In most negligence cases, a defendant has to have taken an action which presented a foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm to you the plaintiff. But in a slip and fall case brought against a property owner, negligence works a little differently. The property owner does not actually have to take the action which caused your injury (for example, spilled a bucket of soapy water that you then slipped on). Instead, property owners can be held liable where accidents occurred on their property and they failed to take reasonable steps to protect you as a visitor on their property. Specifically, the steps involved in proving a slip and fall case against a property owner are:

• The plaintiff must prove that the defendant owned the property in question and therefore owed a duty to you as a visitor. In most cases this can be proven easily, whether you were a customer, a residential guest, or using a public facility, although it may be more complicated if you were trespassing.
• The property owner failed to take reasonable steps to keep the property safe from the dangerous conditions that caused the slip and fall. This standard can change based on whether you were on the property as a customer or as a personal guest, but generally it means the owner should either take steps to prevent slips and falls from occurring or adequately clean up spills when the owner notices them. In many cases, this is proved through a showing that the owner or possessor of the property knew the dangerous condition existed but negligently failed to correct the hazard, or the hazardous condition existed on the property long enough that the owner or possessor should have found and corrected it before your slip and fall accident occurred.
• The property owner’s failure to take the above reasonable steps was the foreseeable cause of your injury. For example, if you claim to suffer migraine headaches from a fall, the property owner may try to argue the fall did not cause your headaches.
• You actually suffered the full extent of damages you are claiming recovery for.

The key to recovering damages in a slip and fall case, or any personal injury claim, is to establish that there has been an act of negligence. Whether your slip and fall accident occurred on public, private, government, or commercial property, if the property owner failed to take reasonable precautions to protect the safety of those who are present on the property, a claim can be filed to seek compensation for all damages.

The law requires that property owners clear ice and snow once the snow has stopped falling. The hours of removal are specific, and New York City government lists them as follows:

• If the snowfall ends between 7 am and 5 pm, the property owner must clear sidewalks within 4 hours.
• If snowfall ends between 5 pm and 9 pm, the sidewalks must be cleared within 14 hours.
• If snowfall ends between 9 pm and 7 am, sidewalks must be cleared by 11 am.

In a perfect world, all would take responsibility, follow the laws, and do everything reasonably possible to keep others safe from harm. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world. Every year, thousands of people slip and fall on New York City sidewalks, crosswalks, entryways, stairways and other areas. The question is — who can be held accountable?