Personal Injury Attorneys - Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and the Bronx

There was an 18 percent decrease in construction-related accidents in New York City for 2011, despite a 7.7 percent increase in the issuance of construction permits citywide. Construction-related injuries also decreased across the City last year – falling from 165 reported accidents in 2010 to 152 in 2011, a reduction of 7.8 percent. In total, there were five construction-related fatalities in 2011, a slight increase from four fatalities in 2010, but a 73 percent decrease when compared to 2008.  While the most common construction accident remains workers falling, the number of workers who were injured in a fall declined from 66 in 2010 to 52 in 2011, a 21 percent decrease.

New York is in a minority of states in America that has a wrongful death statute that does not allow the decedent’s family to be compensated for their emotional grief over their loss.  So when a family recently came to see me about the completely unexpected loss of their son who was in his 20’s they were shocked to learn that the law prohibited them from recovering for their “pain and suffering” - only the decedent’s pain and suffering is recoverable.   New York law does allow for the awarding of interest from the date of death, and the Court of Appeals recently expanded the amount of interest recoverable when it decided that interest from the date of death to the date of verdict should be added to the recovery for future wrongful death damages in Toledo v. Christo, 2012 WL 42906 (Jan. 10, 2012).

The products liability lawsuit brought by Ronald Ball alleges he became violently ill when he opened a can of Mountain Dew and found a dead mouse inside.  The maker of Mountain Dew, PepsiCo, has brought on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit with the unique defense that their product is so destructively acidic that any mouse would have completely disintegrated by acids that would have turned the mouse's body into a “jelly-like” substance.  PepsiCo has submitted to the court an affidavit from a veterinary pathologist explaining their defense in morbid step-by-step detail.  Can't wait to pop open my next soft drink.

Effective February 12, 2012, a new law goes into effect in New York that expands the list of convictions that disqualify a school bus driver from either permanently or temporarily operating a school bus.  The law adds to the list of convictions that would either permanently disqualify an applicant from being a bus driver or disqualify the candidate for five years. The law also changes from a temporary five-year prohibition to a permanent prohibition vehicular manslaughter in the first degree, aggravated vehicular homicide, and promoting prostitution in the first, second, or third degree. Additionally, added to the list of crimes which would result in a five-year prohibition are forcible touching and criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance.

Three new traffic laws that will go into effect in 2012 include: (1) an expansion of the Move Over Law to include tow trucks and other hazard vehicles; (2) a rise from 2 to 3 points on a driver license for using a handheld phone or other portable electronic device while driving; and (3) a ban from being a school bus driver for anyone convicted of a wide range of crimes. 

The NYC Buildings Department brought National Elevator Safety Awareness Week the the city last month.  There are 62,000 elevators and escalators  in the city, and children use them on a daily basis. Since 2004, more than 100 children have been injured in by an elevator or escalator in New York City. 

The program’s safety slogan is “Ring, Relax, Wait,” which reminds children to ring the elevator’s safety bell in an emergency and wait patiently for help instead of trying to pry the doors open. Many accidents occur when elevator passengers attempt to jump out of the elevator cab just before the doors unexpectedly close or the elevator moves.Many accidents occur when elevator passengers attempt to jump out of the elevator cab just before the doors unexpectedly close or the elevator moves.  

Regulations of the City of New York make it illegal to hail a taxi cab for another person unless first solicited by the prospective passenger.  The same Regulation makes it illegal to hitchhike, to open a car door for another, to jaywalk, and, of course, to stand in front of an oncoming car.  And should you need to educate a Squeegee who insists upon cleaning your windshield, show him New York City Rules, Title 34, § 4-04.

In the case of Lifson v. City of Syracuse and Derek Klink New York’s Court of Appeals held that a driver who, while making a left turn, struck and killed a pedestrian whom he did not see until only a fraction of a second before hitting her because of sun glare, was not entitled to have the jury instructed on the emergency doctrine.   The court''s  majority and dissenting opinions battled  over whether the fact known to all that the sun sets in the west can excuse a driver who claims sun glare blocked his view.  If I were representing the pedestrian, I would argue that nothing prevented the driver from seeing my client before he began to make his turn.  The court's decision is silent as to that aspect of the accident, possibly for reasons that the record on appeal would make clear..

Initially recalled in December of 2009, yesterday LG Electronics Tianjin Appliance Co., in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), urged consumers to check if they have Goldstar or Comfort-Aire dehumidifiers. The firm is re-announcing the recall of these dangerous products because only two percent of the 98,000 consumers who purchased these units have received a free repair, which means that consumers and their property remain at serious risk. The power connector for the dehumidifiers compressor can short circuit, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers and their property. The initial recall followed eleven incidents, including four significant fires. Since that time, the company has received sixteen additional incident reports of arcing, smoke and fire a

The driver of the tour bus that crashed into a highway sign post on I-95 in the Bronx, killing 15 people and injuring seven others on March 12, 2011, has been charged with 15 counts each of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, plus reckless driving, assault and third-degree unlicensed driving. Ophadell Williams, Jr. plead not guilty, and his bail was set at $250,000. Alsolast Thursday, New York State Inspector General Ellen Biben today released an investigative report that found the bus driver was able to exploit weaknesses in the state regulatory system and obtain a commercial bus driver license and employment with tour operators despite