Concerts in New York City can be held anywhere from enormous stadiums like Madison Square Garden to small venues with standing room only, down to even the smallest of bars with a live musician. In some cases, concerts can get wild and rowdy, which may lead to injuries. In other cases, the venue itself may have poor lighting, slippery floors, or dangerous stairwells. If you or a loved one was injured at a concert, there may be options to take the concert venue to court and seek compensation for your injuries. For more information, read what our Queens premises liability lawyers at Sullivan and Galleshaw have to say about suing for concert injuries in NYC.
Potential Injuries at Concerts in New York City
A concert venue, whether it be a small bar or a large theater, is responsible for the dangers on its property. Concertgoers go to the venue as paying customers, and they make the venue owners and operators money by going there. When guests arrive, the venue owes them a duty to keep its premises safe and free from hidden dangers so that guests do not get hurt.
Poor lighting, poor upkeep, and other dangers can all contribute to the risks that patrons face at concerts. If stairwells, dancefloors, or bathrooms are poorly lit, it may be easy for a guest to trip over something or someone. Alternatively, balconies or staircases with loose handrails may collapse, and people may fall, sometimes from great heights. Lastly, concert venues that serve alcohol may suffer from sticky or slippery floors if food or drinks are spilled. In any of these falls or other accidents, guests could suffer serious injuries like head injuries or back injuries.
Concert venues also must ensure that their equipment is properly managed and safe for guests. If a speaker’s stand fails to support it or a light suspended from the ceiling suddenly falls, it could severely injure nearby patrons. Many of the lights and sounds in concerts require running lengths of power cords and speaker cables. If any of these are stretched across places where guests may walk or stand, they can become hidden tripping hazards. These kinds of dangers are unacceptable and could lead to lawsuits if they cause injuries.
One of the last potential causes of injury are from the other people at the concert. When you go to a concert, you often understand that you will be in close quarters with other people and may be bumped or pushed. While you may be considered to have legally consented to this kind of activity, that consent should be taken as part of the totality of the circumstances. For instance, while you may be able to predict potential injuries at a punk rock concert, you would not anticipate most mosh pit at a pop or jazz concerts. Controlling the crowd is part of the job of the venue’s security staff. If they fail to provide adequate security by calming unruly fans, breaking up fights or moshes, or banning weapons and dangerous items, and these failures lead to injury, you may be able to sue the venue for inadequate security.
Suing for Concert Injuries in New York
In many cases, the injuries you face may not be the concert venue’s direct fault. More likely, one of its staff members, such as a maintenance worker, technician, or security staff member was the one who caused your injuries. Under New York law, you can usually sue the employer for the negligence of its employees if the employee was acting within the scope of their duties when the negligence occurred. That means that if a sound tech negligently sets up a cable across a footpath without taping it down to prevent tripping, the venue could be held responsible for a trip and fall accident because the technician was working for them when the negligent setup occurred.
Security staff may either be the venue’s private staff or may come from another agency or company that provides security. This means that injuries caused by the security staff’s mishandling of a situation or failure to provide adequate security could mean suing the agency and the concert venue. In many cases, since the staff was working for the venue at the time, even if the agency pays their paychecks, you should be able to sue the venue for its security staff’s negligence.
Lastly, it is important to understand when the venue is liable. You can only sue in cases of intentional action or negligence. If the concert venue’s staff failed to use the adequate care or skill a reasonable concert venue worker should use, then they may be held liable for your injuries. This could require them to pay compensation for your medical expenses, any lost wages you suffer, and your pain and suffering.
New York City Concert Injury Attorneys with Free Consultations
If you or a loved one was injured at a concert venue, talk to an attorney today. The Queens personal injury lawyers at Sullivan and Galleshaw fight to get compensation for injury victims to help pay for medical bills, support them while they cannot work, and compensate them for intense pain and suffering. For a free consultation on your case, contact our law offices today at (718) 843-0300.