Rochester Slip and Fall Lawyer

Were you injured in a slip and fall accident in Rochester, NY?

At Buttafuoco & Associates, we help injured clients in Rochester, NY pursue full recovery in slip and fall matters.

If you fell on ice, a broken step, or a wet floor on someone else’s property in Rochester, photograph the hazard and get medical treatment as soon as you can. Ice melts and stairs get repaired, and the condition that caused your fall may not look the same a day later.

Our attorneys have brought premises claims against landlords, retailers, schools, and building managers for more than four decades, including several winter falls on snow and ice. A Rochester, NY slip and fall lawyer at our firm can review the facts of your fall at no cost.

Slip and Fall Lawyer Rochester, NY

Premises liability is the area of law behind a slip and fall claim, and it allows an injured person to hold the owner or occupant of unsafe property responsible for a fall. Owners are not responsible for every accident on their land. They are responsible when they created a dangerous condition, knew about it, or would have found it through reasonable inspection and still failed to correct it, and that question of notice is usually where the effort to prove fault succeeds or fails.

Rochester’s normal annual snowfall is 102.0 inches, more than Buffalo’s 95.4, under the 1991 to 2020 NWS climate normals. Snow that melts by day and refreezes overnight keeps steps and parking lots slick for months, and a Rochester slip and fall attorney evaluating a claim after you slip on ice will look closely at when the storm ended and what the owner did next.

Types of Slip and Fall Cases We Handle in Rochester

Slip and fall claims in Rochester arise in every kind of setting, and the responsible party changes with the property. Every case starts with identifying who controlled the property. From there, we collect weather and maintenance records for the day of the fall and question the staff responsible for inspections and cleanup.

• Snow and ice on sidewalks and walkways. Untreated ice at building entrances, on private walkways, and along commercial frontage causes many winter fractures. These cases depend on when the snow stopped, what the property owner did afterward, and how long the ice was present.
• Parking lot and driveway falls. Plowed snow piled at the edge of a lot melts and refreezes across parking spaces and walking paths. Potholes and broken pavement hidden under slush create additional trip hazards.
• Stairway falls. Missing or loose treads, absent handrails, and poor lighting turn ordinary stairs into serious hazards. Exterior steps that are never salted present the same danger during the winter months.
• Wet floors in stores and restaurants. Spills, leaking coolers, and slush tracked in from outside can leave a floor slick for hours. We look at whether the business used mats, posted warnings, and followed its own inspection schedule.
• Apartment and rental property falls. Landlords and management companies generally maintain common hallways, stairwells, and walkways. A tenant who reported a defect before falling may have a strong argument that the owner had notice.
• Trip hazards from uneven surfaces. Raised sidewalk slabs, crumbling curbs, cellar doors, and thresholds with an exposed lip all cause falls. Photographs taken soon after the accident often show the condition most clearly.
• Falls while working on another party’s property. Delivery drivers, contractors, and service workers often fall on premises their own employer does not control. In those situations, the property owner or tenant may be responsible for the condition.

Why Choose Buttafuoco & Associates as My Slip and Fall Lawyer in Rochester, NY?

Premises cases are often decided by testimony about what the owner knew, and our slip and fall lawyers have spent decades taking that testimony from custodians, superintendents, and property managers.

Depositions That Establish What the Owner Knew

Mark T. Freeley has conducted nearly 1,000 depositions in accident cases and has picked juries and tried cases in six New York counties. He has also negotiated and mediated hundreds of six- and seven-figure settlements. A 1989 graduate of Hofstra University School of Law, he is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association.

Dan Buttafuoco tried the warehouse ice case described below over 11 days, and the jury placed 90 percent of the fault on the tenant that failed to clear its rear entrance steps.

When a fall is only one source of a client’s injuries, the related claims can remain with our firm, which also handles vehicle crashes, workplace accidents, and medical negligence as a personal injury lawyer in Rochester, NY.

Slip and Fall Results We Have Obtained

Falls on ice, broken stairs, and damaged walkways appear throughout the millions in recoveries our firm has secured for injured clients.

