Category: Landlord Liability

Accident Cases in Court, Landlord Liability, Municipal Liability, Slip and fall accident, Statute of Limitations, Undeveloped Land Accident

Accidents on Undeveloped Land

I was injured when I was driving an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) upstate. Can I bring a claim for my injuries?

You probably will not a claim for your injuries. Although, as explained later, there may be certain circumstances in which you can bring a claim, using ATVs generally exclude you from any claim against the landowner.

Although all landowners have the common law duty to all people on their land of “reasonable care.” (As mentioned in some of the prior blogs, a common law duty is imposed by Courts on certain people based on many Courts’ decisions over decades. These decisions over time become duties imposed on people subject to the Court’s jurisdiction.) The exception to the common law duties imposed by Courts can be found in statues enacted by the legislature and governor.

In this case, a private land owner has no obligation to keep a premises safe when the person on the land is engaging in certain recreational activities. General Obligations Law § 9-103. So if a person is injured on property while hunting, fishing, canoeing, trapping, hiking, boating, canoeing, horseback riding, bicycle riding, hang gliding, snowmobile operation and ATV riding, then the owner of the property has no obligation to make the land safe for any of these purposes. Thus, the property owner has no obligation to clear paths (and possible pave them) so an individual can safely ride an ATV.

There are exceptions to this rule. One exception would be if the landowner charged for people to ride ATVs on the land. But your question did not mention any fee was paid for permission to ride an ATV on the land. A second exception would be for some willful or malicious condition. Again, the question did not mention any concealed malicious trap set on the land to disrupt the ATV rider and cause injuries. It was just typical wooded upstate property.

This case becomes even more complicated if the accident occurred on New York State land. If the State of New York is a possible defendant, all claims must be brought in the Court of Claims (a separate Court different than the Supreme Court, the Court of Claims handles only cases against the State of New York). There are also short statute of limitations to bring claims against the State. All claims against the State must present a “Claim for Damages” followed by a filing of the lawsuit in the Court of Claims. The State also has certain defenses that an ordinary citizen or company does not have.

Assault, Claims Against Municipality, Damages in Personal Injury Cases, Lack of Security, Landlord Liability

Building Security

I was mugged while doing laundry in my apartment building. The police never caught the mugger, can I bring a claim for my injuries?

I’m sorry this happened to you. You might have a claim against your landlord for lack of security in your building.

Building security claims are dependent upon where the attack occurred and the status of the attacker. Since you stated the attack occurred while you were doing laundry, I assume this means you were in a common area in the apartment building when the assault occurred. The next step in the legal anaylis would be to determine if your attacker was in the building as a tenant or guest of a tenant. If the attacker was in the apartment building already as a tenant, there is nothing the landlord could do to prevent the crime from occurring. A landlord is not responsible for the criminal acts of a tenant, unless the landlord had notice of the tenants prior bad acts. Finally, if the attacker came from outside the building, we would have to know how the mugger got inside the building. If there were minimal security measures that were not in place, then the landlord would be responsible.

In a recent case decided by the Court of Appeals, the Court found that failure to have working locks on exterior doors was breach of “minimal securty measures.” See Scurry v NYCHA, 2023 Slip Op 02752 decided May 23, 2023. The Court held that the breach of “minimal security measures” means the case should not have been dismissed before trial. The case was allowed to go forward for a trial by jury.

The question really is who was the perpetrator of the assault? If the mugger came from outside the building and there were no “minimal safety measures” in place, you may have a claim against the landlord. If the mugger was one of fellow tenants, you may have a very difficult case. Whatever investigation the police did would be crucial to address this issue.

Landlord Liability, Slip and fall accident, Trip and Fall Accidents

Worn Steps

“I fell inside my building on interior stairs while I was walking to my apartment. There was nothing on the stairs, but the building is old and the steps are quite worn. Do I have a case?”

You might have a case, depending upon how worn are the steps and and if that wear created a hazzardous condition on which to walk.  This is the type of defect of which our office would make a personal inspection and possibly hire an expert to examine the steps and take measurements.

Even though you may have walked up these stairs many hundreds or thousands of times, if the stairs are in such a condition so as to create a hazardous condition, then your landlord would be responsible for maintaining the stairs in a safe and passable condition.  Whatever your injuries are, we advise all of clients to go to the doctor and follow your trusted physician’s instructions so you can recover from your injuries.

 

Landlord Liability, Slip and fall accident, Trip and Fall Accidents

Landlord Liability

“I fell inside of my own apartment. Can I sue my landlord?”

There is more information an attorney would need to know before he or she could really answer your question.  But my best answer is if you fell because of something you, as the tenant did, to create the condition which caused your fall, then the answer is no. However, if the the reason you fell is because of a maintenance issue the landlord is responsible for, then yes, you can sue your landlord.

To illustrate the first type of case — an accident caused by something you did — you would look at what you were doing at the time of the accident.  If you fell because you tripped on the cord to the vacuum cleaner when you were tidying up, then the landlord is not responsible. Similarly, if you fell on a wet floor because you were mopping your kitchen or bathroom floor, then you cannot sue your landlord. In both instances, you created the condition which caused your accident.

But if there is a leaky pipe in your your apartment that your landlord neglected to fix despite your repeated complaints, then you can sue your landlord. Similarly, if your landlord undertakes repairs in your apartment, but creates a hazardous condition, like construction debris or tools on the floor and someone trips and falls on one of the hazards, the the landlord is liable.