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

Summer season unfortunately always comes with reports of drowning accidents in pools and at the beach. This season is starting no differently as this past week marked a bad beginning to the beach season in Long Beach, New York. Two young me drowned on Wednesday in the rip-tided infested surf. Also on Wednesday, a man sitting on a lounge chair on the beach was run over by a Long Beach Police sport utility vehicle that reportedly was responding to an ocean-swimmer in destress. Its operator stated that he did not see the man before he hit him and injured his spine. Drowning continues to be the second leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 19, claiming the lives of roughly 1,100 children in 2006. Toddlers and teenaged boys are at greatest risk. The good news is that drowning rates have fallen steadily from 2.68 per 100,000 in 1985 to 1.32 per 100,000 in 2006. Concerns about the prevalence of drowning led the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to release this wee

Between 2006 and 2008, 290 pedestrians aged 60 years and older were killed in motor vehicle accidents on downstate New York roads. Though comprising just over 17 percent of the areas population, people aged 60 and older accounted for 42 percent of the total pedestrian fatalities during the three-year period. Those aged 75 years and older represent less than 6 percent of the downstate New Yorks population, but nearly 20 percent of pedestrian deaths. Details are contained in a report released earlier this month by Tri-State Transportation Campaign titled The Most Dangerous Roads for Walking. Fatality rates for older pedestrians Tagged with: Personal Injury Motor Vehicle Accidents Pedestrian Car Accident Wrongful Death

New York State mandates that every policy of liability insurance issued to a motor vehicle provide Supplementary Uninsured Motorists (SUM) coverage. This coverage protects policyholders and residents of their household when a negligent party is either uninsured or has a smaller amount of liability coverage than the amount of SUM coverage. One of the advantages of SUM coverage is that it affords coverage to the policyholder and his or her household members even if the insured vehicle is not involved in the motor vehicle accident. Unfortunately, a prime example of this kind of situation where SUM coverage comes into play occurred yesterday evening when four Herricks High School students,

Nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million were injured in vehicle crashes in 2008 connected to driver distraction, including texting, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Presently 25 states make it unlawful to text message while driving, with Wisconsins law just signed by the governor. New York is another of the 25 states, pursuant to section 1225-d of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, which became effective November 1, 2009. Using a cell phone while driving a vehicle that is in motion has been illegal in New York since December 1, 2001 (VTL 1225-c). Although the result of texti

May is NYC Bike Month. With the great weather earlier this month, it seemed like pedicabs, a tricycle with a 2-seated wagon, are coming out of the woodwork. As I cross the street from my office to Grand Central Station I see happy, relaxed passengers sitting in the back of pedicabs conversing with their driver. This is the first summer that the new rules concerning pedicabs are in effect. Taxi drivers and pedestrians have expressed pleasure with the results of the new rules that went into effect on November 30, 2009. But the industry itself may not be as pleased although its unhappiness may in partrelated to the economy. The rules require that all pedicabs be inspected, insured, registered, and equipped with seatbelts and tail lights and that all pedicab drivers be licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs. T

On October 15, 2003, the Staten Island Ferry vessel Andrew J. Barberi missed its dock and hit a maintenance pier at full speed. Eleven people were killed and 71 injured, some critically. Yesterday the same ferry lost some of its engine ability to slow and stop and slammed into a pier. Nearly 40 people of the 252 people on board were taken to hospitals. People were treated for injuries including cuts, bruises, broken bones and head trauma. After the first crash, which resulted when the ships pilot became incapacitated and no other crew member was in position to help, the City of New York unsuccessfully tried to claim that its liability to those who sustained personal injuries was limited to the value of the vessel and pending freight pursuant to an 1851 federal statute. Had the City been successful, its liability would have been limited to $14.4 million, far less than what it has paid and will pay for the injuries sustained in that accident. The pilot, who had been i

The dead mans switch is a handle the subway operator must keep depressed while the train is in motion. If the train operator lets go, the train will stop immediately as if an emergency brake was pulled. Every subway train comes equipped with a dead mans switch. Last week a motorman of a G train in Long Island City was pulling out of the Court Square station when it suddenly stopped. The conductor walked to the cab and found the motorman unconscious, having suffered a fatal heart attack while the train was in motion. Because the train automatically stopped there were no injuries. In another incident, last Mondaytrack crew supervisor James Knell, 45, was electrocuted when he fell onto the electrified third rail on the elevated Rockaway Shuttle.Under NYC Transit's own safety rules, Knell shouldn't have been working near the uncovered third rail because of the wet conditions tha

Working in consultation with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), McNeil Consumer Healthcare is implementing a voluntary recall of infant and childrens liquid products due to manufacturing deficiencies which may affect quality, purity or potency. Some of the manufacturing deficiencies include products that may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than specified; others that contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others that may contain tiny particles. Parents and caregivers are advised by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop using these products. Instead, there a number of other products on the market, including generic versions of the recalled products, which are intended for use in infants and children and are not affected by the recall. The FDA states that the potential for serious medical problems is remote. However, if your child exhibits any unexpected symptoms after use of