hazard, notice, and a resulting injury. A free case review is the fastest way to know where you stand.

Not every fall leads to a valid claim, because the law does not make a property owner responsible for every accident. What matters is fault. If a grocery store left a spill on the floor for an hour, a landlord ignored a broken step, or a building failed to light a stairwell, that is the kind of negligence that supports a claim. Our NYC slip and fall lawyers evaluate the condition, the notice, and your injuries together to determine whether the owner can be held liable.

Who Is Liable for a Slip and Fall in NYC?

Liability falls on whoever controlled the property and was responsible for keeping it safe, which can be a store, a landlord, a management company, a business tenant, the City, or a homeowner. For public sidewalks, New York City Administrative Code 7-210 usually places responsibility on the owner of the abutting property, not the City.

In a store or restaurant, the business or the property owner is typically responsible. In an apartment building, the landlord or management company is usually on the hook for common areas. Sidewalk cases follow a specific rule: under Admin Code 7-210, the adjacent property owner is generally liable for maintaining the sidewalk, with an exception for owner-occupied one, two, and three family homes used only as residences, where the City can be responsible instead. Because more than one party is often at fault, our NYC premises liability lawyers identify every responsible defendant, since that can determine how much insurance coverage is available for your claim.

What Do I Have to Prove in a Slip and Fall Claim?

You must prove that a dangerous condition existed, that the property owner created it or had notice of it, and that the owner failed to fix or warn about it in time. Notice can be actual, meaning they knew, or constructive, meaning the hazard was visible and existed long enough that they should have known.

Notice is the heart of most slip and fall cases. Constructive notice, under New York case law, requires that the condition was visible and apparent and existed for enough time before the fall that the owner could have discovered and corrected it. A puddle that appeared seconds earlier is different from a leak that had been spreading for hours. Our NYC slip and fall lawyers gather surveillance footage, maintenance and cleaning logs, incident reports, and witness accounts to establish how long the hazard was there and what the owner knew.

What Are Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents in NYC?

Common causes include wet or freshly mopped floors, snow and ice, broken or uneven stairs, torn carpeting, poor lighting, cracked or raised sidewalks, and unmarked hazards. What these share is a condition the property owner could and should have addressed before someone was hurt.

Slip and fall injuries our NYC premises liability lawyers handle include falls on spilled liquids in supermarkets and delis, falls on unsalted ice outside buildings, falls on defective interior and exterior stairs, falls in dark or cluttered hallways, and trip and falls on broken sidewalks and potholes. These accidents frequently cause serious harm, including fractures, torn ligaments, head injuries, and spinal injuries, particularly for older adults. The severity of the injury and the clarity of the owner’s fault together shape the strength and value of a claim.

How Long Do I Have to File a Slip and Fall Lawsuit in New York?

The general deadline is three years from the date of the fall under CPLR 214. Cases against the City or a public entity are far shorter: you usually must file a formal Notice of Claim within 90 days. Missing these deadlines can end your case entirely, so acting quickly matters.

Three years can feel like plenty of time, but evidence disappears fast. Surveillance footage is often overwritten within weeks, hazards get repaired, and witnesses become hard to find. When the defendant is the City, the New York City Housing Authority, or another public body, the 90 day Notice of Claim requirement under General Municipal Law 50-e applies, and a lawsuit generally must follow within a year and 90 days. Our NYC slip and fall lawyers move immediately to preserve evidence and meet every deadline, because the strongest claims are built in the first days after a fall.

What If I Slipped on Snow or Ice in New York?

You may still have a claim, but snow and ice cases have a special rule. Under the storm in progress doctrine, a property owner is generally not liable for failing to clear snow or ice while a storm is still ongoing. The owner gets a reasonable time after the storm ends to make the area safe.

The timing of the storm and the cleanup is decisive in these cases. If you fell during an active storm, the owner may have a defense, but if the storm had ended hours earlier and the ice was never treated, the claim can be strong. Old ice, refrozen melt, and improperly cleared walkways often support liability. Our NYC premises liability lawyers pull weather records and compare them against when the owner last cleared the area, which frequently defeats a storm in progress defense.

What If the Slip and Fall Was Partly My Fault?

You can still recover in New York even if you were partly at fault. New York follows a pure comparative negligence rule under CPLR 1411, which reduces your compensation by your percentage of fault but does not bar your claim, even if you were more than half responsible.

Insurers routinely argue that you were distracted, wearing the wrong shoes, or should have seen the hazard, all to shift blame onto you. Under comparative negligence, being found 20 percent at fault reduces a recovery by 20 percent rather than eliminating it. Because these fault arguments directly reduce what you receive, our NYC slip and fall lawyers push back hard on attempts to blame the victim, using the physical evidence and the owner’s own failures to keep the fault where it belongs.

How Much Is My Slip and Fall Case Worth?

