How Does Weather Affect Slip and Fall Liability in New York?

In a typical Queens, NY slip and fall personal injury case, you are bringing an action against someone whose negligence caused you an injury. But what happens if weather was a factor? Your slip and fall lawyer can tell you more about your specific situation, but read on to learn a little bit about how the weather can influence a case like this.

From a Slip and Fall Lawyer: How Weather Affects Your Queens, NY Case
No matter what the weather, your case ultimately comes down to whether the property owner was negligent. To show that they were negligent, you will need to show that they had a duty of care towards you that they failed to fulfill. Basically, this is a legal way of saying that they were required to do something to protect you and did not do it. You’ll also have to show that this failure led directly to your injury.

Obviously, if there is a liquid spill on a property that the owner knows about, and they do not warn visitors, this would be considered negligence. Weather does complicate things a bit, however, because people will be tracking water into and onto the property. However, this does not change the requirement of the property owner to keep people safe. If they are aware that water is likely to be tracked in, they should be providing mats to soak it up or signs to warn people where things can be slippery. Depending on the circumstances, they may also be negligent if they were not keeping an eye on certain areas of the property to make sure that puddles were quickly cleaned up.

Modified Comparative Fault
New York is a “pure” comparative fault state. What this means is that a person can bring an action to get compensation for their damages even if they are partially responsible for what happened to them. This is in contrast to “contributory fault” states where if you are even 1% responsible for your own injuries, you cannot claim any compensation whatsoever. It’s also in contrast to “modified comparative fault” states where you can only bring an action if you are less than 50% at fault. So that’s the good news.

The bad news is that your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault. In other words, if the court were to say that you were 60% at fault for your accident, you would not be able to collect more than 40% of your total damages. You can always expect that the other party will try to put as much blame for the accident on you as possible because this will reduce what they have to pay.

How Weather Affects Fault
When the weather is bad, the chance that you will be held at least partially responsible may be greater. The other side may argue that your shoes were not appropriate for the weather conditions or that you were not taking the proper care as you walked, given the weather. If they’re able to argue this successfully, you may lose out on a big chunk of your compensation. This is where having a lawyer is so important to protect your rights.

If you’ve fallen and been injured on someone’s property, no matter the weather, contact us at Bardizbanian & Associates, P.C. anywhere in New York City for a free consultation.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »