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“Premises Liability
Kreindler & Kreindler is dedicated to protecting those injured by negligent property owners.
Premises liability accidents can often be prevented, especially in crumbling, older building facade collapses. City records frequently indicate that a building owner has been cited for “failure to maintain exterior building facade” prior to or after a serious incident. Older fire escapes – ubiquitous throughout larger cities with older buildings – are often neglected and failing due to obvious corrosion. Bricks, crown molding, and molded ornaments need to be inspected and maintained to prevent adhesive deterioration and failure resulting in their fall off a building onto pedestrians below.
Kreindler attorney Andrew “Duke” Maloney currently represents the surviving family of a Long Island man who was killed by a stair tread that broke off a fire escape in 2018. The bolts supporting the stair were corroded and it fell seven stories and hit him in the head while he was walking on a Manhattan sidewalk. The rusting fire escape had been painted over by the building owner and its contractors as a cost-saving measure in order to hide the rusting metal and decay. They previously submitted a report to the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) claiming that the fire escape was safe for the next 5 years, when it failed less than three years later while one their contractors was walking on the fire escape with no protective scaffolding below. The city correctly issued a violation to the owner, but with only a paltry fine. “