Experienced Premises Liability Attorneys

Last updated on August 21, 2026

When you get injured by a slip-and-fall accident on another person’s property or while out at a restaurant, store or any other type of commercial property, you may have a premises liability case. If you or a family member has been injured as a result of another person or party’s negligence, you should not hesitate to call an Oneonta personal injury attorney from Scarzafava & Basdekis, PLLC, to represent your case. We understand how stressful and overwhelming it can be to deal with the injuries from a slip-and-fall, and we are here to help.

Our personal injury attorneys have the knowledge and skill you need to work toward achieving a positive outcome. Call us today to schedule a free, confidential case review. From our office in Oneonta, we handle slip and falls and other accidents in Otsego, Delaware and Chenango counties.

Holding Property Owners Accountable

If a property owner or manager is negligent and it leads to you being injured on the premises, an attorney can help you file a personal injury claim. At our firm, we represent clients throughout the tricounty area and in Oneonta, Cooperstown, Delhi, Norwich and Sidney as well as Albany, Binghamton and Syracuse. The responsible party should be held legally accountable for their actions, and we work to ensure that you receive the compensation you are entitled to.

How New York Law Determines Who Is Responsible

Holding a negligent property owner accountable for a slip-and-fall injury in New York requires meeting certain legal standards. Under New York law, an injured party must demonstrate that the owner or party in control of the premises either created the dangerous condition or had notice of its existence prior to the incident.

Legal notice can take one of two forms:

• Actual notice: The property owner, manager or an employee directly knew about the hazard. For example, a staff member was explicitly warned about a spill or saw a broken step but failed to repair or mark it.
• Constructive notice: The dangerous condition existed for a sufficient length of time prior to the accident that a reasonable property owner, exercising due care, should have discovered and corrected it.

Winter conditions such as ice and snow are among the leading causes of slip-and-fall injuries across Upstate New York. This includes Otsego, Delaware and Chenango counties. Business owners, landlords and property managers have a legal obligation to clear ice, snow and slush within a reasonable period after a snowfall or another weather event. In the winter months, owners bear a heightened responsibility to routinely inspect outdoor steps, parking lots and walkways.

In practice, failure points can stem from inadequate or negligent property maintenance. Common examples include:

• Icy store entryways caused by defective or leaking gutters
• Improperly salted parking lots
• Walkways left unshoveled after freezing rain
• Slippery grounds caused by uncleared slush

Winter hazards such as ice and snow often stick around for hours or days. It is easy to argue that the property owner should have known about the danger and fixed it.

Finding Compensation For Your Injuries

Because snow, ice and slush play such a significant role in severe slip-and-falls in the colder months, there are even more parties that may share liability for an injury. Property owners may not be the only ones who might be held responsible for failing to maintain the flooring. Depending on the contracts in place and the circumstances of the fall, several entities may share legal responsibility.

Those who were in charge of installing the floor may also be held liable if they did not follow the proper guidelines for installing the floor, did a poor or shoddy job of ensuring the evenness of the surface, or failed to address or prevent any known hazards that might cause someone to trip.

Slip-and-trip-and-fall incidents can be caused by unsafe conditions, such as:

• Slippery substances left on the floor
• Debris or merchandise on the ground or the aisles
• Equipment or debris that is improperly stored
• Building code violations
• Unsupervised swimming pools
• Poorly maintained swimming pools
• Dangerous or defective park rides
• Uneven driveways or parking lots
• Collapsing ceilings or roofs

It is important to identify every source of liability so you can recover maximum compensation. For instance, if not only the property owner but also the plowing service acted negligently, you may have more than one option for financial compensation.

What To Do After A Slip-And-Fall In New York

The steps taken immediately after a fall can impact your health. They can also improve the strength of any future legal claim. Take deliberate action to the extent that you can. After a slip-and-fall in New York, please try to:

1. Report the Incident: Notify the property owner, store manager or landlord before leaving the premises. Request an official incident report. Ask for a written copy or the report number for your records. You may also want to contact the police to have them file a report.
2. Document the area and injuries: Take photographs and videos of the specific condition that caused you to fall; for instance, an icy patch. Photograph the surrounding site and any visible injuries, property damage or torn clothing. This preserves evidence if someone cleans up the physical hazard afterwards.
3. Seek immediate medical attention: See a doctor promptly, even if your injuries seem minor. Serious conditions such as hairline fractures, soft tissue damage, internal bleeding and traumatic head injuries sometimes do not present symptoms right away.
4. Decline giving statements to insurance adjusters: Do not provide a recorded statement or sign any documents from an insurance adjuster. Insurance representatives often contact injured victims quickly to collect statements that they use later to diminish the value of a claim. 
5. Contact a personal injury attorney: Evidence can disappear rapidly. Surveillance footage may conveniently vanish. Witness memories fade over time. Getting early legal representation ensures that you can preserve video footage, maintenance records and weather logs crucial to proving actual or constructive notice.

New York law generally provides a three-year statute of limitations from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit against a private property owner. However, waiting to take action makes gathering necessary evidence far more difficult. Further, if your fall occurred on municipal, county or state-owned property such as a public sidewalk, government office or public school, you must typically serve a formal notice of claim within 90 days of the incident. Missing this critical deadline can permanently bar you from seeking recovery.

Do You Have Questions? We Have Answers.

Below are some answers to commonly asked questions about what to do after a slip-and-fall accident.

How Much Time After An Accident Do I Have To File A Compensation Claim?

Typically, the “clock” stops running on premises liability claims three years after the accident. It’s important to point out that if the statute of limitations expires – meaning, the three-year window has come and gone – you no longer have the right to file a claim, which is why it’s important to take action sooner rather than later in these types of injury cases.

What Types Of Damages Can I Seek And Recover?

In most premises liability cases, plaintiffs seek compensatory damages, which are meant to cover costs associated with an individual’s injuries, such as medical and hospital bills, prescription and therapy costs, lost wages and property damage. In some cases, such as those involving gross negligence, a plaintiff may be able to seek punitive damages. As the name suggestions, these types of damages are meant to punish the negligent party for their actions or, in some cases, their inaction.

When determining a reward for damages, the court will take several factors into consideration, including but not limited to:

• Whether the property owner’s negligence was a factor or the direct cause of the accident
• What type of damages were suffered (i.e., physical injuries, damage to property, etc.)
• What your percentage of fault was in the accident

Can Someone Who Trespasses On A Property Collect Damages?

In most cases, no. In cases of trespassing, New York law states that a property owner may not be held liable for injuries suffered by the person who went onto their property without permission. However, there are exceptions to the rule, and the court may hold a property owner accountable in cases where they knew the person who trespassed and in cases involving children who trespass.

Retain An Oneonta Slip-And-Fall Attorney Today

For a complimentary case consultation regarding your slip-and-fall accident and the injuries that you have sustained, please contact our office today at 607-441-4137.