Our New York City personal injury lawyers have successfully handled numerous slip and fall cases in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. Contrary to popular belief, just because a person sustains personal injuries from a slip and fall on ice, that does not mean that you automatically have a lawsuit.
To have a lawsuit for a slip and fall from ice or snow, the injured person must prove that a landowner was negligent. Negligence, in this context generally means being careless in the maintenance of a property including the entrances, exits and surrounding sidewalks (for commercial properties). Also a landowner can be held liable if they caused the ice to form by pushing water across the public sidewalk which freezes, such as in the case of broken or misguided leaders or drainage.
In negligence maintenance cases, the injured party usually has to prove that the landowner knew or should have known that there was snow or ice on their property and they failed to clear it, put down sand or salt. In general the landowner must remove the snow and make the sidewalk and their property within a reasonable time after the storm is over.
Often, what is a reasonable amount of time is vague and subject to differing opinions. However, New York City has created a statutory code and requires that landowners clear snow within four hours. New York City Administrative Code 16-123 (a) states that every owner, lessee, tenant, occupant, or other person, having charge of any building or lot of ground in the city, abutting upon any street where the sidewalk is paved, shall, within four hours after the snow ceases to fall, or after the deposit of any dirt or other material upon such sidewalk, remove the snow or ice, dirt, or other material from the sidewalk and gutter, the time between nine post meridian and seven ante meridian not being included in the above period of four hours.
Our New York personal injury lawyers will continue to represent slip and fall accident victims. Our consultations are always free.
