You Were Just Injured
Treated at Kings County Hospital After a Construction Accident? What to Do Next.
Kings County is Brooklyn's Level I Trauma Center — the highest designation. If you're here after a construction accident, your injuries are being taken seriously. Your legal rights deserve the same attention.
⚠️ Important: If your accident happened on city property, you have 90 days to file a Notice of Claim. Don't wait.
About Kings County Hospital Center
- Address: 451 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203
- Trauma Designation: Level I Trauma Center
- Founded: 1831
- System: NYC Health + Hospitals
- Primary Service Area: Central and eastern Brooklyn — Flatbush, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Brownsville, East New York
- Relevant Court: Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn 11201
Brooklyn Is Building — and Workers Are Getting Hurt
Brooklyn is in the middle of one of the biggest construction booms in its history. Downtown Brooklyn has transformed into a skyline of 50- and 60-story towers. Williamsburg and Greenpoint are packed with new residential construction. Crown Heights and Flatbush are seeing wave after wave of brownstone renovation and midrise development. Brownsville and East New York are adding affordable housing stock.
With all that construction comes injury. Workers fall from scaffolding. Objects fall on workers from above. Trenches collapse. Hoisting equipment fails. The workers building these towers are often among the most vulnerable — paid off the books, working for unlicensed subcontractors, given inadequate safety equipment, and not told they have rights.
They do. Under New York Labor Law, construction workers in Brooklyn have the same rights as workers in Manhattan — and Kings County Supreme Court handles these cases every week.
Do These Things Before You Leave Kings County
Refuse any contact with the contractor's insurer
The general contractor's liability carrier may call your room, call your family, or even send a representative to the hospital. Their goal in those first hours is to get you to say something that minimizes your claim — "it was my fault," "I wasn't wearing my harness," "I feel okay." Do not engage. Your statement ends your negotiating position.
Photograph your injuries immediately
Have a family member take clear photos of all visible injuries while you're still at Kings County. Bruising, lacerations, external fixators, casts. Injuries change fast — what looks dramatic today may fade in a week. The hospital setting establishes context and timeline.
Write down what you remember about the accident site
Before pain medication and time erode the details: what floor were you working on, what was the scaffold made of, was there edge protection, was the ladder tied off, who was the superintendent. These details don't seem important right now but they are the foundation of your case.
Request your medical records from Kings County
Through the NYC Health + Hospitals patient portal, or directly from the Medical Records Department at Kings County. Request your complete chart — ER notes, trauma surgery notes, imaging (X-ray, CT, MRI) reports, operative notes, discharge summary. Authorize only your attorney to access your records, not the contractor's insurer.
Brooklyn-Specific Construction Risks
Brooklyn's construction landscape creates specific patterns of injury:
Brownstone Renovation Hazards
The gut renovation of Brooklyn's row houses is among the most hazardous work in the city. Workers on these small jobs are often paid cash, rarely given fall protection, and working with unlicensed contractors. Labor Law 240 applies to these projects the same as 50-story towers.
High-Rise Tower Construction
Downtown Brooklyn, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg are full of 40- to 60-story residential towers under construction. Falls from elevation, falling objects, and hoist accidents are common. Multiple contractors on one site creates complex liability questions — Labor Law 240 cuts through all of them.
Affordable Housing Projects
East New York, Brownsville, and Flatbush are seeing major affordable housing construction, much of it city-funded. City-funded projects may involve city property — triggering the 90-day Notice of Claim requirement on top of the standard Labor Law protections.
Infrastructure Work
Sewer work, water main replacement, and utility projects throughout Brooklyn frequently involve trench work — one of the most dangerous tasks in construction. Trench cave-ins are covered under Labor Law 241(6) and specific Industrial Code provisions requiring trench protection.
Kings County Supreme Court — Where Your Case Would Be Filed
Construction injury cases from Brooklyn accidents are filed in Kings County Supreme Court at 360 Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn. This court handles some of the largest construction injury verdicts in the state.
Brooklyn juries understand construction. Many jurors have family members who work in the trades. They understand what it means when a contractor skips safety steps to move faster, and they hold property owners accountable. Labor Law 240 cases in Kings County regularly produce seven-figure verdicts and settlements.
The time to file depends on who owns the property. Private developer or private owner: 3 years from the accident date. Any city agency — NYCHA, NYC DOT, NYC DDC, NYC DEP, or other city property: 90 days for Notice of Claim, then 1 year and 90 days to file suit. If you're not sure, we'll find out fast.
Labor Law 240 — What Brooklyn Workers Need to Know
New York Labor Law § 240 — the Scaffold Law — places absolute liability on property owners and general contractors when a worker falls from elevation or is struck by a falling object on a construction, demolition, or excavation project. Your employer's negligence, a co-worker's mistake, even your own momentary inattention — none of these is a complete defense under 240.
What matters is whether the safety device provided (scaffold, ladder, hoist, rope, safety net) failed to do its job, or whether no proper safety device was provided at all. If you fell because the scaffold broke, the ladder slipped, or there was no harness — that's a 240 case.
New York is one of only a handful of states with a law like this. Most states allow contractors to argue comparative negligence and reduce what they pay. New York doesn't — which is why construction injury cases here settle significantly higher than in other states.
Questions Workers Ask Us From the Hospital
I was hurt on a small brownstone renovation job. Does Labor Law 240 still apply?
Generally yes. Labor Law 240 covers construction, demolition, and repair work on buildings and structures. There's a narrow exception for single-family homeowners who don't direct the work — but that exception is strictly limited. If a developer or investor owns the brownstone and hired contractors, 240 applies.
The accident happened at a NYCHA building in Brooklyn. What are my deadlines?
NYCHA is a city agency. You have 90 days from the accident date to file a Notice of Claim. If you miss that window, your case against NYCHA is almost certainly over. Call us today — we can file the notice while you're still recovering.
My contractor says I was an independent contractor, not an employee. Does that affect my case?
No. Labor Law 240 and 241(6) protect all workers performing covered work, regardless of how the contractor classifies your employment. Courts look at the actual nature of the work, not what the paperwork says. Many contractors misclassify workers specifically to avoid liability — it's a common tactic and courts see through it.
Will my case be in Brooklyn court or Manhattan court?
If the accident happened in Brooklyn, the case is filed in Kings County Supreme Court at 360 Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn. You don't need to travel to Manhattan. We'll handle all proceedings and you only need to appear when truly necessary.
How long will my case take?
Most construction injury cases in Kings County take 2 to 4 years from filing to resolution. Cases with clear Labor Law 240 liability often settle before trial. Cases involving disputed liability or severe injuries sometimes go to trial for maximum recovery. We'll give you an honest assessment once we review the facts.
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