Snow and Ice Injury Lawyer

If you suffer an injury from snow or ice and decide a lawsuit is necessary to cover your damages, there are a few things you must prove in court to succeed. First, you must prove that the defendant (the person being sued) was responsible for the area where your accident took place. As the plaintiff (the person suing), you must then prove several other things:

• You must show the court that the defendant had a duty to act with reasonable care. For example, property owners must keep their grounds clear to prevent slipping hazards for guests lawfully present on the property.
• You must then prove that the defendant breached this duty in some way. In most snow and ice accident cases, this usually means inaction. Following the previous example, a property owner failing to clear a busy walkway of snowdrifts or icy patches would be breaching his or her duty to act with reasonable care.
• Finally, you must show your injuries were the direct result of this breach of duty. Following the previous example, if you slip and fall on the icy walkway and break your arm, you must show that this would not have happened had the defendant exercised reasonable care in the maintenance of the property.

Bear in mind that New York state law uses a comparative negligence rule (sometimes referred to as a contributory negligence rule) for personal injury cases. This means that the court may find a plaintiff partially at fault for the accident and reduce damages by a proportionate amount. For example, if you slipped on ice but were running at the time, the judge may deem that you were not using good judgment by running in winter conditions, and decide that you are partially at fault for the accident. If the judge determines that the majority of the fault lies in the owner of the property where you were injured, but your decision to run was careless and makes you 30% at fault for the incident, he or she would reduce your damages by 30%.