Have you been injured in a parking lot?
Like other premises liability cases, injuries sustained in parking lots usually result from slip and fall or trip and fall accidents.
Business owners, and often tenants, have the responsibility to keep their parking lots safe for the general public. New York law holds them liable for the negligent maintenance and improper upkeep of their property such as allowing cracks and potholes to exist in their lots. In addition, they must remove snow and ice in a timely manner and then maintain their parking lots free of slippery conditions
In some situations, premises owners attempt to defend themselves by alleging “comparative fault,” which means that they believe a victim is partially at fault for the accident. If a jury finds an injured party to be partially at fault this would reduce the victim’s recovery. However, and importantly, under New York Law an injured person can be compensated even if the defendant was only 1% at fault (of course that would mean that the injured person would only recover 1% of the verdict).
It’s always unfortunate when accidents occur because the owner, or tenant, of a premises did not take reasonable steps to correct potential dangers, or they knew, or should have known, about unsafe conditions and failed to address them.
Keep in mind every case is unique, this is why it’s impossible to know if you can recover damages from your parking lot injury. If you have been in an accident in a parking lot there are numerous, and potentially confusing issues to consider, so make Buzin & Berman, PC #yourfirstcall.
