New York City Trip & Fall Accident Lawyer

A sidewalk crack. A raised floor mat. A step that drops an inch lower than it should. These hazards seem minor until someone goes down hard on them, and the injuries that follow are anything but minor. Broken wrists, fractured hips, torn knee ligaments, and traumatic brain injuries from striking pavement are all well-documented outcomes of trip and fall accidents in New York City. Property owners, building managers, and government entities have legal obligations to maintain safe conditions, and when they fail, those injured deserve an honest accounting of what that failure costs them. Cohan Law Firm represents trip and fall victims across Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and surrounding areas, with over $100 million recovered for accident victims in NYC.

What Makes a Trip and Fall Claim Different from a Slip and Fall

The distinction matters more than most people realize, and not just as a matter of labeling. In a slip and fall, the mechanism of injury is typically a loss of friction: a wet floor, ice, a polished surface without traction. In a trip and fall, the body encounters an obstacle or elevation change that catches the foot mid-stride. The dynamics of the fall are different, the typical injury patterns are different, and the way liability gets established is different.

Trip and fall cases often hinge on whether a hazardous condition was visible and avoidable or whether it blended into the environment in a way that a reasonable person would not have anticipated. A raised tree root that has cracked a sidewalk slab across a well-traveled block is not the same as a clearly marked step that someone ignored. Courts and insurance carriers look closely at the nature of the defect, how long it existed, and whether the property owner had actual or constructive notice of the problem before the injury occurred.

Constructive notice is frequently the center of these disputes. It means the condition existed long enough that the owner should have known about it through reasonable inspection. Evidence like service records, complaint logs, photographs showing deterioration over time, and witness accounts of how long a defect was visible all feed directly into that analysis. Preserving that evidence early is not a formality. It is often what separates a strong claim from one that cannot be proven.

The Property Conditions That Generate Trip and Fall Injuries in NYC

New York City’s built environment is dense, aging in many places, and subject to heavy foot traffic. That combination creates a predictable inventory of hazardous conditions that cause serious injuries every year.

Sidewalk defects are among the most common. Raised or sunken concrete slabs, cracked pavement from tree root displacement, gaps at expansion joints, and deteriorated curb cuts all appear throughout the city’s five boroughs. Under New York law, the responsibility for sidewalk maintenance generally falls on the adjacent property owner rather than the city, though the rules vary depending on the type of property and the circumstances. A trip and fall attorney familiar with those rules can identify who bears responsibility before a single piece of evidence is gathered.

Inside commercial buildings, retail spaces, restaurants, and apartment buildings, the list of hazards includes uneven transitions between flooring materials, torn or bunched carpeting, loose threshold strips, defective stair nosings, and inadequate lighting that obscures elevation changes. Construction sites and scaffolding areas throughout the city create their own category of pedestrian hazards, from uneven temporary flooring to debris left across walking paths.

Public transit infrastructure is also a source of serious trip and fall injuries. Damaged platform surfaces, broken station stairs, and hazardous conditions on subway station ramps and exits all contribute to injuries sustained by commuters and visitors. Claims against the MTA or New York City require strict compliance with notice of claim deadlines that are shorter than standard personal injury statutes of limitations, making early legal involvement critical.

Establishing Liability: What Has to Be Proved

Property owners are not automatically liable every time someone falls on their premises. Liability requires demonstrating that the owner owed a duty of care, that the property was in an unreasonably dangerous condition, that the owner knew or should have known about it, and that the condition caused the injury. Each element requires evidence, and each element can be contested.

Defense arguments in trip and fall cases tend to follow a predictable pattern. The owner may claim the condition was open and obvious, arguing that a reasonably careful person would have seen it and avoided it. They may argue the injured person was distracted or in a place they had no right to be. They may dispute causation, suggesting the fall resulted from a pre-existing medical condition rather than the hazard. New York’s comparative negligence rules allow a portion of fault to be assigned to the injured person, which affects the final damages calculation but does not eliminate recovery entirely.

