Staten Island Personal Injury Lawyer | Richmond County Trial-Ready Representation
If you were hurt on Staten Island, at home, at work, on the Staten Island Expressway, on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge approach, or in your station house if you're a city worker, your case can be filed in Richmond County Supreme Court at 18 Richmond Terrace. Richmond County is the most defense-friendly NYC venue, and insurance carriers price for it. We've worked there long enough to know what moves a Richmond County case anyway.
We settled a $1,500,000 case for a 20-year NYC Sanitation worker injured by a known-hazard floor at his Staten Island station house. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What's distinctive about a Staten Island case
Staten Island has the lowest crash volume of any NYC borough, 13 traffic fatalities in 2025, essentially flat from 12 in 2024, and the only borough that did not improve year over year (NYC DOT 2026-01). Construction injuries are also the lowest in the city, with 7 incidents reported by NYC Department of Buildings in 2024 (NYC DOB Construction Related Accident Reports). Population is about 491,000, the smallest borough by population, with the only non-Hispanic White majority in NYC (NYC Department of City Planning, May 2025).
Lower volume doesn't mean smaller cases. The $1.5M sanitation worker case described below was venued in Richmond County, against the City of New York, with three surgeries on a 20-year city employee. The case turned on documented notice of a hazardous floor and the right of NYC sanitation workers to sue the City as their employer rather than being limited to workers' compensation.
Richmond County Supreme Court
Richmond County Supreme Court sits at 18 Richmond Terrace, near the St. George Ferry Terminal. The courthouse runs a smaller calendar than Bronx or Brooklyn, but defense lawyers exploit the calendar anyway, the standard tactic in Richmond County is to drag a case out and bet that the plaintiff will accept a discount rather than wait another year for trial.
Nick's read on the venue: Richmond County juries are conservative. The borough's demographic and political makeup tends to favor defense outcomes more than Brooklyn or the Bronx. Insurance carriers know it and use it to push lower settlement offers. Despite that, we've had very good success in Richmond County. Knowing the venue, knowing the defense-side players, and being willing to try the case anyway are what move the number.
For the underlying venue rules under New York Civil Practice Law and Rules §503(a), when a case can be filed in Richmond County rather than another county, see our borough hub.
$1.5M NYC Sanitation worker, Richmond County
The client had worked for the New York City Sanitation Department for twenty years. The injury happened in April 2020, the first weeks of the COVID pandemic, inside his Staten Island station house, the break room where the sanitation crew has lunch.
The floor of that break room was damaged. Tiles were loose, coming up. This was a known problem. Discovery later produced several written reports saying "supposed to fix it, supposed to fix it." The city never fixed it. Employees worked around the bad tiles as best they could, but they still had to use the room. The client caught his foot on one of the loose tiles while walking back from lunch, slid off, and fell hard.
He was nervous about going to the emergency room, people were dying in April 2020 and no one knew what was safe, so his initial treatment was delayed and ran virtually for the first weeks. The eventual injury workup produced two shoulder surgeries and one back surgery. Three surgeries total.
The legal theory was straightforward. NYC sanitation workers, along with NYPD officers and FDNY firefighters, are among the few city employees who can sue the City of New York as their employer. They receive line-of-duty benefits rather than workers' compensation, and line-of-duty benefits do not bar a separate personal injury lawsuit. The premises fact was simple: the City had written knowledge of a dangerous condition in a workspace its employees were required to use, and it didn't fix it.
We moved for summary judgment on liability. The motion was granted. The case reached the trial calendar. Before trial, in mandatory in-court mediation with the assigned judge, the case settled. Defense's first offer was somewhere in the $300,000-$500,000 range, ridiculously low for three surgeries on a 20-year city employee with documented City notice. We pushed back through the corporation counsel's bureau chief and resolved the case at $1,500,000.
The client's goal was to net one million dollars after fees and costs. That's what he got.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Line-of-duty benefits vs. workers' compensation
This is the part most NYC employees don't know.
