Types of Premises Liability Accidents

Like most personal injury cases, premises liability lawsuits typically stem from instances where a negligent party caused another to be injured. As a legal concept, negligence is the failure of a person or entity to display the level of care that is reasonably expected of them under the circumstances. In premises liability cases, the negligent party is often a landowner or property manager.

Premises liability accidents can occur in many different situations, such as:

• Ceiling collapse
• Slip and fall
• Elevator accident
• Defective stairways
• Negligent security
• Fire safety and building code violations
• Inadequate lighting
• Supermarket accidents
• Dog or animal attacks
• Sidewalk trip and falls

If you have been injured in a premises liability accident, you may be able to receive compensation for your injuries. Below, we will take a closer look at examples of premises liability cases which Block O’Toole & Murphy has won, to better understand the types of cases which you may be able to recover damages for.

If you were injured on somebody else’s property, you do not have to suffer in silence. Call 212-736-5300 to receive a free legal consultation from the experienced personal injury lawyers of Block O’Toole & Murphy.

$5,850,000 Settlement After Apartment Ceiling Collapse

In this ceiling collapse case, Block O’Toole & Murphy was able to secure a $5.85 million settlement for a woman who was injured when her apartment ceiling collapsed on her. Ceiling collapses are not uncommon and can result in serious, permanent injuries.

Our client noticed water leaking through her apartment ceiling the night before the accident. She immediately contacted her building superintendent, who came to inspect the leak. He went to the above apartment, where he saw that the tenant had dumped a bucket of water on the floor in order to clean it.

The superintendent went back down and informed the client of what he had seen, saying that he would be back the next day to address the leak. He left without attempting to determine if the ceiling was at risk of collapse or not.

The next day, while our client was preparing Easter dinner, a large fragment of her ceiling collapsed and fell on top of her, causing serious injuries to her neck and back which eventually required multiple lumbar and cervical surgeries.

While the specifics of a lease agreement may vary, your landlord has a basic obligation to keep your living space safe. Be sure to notify your landlord in writing as soon as you notice a potentially unsafe condition, so that they can fulfill their duty to address the issue in a timely manner.

Elevator Accident Leads to $5,500,000 Settlement

In an elevator injury case, Block O’Toole & Murphy won a $5.5 million settlement for a truck driver who was injured in a freight elevator accident.

On the day of the accident, our client was delivering furniture to a high-rise office building in Manhattan. He was utilizing a freight elevator to transport the furniture up and down.

While our client was loading furniture, the elevator operator pressed the button to close the interior metal door of the freight elevator. This door came crashing down on our client, causing serious injury to his neck and spine.

Due to the negligence of the elevator operator, our client required spinal fusion to treat his back injuries and was not able to return to his previous driving job. He was able to recover compensation for his lost future earnings and benefits, as well as for future medical care.

$3,125,000 Settlement After a Slip and Fall

In this slip and fall case, Founding Partner Jeffrey A. Block secured a $3.125 million settlement for a hotel employee who was injured after falling down a flight of steps.

At the time of the accident, our client was checking empty guest rooms in the course of her employment as a housekeeping supervisor. As she was walking, however, she slipped on a piece of debris, fell down a nearby flight of metal stairs and landed on her back.

As a result of her fall, our client aggravated a pre-existing back injury and suffered multiple herniated discs in her lumbar spine. To treat these injuries, she required a laminotomy and lumbar fusion surgery.

Slip and fall accidents are the most common types of premises liability lawsuits. These types of accidents can happen anywhere: in a hotel, at school, out shopping, in parking lots. It is the duty of the property owner or supervisor to keep the stairs, sidewalk and other walkways clear of debris or any other hazard which may cause you to slip, trip and fall.

$1,175,000 Settlement in Supermarket Negligence Case

Block O’Toole & Murphy won a $1,175,000 settlement for a woman who was injured by improperly stacked juice bottles at a supermarket.

Our client went out shopping at a grocery store near her home in the Bronx. She was walking down an aisle, pushing a cart along, when bottles of cranberry juice from a nearby display suddenly fell about 15 feet onto her head and neck.

Our client sued for negligence on the grounds that the store’s employees had incorrectly stacked the juice bottles, causing them to fall. The accident aggravated herniated discs in our client’s neck at the C5/6 level, eventually requiring her to undergo cervical fusion surgery.

When you are at a place of business, the owner and employees of that business owe you a basic level of care so that you are not injured on their watch. When this basic duty is neglected, and somebody is injured, you may be able to receive compensation via a premise liability lawsuit.

Contact a Premises Liability Attorney Today

In the wake of an accident caused by negligence which causes you to be injured, the person responsible for your injury may attempt to point the finger back at you, saying that you are the reason or “sole proximate cause” for your injury.

That is why it is crucial to contact an experienced premises liability attorney as soon as possible, so that you can began to pursue justice and compensation for the injuries you suffered. The experienced premises liability attorneys at Block O’Toole & Murphy have a long and successful record of winning verdicts and settlements in a wide variety of premises liability cases. Additional results include:

• $9,000,000 settlement for a 14-year-old student who sustained serious arm injuries after a wall collapsed on him in a shopping center parking lot
• $2,750,000 settlement for a woman who required a partial left knee replacement after being injured in a trip and fall accident outside of a shopping mall
• $2,700,000 settlement after a woman who was injured in a trip and fall due to an uneven sidewalk, requiring multiple spinal fusion surgeries
• $2,650,000 settlement for an electrician foreman who tripped and fell while walking down an interior staircase of a building in downtown Manhattan
• $2,250,000 settlement for an apartment tenant who slipped and fell down stairs which were wet because of a longstanding ceiling water leak
• $2,000,000 award for a Brooklyn man who was injured due to a malfunctioning elevator, causing him serious knee and back injuries
• $1,900,000 settlement for a woman who was injured in a slip and fall while walking on steps which had recently been mopped
• $1,900,000 settlement for a maintenance worker who was injured in an elevator accident, causing a herniated cervical disc
• $1,650,000 settlement after a tragic wrongful death case which was caused by a fire on the first floor of an apartment building
• $1,500,000 settlement for a mother of three who slipped and fell due to black ice on a sidewalk in the Bronx, causing multiple cervical herniated discs
• $1,500,000 settlement for a woman who slipped and fell due to snow which had accumulated in front of the entrance of her apartment building
• $1,500,000 award for a Bronx man who tripped and fell while taking out his trash due to a raised metal strip at the edge of his apartment stairs
• $1,500,000 settlement for a client who was assaulted in a hospital due to inadequate security
• $1,450,000 settlement for a woman who was showering when a portion of the ceiling in her bathroom collapsed on her, causing multiple herniated cervical discs

Call 212-736-5300 to receive a free legal consultation from the experienced premises liability lawyers at Block O’Toole & Murphy, or by filling out our online contact form. Serving Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau County, Suffolk County and upstate New York.