What to Do if You Are Injured in a Store

If you are injured in a store, get medical attention right away. Report the incident to store management and ask for a written report. Photograph the hazard and your injuries, and collect witness contact information. Preserve evidence, including a written request that surveillance footage be saved. Then talk to a New York personal injury attorney before you speak with the store's insurer.

A store injury can happen in seconds. A slick floor near the produce cooler. A box left in an aisle. A display that topples off a shelf. What you do in the minutes, hours, and days that follow often decides whether you can hold the store accountable for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain. The Orlow Firm has handled premises liability claims across Queens and New York City since 1982. The same pattern comes up again and again: the strongest cases are the ones where the injured person documented the scene before it disappeared.

This guide walks through exactly what to do if you are injured in a store. It explains why store injuries count as premises liability claims under New York law, and it covers the deadlines that can quietly end your case if you wait too long.

Why Store Injuries Are Premises Liability Claims

When you shop at a store, the law treats you as a business invitee. The store owes you a duty of care to keep the property reasonably safe. That duty is the foundation of a premises liability claim. If the store breaks it, and that breach causes your injury, you may be able to recover compensation.

To win, a store injury claim generally has to prove four things. The store owed you a duty of care. It breached that duty. The breach caused your injury. And you suffered actual damages as a result. This is the standard negligence framework, and it applies whether the store is a national chain, a neighborhood bodega, or a department store in a mall.

One point trips up a lot of people: not every injury in a store is the store's fault. If you drop something on your own foot or trip over your own shoelace, an accident happened, but the store did nothing wrong. The question is not whether you got hurt on the property. It is whether the store's negligence, some unsafe condition it created or failed to fix, caused the harm.

New York also follows a pure comparative negligence rule, which works in an injured shopper's favor. Under CPLR § 1411, being partially at fault for your own injury reduces your recovery but does not bar it. Say a jury finds you 20 percent responsible. Your award is reduced by 20 percent rather than eliminated. In states with harsher rules, that partial fault might end the claim entirely. New York does not work that way.

Common Causes of Store Injuries in NYC

Store injuries in New York City follow familiar patterns, and knowing them helps you understand what evidence matters. The most common hazards include:

• Wet or slippery floors from spills, recent mopping, or snow and ice tracked in at entrances during winter
• Cluttered aisles, merchandise left on the floor, or torn carpet and uneven flooring
• Falling merchandise from improperly stacked or unsecured shelving
• Broken escalators, malfunctioning elevators, or automatic doors that close unexpectedly
• Poor lighting that hides a step, a spill, or a change in floor level
• Weak security in high-risk retail locations, which can lead to assaults

In a dense city like New York, the setting matters. Winter brings slush and ice to supermarket and department store entrances. Crowded bodegas and small shops stack merchandise high in narrow aisles. Large malls and big-box stores have escalators and heavy displays. Wherever it happens, the legal question is the same: did the store know, or should it have known, about the hazard in time to fix it?

Immediate Steps to Take After Being Injured in a Store

What you do right after the injury is the most important part of protecting a future store injury claim. Work through these steps in order, as much as your condition allows.

Step 1: Get Medical Attention

Your health comes first, and so does the medical record. Even if the injury feels minor, get evaluated. Soft-tissue injuries, concussions, and back injuries often worsen or show up days later. A gap between the incident and your first treatment gives the insurer room to argue that something else caused your injuries. Prompt care protects you and creates a documented link between the fall and the harm.

Step 2: Report the Incident to Store Management

Tell a manager or employee what happened and ask them to complete an official incident report. Request a copy. If they will not give you one, at least write down the date, time, the name of the person you spoke with, and what the report said. This creates a record made at the time that the store cannot later claim never happened.

Step 3: Photograph the Hazard and the Scene

Use your phone to photograph and video the exact condition that caused your injury: the puddle, the spilled product, the object in the aisle, the broken step. Capture the surrounding area, any warning signs (or the absence of them), and your visible injuries. Stores clean up hazards within minutes. Once the spill is mopped, the only proof it existed may be your photos.

Step 4: Get Witness Information

Ask anyone who saw the incident, other shoppers and employees alike, for their name and phone number. Independent witnesses are powerful because they are not tied to your account or the store's. Memories fade and people move, so collect this information before anyone leaves.

