Hurt Near a New York Construction Site?

New York Construction Injury Attorney Ron Landau

Video Transcript:

Ron Landau:

The owner of the building or a general contractor will be the legally responsible parties.

Rob Rosenthal:

Let's say you're walking down the street in New York City and you're injured because of something that happened at a construction site. Could you have a personal injury case? How do you get help? We're gonna find out right now the answer to those questions and more, because that's what we're going to Ask the Lawyer. Hi again, everybody. I'm Rob Rosenthal with AsktheLawyerscom. My guest this time is New York City attorney, Ron Landau. Right off the top, I wanna remind you if you'd like to ask Ron questions about your situation, it's super easy: go to AskTheLawyers.com, click the button on the top of the page that says, Ask a Lawyer, or you can call the phone number on the screen. Ron, Good to see you as always, thank you for taking some time to answer our questions.

Ron Landau:

Thank you for having me, Rob. Good to see you. So

Rob Rosenthal:

It would seem to me, this is an obvious question, there's lots of pedestrians in New York City, there's lots of construction in New York City, is this something that happens where pedestrians are injured at construction sites?

Ron Landau:

I can't imagine that a day goes by where we do not get a phone call, "I was walking past the construction site, I was caused to fall on construction debris, I was caused to fall over a mislevel sidewalk, I was caused to fall due to a portion of the scaffolding extending onto the sidewalk" daily, this is a daily phenomenon here in New York City, and pedestrians have to obviously be aware of their surroundings, but it is incumbent upon the general contractor, the owner of the building, the owner of the construction project to make sure those sidewalks are free and clear from debris and or defects for the safety of the pedestrians. That is the law here in the city of New York.

Rob Rosenthal:

It would seem to be run at any time on a construction site, there's lots of different workers from lots of different companies... Does that make it difficult to figure out who's responsible ultimately?

Ron Landau:

Absolutely not. 

Rob Rosenthal:

Oh.

Ron Landau:

It is the easiest problem in the world to solve. Here in New York City, the owner of a property is responsible for the sidewalk in front of his building. If he's having work done by a general contractor, then generally speaking, there are signs indicating who the general contractor is, and we would make claims against both the owner and general contractor. Now, obviously, frequently there are other sub-contractors who are also using that same sidewalk, that is not the responsibility of the pedestrian to know who the subcontractors are. In New York, we have a law that says an administrative code, the owner of the building or a general contractor will be the legally responsible parties, whether or not those parties might get indemnified by a subcontractor or covered under it in a different insurance policy. Certainly a possibility, but that is not the pedestrian's concern.

Rob Rosenthal:

What if the pedestrian accidentally walks into a construction site where they're not supposed to go, say fencing is not put up properly or has been taken down, or the signs are not... They didn't see signs or whatever... Does that change things?

Ron Landau:

The statutes here in New York are crystal clear. If you were walking someplace that's available for you to walk and there is no fencing and you are walking in that area, you have a legitimate reason to be there, and if you are injured while at that construction site that is unfenced, you're cutting through a corner or something along those lines, and it's not fenced and it's not boarded up, that entity that owns that project will be found legally responsible for the injuries that you suffer. There is a responsibility on the project manager, the safety manager, to make sure that pedestrians cannot just wander into their construction sites.

Rob Rosenthal:

It seems to be some people might see this Ron and hear what you're saying and say, Well, then it's pretty clear. The owner of the building is at fault, I should just contact them on my own, settle the case on my own, or what's the benefit of having someone like yourself help them in these situations?

Ron Landau:

You could certainly do that and you would get what they proverbally call ice in the winter, that's what you would get if you as a lay person, made a phone call to a construction manager and said, Hey, I fell, I broke my leg, they would... There's a substantial likelihood they'll make you an offer, it would be about five cents on the dollar. There's no threat to a construction manager or an owner of a building of a lay person who writes a letter or sends a note to the construction manager: I was hurt. I'd like to settle. What we have going for us over here at Mirman, Markovits and Landau is 40 years of these insurance companies knowing who we are, knowing that we will go to the mat, we will go to the end. We will fight to the death to get our clients the benefits that they deserve, and we will not tolerate any short sale or anything along those lines when it comes to our clients and compensating them for their injuries.

Rob Rosenthal:

It seems like every case... There's urgency, time is of the essence, contact someone like yourself as early as possible in the process, is that the situation here as well?

Ron Landau:

Absolutely, absolutely. We've had circumstances where the delay of the claimant and contacting a lawyer has meant that they do not receive a recovery at all, a client who might wait as short as two or three weeks, may not have the ability to collect. Perhaps the building has been transferred, perhaps the building has been sold, perhaps the construction is over, things of that nature, but it is all... Or, assuming they do contact us and we're not able to take photos of what caused them to fall or things of that nature, jurors, when we try these cases, want to see demonstrative evidence, they wanna see pictures of what caused this person to fall, they wanna see what it looked like. And these things assist us in getting our clients the compensation that they deserve for the injuries that they've suffered.

Rob Rosenthal:

Great advice as always, lots of good information, Ron, thank you for making some time and helping us out.

Ron Landau:

Great, Rob, great seeing you, thank you.

Rob Rosenthal:

That's gonna take care of this episode of Ask the Lawyer, my guest has been New York City attorney Ron Landau. I remind you again, if you'd like to talk to Ron, ask questions of yourself. Well, you just gotta go to AskTheLawyers.com, click the button at the top of the screen that says Ask a Lawyer. And it'll walk you right through the very easy process right there. Thanks for watching. I'm Rob Rosenthal with Ask the Lawyers.

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