When premises belongs to a city, the city should always maintain it. Whether that means maintaining a boardwalk or roadway, it’s in the city’s best interests to do so. If someone gets hurt due to a hazard that has been reported but not repaired, the city can be held responsible for those injuries.
The city, in this case, has recently settled an unsafe ramp case for $600,000, according to news out of Brooklyn. The original story states that a woman was walking up a ramp on Surf Avenue to get to Coney Island beach in 2013 when she had to step to the side to avoid a bicyclist.
The ramp was missing a slat, which caused her to lose her balance. She fell, suffering serious injuries. The woman, an elderly retired home attendant, stated that her foot went into the hole where the slat should have been, which caused the accident.
The city had allegedly been told about the missing plank in the past, but it failed to correct the problem. It denied this, saying that any field inspection reports it received weren’t specific enough to locate the defect. Despite this, the jury in the case determined that the ramp was not safe and that the city was negligent by failing to repair the reported damage. The jury found that the city was at fault for the accident. The case was resolved before closing arguments with a settlement of $600,000 awarded to the injured woman.
Most cases do resolve through settlements and many without needing to head to trial. Your attorney can help if you believe you have a premises liability case.
Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “SKETCHES OF COURT: City settles unsafe beach ramp case for $600K,” Alba Acevedo, March 22, 2017
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