Premises Liability Lawyer in Long Island, NY

Long Island premises cases divide almost immediately into two very different tracks, and choosing an attorney means choosing someone who recognizes which track your case is on.

Track one: private property. A supermarket, a shopping center, a rental building, a homeowner. Here the case turns on notice — the owner created the condition, knew of it, or it existed long enough that a reasonable inspection would have found it. Constructive notice requires the defect to be visible, apparent, and present for a sufficient time. Snow and ice cases add the storm in progress rule: an owner generally has a reasonable period after a storm ends before liability attaches. The deadline is three years (CPLR 214).

Track two: municipal property. A county road, a village sidewalk, a school district walkway, a State parkway. Here the case turns on procedure before it ever reaches the merits:

• A notice of claim within 90 days under General Municipal Law § 50-e, a § 50-h examination, and suit within one year and 90 days.
• Prior written notice. Nassau County, Suffolk County and most Long Island towns and villages have local laws providing that they are not liable for a sidewalk, roadway or walkway defect unless prior written notice of that specific defect was filed with the designated official. Without it, the claim usually fails regardless of how obvious the hazard was. The recognized exceptions are narrow — typically where the municipality affirmatively created the defect or derived a special benefit from the location.
• Against the State of New York, a claim in the Court of Claims within 90 days.

New York applies pure comparative negligence (CPLR 1411), so being partly at fault reduces rather than defeats the claim. Cases are filed in Supreme Court, Nassau County (Mineola) or Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Riverhead). General information, not legal advice.

Nothing upfront. New York injury attorneys take these cases on contingency — a percentage of the recovery, nothing if there is no recovery. One-third of the net recovery is the customary arrangement in New York personal injury matters, set out in a written retainer.

What determines the net:

• Whether the case settles pre-suit, in discovery, or at trial
• Case expenses: engineering and building-code experts, meteorological records in ice cases, site inspection, medical narratives, deposition transcripts, filing fees
• Whether those expenses are deducted before or after the fee is calculated
• Liens to health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or workers' compensation
• Whether a municipal defendant adds the notice of claim, § 50-h and prior-written-notice steps
• Available coverage, including any excess policy on a commercial property

Settlements involving minors require court approval of settlement and fee. Our consultation and referral are free.

Because the prior written notice rule ends more Long Island fall cases than any other single doctrine, and the only way to know whether it applies is to identify the correct owner and search the municipal records early.

• Free consultation; the referral costs you nothing.
• Available 24/7 at (800) 669-0060.
• English, Spanish, and Russian.
• Over 30 years matching injured people with attorneys across New York and New Jersey.
• Local case experience in Nassau and Suffolk.
• Continued involvement after the introduction.

Attorneys in Michael Brook's network make the same point about winter falls: get the certified climatological data for the days before the accident. It settles the storm-in-progress argument with a document rather than an opinion.

Disclaimer: Michael Brook Attorney Referral is not a law firm and provides no legal representation or legal advice. This is general information and does not replace advice from a licensed attorney about your specific situation. No result is guaranteed.