$750,000 Trip and Fall Settlement in Brooklyn

The concrete slab had risen high enough to catch anyone's foot — and it caught hers. Walking through a Brooklyn playground to reach her parked car, a raised section of pavement sent her to the ground with injuries that required surgery.

Trip and Fall on Raised Concrete in Brooklyn

Our client was walking through a playground near Prospect Place in Brooklyn, using the paved pathway as a shortcut to reach her parked vehicle. A section of the concrete walkway had heaved upward, creating a raised edge that protruded several inches above the adjacent slab. Her foot caught the raised edge, and she fell forward onto the concrete surface, unable to break her fall.

The impact caused lumbar disc herniations and a tailbone fracture. The tailbone fracture was particularly debilitating — it made sitting painful for months and required a specialized cushion for any seated activity. The lumbar injuries produced chronic lower back pain and radiating leg symptoms that persisted through conservative treatment and ultimately required epidural injections.

City Notice of the Defective Walkway in Brooklyn

Claims against New York City for sidewalk and walkway defects require proof that the city had prior written notice of the condition. Our attorneys filed a Freedom of Information request and obtained Department of Transportation inspection records showing that the raised concrete slab had been documented in a prior inspection but classified as low priority. No repair had been scheduled or completed.

We also obtained 311 complaint records showing that residents had reported the uneven pavement in the playground multiple times in the year before our client's fall. Each complaint was logged, acknowledged, and closed without repair. The city's own records proved it knew the hazard existed and chose not to fix it.

"The city documented this raised concrete. Residents called 311 about it. The DOT inspected it. And nobody fixed it. When a known hazard injures someone, the city can't claim it didn't know." — Andrew Levine, Founding Partner

$750,000 Recovery for a Brooklyn Trip and Fall

This $750,000 settlement covers lumbar treatment including epidural injections, tailbone fracture recovery, months of restricted activity, lost wages, and the chronic pain our client continues to manage. It holds the City of New York accountable for ignoring a documented hazard that residents had repeatedly reported.

If you tripped on a raised sidewalk, broken pavement, or uneven surface in Brooklyn, our sidewalk accident lawyers have the experience to prove the city had notice and are ready to review your claim.