New York Premises Liability

Published on: September 2, 2015

Premises liability: As part of the annual no penalty retaining wall inspection program, New York City home owners can get their retaining walls inspected for free until September 18th

In a busy city like New York retaining walls that are not proprely maintained can cause serious damages to the public and to adjacent properties. Retaining walls are built to retain soil on steep slopes. They are designed to resist the lateral pressure of the soil’ however hot weather conditions such as those experienced this summer in New York City can accelerate their deterioration.

After a 75 foot-high stone retaining wall that was built in 1908 collapsed on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan in May 2005, the NYC department of Buildings launched an Annual no penalty retaining wall inspection program that allows property owners to request an inspection of their property by an NYC Buildings Inspector without incurring violations. This free service is available until September 18th. For more info click here

Published on: August 31, 2015

Kyle Jean-Baptiste, a 21 year old actor in “Les Miserables”, dies after falling from a fire escape in Brooklyn, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

A famous Broadway actor died this week-end after falling from the fire escape of an apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, NYC. Kyle Jean-Baptiste was the youngest and the first African-American actor to play the role of Jean Valjean in the Broadway Musical “Les Miserables”. According to the New York Times, Kyle was sitting on the fourth floor fire escape with a 23 year old female friend when he stood up, slipped and fell backwards to the street below.

Published on: May 18, 2015

Premises Liability: a two year old girl died from her injuries after being struck by fallen debris in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

A 2 year old girl who suffered severe personal injury yesterday after being hit by falling debris, died Today at the hospital. Greta Greene (facebook picture on the left) was sitting outside with her grand mother when they were both struck by terra-cotta bricks from a window ledge that fell from the 8th floor of the Esplanade Manhattan nursing home at 305 West End Ave in Manhattan.

The toddler lost consciousness and nurses from the nursing home tried to resuscitate her. Her grandmother, 60 year old Susan Frierson, suffered severe leg injuries. They were both transported to the hospital where Greta passed away Today.

A protective scaffolding was erected last night on orders on the Department Of Buildings. The DOB is investigating what caused the ledge to fall. It also issued a violation to the Esplanade Manhattan nursing home for failure to maintain a property in a safe and compliant manner.

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Published on: September 1, 2013

New York Premises Liability: Woman hit by a car after after club security staff create panic among patrons

By GGCRBHS&M

A woman was struck and killed by a hit and run driver in the Bronx, New York, yesterday night after a a club bouncer asked everybody to exit the club because someone had a gun. Over a hundred patrons started to run out of the club and poured across the street in a panic. As she was running away, a young woman was struck and killed by a car who sped away without even slowing down.

Nightclub owners are responsible for providing adequate safety for their patrons. This includes the responsibility to hire an adequate number of properly trained security employees who can monitor the crowd in any type of situation and are able to act effectively when problems arise. In this particular case, the security staff seems to have been completely overwhelmed by the situation. Therefore the club owner may be liable for negligent security.