Documenting the scene promptly matters in these cases. Conditions get repaired. Surfaces get resurfaced. Photographs taken at the time of the injury or shortly after can lock in evidence that would otherwise disappear. Medical records that establish the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis are equally important in connecting the physical injury to the fall. Cohan Law Firm helps clients understand what documentation strengthens their case and what gaps a defense team will try to exploit.

Damages in a Trip and Fall Case

The range of compensation available in a trip and fall case depends on the nature and severity of the injury, its effect on the person’s ability to work and function, and the specific facts around how the incident occurred. Medical expenses, both past and anticipated future costs, form a core component of most claims. Lost wages and diminished earning capacity are particularly significant when the injury affects a person’s ability to perform their job, whether that work is physical or not.

Pain and suffering damages compensate for the experience of the injury itself: the physical pain during recovery, the disruption to daily life, the loss of activities that mattered before the fall. In serious injury cases involving fractures, surgeries, permanent limitations, or neurological consequences, these damages can be substantial. New York’s no-fault insurance system, which applies to motor vehicle accidents, does not apply to premises liability trip and fall claims. Recovery here depends on proving negligence and damages under general tort law principles.

Questions People Ask About Trip and Fall Claims in New York

How long do I have to file a trip and fall lawsuit in New York?

For most private property trip and fall cases in New York, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of the injury. However, if the fall occurred on a public sidewalk, a city-owned property, or involved a public transit authority, a Notice of Claim must typically be filed within 90 days of the incident. Missing that deadline can permanently bar the claim, which is why the timeline for government-related falls is treated with particular urgency.

The property owner repaired the defect after my fall. Does that hurt my case?

Not necessarily. Under New York evidence rules, subsequent remedial measures are generally not admissible to prove negligence, though they may be used for other purposes. What matters more is whether you have documentation of the condition as it existed at the time of your fall. Photographs, video footage, and witness accounts taken before the repair are critical.

What if I was partially at fault for not watching where I was going?

New York follows a pure comparative negligence rule, which means your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault, but you can still recover even if you were partially responsible. For example, if a jury finds you 20% at fault and your total damages are $100,000, you would recover $80,000. The property owner’s failure to maintain safe conditions does not disappear simply because you were momentarily inattentive.

Can I sue the City of New York for a trip and fall on a sidewalk?

In many cases, adjacent property owners bear responsibility for sidewalk maintenance rather than the city. There are exceptions, including sidewalks adjacent to city-owned properties and certain other circumstances. Claims against New York City require strict procedural compliance and the 90-day Notice of Claim filing. An attorney familiar with municipal liability rules in New York can determine which parties may bear responsibility in your specific situation.

What kind of documentation should I try to preserve after a trip and fall?

Photographs of the specific defect that caused your fall, taken as close in time to the incident as possible, are the most important evidence to preserve. Also valuable: any incident reports filed with the property owner or business, contact information for witnesses, medical records from your initial evaluation, and documentation of any complaints that were made about the condition before your injury. If surveillance cameras were present at the scene, that footage can be overwritten quickly, and a legal hold notice may be necessary to preserve it.

Do trip and fall cases always go to trial?

Most personal injury cases, including trip and fall claims, resolve before trial through negotiation or mediation. Whether settlement is appropriate depends on the strength of the liability evidence, the extent of the damages, and the positions taken by the property owner’s insurance carrier. Having an attorney who is prepared to take a case to trial changes the settlement dynamic significantly, because insurers assess their exposure differently when they know a case will not simply be withdrawn if a low offer is made.

Talk to a Trip and Fall Attorney Serving New York City

Property owners in New York City have a legal obligation to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. When they do not, the consequences for the people who are injured can extend for months or years, affecting health, income, and quality of life in ways that were entirely preventable. Cohan Law Firm handles trip and fall injury cases across Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens, working on a no-win, no-fee basis so that cost is never what stands between you and representation. If you were injured in a pedestrian trip and fall accident, we offer free consultations, and we are available in both English and Spanish. Reach out to discuss what happened and what your options are.