The value of a slip and fall case depends on the severity of your injuries, your medical costs, lost income, the permanence of any disability, and the clarity of the owner’s fault. Compensation can include past and future medical bills, lost wages and earning capacity, and pain and suffering.

No lawyer can promise a specific figure, because every case turns on its own facts, and any prior results depend on circumstances that differ from yours. What drives value is the strength of the liability evidence and the extent of the harm. A fractured wrist that heals is treated differently than a spinal injury requiring surgery. Our NYC premises liability lawyers document the full scope of your losses, including future care and the effect on your daily life, so the claim reflects everything the fall cost you.

What Should I Do After a Slip and Fall in NYC?

Report the fall to the property owner or manager, photograph the hazard immediately, get the names of any witnesses, and seek medical care right away. Do not give a recorded statement to an insurance company before speaking with a lawyer, and keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing.

The evidence that wins a slip and fall case is often gone within days. Photographs of the exact condition, taken before it is cleaned or repaired, can be the difference in proving the hazard existed. Prompt medical treatment both protects your health and ties your injuries to the fall, which insurers otherwise dispute. Ask for a written incident report and keep a copy. Our NYC slip and fall lawyers handle the insurance companies for you, so an early phone call does not become a recorded statement used to minimize your claim.

How Much Does a Slip and Fall Lawyer in NYC Cost?

Nothing up front. Slip and fall cases are handled on a contingency fee, which means the lawyer is paid a percentage of the recovery only if the case succeeds. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee. This lets injured people pursue a claim without paying out of pocket.

The contingency model exists so that the strength of your case, not the size of your bank account, determines whether you can hold a property owner accountable. The fee and how case expenses are handled are explained clearly at the start. Because the firm is only paid when you recover, our NYC slip and fall lawyers have every incentive to build the strongest possible case and to maximize your result.

What If I Fell in an Apartment Building or NYCHA Housing?

Landlords and building owners have a duty to keep common areas reasonably safe, including lobbies, hallways, stairwells, and entrances. Falls in these spaces are among the most common premises claims in NYC. If the building is public housing run by the New York City Housing Authority, the shorter 90 day Notice of Claim deadline applies.

Broken stairs, missing handrails, dark stairwells, wet lobby floors, and unrepaired defects in common areas all point to a landlord’s failure to maintain the property. Tenants, guests, and visitors can all bring claims for injuries caused by these conditions. When the fall happens in a NYCHA building, the case is treated as a claim against a public entity, so the Notice of Claim must be filed within 90 days and suit generally brought within a year and 90 days. Our NYC slip and fall lawyers flag that deadline immediately in housing cases, because it is missed far too often.

Do I Need Witnesses to Win a Slip and Fall Case?

No. Witnesses help, but they are not required. Many slip and fall cases are proven through surveillance video, maintenance and inspection records, prior complaints about the same hazard, incident reports, and photographs, all of which can establish that the owner knew or should have known about the danger.

A lack of witnesses is one of the first things an insurer will point to, but physical and documentary evidence is often stronger than memory. Camera footage can show how long a spill sat untouched, cleaning logs can reveal a skipped inspection, and earlier complaints can prove the owner had actual notice. Our NYC premises liability lawyers build cases from this kind of proof, which is exactly why acting fast to preserve records matters so much.

How Do Our NYC Slip and Fall Lawyers Handle These Cases?

Our approach is to investigate fast, preserve the evidence, prove notice, document the injuries fully, and negotiate from a position of strength, taking the case to trial when the offer is not fair. Each step is built to establish the owner’s fault and the true value of your losses.

Early investigation means sending preservation demands for surveillance footage and maintenance records before they disappear, and inspecting the scene. Proving notice means assembling the logs, prior complaints, and witness testimony that show how long the hazard existed. Documenting harm means working with your treating doctors and, where needed, medical and engineering experts. Negotiation means presenting a fully supported demand to the insurer. When the insurance company will not pay fair value, our NYC slip and fall lawyers are trial lawyers who take the case to a jury. Related premises cases the firm handles include negligent security claims and construction accident falls.

Why Choose Konta, Georges & Buza for Your Slip and Fall Case?

Konta, Georges & Buza, P.C. is a New York firm that handles its cases in house and prepares every case as if it will be tried. Insurance companies pay more when a firm is genuinely ready to go to court, and that trial readiness is what protects the value of your claim.

The firm’s partners, Adam B. Konta, Robert W. Georges, and John P. Buza, bring courtroom experience to every premises liability case, and that reputation shapes how insurers value a claim. A settlement offer reflects what the other side believes you can prove at trial. Our NYC slip and fall lawyers use thorough investigation and a willingness to litigate to push for the full compensation you are owed.

Talk to a NYC Slip and Fall Lawyer Today

Evidence in a slip and fall case fades quickly, and the deadlines are unforgiving. Before you speak with an insurance adjuster, talk to Konta, Georges & Buza, P.C. to get our team investigating your fall and protecting your right to compensation.