$725,000 Parking Lot Pothole Accident Settlement in Brooklyn

The pothole in the Key Food parking lot was deep enough to swallow a motorcycle tire — and violent enough to throw the rider over the handlebars. The property owner knew the pavement was deteriorating. They just never fixed it.

Motorcycle Crash in a Brooklyn Parking Lot

Our client was riding his motorcycle through the parking lot of a Key Food supermarket at 224 McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn when his front tire dropped into a pothole. The sudden impact launched him over the handlebars and onto the pavement. He landed with his left leg taking the full force of the fall, sustaining multiple fractures that required emergency surgery and an extended hospitalization.

The left leg sustained a comminuted tibia fracture and a fibula fracture — both bones in the lower leg broken from a single impact. The fractures required open reduction and internal fixation with an intramedullary rod and screws. Our client spent weeks in the hospital and months in non-weight-bearing recovery before beginning the long process of physical therapy to restore walking ability.

Property Owner Notice of the Dangerous Parking Lot

Parking lot owners have a duty to maintain their surfaces in reasonably safe condition. Potholes are not surprise events — they develop over time through weather, traffic wear, and neglected maintenance. Our attorneys retained a civil engineer who inspected the pothole and determined based on its depth, diameter, and erosion pattern that it had been developing for months before our client's accident.

We also obtained maintenance records from the property management company, which showed that no parking lot resurfacing or patching had been performed in the two years preceding the accident. Additionally, our investigation uncovered evidence that shopping cart attendants and delivery drivers had informally marked the pothole area with cones on some days — proving that the hazard was known to employees working the lot daily.

"Employees were putting cones around this pothole on some days — they knew it was there, they knew it was dangerous, and the property owner still didn't fix it. When a hazard is so well-known that workers are improvising warnings, the failure to repair is inexcusable." — Andrew Levine, Founding Partner

$725,000 Mediation Recovery for a Brooklyn Parking Lot Accident

This $725,000 mediation result covers emergency surgery, intramedullary rod placement, extended hospitalization, months of non-weight-bearing recovery, physical therapy, lost wages, and the permanent leg limitations our client now manages. It holds the property owner accountable for years of deferred parking lot maintenance.

If you were injured in a parking lot, sidewalk, or commercial property due to a pothole, broken pavement, or other dangerous condition, our premises liability attorneys have experience proving property owner negligence and are ready to review your case.