Too often we see fires consume apartments throughout our city, many times there are injuries and too often these apartment fires cause fatalities. Apartment building fires pose a tremendous risk not only to the residents of the buildings but also to the firefighters and other emergency workers who respond to them. At the Law Office of Richard Kenny, our attorneys and staff have decades and countless cases of experience handling personal injury claims from fires for both NYC residents and firefighters!
Many people in the insurance industry claim that fires which are accidental are no one’s fault. However, from a legal standpoint, that is usually not correct, in most cases of apartment fires you are entitled to compensation for your injuries. Although occasionally fires do occur from random and unavoidable circumstances, the vast majority of apartment fires occur as a result of carelessness or negligence. Common examples of negligent acts that cause apartment fires include electrical fires where the landlord allowed a super, who is not a licensed electrician to do electrical work or hired an electrician to perform work that overloads an electrical panel. Another common cause of apartment fires is the failure of landlords or supers to turn off the gas lines to the building when doing work with flammable chemicals in close proximity of a plot light. Also, when there are flammable vapors, paint fumes or stain cans left around in an area with poor ventilation, a heat source, exposed electrical lines or even a cigarette but can create dangerous fires.
Even in situations when tenants and not negligently create hazardous conditions that ultimately cause a fire, the landlord of a building may still be liable when negligently maintained property makes the fire more dangerous. An example of negligently maintained property is if the building doesn’t have adequate number of properly working fire detectors or if there aren’t proper ways to escape a burning building like fire escapes.
In addition to tenants having legal recourse for damages sustained in apartment fires, New York’s general municipal law allows firefighters who are injured in a fire to sue for damages if the fire occurred as a result of a violation of a building Code.
Any personal injury attorney can take on an apartment fire case but none will do so with the same care and diligence that the attorneys at the Law Office of Richard Kenny will show. We will do whatever it takes to get the justice that you deserve and are entitled to for your injuries. From consulting with expert witnesses, getting all the information from the Fire Marshall’s report, to getting every possible picture from the scene, we will do everything it takes to get you the compensation that you deserve. In the unfortunate event that you or a loved one sustains injuries in an apartment fire, call our office today to receive a free consultation at 212-421-0300!