• Fall on ice: $4,000,000 recovery.
• Snow and ice on warehouse steps: $375,000 for a deliveryman after the jury found the building’s tenant 90 percent at fault.
• Icy courtyard walkway: $200,000 for a resident who fell on snow and ice several days after an ice storm.
• Defective apartment stair: $200,000 for a tenant who had reported the broken tread to building management before she fell.
• Unsalted school steps: $125,000 for a teacher who slipped on clear ice on a school’s exterior stairs.

Understanding Slip and Fall Cases

What Are Important Aspects of a Slip and Fall Case?

New York does not hold property owners responsible for every fall, so a slip and fall case in Rochester rests on a few specific proofs.

• Notice of the hazard. The owner must have created the condition, known about it, or had enough time to discover it. Inspection logs, prior complaints, and surveillance video can show how long a hazard was present.
• Storm timing. Owners generally have a reasonable period after snow or freezing rain ends to clear and treat their property. The hours between the end of a storm and your fall often decide the case.
• Control of the property. Owners, commercial tenants, management companies, and snow removal contractors can each share responsibility. The City of Rochester provides supplemental sidewalk plowing only after four inches of new snow, so responsibility for a particular stretch of pavement has to be traced through the facts.
• Your own conduct. Under New York’s comparative fault statute, a jury can reduce an award by the share of fault it assigns to you, but that share does not by itself bar recovery.
• Filing deadlines. Most premises claims must be filed within three years under CPLR § 214. A claim against the City of Rochester or another public entity requires a notice of claim within 90 days and a lawsuit within one year and 90 days under section 50-i of the General Municipal Law.

Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Slip and Fall Cases

A fall can leave someone with months of treatment and work restrictions, and New York law allows recovery for both the financial and the personal losses that follow. Economic damages include emergency care, surgery, physical therapy, future treatment, and lost income. Non-economic damages account for pain and suffering, permanent limitations, and the loss of activities you can no longer do. Fractured ankles, torn knee cartilage, wrist injuries, and head trauma are common in these cases, and several of our premises results involved fractures repaired with surgical hardware.

More than one party may share the blame. A commercial tenant may control its own entrance, a management company may handle repairs, and a plowing contractor may be responsible for work it performed carelessly. Each of these parties typically carries separate insurance.

When a fall happens on the job, workplace slip and falls can involve both workers’ compensation and a separate claim against a property owner who is not your employer.

What Is the Slip and Fall Case Timeline?

The first weeks matter most for evidence. Many businesses overwrite security footage on a rolling basis, so we send preservation demands early and request incident reports, cleaning logs, and snow removal invoices.

For private property, the owner’s insurance adjuster often calls early and may ask for a recorded statement before the full extent of your injuries is known. Claims against a public entity require the notice of claim described above.

If a Rochester slip and fall claim does not resolve, a lawsuit begins when an index number is purchased through the Monroe County Clerk and the complaint is filed in state Supreme Court. Discovery, depositions, and independent medical examinations follow. Many cases settle after the property’s employees have been deposed, and those that do not are tried before a jury.

What Should You Bring to Your Slip and Fall Consultation?

Bring whatever you have. Photographs and witness names are especially useful because they are hard to recover later.

• Photographs or video of the hazard, the surrounding area, and the shoes you were wearing
• Names and contact information for witnesses, plus any incident report number
• Emergency room records, imaging results, and follow-up treatment notes
• Notes on the time of day and the winter weather conditions when you fell
• Letters or messages from the property owner or its insurance company

A Rochester, NY slip and fall attorney will use the free consultation to go over how long the hazard existed and who was responsible for it. If the facts suggest the hazard appeared moments before you fell, we will explain why that makes the claim difficult instead of promising an outcome.

Reach Out to Buttafuoco & Associates to Schedule a Consultation

Contact us about your fall, and a slip and fall lawyer in Rochester will review your photographs, records, and timeline during a free consultation. We can also ask the property owner to preserve video and maintenance records while the case is evaluated. You can reach our office online or by phone to choose a time that works for you.