38 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
AFTER THE STORM
Q: One Friday morning, while in the process of dropping my son off at
school, I slipped and fell on snow and ice.
It had been snowing the night before, when I went to bed, and that
morning, I checked on television: “school will be open as usual.” As I walked
to my car, I saw a little snow blowing from the trees, but nothing fell during
our drive. When I reached the school, there was no snow falling, and school
was open.
A: As with any accident, you should consult an attorney without delay.
If you fell on the school grounds, and this is a public school, a ‘notice of claim’
will be served on the school district, as soon as possible. If you fell on a
sidewalk or street owned by a city, county or state, the notice will be served on
that entity.
Sometimes a defendant will seek to invoke the ‘storm in progress’
defense – that there is no liability for injuries related to accumulated snow
and ice until after a storm has ceased, in order to allow the owner a reasonable
period of time to clean the property. That is, he or she has no obligation to
shovel snow while continuing precipitation or high winds are simply
re-covering the property as fast as it is cleaned.
It sounds like there was no such storm, here, but nevertheless your
attorney is likely to double-check the weather records. Even if there had been
a storm, but the storm has passed and precipitation has tailed off, so there is
no longer any appreciable accumulation, then the ‘storm in progress’ defense
will fail.
Last chance to vote for
the 2018 Bethpage Best
of the Boro competition
Which Queens business do you think is
the best? Make your voice heard and vote
in the 2018 Bethpage Best of the Boro
competition!
Presented by Bethpage Federal Credit
Union, Bethpage Best of the Boro looks
to fi nd the best businesses throughout
Queens. Each year, Hundreds of businesses
are nominated, but only one in
each category can be the “Best of the
Boro.”
Here’s the best part - the “Best of the
Boro” title is decided by the public! Every
year, thousands of Queens citizens vote
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only comes with a tremendous amount
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Of” logo and year-long bragging rights,
but also gives your favorite business the
exposure it deserves.
To see a list of this year’s fi nalists and
to cast your vote, head over to bestof.qns.
com. Voting ends on Friday, Sept. 15.