Premises Liability Lawyer in Brooklyn, NY

A premises case is rarely lost because the condition was not dangerous. It is lost on notice — the requirement that the owner created the hazard, actually knew about it, or that the condition was visible and apparent and existed long enough that a reasonable inspection would have found it.

The second thing to know is that the evidence proving notice belongs to the other side. Sweep logs, porter logs, prior complaints, work orders and surveillance video are all in the building owner's hands, and most video systems overwrite within one to two weeks.

The third is that identifying the correct defendant in Brooklyn is not always obvious. A single building can involve an owner, a managing agent, a commercial tenant and a cleaning contractor, and the lease usually decides which of them owed the duty.

People injured by a condition someone else was responsible for maintaining. In practice:

• Falls on interior stairs in walk-up and multiple dwelling buildings — worn treads, missing handrails, inadequate lighting
• Sidewalk falls, where NYC Administrative Code § 7-210 generally places responsibility on the abutting property owner
• Snow and ice cases, where the timing of the storm and the clearing controls the outcome
• Supermarket and retail falls caused by spills, tracked-in water or displayed merchandise
• NYCHA and City building cases, which carry a 90-day notice deadline
• Falls caused by construction or scaffolding conditions, which may also raise Labor Law claims
• Inadequate security cases, where a foreseeable assault occurred in a building with broken locks or absent security

If you were injured and the condition has since been repaired, that is a reason to call sooner rather than later.

• Medical expenses, past and future, including surgery, hardware and rehabilitation
• Lost earnings and reduced future earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Permanent scarring or disfigurement
• Home modification and attendant care in catastrophic cases
• Loss of services claims by a spouse
• Wrongful death damages where the fall was fatal

New York applies pure comparative negligence under CPLR 1411. If a jury finds you 30% responsible — for example for not using a handrail — the award is reduced by 30% rather than eliminated. Insurers routinely overstate the effect of this rule in early settlement discussions.

Premises liability is a negligence claim built on the duty of a property owner or possessor to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition. New York abolished the old rigid categories of invitee, licensee and trespasser; the duty is one of reasonable care under the circumstances, with foreseeability doing much of the work.

To succeed you must prove:

• The defendant owned, occupied or controlled the property, or was contractually responsible for maintaining it.
• A dangerous condition existed.
• The defendant created the condition, had actual notice of it, or had constructive notice — the condition was visible and apparent and existed long enough for a reasonable inspection to discover and remedy it.
• The condition caused the injury, and there are damages.

Several specific rules frequently decide Brooklyn cases:

• Administrative Code § 7-210 — the abutting owner, not the City, generally maintains the sidewalk, with a narrow exception for owner-occupied one-to-three-family homes.
• Administrative Code § 16-123 — the time allowed to clear snow and ice after a snowfall ends.
• The storm in progress doctrine, which gives an owner a reasonable period after a storm before liability attaches.
• The Multiple Dwelling Law and the Housing Maintenance Code, which govern lighting, handrails and stair dimensions in residential buildings.

• Three years from the date of the accident for personal injury (CPLR 214).
• Two years for wrongful death.
• Against the City of New York, NYCHA, the New York City Housing Authority, H+H or the Transit Authority: a notice of claim within 90 days (General Municipal Law § 50-e), a § 50-h examination, and suit within one year and 90 days.
• Claims involving a minor may be tolled until age eighteen for the private-defendant statute, but the municipal notice requirements are not tolled in the same way and should never be assumed.

Cases are filed in Supreme Court, Kings County, 360 Adams Street. Where the defendant is a public housing authority — a common situation in Brooklyn — the 90-day clock is running from the day of the fall, while the injured person is usually still in treatment.

• Report the fall in writing the same day to the building, the store or the managing agent, and ask for a copy of the incident report.
• Photograph the condition immediately — close up and from a distance showing the surroundings, with something in frame for scale.
• Photograph the lighting and the whole approach, not just the defect.
• Get names and numbers of witnesses, including employees who responded.
• Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing, unwashed.
• Seek medical attention and describe the mechanism accurately — how you fell, and on what.
• Send or have an attorney send a preservation demand for the surveillance video within days.

