Direct answer
You must prove four elements: the defendant owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, the breach was a proximate cause of your injury, and you suffered actual damages. Each element requires evidence: medical records, photos, witness testimony, expert opinion, and documentation of economic and non-economic losses.
In more detail
New York negligence follows the standard four-element framework that gets reduced to one phrase at trial: duty, breach, causation, damages. Each element is its own evidence project.
Duty depends on the relationship and the situation. Drivers owe other road users reasonable care. Property owners owe lawful visitors a duty to maintain reasonably safe premises. Doctors owe patients the standard of care of similar practitioners in similar circumstances. Employers and contractors owe workers statutory duties under NY Labor Law § 200 (general workplace safety), § 240 (the Scaffold Law for elevation hazards), and § 241(6) (Industrial Code violations).
Breach means the defendant fell below the applicable standard of care. Speeding, running a red, ignoring a known hazard, failing to clear ice within a reasonable time, violating a building or fire code, or using a ladder without proper securing on a construction site can each constitute breach. The standard is not perfection; it is what a reasonable person or reasonable business would do under the same circumstances.
Proximate cause requires showing the breach was a substantial factor in producing the injury. New York uses the "substantial factor" test, not the older "but for" test, in most negligence cases. Intervening or superseding causes can break the chain. A defendant who runs a stop sign and hits you can argue that an unrelated medical event days later, not the crash, caused your final condition. This is where the medical timeline matters.
Damages are the harm: medical bills, future medical care, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, pain and suffering, scarring, permanent restrictions, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Evidence is the engine that drives all four. Contemporaneous medical records dated to the incident. Police accident reports. Ambulance call reports (the PCR). Photographs and surveillance video pulled before it overwrites. Expert opinion from biomechanical engineers, treating physicians, life-care planners, and economists. Witness testimony lined up early.
Two procedural rules sit underneath all of this. Under NY CPLR § 1411, New York is a pure comparative negligence state, so even partial fault by the plaintiff does not bar recovery; it only reduces it. Under NY CPLR § 1412, the defendant must plead and prove comparative fault as an affirmative defense. The framework is laid out in NY Pattern Jury Instructions 2:10 (the basic charge on negligence), which is what the judge actually reads to the jury at the end of trial.
What I see in NYC cases
In car accident cases, the breach is usually obvious: someone ran a light, rear-ended you, opened a door into traffic. The fight is on damages and on whether you crossed the no-fault threshold. In premises and slip-and-fall cases, breach and notice are the whole battle. In construction cases, the four-element framework is partially shortcut by NY Labor Law § 240, where comparative negligence is generally not even a defense.
I won a $900,000 settlement on a Queens construction case where the breach was a metal fence that was not properly secured at a sidewalk work site. The fence fell on my client. Sidewalk-cam video and three responsible defendants made the negligence case straightforward; the litigation work was on damages and the apportionment fight between the defendants.
Related questions
- What if my accident was partially my fault in New York?
- What is New York Labor Law 240?
- How are pain and suffering damages calculated in New York?
Talk to Nick
Call or text (718) 261-0546. Spanish line: (718) 261-0546. Bring whatever you have. Reach me through the contact form and we will walk through the four elements together.
Compliance
This page is general legal information about New York negligence law and is not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading this page. Each case is decided on its specific facts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.