$650,000 Settlement for Burn Injuries and Partial Amputation Caused by Dangerous City Property

A plaintiff filed suit against the City of New York after a dangerous condition on city-controlled property caused serious burn injuries and a partial amputation. The injuries were severe and lasting, arising from what the complaint described as a foreseeable hazard that the City had failed to identify and correct.

In New York, municipalities have a duty to maintain public property in a reasonably safe condition. The plaintiff alleged that the City knew, or should have known, about the defect and allowed it to remain without remediation. That failure, the complaint argued, amounted to negligent maintenance of city-controlled property and constituted government negligence.

Attorneys Jordan Nazarzadeh and Mark Walsh of Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. filed the case under a premises liability theory on behalf of Williams. Pursuing a claim against a municipal defendant in New York required satisfying the procedural requirements of the General Municipal Law, including filing a timely notice of claim before commencing suit. The firm also had to establish that the City had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition and that the hazard had remained in place long enough for a responsible party to have discovered and remediated it.

The Rosenbaum attorneys assembled evidence addressing both liability and the full scope of damages. On liability, the focus was the City's knowledge of the hazard and its failure to act. On damages, the record was stark: Williams had sustained burn injuries requiring medical treatment, and the damage to one extremity was extensive enough to necessitate partial amputation. Injuries of that magnitude carry lasting consequences, including ongoing medical care, diminished earning capacity, and permanent changes to daily function and quality of life.

The case settled for $650,000 in 2021. TopVerdict ranked it among New York's top 100 personal injury settlements for that year, placing it 64th (tied), and also listed it among the top 50 premises liability settlements in the United States, ranked 45th (tied).