Step 5: Preserve Physical Evidence

Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing, especially if they have residue from a spill, and do not wash them. Set aside anything connected to the incident. These items can back up what happened and counter a claim that you wore unsafe footwear or that no spill existed.

Step 6: Request That Surveillance Footage Be Preserved

Most stores have security cameras, and that footage is often the single best piece of evidence. It can show the hazard, how long it was there, and how you fell. The problem is that many stores overwrite their footage on a rolling basis, sometimes within days. Retention windows are short and vary by store, so time is critical. Ask the store in writing to preserve the video from the date and time of your incident, and keep a copy of that request. Acting quickly here can be the difference between a provable case and a he-said-she-said dispute.

Step 7: Keep a Record of Your Symptoms and Costs

Starting the day of the injury, keep a simple record of your pain levels, the treatment you receive, the workdays you miss, and every out-of-pocket expense. This ongoing record supports both your economic damages (bills, lost wages) and your non-economic damages (pain and suffering).

Step 8: Avoid Posting on Social Media

Do not post about the incident, your injuries, or your activities on social media. Insurers routinely review claimants' public profiles. An innocent photo of you at a family event can be twisted to suggest you are not as hurt as you claim.

Step 9: Talk to an Attorney Before Speaking With the Insurer

Before you give any recorded statement or sign anything the store's insurer sends you, talk to a personal injury attorney. Early conversations with an adjuster are designed to lock you into statements that can be used to reduce or deny your claim.

Proving Negligence: Actual Notice vs. Constructive Notice

In most store injury cases, the hardest question is not whether a hazard existed. It is whether the store had notice of it and enough time to fix it. New York law recognizes two kinds of notice.

Actual notice means the store directly knew about the hazard. An employee saw the spill, a customer reported it, or there had been prior complaints about the same recurring problem, and the store still failed to address it.

Constructive notice means the store should have known. Under the controlling New York standard from Gordon v. American Museum of Natural History, 67 N.Y.2d 836 (1986), a hazard must have been visible and apparent. It must also have existed long enough that the store's employees should have found and fixed it. A puddle that appeared thirty seconds before you slipped may not meet this test. One that sat in a busy aisle for an hour likely does.

This is why the mere existence of a hazard is rarely enough to win. Certain evidence is what carries a store injury claim: maintenance and inspection logs, prior complaint records, surveillance footage showing how long the condition existed, and employee testimony. Because this distinction so often decides these cases, we cover it in depth on our page explaining actual versus constructive notice.

Dealing With the Store's Insurance Company

After you report an injury, you will likely hear from the store's insurance adjuster. It helps to understand who that person works for. The adjuster represents the store and its insurer, not you, and their job is to settle your claim for as little as possible.

A few protective habits go a long way. Do not give a recorded statement without counsel, because those statements are used to find inconsistencies later. Do not sign a medical authorization or release without having it reviewed. A broad authorization can hand the insurer access to your entire medical history to hunt for pre-existing conditions. And treat early settlement offers with caution. A quick offer often arrives before you know the full extent of your injuries, and once you sign a release, you cannot reopen the claim if your condition worsens.

The stronger and more organized your documentation, the more bargaining power you have. Good records shift the negotiation, because the insurer knows that a well-documented claim is one that can succeed at trial.

Government-Owned Stores and the 90-Day Trap

Here is a deadline that catches many injured people off guard. Maybe your injury happened in a store or retail space inside a government-owned building, a shop in a city-run transit station, a public market, or a municipal facility. If so, the ordinary three-year deadline does not apply.

Instead, General Municipal Law § 50-e requires you to file a formal, sworn Notice of Claim within 90 days of the incident. If you then wish to sue, General Municipal Law § 50-i generally requires that the lawsuit be started within one year and 90 days. Miss the 90-day notice window, and your claim can be lost before you ever reach the courthouse.

Most people assume the same deadline applies everywhere, which is exactly why this trap is so dangerous. If there is any chance a government entity owns or operates the location where you were hurt, treat the clock as running immediately and get advice quickly.

Statute of Limitations for Store Injury Claims

For a typical store injury against a private business, New York gives you three years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit, under CPLR § 214. You can confirm the deadline for personal injury actions on the New York State Unified Court System's statute of limitations chart.

