Slip and Fall Lawyer in Auburndale, NY

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Peck Park and the Kissena Corridor

South of Northern Boulevard, Peck Park runs through the neighborhood as part of the Kissena Corridor park system. Paved paths, stairs, playground areas and park buildings are maintained by the City's Parks Department. Falls on cracked or heaved paths, broken steps, unlit walkways and ice that was not treated are claims against the City of New York.

Those claims start with a written notice of claim served within 90 days of the fall under General Municipal Law §50-e, and the lawsuit must follow within one year and 90 days. For many defects, the City is liable only if it had prior written notice of the specific condition or created it. Natural features of a park, like roots on an unpaved path, are treated differently from a broken paved walkway. Photograph the exact spot and note the nearest landmark — a lamppost number, a bench or a building — so it can be found again.

The Auburndale LIRR Station

The Port Washington Branch stops at Auburndale, and the station is maintained by the Long Island Rail Road, part of the MTA. A fall on its stairs, ramps or platforms requires a notice of claim within 90 days, and the deadline to sue is shorter than the usual three years. Report the fall, take photographs, and keep your ticket.

Northern Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard

The neighborhood's commercial strips are on these two streets: restaurants, groceries, banks and service businesses, many with parking lots. Inside a store, you generally must show the owner created the hazard, knew about it, or should have discovered it in time to fix it. In parking lots, potholes, broken wheel stops, poor lighting and ice that was plowed into piles and refroze across the walkway are common causes. The owner of a commercial building is responsible for the sidewalk in front of it under Administrative Code §7-210.

Restaurants and Take-Out Counters

Northern Boulevard is lined with restaurants, bakeries and take-out spots, and their floors cause a particular kind of fall: water and ice near drink stations, grease tracked out from a kitchen, a freshly mopped floor with no warning sign, a single step down to a dining room that is hard to see. The restaurant must keep the areas customers use reasonably safe, and it is usually the restaurant's own records — cleaning schedules, incident logs and camera footage — that show how long a hazard was there. Ask the manager to write up the fall before you leave, and photograph the floor and your shoes.

Residential Streets

On blocks of owner-occupied one-, two- and three-family homes, the City rather than the homeowner is usually responsible for sidewalk defects, with the same 90-day notice requirement. If you fell on the steps or walkway of a house you were visiting, the homeowner is responsible for that part of the property, and homeowner's insurance usually covers the claim.

Schools and Ball Fields

Francis Lewis High School, a large public high school, sits on Utopia Parkway near the neighborhood's western edge, and the fields and courts in Peck Park host youth leagues on weekends. A fall at a public school — a student or a parent on a wet hallway floor, a broken step, an icy entrance — is a claim involving the City and its Department of Education, with the same 90-day notice of claim. Falls during organized sports raise a separate question: participants are considered to accept the ordinary risks of the game, but not risks created by a broken field, a hole, or a defective surface that should have been repaired.

If You Were Partly at Fault

Your own share of responsibility reduces your recovery under CPLR §1411, but does not bar it. The 2026 motor-vehicle rule does not apply to falls like these.

What to Do

NewYork-Presbyterian Queens in Flushing is the closest hospital. Get evaluated promptly, especially after a head injury. Then photograph the hazard, write down what happened, get witnesses' names, and ask any business involved to preserve its camera footage. Auburndale is in the NYPD's 111th Precinct.

Deadlines and the Court

• City of New York, including parks: notice of claim within 90 days; suit within one year and 90 days.
• LIRR / MTA: notice of claim within 90 days.
• Private owners and businesses: generally three years under CPLR §214.

Cases are filed at Queens County Supreme Court, Civil Term in Jamaica.

Talk to Us

Our office is about two and a half miles south on Union Turnpike. There is no charge to talk, and no fee without a recovery. See our slips, trips and falls practice, or meet the attorneys and staff on our team page.

Davidov & Cohen Law, PLLC
185-22 Union Tpke, Suite 203
Fresh Meadows, NY 11366
(718) 328-8001

Nearby: car accidents in Auburndale, construction accidents in Auburndale and slip and fall injuries in Oakland Gardens.

Common questions

I tripped on a broken path in a city park. How long do I have?

The notice of claim to the City is due within 90 days, and the lawsuit within one year and 90 days. Both are firm, so it is best to start right away.

I slipped on ice in a restaurant's parking lot on Northern Boulevard. Who is responsible?

Usually whoever owns or controls the lot — the restaurant, the building's owner, or both, depending on the lease. Whether they had a reasonable time to clear the ice after the storm ended is often the key question.

Can I talk to someone in Spanish?

Yes. Hablamos Español. Call (718) 328-8001.

This page is general information about New York law for people in Auburndale, Queens. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case depends on its own facts. Attorney Advertising.