Can You Sue a Property Owner for a Personal Injury in New York?

Yes. In New York, you can sue a property owner for a personal injury if their negligence caused you harm. You must show they owed you a duty of care. You must also show they failed to fix or warn about a dangerous condition, and that this failure directly caused your injury. New York law gives most injured visitors three years to file.

That short answer holds true whether you were hurt in a grocery store, an apartment building hallway, a parking garage, or on a cracked city sidewalk. But the full picture is more involved. Who can be held responsible isn't always obvious. The deadlines shift dramatically when a government agency is involved, and the evidence that decides these cases often disappears within days. At The Orlow Firm, we've handled premises liability claims throughout Queens and New York City since 1982. The questions below are the ones injured people ask us first.

What Is Premises Liability in New York?

Premises liability is the area of law that governs injuries caused by dangerous conditions on someone else's property. It applies broadly. It covers stores, restaurants, apartment buildings, private homes, office buildings, construction sites, parking lots, and public sidewalks. If a hazardous condition on a property injures you, premises liability law is what determines whether the person responsible for that property has to pay.

New York uses a single standard for these cases. Under the landmark decision in Basso v. Miller, 40 N.Y.2d 233 (1976), property owners and others who control land must act with reasonable care under the circumstances to keep the property safe. To decide whether someone met that standard, courts weigh three things. They look at how foreseeable it was that someone would be harmed, how serious the potential injury was, and how much burden it would have taken to prevent the danger.

Before Basso, New York sorted visitors into rigid categories: invitee, licensee, or trespasser. The duty owed depended on which box you fell into. Basso eliminated those tiers. The reason you were on the property still matters as a factor in the reasonable-care analysis. But it's no longer a rigid cutoff that decides your case at the door. The main exception is trespassers, who still receive only limited protection. There's a special rule for children that we cover below.

Who Can Be Sued for a Property Injury in New York?

One of the most common misconceptions is that only the person whose name is on the deed can be held responsible. In reality, several parties may share liability, and identifying all of them is often what makes the difference between a partial recovery and a full one.

• The property owner is the most common defendant. They have a duty to maintain safe conditions on the property they own.
• A landlord can be liable for injuries in common areas like hallways, stairwells, lobbies, and elevators, even when they don't live in or occupy the building. A landlord may also be responsible for a dangerous condition inside a rented unit. This applies if they kept control over that area, or if they knew about the defect and failed to address it.
• A commercial tenant or business operator, such as a store, restaurant, or shop that controls its own space, owes its customers the same duty of reasonable care that an owner would.
• A property management company hired to handle maintenance, inspections, or repairs can share liability when it fails to do that job safely.
• A co-op board or condo association is generally responsible for the common areas and building systems it controls.
• A general contractor on a construction site can be liable to both workers and visitors for keeping the site safe.

New York City also has a special rule for sidewalks. Under NYC Administrative Code § 7-210, the abutting property owner, not the City, is generally responsible for injuries caused by a defective sidewalk in front of their property. There's a narrow but important exception. Owner-occupied residential buildings with one to three family units, used exclusively for residential purposes, are not covered by this rule. Liability for those sidewalks can fall back on the City. This rule trips up a lot of injured people who assume the City is always responsible for the sidewalk. Often it isn't.

In one case we handled, a client who fell on a badly damaged sidewalk and needed back and ankle surgery recovered $1,500,000. That result was driven in part by correctly identifying who was responsible for that stretch of pavement. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

The Four Elements You Must Prove

To win a premises liability claim in New York, you generally have to prove four things.

1. Duty of care. The defendant owed you a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions. Under Basso v. Miller, that duty is reasonable care under the circumstances, and the foreseeability of your presence is central to the analysis.

2. Breach of duty. The defendant failed to meet that duty. A breach usually means one of three things. They created the dangerous condition themselves. Or they had actual notice of it, meaning someone told them or they saw it. Or they had constructive notice, meaning the condition existed long enough that a reasonable owner would have discovered and fixed it. Courts often call this last one the "time element."

3. Causation. The breach directly caused your injury. A hazard that didn't actually cause your fall won't support a claim, even if the property was unsafe in some general way.

