TL;DR: If you needed a hip replacement after a fall in New York and the fall happened because of a broken sidewalk, a wet floor, a loose stair, or another hazard someone else should have fixed, you may be able to recover the cost of your surgery, recovery, and lost income. Some deadlines are as short as 90 days, so what you do in the first few weeks can matter almost as much as the surgery itself.
As of 2026, New York law lets you seek compensation from the person or business responsible for the dangerous condition that caused your fall, even if you were partly at fault. A hip replacement after a fall usually means the fall broke the top of the thigh bone where it meets the hip, and your surgeon decided that replacing the joint would work better than trying to repair the bone. Who is responsible depends on where you fell, and in New York City the answer is not always the obvious one.
Falls cause more than 95 percent of hip fractures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2019 alone, CDC researchers counted about 290,000 hospital stays tied to hip fractures among adults 65 and older. A broken hip is not only an older person's injury, though. A hard fall on an icy sidewalk, down a building staircase, or from a ladder on a job site can break a hip at any age.
Why Does a Fall Lead to a Hip Replacement Instead of a Cast?
A fall leads to a hip replacement when it breaks the femoral neck, the narrow part of the thigh bone just below the ball of the hip joint, badly enough that the bone is unlikely to heal well on its own. When that break shifts out of place, the blood supply to the ball can be damaged, and screws alone may not hold. Replacing the joint lets most people get up and walking sooner, which matters because long stretches in bed carry their own risks.
Surgeons usually choose between two operations. Your hospital records will say which one you had, and it is worth knowing, because each one affects recovery and future care differently.
| Total hip replacement | Partial hip replacement (hemiarthroplasty) | |
|---|---|---|
| What is replaced | Both the ball and the socket of the hip joint | Only the ball at the top of the thigh bone |
| Often chosen for | Active people who walked well before the fall, or people who already had hip arthritis | People with lower activity levels or more health concerns |
| What research shows | Better function and quality of life over the medium term, and fewer repeat surgeries in reviews of clinical trials | Shorter surgery, less blood loss, and a lower chance of the new joint popping out of place |
| What it means for a claim | Longer operation and recovery, but more years of use expected | Possible need for a later conversion to a total replacement |
Neither surgery is a minor fix. Which one you had shapes your recovery time and the chance of more surgery later, and both of those details matter when anyone puts a value on your injury.
Who Is Responsible When a Fall Breaks Your Hip in New York?
Responsibility for a fall that breaks a hip in New York usually falls on whoever controlled the place where you fell and failed to fix, or warn you about, a hazard they knew about or should have found. That sounds simple, but New York City has rules that change who that person is. Here is how it typically works by location.
- City sidewalks. Under New York City Administrative Code 7-210, the owner of the building next to a sidewalk is generally responsible for keeping it reasonably safe. That includes repairing broken or raised sidewalk flags and clearing snow and ice. The exception is a one, two, or three family home that is at least partly lived in by the owner and used only as a residence. In that situation, responsibility can shift back to the City of New York.
- Tree wells and some sidewalk fixtures. New York's highest court has held that the tree well around a sidewalk tree is not part of the sidewalk under 7-210. A fall caused by a tree pit, a signpost, or a utility cover may point to the city or a utility company instead of the building owner.
- Apartment buildings. Landlords and management companies are usually responsible for lobby floors, stairways, handrails, hallway lighting, and building entrances.
- Stores, supermarkets, and restaurants. The business that controls the floor is usually responsible for spills, torn mats, and cluttered aisles, especially when the hazard was there long enough that staff should have noticed it.
- Construction sites and workplaces. A fall from a ladder or scaffold at work can bring in New York's Labor Law protections for workers at heights, in addition to workers' compensation. These cases follow different rules and are worth a separate conversation.
- City buildings, parks, and public transit. Falls on property owned or run by a government body come with much shorter deadlines, covered below.
Courts have also made clear that 7-210 does not make building owners automatically liable. You still have to show the sidewalk was unsafe and that the owner failed to deal with it. That is why photos of the exact spot, taken soon after the fall, carry so much weight, and why a slip and fall lawyer in New York will usually ask for them first.
Can You Still Have a Case If You Had Arthritis or Were Not Watching Your Step?
In most New York fall cases, being older, having arthritis, or being partly careless does not by itself end your claim, although each one can affect how much the claim is worth. These are the points insurance companies raise most often after a hip fracture, so it helps to know where they stand.
Myth: If I was looking at my phone, I cannot recover anything. Fact: For slip, trip, and fall injuries, New York follows pure comparative negligence under CPLR 1411. Your own share of fault reduces your recovery but does not wipe it out. New York changed this rule in May 2026 for certain car accident lawsuits, where a person found mostly at fault can now be barred from recovering. That change does not apply to typical premises falls.
Myth: If I already had hip arthritis, the insurance company wins. Fact: Insurers often argue the hip was already failing before the fall. New York law generally allows you to recover when an accident makes an existing condition worse, but you need to show what changed. Medical records from before the fall, showing how well you were walking and working, can become some of your most useful evidence.
Myth: Older people just fall, so nobody is to blame. Fact: Age does not excuse a broken stair or an unmarked wet floor. A property owner owes the same duty of reasonable care to a 75 year old visitor as to anyone else.
