Syracuse, New York: Accidents Caused by Inadequate Property Maintenance

Jed Dietrich, Esq., Recognized as a Best Lawyer in America and an America’s Top 100 Personal Injury Attorney, Has Spent Decades Fighting for The Rights of Inadequate Maintenance Accident Victims. If You Have Been Injured By a Syracuse Landlord or Property Owner’s Negligence, the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. Could Help You File a Premises Liability Lawsuit and Secure the Compensation You Need to Reclaim Your Independence.

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Feeling safe inside a grocery store, restaurant, or government office is not just an expectation; it is your right. If and when property owners fail to take the common-sense precautions needed to protect visitors from dangerous conditions, they could be held liable for the costs of any resulting accident.

Since our founding in 2005, the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. has fought to protect the rights of inadequate property maintenance victims in Syracuse and across the region, and we have the results to prove it. Please send us a message online or call us at 1-866-529-5334 to speak to a premises liability lawyer and schedule your free consultation as soon as possible.

New York Landowners, The Duty Of Care, And The Responsibility To Maintain Safe Premises

Under state and local law, property owners are obliged to keep their premises free from risky conditions likely to endanger guests and visitors. In the context of New York’s legal system, this responsibility is termed a “duty of care.”

The concept of a “duty of care” is a very broad concept, but it has significant implications.

Business owners, tenants, and landowners all fulfill their duties of care by maintaining a reasonable standard of safety in spaces that are open to the public. This is typically accomplished through some combination of the following strategies:

1. Repairing old or inadequate property features;
2. Conducting routine maintenance, like mopping dirty floors or trimming overgrown hedges;
3. Reviewing and responding to visitor complaints about ice on walkways, standing water in an aisle, or potholes in a parking lot;
4. Salting and shoveling sidewalks and other outdoor surfaces following snowstorms and other inclement weather events; and
5. Warning visitors of dangerous conditions that cannot be quickly repaired, removed, or mitigated.

Making sense of an accident can be difficult, but securing compensation for your injuries does not have to be. The Dietrich Law Firm P.C.’s experienced team of inadequate property maintenance lawyers could help you or a loved one secure the settlement you need to begin rebuilding your life after a serious accident. Please send us a message online or call us at 1-866-529-5334 to speak to a personal injury lawyer and schedule your 100% free consultation.

The 4 Elements Of A Premises Liability Claim

Landlords typically owe their visitors a duty of care, but neither New York law nor New York’s courts expect property owners to be universal. In fact, filing and winning a premises liability lawsuit is rarely as straightforward as submitting a claim, presenting evidence, and negotiating a settlement. Instead, obtaining damages almost always requires proof of negligence.

How you prove that a landlord was negligent is very much dependent on the circumstances of your case. However, most premises liability claims center on the following four elements:

1. The Duty of Care

Every property open to the public owes guests a duty of care, but what form that duty takes depends on your relationship with the owner or landlord. State law recognizes the following general categories of visitors:

1. Invitees, or people who enter a property to shop, dine, or otherwise use a property for a specific business or commerce-related purpose. In general, invitees are owed the highest duty of care, with landlords required to keep the property safe and warn guests of any known dangers;
2. Licensees, or people who are permitted to enter a property for personal purposes or as social guests. In most cases, licensees are owed a lesser duty of care, but must still be informed of hazardous conditions that may not be obvious; and
3. Trespassers are people who are either not permitted to be present on a property or who are present on a property without the owner’s knowledge. Landlords still owe trespassers a duty of care, but it is very limited in its scope.

If you file a premises liability lawsuit, your claim must establish what duty the landlord owed you based on the nature and purpose of your visit.

2. Ownership or Control of the Property

The person or party who owns a property is not always liable for accident-related injuries.

Instead, the person or party who should be named as defendant is usually the person or party who exercised the most control over a property’s features and maintenance. Determining control could require analyzing any of the following:

1. Lease and use agreements;
2. Rental contracts;
3. Management contracts;
4. Business receipts; and
5. Maintenance logs.

3. Notice of a Dangerous Condition

A property owner will typically only be found liable for an accident caused by a premises-related defect if the property owner had already received notice of the defect’s presence.

In premises liability claims, notice falls into either of the following categories:

1. Actual Notice: If a property owner has “actual notice” of a premises-related defect, it means that they had direct knowledge of the defect’s existence.
2. Constructive Notice: A landowner has “constructive notice” of a dangerous condition if the condition has been present for such a length of time that the property owner would have likely discovered it through routine maintenance or inspections.

4. Causation

You can only receive compensation for a premises liability-related accident if the accident was the actual or direct cause of your injuries.

Proving causation could seem simple, especially if your accident had serious or life-altering consequences. However, insurance companies and defense attorneys have years of experience pushing back against claims like yours. Instead of accepting your explanation, an adjuster or a skilled lawyer could tell the court that your chronic pain was triggered by arthritis or another pre-existing condition.

How The Dietrich Law Firm P.C. Could Help You Overcome Legal Obstacles On Your Road To Recovery

You do not have to take on a big Syracuse business and its multibillion-dollar insurer alone.

Since our founding in 2005, the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. has helped New Yorkers assert their rights to a fair recovery. Our experienced team of premises liability lawyers could help you build a compelling case for recompense by taking steps, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Filing a formal complaint against a property owner, landlord, or tenant;
2. Conducting a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding your slip-and-fall accident, parking lot collision, or security oversight;
3. Auditing the at-fault landowner’s maintenance logs and deposing employees familiar with the company’s repair procedures and policies;
4. Anticipating the defendant’s best defense strategies, and doing the legwork to ensure that your claim is not compromised by accusations or excuses; and
5. Negotiating a settlement and preparing to take your case to trial.

A recognized U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firm, we know what it takes to fight for our clients’ rights. Please send us a message online or call us at 1-866-529-5334 to schedule your 100% free, no-obligation consultation as soon as possible.

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Call the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. immediately at 1-866-529-5334 so that our aggressive, tenacious, and hardworking personal injury lawyers can fight to obtain the best result for your personal injury claim in Syracuse, New York. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and there is never a fee until we WIN for you!

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