Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas that is produced when burning materials include carbon. It can be produced by many different types of common appliances, including gas stoves, gas water heaters, kerosene space heaters, charcoal grills, gas-powered generators, and engine fumes. Carbon monoxide poisoning is considered a silent killer because it cannot be seen or tasted. Initially, symptoms of poisoning include only headaches, fatigue, and nausea, but prolonged exposure can result in serious brain damage or death. If you are seriously injured or a loved one is killed as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning on somebody else's property in Syracuse or Rochester, you should retain an experienced Syracuse premises liability lawyer at our firm.

You can be at risk for exposure to carbon monoxide if you live in a place with any of the common appliances that produce carbon monoxide or if you are an industrial worker in a plant that produces coke or formaldehyde. People who fight fires are also at risk, as are people who swim in certain spots close to a boat with the boat engine running. Kids riding in the back of an enclosed pickup truck are also at risk. If your loved one suffers brain damage or dies as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a property owner's negligence, you may be able to bring a premises liability lawsuit to recover damages.

Sometimes, a police investigation of carbon monoxide is too cursory to identify the party responsible. Our attorneys can look into the reasons for a victim's carbon monoxide death or brain injury to determine who was responsible. For example, if the victim was renting an apartment in a building with an unnoticed gas leak, it may be possible to recover damages from a landlord.

An owner or occupier of property owes a duty to regularly and reasonably inspect the property to determine if there are any dangers that ought to be fixed or made the subject of warnings to visitors. When a gas leak on property is not repaired and results in carbon monoxide poisoning to a tenant, guest, or visitor, the property owner may be held liable. In most cases, you will need to establish that the defendant owned, occupied, or otherwise controlled property, there was a dangerous condition on the property of which the defendant knew or should have known, and the defendant failed to fix the problem or provide warnings, such that injuries or death were caused to your loved one.

When brain injuries are suffered by an accident victim due to carbon monoxide poisoning, the accident victim, often through a representative, can recover damages that are reasonably necessary to put them back into the position in which they would have been had they not been poisoned. These may include hospital bills, medical care, lifelong assistance, household services, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering.

When an accident victim dies as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, it may be possible to hold a property owner liable in a wrongful death action. A personal representative of the decedent's estate can bring the case for the purposes of recovering damages for the decedent's family members or heirs. Damages that may be recovered in a wrongful death lawsuit in New York include funeral and burial expenses, hospital bills, the conscious pain and suffering of the victim prior to their death, loss of earning capacity, loss of household services, and loss of parental guidance.

In New York, you usually have three years from the date of a carbon monoxide injury or two years from the date of a wrongful death to bring suit against a defendant. However, it is important to retain an attorney and conduct an investigation into the source of the carbon monoxide right away, since evidence may vanish over time. If you are harmed by carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of a property owner's negligence, our lawyers may be able to help. We represent injured people in Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, Auburn, Elmira, Norwich, Cortland, Delhi, Herkimer, Watertown, Lowville, Oneida, Wampsville, Utica, Canandaigua, Oswego, Cooperstown, Ithaca, and Lyons, as well as throughout Upstate New York. Call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form. We also can assist people who need representation in another type of premises liability claim.