Can You Sue a Bar or Restaurant for an Injury in New York?

A night out to a bar or dinner at a restaurant is meant to be a fun time with friends or loved ones, but patrons sometimes suffer injuries. If you were injured in a bar or restaurant, you can sue the establishment for damages.

There may be a few different ways you can sue a bar or restaurant, depending on what kind of injuries you experienced. Injuries related to hazards or unsafe conditions in the restaurant or bar may be compensated through a premises liability lawsuit. If you were overserved alcohol, you might be able to sue for injuries related to your intoxication. You can even sue for injuries related to food poisoning or being served tainted food. Depending on the circumstances, your damages may include medical bills, pain and suffering, and other expenses.

Restaurants and bars must make sure their customers are safe while being served. If you were injured while dining out or having a drink, our New York personal injury lawyers can help you. For a free case review, call The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083.

Premises Liability Lawsuits Against Bars or Restaurants in New York

People are sometimes injured in restaurants or bars because the conditions of the establishment are dangerous or unsafe. Under New York premises liability laws, property owners – including businesses – owe a duty of care to guests, customers, or visitors to keep the property safe. Property owners have a duty to remove or repair any known hazards and make reasonable inspections for possible unknown hazards.

One common example of a premises liability case in bars or restaurants is a slip and fall accident. People often think slip and fall cases come from icy sidewalks that are not shoveled, but they can happen anywhere. In a bar or restaurant where spilled drinks are not only common but practically expected, customers might slip and fall if a spill is not cleaned up.

Other premises liability cases might involve damaged or uneven floors, chairs that collapse under patrons, or infrastructure damage, like crumbling ceilings or broken windows. If you were injured inside a bar or restaurant because the property and business owners did not keep the premises safe, our New York premises liability attorneys can help you get compensation for your injuries.

Suing a Bar or Restaurant in New York for Overserving Drinks

Being overserved alcohol at a bar or restaurant is a tricky legal subject. On the one hand, it can be difficult to hold someone else liable for your injuries when you voluntarily consume too much alcohol. On the other hand, establishments that serve alcohol are legally required to refrain from serving visibly intoxicated patrons.

Under GOB Law § 11-101(1), people injured by an intoxicated individual have a right of action against the person or business who unlawfully served alcohol to the intoxicated individual. Under ABC Law § 65(1)-(3), it is unlawful for a bar or restaurant to serve anyone under the age of 21, visibly intoxicated, or known to be a “habitual drunkard.”

If a drunk driver injured you and you found out they were unlawfully served alcohol at a bar, you can sue that bar for your damages. The key is proving the alcohol was served illegally. If the drunk driver was under 21, any sale of alcohol to them is illegal. However, if they were older than 21, you must prove they were visibly intoxicated when they were served, and the bar or restaurant should have known not to serve them.

Proving this kind of lawsuit can be tricky, especially if you were not present at the bar or restaurant when the other person overserved alcohol. Our Queens personal injury attorneys can review security camera footage from the bar or restaurant and interview witnesses to help prove the other person was illegally overserved.

Can I Sue a Bar or Restaurant in New York for Serving Tainted or Spoiled Food?

When out at a bar or restaurant, customers expect that any food or drinks are safe for human consumption. The bar or restaurant must ensure that any food or drinks served to customers are safe and not spoiled or contaminated. If a customer becomes ill after eating or drinking, they can sue the bar or restaurant for their damages.

Suing for food poisoning might seem like an overreaction, but many people are so ill that they have to be hospitalized and miss work. Hospital stays tend to come with high medical bills, and many people have a hard time paying these bills if they have no health insurance. On top of that, missing work due to food poisoning often means losing out on much-needed income.

One of the most challenging aspects of a lawsuit for food poisoning is proving that the food poisoning was caused by a bar or restaurant. We cannot examine the food in question after it has been eaten, and the restaurant might argue that something else made you sick.

Food poisoning may be caused by spoiled ingredients or undercooked food. Our Brooklyn personal injury attorneys may be able to sample other food from the restaurant and have it tested for common pathogens like salmonella, coli, rotavirus, and others. We may also interview current and former staff members who can testify about unsafe or unsanitary conditions in the kitchen.

Damages in Lawsuits Against Bars or Restaurants in New York

If you are injured in a bar or restaurant, injured by a drunk patron, or suffered food poisoning, you can claim medical bills as part of your damages. These damages depend on how serious your injuries are and how expensive your medical bills are. You should keep thorough records of any hospital visits and treatments so we can calculate damages.

In many of these cases, plaintiffs report missing work to recover from their injuries. For example, if a drunk patron hits you with their car, you might spend several weeks or months in the hospital. That time missed from work means lost income, which you can claim as part of your total damages.

Our Long Island personal injury attorneys can review your case with you and help you calculate your total damages. It is important to speak to a Queens premises liability lawyer soon as there may be damages you can claim you do not yet realize.

Call Our New York Personal Injury Lawyers for Assistance

If you were injured because of a bar or restaurant’s negligence, our Bronx personal injury attorneys can help you get compensation. For a free case review, call the Flatbush car accident lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083.