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

Under a negligent hiring theory, an employer's liability arises from its failure to take reasonable care in making hiring decisions, thereby placing the newly hired employee in a position to cause foreseeable harm to others. The negligent hiring theory creates an incentive for employers to avoid hiring previously incarcerated individuals. To avoid such tort exposure, many employers choose not to hire ex-offenders when they apply for employment even though New York Law provides that to do so under certain circumstances constitutes unlawful discriminatory practice. The employer's dilemna poses a serious problem for society.

Sixteen athletes, including six former NFL players, have agreed to donate their brains to a program that will study the long-term effects of concussions. Of particular interest is a condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E.), which has been likened to pugilistica dementia seen in boxers. Common symptoms of the condition, a form of traumatic brain injury (TBI) include dementia, parkinsonism, irritability and short-term memory problems. The condition can be confirmed only by post-mortem tissue analysis; X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging tests cannot yet detect it. Five out of six former N.F.L. players brains that have been examined in this manner have been found to have suffered from C.T.E. The study is a joint effort by Chris Nowinskis Sports Legacy Institute and the Boston University School of Medicine. They are collaborating in the new Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. Nowinski is a former pro wrestler and Harvard football pla

This is cool! Google Transit, a feature of the Google Maps online mapping service, provides point-to-point public transit trip planning. Google Transit will now allow travelers to access streamlined, regional trip-planning based on up-to-date schedule data across the subway, bus and rail systems, including walking directions for the beginning or end of the trip. The new service will include transit services throughout the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) service territory including: New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, MTA Bus, Long Island Bus and Staten Island Railway, as well as other regional connecting services participating in the initiative, such as New Jersey Transit, the Port Authoritys AirTrain and Staten Island Ferry. But one wonders what information about its customers (and potential plaintiffs) the MTA (or its subsidiaries) will be able to glean from customers' use of Google Transit. For example, it has become co

New York Governor David A. Paterson signed into law a bill prohibiting the importation, manufacturing, distribution, or sale of dangerous yo-yo waterball toys, and providing for enforcement by the attorney general. The New York State Consumer Protection Board has issued two warnings calling yo-yo waterballs a serious hazard to children. The second warning was issued after a five-year-old girl from the Rochester area was nearly strangled by the toy`s long elastic cord. Similar to other choking incidents involving yo-yo waterballs, the elastic cord became wrapped around the child`s neck after she had been twirling it above her head. The cord was wrapped so tightly that her father had to use a pair of scissors to cut the cord. The victiim's mother said that her husband found their daughter "blue in the face." Governor Patterson also signed the Childrens P

Starting September 21, 2008, Suffolk County drivers caught driving while text messengingwill face a $150.00 fine under a new county law that is the first of its kind in New York State. Westchester and Nassau recently approved similar laws, but those measures have not taken effect. New York City is considering a similar ban. Four other states have such a law: Alaska, Washington, Minnesota and New Jersey. County officials said they hope that the new law will encourage New York lawmakers to approve a statewide measure. In May of this year, State Senate Republicans passed legislation yesterday prohibiting drivers from writing, sending, or reading text messages, unless they are able to do so without using at least one hand, according to the bill language. Under the bill, motorists who key text messages into their cell phones while driving in New York State could be slapped with $100 fines. Officials had no accident statistics for Suffolk on texting while driving. But

For many years, doctors have been discouraging the use of baby powder for infants. Though it works well as a drying agent and fights against rashes, ointments are now the preferred remedy for diaper-related rashes. Have you wondered why? Talcum powder, which contains the mineral talc, is potentially harmful to infants, and it should never be used as a powder during diaper changing. Inhaled talcum powder causes serious breathing complications. Talcum powder is toxic if swallowed. Inhaling talcum powder can cause twitching, fever, cough, breathing problems, convulsions, and collapse. Asbestos and products containing asbestos are not limited to industrial products like cement, insulation, brake pads, and other such items. A number of household products that also contained the hazardous mineral include baby powder and other similar talcum powders. Although soft to the touch with a pleasant smell, powders containi

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a nonprofit, scientific and educational organization aimed at reducing loss on the nation's highways, including deaths, personal injuries and property damage. Its research has divulged that in the year 2006 alone, 42,642 people died in motor vehicle crashes. In particular, they have found younger driversto be atrisk, especially drivers younger than the age of 18. Teen drivers are at significant risk on the road because they lack both the judgment that comes with maturity and the skill associated with experience. In attempts of ameliorating this situation, the Institute has recently suggested raising theminimum driving age from age 16 to age 17 or even age 18. It is believed that raising the age requirement will provide teen drivers with more training and education. In fact, a recent analysis of crashes in New Jersey, which cur

What parent could not be concerned upon hearing worrisome reports that bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in many polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins such as plastic baby bottles, is dangerous to their newborns. The federal government and others are now studying this issue, but are not reaching the same conclusions as each other. Most recently, a final report released September 3, 2008, by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), finding that BPA is of some concern for effects on development of the prostate gland and brain and for behavioral effects in fetuses, infants and children. Some concern is the midpoint of a five-level scale, ranging from negligible to serious, that the NTP uses. Advice from toxicoligists includes the following: Watch for the numeral 7 on the bottom of plastic containers. That often means they contain BPA. Dont microwave plastic food containers made with BPA. Better to use glass or porcelain. Watch out for canned f

Recently, on August 27, 2008, two cabs collided sending one of them onto a Times Square sidewalk. Shortly before that accident, on August 15, 2008, New York City carved a new public esplanade on the roadway of Broadway from 42nd to 35th Streets for people to sit, eat lunch, and to just enjoy being outdoors. Called Broadway Boulevard by the Department of Transportation, the area has a gravel coating glued to the pavement, and a bike lane next to the sidewalk. Caf tables, benches, chairs, umbrellas and flower-filled planters have been set out for people to use as cars and trucks whiz past. To create the esplanade, the city took away the two easternmost of the four traffic lanes on Broadway from 42nd to 35th Streets. The project cost $700,000. The city also created parking areas along parts of the esplanade, and the parked vehicles create an added buffer for pedestrians. Three business improvement districts, the Times Square Alliance, the Fashion Center B.I.D. and t

A recent article in The Providence Journal notes that although doctors in almost every state are required by law to report suspected elder abuse of their patients, hardly any of them do, even if they fear that their silence may subject an elderly person to continued abuse at the hands of a caregiver or in a nursing home. Physicians report just 2 percent of the elder abuse and neglect cases recorded each year by state protective service agencies, according to medical and legal experts and recent articles published in medical journals. One study, published in 2005 in a journal focusing on geriatric medicine, says that the actual figure may be even lower. 44 states and the District of Columbia have laws that mandate physician reporting of suspected elder abuse. In New York, Public Health Law 2803-d requires a report when there is reasonable cause to believe that a person receiving