Actual notice requires that a property owner be aware of a dangerous condition on their property. Constructive notice is when a property owner should have known about the hazardous condition even though they were unaware.
Landlords play a big part in premises liability cases in New York. This includes inspecting properties for dangerous situations or conditions and taking steps to ensure people’s safety. Hence, if you have any questions about how to protect yourself and your building, you can contact one of the New York City premises liability attorneys for answers and guidance.
If someone is injured due to an unsafe condition on another person’s property, they may be able to recover damages by filing a premises liability claim against that person. They must first show an unsafe situation to prove that actual notice existed.
Actual notice
In New York, actual notice can be obtained in two ways. First, if you were injured while on someone else’s property and there were multiple people present at the time of your injury, those witnesses may be able to testify whether you saw such a condition. Second, if no witness remembers your reaction when you saw the dangerous condition (for example, if you slipped and fell on ice), then the court may assume that you had actual notice because most people would have reacted in some way if they had seen such a condition.
A person who has actual notice does not need to prove that they were negligent for their case to proceed; however, if they were negligent and contributed to their injuries, they will probably only be entitled to damages up to $250k per person.
Constructive notice
In New York, a person injured on someone’s property has a right to recover damages. This includes not just the owner of the property itself but anyone who has control over it. However, there are some situations where you might not be able to recover damages if you were injured on someone else’s property. One of these is called “constructive notice.”
Constructive notice means that even though you were unaware of the dangerous condition that caused your injury, the owner or occupier knew about it and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it from happening. The law requires them to keep their premises safe for people who visit them.
For example, imagine someone was injured on your property because of a broken step in front of your building. You did not know there was a dangerous condition on your property, but you should have known because there were yellow markings on all other steps in front of the building. Therefore, constructive notice can be shown by showing that the plaintiff did not see any yellow markings on their way to getting injured and therefore did not realize there was anything wrong with this step.
In summary, it will be essential to know that if you are considering entering someone’s property, you must take reasonable steps to ensure it is reasonably safe. If you are invited onto someone’s property, make sure that the person inviting you is in a position to notify the property owner of any dangerous conditions.