4. Damages. You suffered real, measurable harm, such as medical bills, lost income, physical pain, and similar losses.

The constructive-notice element is where many cases are won or lost. A floor that was wet for thirty seconds before someone slipped is legally very different from one that had been wet for hours with no one cleaning it up. Proving how long a condition existed is critical, which is why maintenance logs, surveillance footage, and witness accounts matter so much. In one case, a client slipped on water from a roof leak and required neck and back surgery. That kind of evidence supported an $800,000 recovery, because the leak was the type of condition the owner should have known about and addressed. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Special Situations: Trespassers and Children

What happens if you were on the property without permission? The answer depends on who you are.

For adult trespassers, a property owner owes a minimal duty. The owner cannot intentionally or recklessly injure someone, by setting a trap, for instance. But the owner generally has no obligation to make the property safe for people who aren't supposed to be there.

Children are treated differently. New York recognizes that young children can't appreciate danger the way adults can, so the law applies the attractive nuisance doctrine. Say a property has an artificially dangerous condition that foreseeably draws children, like an unfenced swimming pool, abandoned machinery, or an open excavation. The owner may be liable even if the child was technically trespassing. The doctrine generally requires two things. The owner knew or should have known children were likely to enter. And the burden of fixing or guarding the hazard was slight compared to the risk it posed to a child.

This doctrine is fact-specific. It does not mean a child always has a claim simply because they were hurt. But if your child was injured on someone's property, don't assume that trespassing automatically bars recovery. It's worth having a lawyer evaluate the specific facts.

Common Types of Property Owner Liability Cases in New York City

Premises liability covers a wide range of accidents. The most common cases we see involving a property owner for personal injury in New York include:

• Slip and falls on wet floors, icy walkways, or uneven pavement
• Trip and falls caused by poor lighting, broken stairs, or cluttered walkways
• Elevator and escalator accidents
• Injuries from defective handrails or broken flooring
• Dog bites. New York imposes strict liability for medical costs once a dog has been declared dangerous under Agriculture & Markets Law § 123, plus general negligence liability when an owner knew of the dog's vicious tendencies
• Swimming pool accidents from a failure to fence or maintain the pool
• Negligent security, such as assaults in places where the risk was foreseeable, like apartment lobbies or parking garages
• Construction-site accidents on or next to a property

Key Deadlines: Don't Wait

New York's deadlines for filing a premises liability claim are strict, and they change depending on who owns the property.

For most claims against private property owners, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of injury, under CPLR § 214.

When the property is owned or operated by the City, the State, or a government agency, the rules are far less forgiving. You generally must file a formal Notice of Claim within 90 days of the injury, as required by General Municipal Law § 50-e. The lawsuit itself must usually be filed within one year and 90 days. Missing that 90-day notice deadline can bar the claim entirely. Courts can sometimes grant permission to file a late notice, but that relief is discretionary and never guaranteed.

There are a few important exceptions to the standard three-year rule:

• Minors. Under CPLR § 208, the statute of limitations is tolled during the period of infancy. Once the minor turns 18, the standard three-year period begins to run, which typically gives an injured minor until around age 21 to file.
• Latent injuries. CPLR § 214-c provides a narrow discovery rule for injuries from toxic substances or objects left in the body after surgery. It does not apply to ordinary slip-and-fall cases.

There's also a practical reason not to wait, separate from any legal deadline: evidence disappears fast in New York City. Surveillance footage is frequently overwritten within days, hazards get cleaned up or repaired, and witnesses become hard to track down. The sooner the process starts, the more evidence can be preserved.

Comparative Fault: Even If You Were Partly to Blame

Many people assume that if they share any blame for their accident, they can't recover anything. In New York, that's not how it works.

New York follows pure comparative negligence under CPLR § 1411. Under this rule, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault, but you can still recover even if you were mostly responsible. If you're found 70 percent at fault, you can still recover 30 percent of your damages. There's no minimum threshold. In theory, someone 99 percent at fault could still recover 1 percent.

Here's a concrete example. Suppose you slip on a wet floor and a jury finds you 25 percent at fault for not noticing a warning sign. If your total damages come to $200,000, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, leaving you with $150,000.

Property owners and their insurers regularly argue that the injured person was distracted, wasn't watching where they were going, or wore inappropriate footwear. Those arguments are common, but they don't necessarily defeat a claim. They typically go to the percentage of fault, not whether you can recover at all.

What Compensation Can You Recover?