Two exceptions are worth knowing. If the injured person is a minor, the deadline is generally tolled, meaning it does not begin to run, until their 18th birthday. And, as noted above, claims involving government-owned property follow the much shorter 90-day notice and one-year-90-day schedule rather than the three-year rule.

Even when the legal deadline is years away, waiting is risky for practical reasons. Surveillance footage gets overwritten, witnesses become impossible to locate, and physical conditions change. The "I'll deal with it later" approach often means the strongest evidence is gone long before the clock actually runs out.

Common Mistakes That Weaken a Store Injury Claim

Even a legitimate claim can be undermined by avoidable errors. The most damaging mistakes we see include:

• Not reporting the incident at all, or reporting it days later, so there is no record made at the time
• Skipping or delaying medical care, which lets the insurer argue the injury was not serious or was caused by something else
• Failing to photograph the scene before the hazard is cleaned up
• Giving a recorded statement to the insurer without legal advice
• Accepting a fast, lowball settlement before the full injury is known
• Posting about the injury or daily activities on social media
• Waiting too long to consult an attorney, by which point footage may be gone and witnesses unreachable

Most of these mistakes share a root cause: waiting. The evidence that proves a store injury case is fragile and time-sensitive, and delay is what most often turns a winnable claim into an unwinnable one.

How These Cases Play Out: Two Examples

Premises negligence claims involving stores and similar facilities can carry real value when the hazard and the store's failure to address it are well documented. In one matter our firm handled, a person fell because of leaking water and suffered knee damage, resulting in a recovery of more than $500,000. In another, a slip on ice in a parking lot led to an ankle fracture requiring surgery and a $300,000 recovery. Both show the same lesson: a clear, preventable hazard combined with solid evidence of the property owner's negligence is what drives a successful claim.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sue a store for my injuries?

You can pursue a claim if the store's negligence caused your injury. That means it created or failed to fix a hazardous condition it knew about or should have known about. An accident alone is not enough. There has to be a breach of the store's duty to keep the premises reasonably safe.

What types of compensation can I recover from a store injury claim?

Compensation typically includes economic damages such as medical expenses, lost wages, and lost earning capacity, plus non-economic damages like pain and suffering. The specific value depends on the severity of the injury and the strength of the evidence, so amounts vary widely from case to case.

Should I accept a settlement offer from the store's insurer?

Be cautious. Early offers often arrive before the full extent of your injuries is known, and signing a release ends your ability to recover more if your condition worsens. Having the offer reviewed before you accept helps make sure it reflects the true value of your claim.

What if I was partially responsible for my injury?

Under New York's pure comparative negligence rule (CPLR § 1411), partial fault reduces your recovery but does not eliminate it. If you were 20 percent at fault, your compensation is reduced by 20 percent rather than barred entirely. This is illustrative math, not a fixed formula for any particular case.

How long does a store keep surveillance footage after an accident?

It varies by store, and retention periods are often short, sometimes only a matter of days before older footage is overwritten. That is why it is important to request in writing that the footage from your incident be preserved as soon as possible.

Do I need an attorney for a store injury claim?

You are not required to have one, but an attorney can preserve time-sensitive evidence, handle communications with the insurer, and evaluate whether an offer is fair. Because deadlines like the 90-day government notice can end a claim quickly, getting advice early is especially valuable.

Sources & Official Resources

New York Laws Cited

1. CPLR § 1411 — Comparative Negligence
2. CPLR § 214 — Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury
3. General Municipal Law § 50-e — Notice of Claim
4. General Municipal Law § 50-i — Time Limit to Commence Action Against a Municipality

Court Rules Cited 5. Gordon v. American Museum of Natural History, 67 N.Y.2d 836 (1986) — Constructive Notice Standard

Helpful Resources 6. New York State Unified Court System — Statute of Limitations Chart

Contact The Orlow Firm

If you have been injured in a store in Queens or anywhere in New York City, understanding your legal options is an important first step. The sooner you act, the more evidence you can protect. The Orlow Firm has helped injured people throughout Queens and New York City since 1982, handling premises liability and slip and fall claims from documentation through settlement and trial.

Call (646) 647-3398 for a free consultation. We work on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we win.

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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.