Myth: I already had the surgery, so it is too late. Fact: Legal deadlines run from the date of the fall, not the date of surgery. For most claims against a private owner, that leaves time to act, but the clock is already running.
What Can a Claim Cover After a Hip Replacement?
A claim after a hip replacement can cover medical bills, rehabilitation, lost income, help at home, and pain and suffering, along with the future care the injury is likely to need. Hip fractures change daily life in ways a hospital bill does not show. CDC research has reported that only about half of older adults hospitalized for a hip fracture are able to return home or live independently afterward.
- Emergency care, surgery, and the hospital stay
- Inpatient rehabilitation or a stay at a skilled nursing facility
- Physical therapy and follow up visits with your surgeon
- Walkers, raised toilet seats, shower bars, and other changes to your home
- Paid help or the time a family member spends caring for you
- Lost wages, and lost earning power if you cannot return to the same work
- Pain, loss of mobility, and the activities you can no longer enjoy
The cost that is easiest to overlook is a second hip surgery. Large joint registries show that about 89 percent of hip implants are still working at 15 years and about 70 percent at 20 years. A 2022 study in The Lancet Rheumatology found that patients younger than 55 face a higher risk of needing more than one revision, and that each later revision tends to last about half as long as the one before it.
So, a person who gets a new hip at 52 after a fall on an icy Bronx sidewalk may be facing another hip operation in their 60s or 70s. A hip replacement after a fall is often not one surgery. It can be the first of several. That future surgery is part of the cost of the fall, and it should be counted before any settlement is discussed. If the implant itself later fails early, that can raise a separate question, covered in our guide to a defective hip replacement lawsuit in New York.
What Should You Do After a Fall That Leads to Hip Surgery?
After a fall that leads to hip surgery, the most useful steps are the ones that preserve proof of what caused the fall, because hazards are often repaired, mopped, or salted within days. If you are still in the hospital or rehab, a family member can handle most of these for you.
- Report the fall to the store, landlord, building manager, or employer, and ask for a copy of the incident report.
- Photograph the exact spot from several angles, with a coin or shoe in the frame for size. Photograph the shoes you were wearing too.
- Collect names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the fall or helped you afterward.
- Ask about video quickly. Many security cameras record over old footage automatically, so a written request to save the video should go out as soon as possible.
- Keep every record and receipt, including the ambulance, emergency room, surgery, rehab, prescriptions, equipment, and missed work.
- Follow your rehab plan. Gaps in physical therapy are one of the first things an insurance company points to when it argues an injury is not serious.
- Be careful with insurance calls. You are generally not required to give a recorded statement to the property owner's insurer, and it is reasonable to speak with a lawyer first.
The most expensive mistake after a broken hip is usually not something you say. It is waiting until the hazard is fixed and the video is gone.
How Long Do You Have to Make a Claim After a Hip Fracture in New York?
Most fall injury claims against a private owner in New York must be filed in court within three years of the fall, but claims involving the City of New York or another public body start with a notice of claim that is due in just 90 days.
| Who may be responsible | First deadline | Deadline to file a lawsuit |
|---|---|---|
| Private owner, landlord, store, or business | None before the lawsuit | 3 years from the fall (CPLR 214) |
| City of New York, such as a city building, park, or sidewalk next to an exempt home | Notice of claim within 90 days (General Municipal Law 50-e) | 1 year and 90 days from the fall |
| Other public bodies, such as some transit and housing agencies | Usually a notice of claim within 90 days | Usually 1 year and 90 days, so check early |
| Medical care that made the hip injury worse | None before the lawsuit | Generally 2 years and 6 months (CPLR 214-a) |
The 90 day deadline is the one that catches people. Many hip fracture patients are still in rehab when it runs out, and missing it can end a claim against the city before it starts.
When Should You Talk to a Lawyer About a Broken Hip From a Fall?
It makes sense to talk with a personal injury lawyer about a fall that ended in hip replacement surgery as soon as you can manage it, and ideally within the first 90 days, because that is when the shortest deadlines and the most fragile evidence are in play.
Many people hesitate. They do not want to cause trouble with a landlord or a store they visit every week, or they assume a broken hip at their age is just bad luck. In most premises cases, a claim is paid by the owner's liability insurance, which exists for exactly this situation. And a conversation is not a commitment. It is a way to find out whether you have options before a deadline makes the decision for you.
Segal Law Firm is based in Manhattan and helps people across New York City who were hurt in slip and fall, trip and fall, and other premises accidents. In a hip replacement case, the questions that decide the outcome are specific. Who controlled the spot where you fell? Does the owner occupied home exemption apply? Is a 90 day deadline already running? Has anyone accounted for future surgery? Segal can look at those details with you and tell you plainly whether your case is worth pursuing.
Talk to Segal About Your Fall
If you or someone in your family needed a hip replacement after a fall, call Segal Law Firm at (646) 810-3337 or request a Free Case Evaluation on our contact page. If you would rather get to know the firm first, take a few minutes to get to know Segal in five minutes.
Keep Reading
Two related guides cover the questions that usually come next: how a slip and fall attorney can help with your case and when a failing hip implant becomes a lawsuit.
Every case turns on its own facts. Tell us what happened in a free case evaluation with Segal Law Firm. There is no fee unless we win.
One last thing before you go. Accidents never happen at a convenient time, so take seven seconds to save Segal in your phone and our number is already there when you need it.
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