If your premises liability claim succeeds, the compensation generally falls into two categories.

Economic damages are the calculable, out-of-pocket losses:

• Past and future medical expenses, including hospital care, surgery, physical therapy, and medication
• Lost wages and reduced future earning capacity
• Other out-of-pocket costs, such as transportation to medical appointments and in-home help
• Property damage, including personal items broken in the fall

Non-economic damages compensate for harms that don't come with a receipt:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress, including anxiety, PTSD, and depression
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Disfigurement or permanent disability

Punitive damages are rare in premises liability cases. They're available only when an owner's conduct was willful, wanton, or recklessly indifferent, not for ordinary negligence. Most injured people should not expect them.

One more point worth knowing: New York does not impose a statutory cap on pain and suffering damages in premises liability cases. The amount is decided by a jury based on the severity and permanence of the injury. In one matter we handled, a legally blind man fell sixteen feet into an open elevator shaft and suffered back and heel injuries. He recovered $2,875,000, a reflection of how serious the consequences of a property owner's failure to maintain safe conditions can be. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

What to Do Immediately After a Property Injury in New York

The steps you take in the first hours and days can shape your claim. If you're hurt on someone else's property in New York:

1. Seek medical attention, even if you feel okay. Some injuries are delayed.
2. Report the incident to the owner, landlord, or manager, and ask for a written report.
3. Photograph the hazard, the surrounding scene, and your injuries before anything is cleaned up or changed.
4. Get the names and contact information of any witnesses.
5. Don't give a recorded statement to an insurance adjuster before speaking with a lawyer.
6. Contact a personal injury attorney. The sooner, the better.

Related Questions

What do I have to prove to sue a property owner for personal injury in New York?

You must prove four elements of negligence: that the property owner owed you a duty of care, that they breached it by creating or failing to address a known hazard, that the breach directly caused your injury, and that you suffered actual damages. The breach element often turns on whether the owner had notice of the danger long enough to fix it.

What if the property is owned by the City of New York?

The deadlines tighten significantly. You generally must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the injury under General Municipal Law § 50-e, and the lawsuit must usually be filed within one year and 90 days. Missing the notice deadline can end the claim before it starts, so government-property cases are time-sensitive in a way private cases are not.

Can I sue if I was partly at fault for the accident?

Yes. New York's pure comparative negligence rule lets you recover even if you share fault. Your award is reduced by your percentage of responsibility, but there's no threshold that bars recovery. Being partly to blame lowers the amount; it doesn't eliminate the claim.

Do I need a lawyer to sue a property owner in New York?

You're not legally required to have one, but premises liability cases are difficult to prove on your own. Establishing constructive notice, identifying every responsible party, meeting strict deadlines, and countering insurer arguments about fault all take experience. Most reputable firms, including ours, offer a free consultation and work on contingency, so there's no upfront cost to find out where you stand.

What evidence do I need to win a premises liability case in New York?

The strongest cases rely on evidence showing the hazard existed and the owner had time to address it: photos of the condition, surveillance footage, maintenance logs, incident reports, witness statements, and medical records. Footage especially disappears quickly, so preserving evidence early is critical to building a strong claim.

Sources & Official Resources

New York State Laws Cited

1. CPLR § 214 — Three-Year Statute of Limitations
2. CPLR § 208 — Tolling for Infancy (Minors)
3. CPLR § 214-c — Discovery Rule for Latent Toxic Substance Injuries
4. CPLR § 1411 — Pure Comparative Negligence
5. General Municipal Law § 50-e — Notice of Claim Requirement
6. Agriculture & Markets Law § 123 — Dangerous Dogs and Strict Liability

NYC Laws Cited 7. NYC Administrative Code § 7-210 — Sidewalk Liability of Abutting Property Owner

Case Law 8. Basso v. Miller, 40 N.Y.2d 233 (1976) — Reasonable Care Standard for Premises Liability

Contact The Orlow Firm

If you were hurt on someone else's property in New York City, you may have a valid claim, but the deadlines are strict and evidence disappears fast. Understanding your options is an important first step. The Orlow Firm has helped injured New Yorkers throughout Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx for over 40 years.

Call (646) 647-3398 for a free consultation. We work on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we win. If you can't come to us, we can come to you.

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This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Every case is different. Contact an attorney to discuss your specific situation.