Hero
Subway Slip and Fall Accidents (Platform, Mezzanine, Train)
If you slipped on a wet platform, a greasy mezzanine, or a moving train car, the MTA has 90 days to bury your claim in paperwork before you can sue. I have been litigating against the MTA for two decades, and the single most common reason these cases fail is that the rider waited too long to talk to a lawyer.
What's different about a subway fall case
A regular slip and fall against a private property owner gives you three years to sue. A subway fall gives you three months to file paperwork before the case is gone forever, even with catastrophic injuries.
Substantively, the case looks like other premises matters: you have to prove the MTA created the hazard or had actual or constructive notice of it long enough to fix it or warn about it. The MTA's defense is almost always the same: the spill was transient, no employee saw it, and the rider should have been looking. Surveillance footage from station cameras can be decisive, but it is overwritten on a 30-day cycle unless preserved by litigation hold or formal request.
The fact patterns that win consistently are the ones with a paper trail: ceiling leaks where prior 311 complaints exist, station-vendor spills where the vendor owed an independent duty, and tracked-in rain water where mats were inadequate or absent. Comparative fault is heavily contested; the MTA will argue you were running for a train, looking at your phone, or wearing inappropriate shoes.
This is procedurally hostile from day one. The 90-day notice and the mandatory § 50-h hearing exist to protect the public fisc, not to be gentle with injured riders.
Applicable law
New York General Municipal Law § 50-e requires a Notice of Claim against the MTA within 90 days of the accident. This is the most punishing procedural rule in New York personal injury law. Miss the deadline and your case is almost certainly dead. The notice must describe the time, place, manner of injury, and items of damage with enough specificity that the MTA can investigate.
Public Authorities Law § 1212 governs suits against the MTA and its subsidiaries. After serving the Notice of Claim, the MTA gets a statutory § 50-h hearing where you must testify under oath before any lawsuit can be filed. The hearing is recorded and used at trial.
CPLR § 214(5) sets the three-year personal injury statute of limitations, which runs concurrently with the 90-day notice requirement. The notice deadline is the binding constraint in MTA cases.
NY Insurance Law § 5102(d) is the serious injury threshold. It applies if any motor vehicle component was involved in the fall (for example, a fall on a moving train car arguably implicates the threshold; a fall on a stationary platform usually does not).
NYC Administrative Code § 7-210 imposes sidewalk liability on adjoining property owners for above-ground stations and station entrances, which can add a private defendant to an otherwise public case.
What to do right after
- Photograph the spill, leak, or hazard immediately, including its size, color, and location relative to fixed station features (a column, a sign, a stairwell).
- Note the station, platform direction (uptown or downtown), and exact time. Check for caution cones or absence of warning signs.
- Get the names and badge numbers of any MTA employees on scene. File an incident report with the station agent before leaving the station.
- Find witnesses and collect their contact information. Other riders are often willing to give a phone number on the spot but become unreachable later.
- Seek medical care the same day and preserve all clothing and shoes. Do not give a recorded statement to any MTA representative and call me before signing anything.
Typical defendants
- MTA New York City Transit. The operating subsidiary that runs the subway and is the primary defendant in most fall cases.
- Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The parent authority, often named alongside NYCT.
- MTA contractors performing cleaning or maintenance. Liable when a contractor's failure to clean or warn caused the hazard.
- Concessionaires operating retail in stations. Liable when a vendor's spill or operation created the hazard.
- City of New York. Liable for adjacent sidewalks and above-ground entries under separate sidewalk and premises rules.
Talk to me
Call my cell or send the form. I read every form myself. Hablamos español. Arabic spoken on request. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.