Premises Liability and Slip-and-Fall Settlements in New York

What is the average slip and fall settlement in New York?

Public records give a sense of the range these claims occupy. The figures below cover personal injury claims for falls on defective sidewalks that were settled with a payment by the City of New York, in the fiscal years when injury claims were recorded separately.

The spread is the useful part. Just under half of these claims settled below $25,000, while one in ten settled above $155,000. What separates them is rarely the fall itself. It is the severity of the injury, the strength of the proof that the owner knew about the condition, and whether the injured person was found partly responsible.

These are claims against the City. A fall in a private building or store involves different parties, different insurance and no notice of claim requirement. The figures illustrate range, and they do not predict any particular case.

What a premises settlement is made of

• Medical treatment, past and projected Falls most often produce fractures of the wrist, hip and ankle. Each can require surgical fixation followed by months of therapy, and hardware sometimes has to be removed later.
• Lost income Time away from work during recovery, and the reduction where an injury prevents returning to the same role.
• Pain and suffering Assessed on the injury and its effect on daily life. Unlike motor vehicle claims, premises cases have no statutory threshold to clear first.
• Care and adaptation Help at home during a period of limited mobility, equipment, and changes to a residence where stairs become difficult.

Because there is no serious injury threshold in a premises case, a claim can proceed on an injury that would not support a motor vehicle claim. The trade off is that liability is harder: the owner’s knowledge of the hazard has to be proven, and it usually is not documented anywhere convenient.

What weakens a fall claim

• No photograph of the condition Repairs happen within days. Without an image taken before the repair, the case rests on description alone, and the defendant describes it differently.
• No proof of how long it had been there Owners are responsible for conditions they knew about or should have found. A hazard that appeared minutes earlier usually does not support a claim.
• An open and obvious condition A defendant will argue a reasonable person would have seen and avoided it. Under CPLR § 1411 this reduces recovery rather than ending it, but the reduction can be substantial.
• A missed deadline against a public body A fall on a city sidewalk, in a park or in public housing requires a written notice of claim, in most cases within ninety days, under General Municipal Law § 50-e. Missing it ends claims that are otherwise sound.
• A delay before treatment A first medical visit days later lets a defendant attribute the injury to something else.

Premises results from our practice

• $2,000,000 For a Brooklyn woman who slipped on ice outside a corner store while avoiding a dustpan left on the ground, injuring a knee that later required surgery.
• $1,800,000 For two children with brain damage from lead paint poisoning, after proving the landlord ignored the hazard.
• $1,400,000 For a Queens woman who tripped on broken pavement outside a store, injuring her arm and back.

More on the case results page.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is evaluated on its own facts.