In Long Island, Edward Matos is lucky to be alive after a cesspool opened up below his feet and dropped him into chest-deep sludge. ABC 7 reports that if it wasn't for his older children, who pulled him out as quickly as possible, Matos could have succumbed to the methane gas.
If this had been another scenerio, such as if it had been a neighbor who fell in, would they be able to file a personal injury claim against the Matos family?
A New York personal injury lawyer could label the incident as a slip and fall accident. In these premises liability claims, the personal injury lawyer must prove that the cause of the accident was a dangerous condition. In this case, it would be easy to prove that the cesspool was dangerous because that amount of methane gas could kill a person.
Other incidents that could be found as dangerous would be a walkway with ice, wet leaves, or children's toys strewn like landmines.
Next the personal injury lawyer has to prove that the owner of the property was negligent and knew about the dangerous condition by either creating the condition or failing to correct it. Also, even if he did not know of the condition, if it existed for a long period of time, then the owner could still be held liable for not discovering it.
This is a very fuzzy area, because the appropriate length of time is opinion based.
In this example, it would depend on how it would take for a cesspool to develop. However, if it is underground, the only way to discover it would be to fall into it. And since it is a hole opening up in the earth, I would think that a personal injury lawyer would have just as hard a time prosecuting this case as he would a case about a man tripped on someone's yard during an earthquake.
If you have any questions about negligence, dangerous conditions, or who would be responsible in your personal injury case, you can contact a New York personal injury lawyer. An attorney can help you understand your rights and let you know where you stand. Hopefully it's on solid ground.
ShareThis