Step 7 is the one people miss. Constructive notice is usually proven through the defendant's own inspection records and video, and Administrative Code § 7-210 cases in particular often turn on footage that exists for a week and then does not.

• A specific plan for proving notice. The answer should mention sweep or porter logs, prior complaints, work orders and video, not sympathy.
• How quickly they send preservation demands — days, not months.
• Willingness to retain an engineer or code expert to measure the stair geometry, the handrail, the lighting level or the coefficient of friction.
• Experience identifying the responsible party through leases and service contracts, particularly in mixed commercial and residential buildings.
• Familiarity with municipal practice if NYCHA or the City is involved, including § 50-h hearings.
• Kings County trial experience.

• Immediate preservation demands for video, logs and records
• Identification of every responsible entity — owner, managing agent, tenant, maintenance contractor
• Retrieval of prior complaints, violations, and DOB or HPD records
• Site inspection and expert measurement of the condition
• Meteorological records in snow and ice cases
• Notice of claim and § 50-h representation where a public entity is involved
• Suit, discovery, depositions of the porter, superintendent or store manager
• Motion practice, mediation and trial
• Lien resolution with health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid at the conclusion

Call (800) 669-0060. The consultation is free, available 24/7, and available in English, Spanish and Russian.

We will ask where the fall happened, what the condition was, whether you reported it, whether you have photographs, and what treatment you have had. If the property is owned by the City or NYCHA, we flag the 90-day notice immediately.

We then match you with an attorney in our network who handles premises cases in Kings County and make the introduction. The consultation with that attorney is free and carries no obligation.

Nothing upfront and no hourly billing. New York injury attorneys work on contingency — a percentage of the recovery, and nothing if there is no recovery. One-third of the net recovery is the customary arrangement in New York personal injury matters.

What determines the net:

• Whether the case settles pre-suit, in discovery, at mediation or after trial
• Case expenses: engineering and code experts, site inspection, certified weather data, medical narratives, deposition transcripts, index and filing fees
• Whether expenses are deducted before or after the fee is calculated
• Liens to health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or workers' compensation
• The coverage available, including excess policies on commercial buildings
• Whether a municipal or NYCHA defendant adds § 50-e and § 50-h procedure

Settlements for a minor require court approval of both the settlement and the fee.

• Investigation and preservation — immediately, and the most time-critical stage.
• Notice of claim and § 50-h hearing, where a public entity is involved — this adds several months before suit can even begin.
• Filing and discovery — typically twelve to eighteen months, including depositions of building staff and production of maintenance records.
• Summary judgment motions, which in premises cases usually turn on notice.
• Mediation, settlement or trial.

Private-defendant cases with clear notice can resolve in a year to eighteen months. Cases against the City or NYCHA, or those with contested notice, commonly run two to three years. Serious injuries are deliberately not valued until the medical picture is stable.

Because the difference between a case and no case is usually evidence that exists for about two weeks, and because matching the claim to an attorney who does this work in Kings County is the decision with the largest effect on the outcome.

• 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 Kings County.
• Continued involvement after the introduction.

Attorneys in Michael Brook's network repeat one instruction to every caller: photograph the condition before it is repaired, and report the fall in writing the same day. Landlords and stores fix hazards quickly after an accident, and a repaired staircase leaves nothing to litigate.

• The first call — free, at any hour, in your language.
• A review of the facts and the deadlines, including whether a 90-day municipal notice is running.
• The match with an attorney in our network whose practice fits the property and the defendant.
• A free consultation with that attorney, with no obligation to retain.
• Immediate preservation steps if you proceed — written demands for video, logs and records, often sent within days.
• Continued access to us if you have questions or the case changes direction.

There is no cost to you for the referral at any stage, and you will not be handed to a call centre.

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.