Most New York employees are limited to workers' compensation when they're hurt on the job. Workers' comp is a no-fault system: the employee gets benefits for medical care and lost wages regardless of who caused the injury, but the trade-off is that the employee usually cannot sue the employer.
NYC sanitation workers, NYPD officers, and FDNY firefighters are exceptions. They receive line-of-duty benefits rather than workers' compensation. Section 207-c of the New York General Municipal Law covers police officer line-of-duty pay. Section 207-a covers firefighter line-of-duty pay. NYC Administrative Code §12-127 covers benefits for municipal employees more broadly. Sanitation worker line-of-duty rights flow from the Administrative Code and from the long-running case-law reading of municipal employer liability.
The practical effect is that an injured NYC sanitation worker, firefighter, or police officer can recover both line-of-duty benefits AND a separate personal injury lawsuit against the City when the City's negligence, as a property owner, as a vehicle owner, or as a separate operating entity, caused the injury.
The case described above is the model. The Sanitation Department was the employer, but the City was also the property owner of the station house, and the City had documented written notice of a hazardous floor it never repaired. Both legs of the recovery applied: line-of-duty benefits paid the underlying medical and wage costs, and the personal injury case recovered separately for the surgical interventions, lifetime care projection, and lost earning capacity.
If you're a NYC sanitation worker, an NYPD officer, or an FDNY firefighter hurt on duty by something the City should have fixed and didn't, you have rights beyond workers' comp. See /practice-areas/slip-and-fall for the underlying premises liability framework and /practice-areas/wrongful-death for the related catastrophic-injury work.
How to reach us
We handle Staten Island cases out of our Forest Hills office in Queens. We appear in Richmond County Supreme Court when the case requires it, and we go to clients when they can't come to us. Free consultation. Contingency fee, no fee unless we win.
¿Habla español? Llame al (718) 261-0546 o complete nuestro formulario en español.
Phone: (718) 261-0546 Form: /contact
Staten Island FAQ
Can a Forest Hills attorney handle my Staten Island case?
Yes. New York attorneys are admitted to the entire state bar and can practice in Richmond County Supreme Court. What matters is whether the attorney has tried and settled cases in that court. Nick has Richmond County experience, including a $1,500,000 settlement for a 20-year NYC Sanitation worker injured in his Staten Island station house. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
I'm a NYC sanitation worker (or NYPD or FDNY) injured on duty. What are my rights beyond workers' compensation?
More than most New York employees. Sanitation workers, NYPD officers, and FDNY firefighters receive line-of-duty benefits rather than workers' compensation, and line-of-duty benefits do not bar a separate personal injury lawsuit against the City when the City's negligence caused the injury. We've settled a $1,500,000 case under this exact framework, an NYC sanitation worker injured by a known-hazardous floor at his station house, with the City having documented written notice and never fixing it. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Why do Staten Island cases sometimes settle for less than Brooklyn or Bronx cases?
Insurance carriers price settlement offers based on the venue where the case is filed. Richmond County juries run more defense-friendly than Brooklyn or Bronx juries, they tend to award lower damages on the same facts. Defense lawyers exploit that by dragging cases out, betting that the plaintiff will accept a discount rather than wait for trial. We don't take the discount when the case warrants more, which is what produced the $1.5M result described above. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
How long do I have to file a personal injury case in Richmond County?
Generally three years from the date of the injury for a standard tort claim under New York Civil Practice Law and Rules §214. If the case is against the City of New York (including NYC Sanitation, NYPD, FDNY, NYCHA, or another public entity), you have 90 days to file a Notice of Claim and a much shorter overall window. Cases against the MTA have specific deadlines too. Talk to a lawyer the same week, these are hard deadlines.
I was hit on the Staten Island Expressway. Where does my case go?
A Staten Island Expressway crash is a Richmond County case. Under CPLR §503(a) since 2017, you can file in the borough where the accident happened. We weigh venue case by case, sometimes a Richmond County filing is the right strategic call, sometimes the facts and venue rules support filing somewhere else.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The information on this page is general legal information and not legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules and the New York Rules of Professional Conduct govern this firm's practice.
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