Were you injured in a slip and fall accident in Queens, NY?
Helping injured clients understand their rights after a slip and fall incident in Queens.
If you were injured in a slip and fall accident in Queens, NY, an attorney can help you pursue compensation for your medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. These injuries happen in a single moment, whether on a wet floor, a broken step, or an icy sidewalk, but the fractures and joint injuries they cause can take months to heal. At Rosenberg & Rodriguez Personal Injury Lawyers, our Queens, NY slip and fall lawyer has represented injured accident victims throughout New York City for 25 years. Contact our office to discuss your slip and fall claim and learn what it may be worth.
Slip and Fall Lawyer Queens, NY
Property owners in New York have a legal duty to keep their premises reasonably safe, and when they fail to meet that duty, an injured visitor may have a claim regardless of whether the hazard was a wet floor, a broken step, or an icy sidewalk. Proving that duty was breached, and that the owner knew or should have known about the hazard, is often the central legal question in these cases. The answer usually comes down to how long the hazard existed and what the property owner did, or failed to do, once they became aware of it.
Nationally, one in four adults age 65 and older reports at least one fall each year, and about 37 percent of those falls cause an injury serious enough to require medical treatment, according to the CDC. Falls remain one of the most common ways people get seriously hurt in Queens, whether on a poorly maintained sidewalk, inside a store, or in an apartment building hallway that management failed to keep in safe condition.
Types of Slip and Fall Cases We Handle in Queens
Slip and fall accidents in Queens happen in a wide range of settings, and each one requires proof of what the property owner knew and when they knew it. Some cases turn on a single photo of a hazard, while others require pulling maintenance logs and inspection records going back months. Our Queens slip and fall lawyer handles the following types of claims:
- Wet floor accidents. A spill, a recent mopping, or a leak that goes unmarked and uncleaned can cause a serious fall in a store, restaurant, or office building.
- Sidewalk accidents. A cracked, raised, or poorly maintained sidewalk can cause a pedestrian to trip and fall, and liability often depends on who is responsible for that stretch of sidewalk.
- Snow and ice accidents. A property owner who fails to clear snow or ice within a reasonable time after a storm can be held responsible for a resulting fall.
- Staircase accidents. A broken step, a loose handrail, or poor lighting on a staircase can cause a serious fall, particularly in older buildings.
- Elevator and escalator accidents. A malfunctioning elevator or escalator can cause a passenger to trip, fall, or become trapped.
- Negligent security accidents. Poor lighting, broken locks, or a lack of security in an area with known criminal activity can lead to an assault that becomes a premises liability claim.
- Parking lot and garage accidents. Potholes, poor lighting, and inadequate maintenance in a parking area can cause a fall that the property owner should have prevented.
- Poor lighting accidents. Dim or broken lighting in a stairwell, hallway, or parking area can hide a hazard until it’s too late to avoid it.
- Premises liability. A property with unresolved Department of Buildings violations may create hazards that lead directly to a preventable fall.
Why Choose Rosenberg & Rodriguez as My Slip and Fall Lawyer in Queens, NY?
Rosenberg & Rodriguez Personal Injury Lawyers has recovered millions of dollars for injured clients in cases of every size, from six-figure premises liability settlements to smaller claims that matter just as much to the people involved. That range of experience is what to look for in a personal injury lawyer in Queens, NY.
Robin Halstrom’s Background in Premises Liability Cases
Robin Halstrom spent years representing co-operatives, condominiums, and Mitchell-Lama housing developments before shifting her practice to represent injured people, and that background gives her firsthand knowledge of how building owners and managers approach safety and liability. She has practiced personal injury law in New York for more than 25 years, with a practice that includes premises liability, catastrophic negligence, and wrongful death matters. She earned her law degree from Saint Louis University Law in 1990, and she draws on both sides of that experience when she evaluates a new slip and fall case today.
Notable Settlements and Verdicts
Rosenberg & Rodriguez Personal Injury Lawyers has secured results in premises liability and slip and fall matters including a $500,000 premises liability settlement, a $330,000 slip and fall settlement, a $225,000 settlement for a woman who tripped and fell on a raised portion of a city sidewalk, and a $75,000 settlement for an elderly client who sustained a hip fracture. Every property, and every fall, presents its own facts, and these results reflect the work that went into proving what each specific property owner knew about the hazard and failed to fix in time.
Understanding Slip and Fall Cases
Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Slip and Fall Cases
New York applies a pure comparative negligence rule to premises liability cases under CPLR Section 1411. If a property owner’s negligence caused your fall, you can still recover damages even if you were partly at fault, though your recovery would be reduced by your own share of responsibility. This differs from the modified comparative negligence rule that now applies to certain motor vehicle cases, since a slip and fall claim generally is not subject to Article 51 of the New York Insurance Law and its recent 2026 amendments.
Damages in a slip and fall case can include:
- Medical bills for emergency treatment, surgery, and rehabilitation
- Lost wages and reduced future earning capacity
- Pain and suffering for physical and emotional harm
- Property damage to personal belongings, such as a phone or a pair of glasses
- Damages for a wrongful death claim when a fall proves fatal
What Are Important Aspects of a Slip and Fall Case?
Several factors shape how a slip and fall claim unfolds, starting with whether the property owner had notice of the hazard before you fell. This single question often determines whether a claim succeeds or fails.
- Whether the owner created the hazard, knew about it, or should have discovered it through a reasonable inspection
- How long the hazard existed before the fall
- Photos or video showing the condition of the property at the time
- Any comparative negligence argument the property owner’s insurer raises about your own conduct
- Maintenance and inspection records kept for the property in question
What Is the Slip and Fall Case Timeline?
A slip and fall claim generally follows a predictable sequence, though the length of each stage depends heavily on the severity of the injury and how the property owner’s insurer responds.
- Emergency treatment and follow-up medical care as needed
- Investigation, including photos of the hazard, incident reports, and witness statements
- Notice to the property owner and their insurance carrier
- Negotiation, or if necessary, filing a lawsuit within the statute of limitations
- Settlement or trial, depending on how the insurer responds
New York generally requires a slip and fall lawsuit to be filed within three years of the date of the accident under CPLR Section 214.
What Should You Bring to Your Slip and Fall Consultation?
The consultation moves faster when a few key pieces of information are ready ahead of time, so we can spend more of that first conversation focused on your options instead of the basics. We typically ask clients to bring:
- Photos of the hazard that caused your fall, if you managed to take any
- An incident report, if one was filed with the property owner or building manager
- Medical records and bills related to the accident
- Contact information for any available witnesses
- The names and addresses of every property owner or manager involved, if you know them
Consultations are free, and we’ll go over what happened, take a careful look at any photos or documents you already have, and explain the options available to you.
Reach Out to Rosenberg & Rodriguez to Schedule a Consultation
Property owners and their insurers often argue that a hazard appeared only moments before a fall, so documenting the scene quickly matters more than people realize. Rosenberg & Rodriguez Personal Injury Lawyers can help you gather that evidence and build your slip and fall claim from the start. We take these cases on a contingency fee basis, so you pay nothing unless we recover money on your behalf. Contact us to schedule a free consultation with our Queens slip and fall lawyer.
