How to Sue a Restaurant for Negligence or Injury in New York

Restaurants and bars in New York owe a duty of care to their patrons. It requires them to take all reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable injury to them from accidents on their premises. This duty of care applies to maintenance of the premises of a restaurant or bar, proper handling and preparation of food and beverages, and providing security on the premises.

Among the injuries that are foreseeable and that a bar or restaurant should guard against are the following:

• Burns
• Cuts and other injuries that may Be Inflicted by equipment, e.g., knives and glassware
• Slip and fall accidents
• Trip and fall accidents
• Food poisoning.

A consultation with a restaurant injury lawyer would help a person determine if they should sue for an injury they sustained in a restaurant.

If a restaurant or bar breaches its duty of care and allows a hazardous condition to exist that results in injury to a patron, the patron can sue the establishment for negligence under the personal injury laws in New York.

In addition, all bars, restaurants and other vendors of alcohol are legally responsible for obeying what is known as “dram shop” laws. Dram shop laws impose a legal responsibility not to serve alcohol to any individual who is not legally allowed to be served. This includes anyone under the age of 21 and people who are already visibly intoxicated. A local New York lawyer would be able to provide more information about dram shop laws in that state.

If a bar or restaurant sells alcohol to a customer who is visibly intoxicated or under the age of 21, the establishment may be legally liable if the sale leads to injury and/or damage to a third-party.

So, for example, a third-party who is harmed in an accident caused by a drunk individual or an individual who is under 21 to whom a bar or restaurant sold alcohol prior to the accident may sue the bar or restaurant. The third-party would be able to pin liability for their damages on the restaurant or bar. A lawyer consultation would help an individual or a restaurant or bar understand dram shop liability laws.

What Are Some Common Injuries Suffered in a Restaurant?

Some of the most common injuries are noted above. Slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall accidents are quite common. This is because wet floors are a constant occurrence. A server may spill something and forget to alert the right person that they need to clean it up and dry the floor.

Meanwhile, a patron may slip on the spill and fall. Other falls may be caused by a patron tripping on uneven surfaces that are poorly lit. If an establishment fails to address these problems, it can be liable for any injury that a patron may suffer.

A question arises as to whether restaurants and bars are responsible for choking incidents. Generally, an establishment would be expected to respond in some way to a patron who is choking. For example, they should call 911 as soon as they learn that a patron is choking.

However, courts do not place a duty on the establishment to respond by providing first aid or taking other steps to intervene and stop the choking. An exception might be if a patron chokes on a foreign object that is in their food or beverages because of negligence in the preparation or service of these items. In this case, a restaurant or bar may be liable to pay damages to a choking victim for their negligence.

What Duties Does a Restaurant Owner Have?

As noted above, a restaurant owner owes a duty of care to its patrons to maintain a clean and safe environment in their establishment. They must work to avoid creating conditions that pose a threat to the health and safety of their patrons. If they breach this duty, for example, by failing to clean up spills in areas in which patrons walk around, they can be liable to pay damages to any patron who is harmed in a slip-and-fall accident.

What Compensation Can I Collect in My Restaurant Personal Injury Case?

An individual who is successful in establishing the liability of a restaurant for negligence can expect to collect compensation for their economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses are such items as the cost of all necessary medical treatment, rehabilitation, and lost earnings if the victim cannot work because of their injuries or because they must miss work to obtain medical care.

In addition, if a victim can expect to incur losses in the future for continuing medical care, rehabilitation, lost wages, or a permanent loss of earning capacity, they can recover damages to compensate them for these losses. An individual loses earning capacity when they suffer permanent injury that prevents them from earning as much from employment as they did before they were injured. This is a compensable loss in a personal injury lawsuit.

Personal injury settlements should compensate a victim for these same losses that can be recovered in a jury award at the conclusion of a trial.

A victim can also recover compensation for non-economic damages. These would include the pain and suffering that a victim endures because of their physical injuries. But it might also include an amount for emotional distress that is not related to the physical harm they suffered but rather is a response to the trauma they may have suffered.

Are There Limits on Liability for Restaurant Injuries?

A restaurant may claim a number of possible defenses. They may argue that the patron was comparatively negligent, which means partly at fault for causing their injuries. New York applies the doctrine of pure comparative negligence in personal injury cases. This means that a victim’s compensation is reduced by a percentage amount that represents their own degree of fault.

So if a victim is found to be 30% at fault, their award of damages would be reduced by 30%. A finding of contributory fault on the part of the victim would be based on evidence presented at trial, such as the testimony of witnesses, surveillance footage, and accident reports.

It is important to remember that there is a statute of limitations, which is a time limit for filing lawsuits for negligence in New York state. The statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits based on injuries suffered in an accident in a bar or restaurant is 3 years.

The 3-year period begins to run on the date the victim suffers injury. This is true in every case, regardless of the type of injury the victim sustains. So, if a victim files their lawsuit within 3 years of the date of their injury, their lawsuit is allowed. However, if they file it after the 3-year period has expired, a victim may be foreclosed from recovering any damages at all.

Do I Need a Lawyer To Represent Me in a Restaurant Injury Lawsuit?

If you have been harmed by an incident in a restaurant or bar, you want to talk to a New York personal injury attorney. LegalMatch.com can put you in touch with a lawyer who can review the facts of your situation closely. They can tell you whether you have grounds to file a lawsuit for negligence against the establishment in which you were injured.