Premises Liability

How pedestrians can be safe during the winter

Published on: January 9, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Living with treacherous sidewalks and parking lots is a way of life in upstate New York. After all, with all the snow that we receive during the winter (and unfortunately sometimes during the spring) you would think that store and building owners would know that they have a legal duty to keep entry ways and parking lots reasonably free of snow and ice.

Unfortunately, it does not always happen that way. Because of this, pedestrians are injured in slip and falls during the winter. However, as the old adage says, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. With that, we offer some helpful tips for pedestrians as they navigate icy sidewalks, entryways and parking lots.

Make storeowners aware of dangerous conditions – As we alluded to earlier, property owners have a duty to take reasonable steps to make ingress and egress safe for customers. However, if they are not put on notice about dangerous conditions, it may be difficult to establish liability for an owner who does not know that such conditions exist.

Super Saturday could be harmful to consumers

Published on: December 20, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

In what is poised to be the biggest shopping weekend of the holiday season, retailers appear to be ready to pull out all the stops to bring out shoppers. A number of stores are advertising their willingness to stay open continuously until Christmas Eve, and others are rolling out big discounts to get people off of their couches and into the stores.

In essence, it is almost like retailers are trying to top Black Friday sales, since this year’s bonanza appeared to fall flat given the additional spending money consumers should have given lower gas prices. But given the hype about “Super Saturday” we feel it prudent to discuss the obligations that retailers have to keep consumers safe.

Essentially, retailers are charged with taking reasonable care to ensure that consumers are not harmed as they shop on a retailer’s premises. This means that they must keep aisles free of debris and spills, heavy merchandise should be placed in areas where they will not fall on unsuspecting consumers and crowd control must be in place to ensure orderly ingress and egress from the store.

Can a retailer be held liable for Black Friday injuries?

Published on: December 2, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

To the most fanatic shopper, Black Friday (and in some cases, Gray Thursday) is like the Super Bowl of shopping dates. There are likely weeks of planning and training, as well as time taken out to stake a spot for the most coveted of deals. For what is probably a thrill to get a fabulous deal may also come with substantial danger. After all, there is a story every year about someone getting injured in a Black Friday sale.

So when a patron is injured in these situations, can the retailer be held liable? Of course, it depends.

As a matter of law, retailers have a duty to keep patrons safe from hazards while shopping on the retailer’s premises. Essentially, they have to use reasonable care in keeping customers from being injured by hazards they knew about or should have known about. Common hazards include spills, broken glass and flooring that has become unstable.

Animal attack? You may be able to sue the zoo

Published on: July 1, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Let’s say you want to go to the zoo in Burnet Park. You walk around, see the animals and, while you are standing near one of the exhibits, you are bitten by one of the animals.

It is shocking, to say the least, but it also leads to a battery of tests to make sure that you haven’t caught any diseases from the animals. Depending on the size or strength of the animal, you may have very serious medical concerns that you need addressed. While all of this is going on, you may need to take time off of work. When all is said and done, you have had to spend a lot of time and money for one trip to the zoo.

And that is why, should such an animal attack happen, many people in Syracuse would want to sue the zoo. Every business or organization has a responsibility to warn the people on their property of any unsafe conditions. Most of the time we think of that as wet floors, but, in the case of a zoo, it could be the risk of an animal bite. Though it may not be intuitive, zoos are held to the same responsibility of protecting against unsafe conditions as any other business would be.

Brother of Duchess of Cornwall slips, falls, dies of head injury

Published on: May 6, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

The Duchess of Cornwall, the wife of Prince Charles, lost her brother late last month after he slipped and fell outside of a bar in New York City. Though the details of the fall are not entirely clear, his death calls into question whether any unsafe conditions were present and whether the bar’s owner might be held responsible for the man’s death. Of course, it is not known if the duchess’ brother’s family members will file a premises liability lawsuit or not, or even if there is enough evidence to support the bar owner’s or the city’s negligence.

When someone is injured on an individual, company or city’s property, he or she can often file a premises liability lawsuit. In order to succeed with the lawsuit, however, the property owner must have failed in its duty to keep safe conditions on the property. So, when a person is injured, the victim and his or her attorney must have enough evidence to convice a judge and jury that the owner was negligent.

The 62-year-old brother had been out celebrating when he slipped and fell outside of a bar at the Gramercy. According to reports, the man was trying to light a cigarette outside of the building when he fell. He was conscious and told paramedics that his head hurt when they arrived on the scene, so they took him to Bellevue Hospital. Sadly, he died that same day.

Could school, city have prevented student suicides?

Published on: April 22, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Ithaca is a beautiful city and the Cornell campus has great views of its lovely gorges. Those gorges, however, have recently become the subject of a premises liability lawsuit following a Cornell student’s death. Though the student did commit suicide, the young man’s parents are alleging that both the school and the city were negligent in not doing more to prevent people from jumping or falling off of the bridges crossing the gorges.

While many people think of premises liability lawsuits as slip-and-fall cases, that is not the only kind of injury for which a plaintiff can collect. Any time someone is injured on a piece of property because of another’s negligence, he or she can file a premises liability lawsuit. Typically, this is seen when a person falls inside or outside of a store, but it can cover things like a dog bite at a private residence, an unmarked hole on a piece of property, an elevator injury, or, as in this case, a student’s suicide.

The young man’s parents are suing both Cornell and the city of Ithaca for not doing more to prevent “jumpers.” It is not as if this student’s suicide was the first. In a span of 20 years from 1990 to 2010, 27 people died after jumping into Cornell’s gorges. In the 2009-2010 school year alone there were six suicides. This young man committed suicide in February 2010.

Woman attacked by friend’s dog, wins premises liability lawsuit

Published on: April 8, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Although many people in Oneida may believe they could never file a lawsuit against a friend, when a friend’s negligence causes serious injuries, they may change their minds. Of course no one wants to ruin a friendship, but when someone is facing numerous medical bills, missed work and a seriously upturned life, an individual may need to make a difficult choice. When injured in a friend’s home, consulting a premises liability lawyer first could help to determine whether a lawsuit is even possible.

Sadly, when it does come to a lawsuit, some friendships will be destroyed, much like one out-of-state woman’s following a dog attack. Nearly two years ago, she was visiting friends when their dog ran into the room and bit her leg. The dog caused serious damage and would not let go of the woman’s thigh for several minutes.

Since the attack, the woman has undergone numerous surgeries, including some to remove muscle that had been infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. She can no longer work as a nursing assistant, as she cannot perform the heavy lifting required of her position. So, on top of the numerous medical bills, she is having difficulty earning the money to pay them.