If you are renting a place to live, it’s important to know what your landlord’s legal responsibilities are to understand if you can sue him or her if you get hurt. Personal injury lawsuits against landlords can be challenging to pursue, which is why you need a skilled legal team, like the Law Office of Jeffrey K. Kestenbaum, on your side.
Here is some information about pursuing a case involving injury due to landlord negligence.
Examples of Landlord Negligence
Landlords can be held responsible for a variety of things when an accident happens on property they own or manage. For example, a tenant could fall on a broken stair in an entryway that is shared by all tenants in the building. Uneven flooring, broken handrails, loose carpet, and snow and ice can cause tenant injuries too, and depending on the situation, a landlord may be to blame. Many kinds of injuries can result from slip and fall accidents at a rental property, such as broken bones, brain damage, and spinal cord injuries.
Proving Negligence Against a Landlord
As your personal injury attorney, Jeffrey K. Kestenbaum will assess a few different factors to determine if your landlord was negligent and the strength of your case. It is necessary to prove that the behavior of your landlord was the proximate cause of your injuries because he or she knew about a hazard and could have done something about it. Other factors include whether a reasonable person could have foreseen a potential accident, the likelihood of serious injury, and the feasibility to correct the problem.
When Tenants Are Partially to Blame
In many situations, a tenant’s injuries are due to both a landlord’s negligence and also the tenant’s own carelessness at the same time. A court may apply the concept of comparative fault to a case like this by assigning a percentage of responsibility to both parties, ultimately reducing the settlement amount that you might receive. Each state handles this situation a bit differently, but New York is a pure comparative fault state. This means that any party involved in a personal injury lawsuit can receive compensation if negligence is shared between two or more entities, regardless of how small the percentage of fault may be.
Duties of Landlords
Landlords are required by law to take reasonable care to prevent injuries, which means that anyone who is competent and in a similar position would have taken action as needed. However, landlords who perform regular inspections of their properties cannot be expected to respond to every minor repair within seconds or without being informed about the issue. When there are children in the building, landlords need to take extra care to protect them from dangers and anticipate injuries that could result because of how children typically act.
Get Help with Your Landlord Negligence Case
To win your case for injury due to landlord negligence and get the best slip and fall settlement possible, the Law Office of Jeffrey K. Kestenbaum can help. We have successfully pursued many landlord negligence cases and helped numerous tenants get the settlements they deserve and need to help pay for medical bills, lost wages, and other damages.
To learn more about how the legal process works or for a free consultation, contact us at 718-237-5586 or send us a message online.
