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

In Dahar v. Holland Ladder & Manufacturing Company, the plaintiff was injured when he fell from a ladder in a factory while cleaning a product manufactured by his employer.  The product was a steel wall module that was at least seven feet high. After the module was fabricated, it had to be cleaned before it was shipped. Plaintiff was cleaning the unit while standing on a ladder when it broke and he fell to the ground. Plaintiff claimed that the ladder failed to provide “proper protection”; and liability should be imposed under Labor Law 240(1). The Court of Appeals rejected the plaintiff’s contention that the product was a structure within the meaning of the statute and held that his activity was not protected by Labor Law 240(1). The decision is important for plaintiff’s personal injury lawyers because it contains helpful language that should be cited in every motion, brief or legal writing involving a Labor Law 240(1) claim.

In the Court of Appeals decision Martino v. Stolzman, the defendant attended a New Year's Eve party at a friend’s home where he consumed alcohol. At approximately 12:30 A.M., the defendant left the party and got into his truck, with another party guest in the passenger seat. The defendant backed his truck out of the home’s driveway onto the main road and collided with an oncoming vehicle driven by the plaintiff. Following the accident, a test revealed that the defendant had a blood alcohol content of .14 percent, nearly twice the legal limit. He later pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated. The Court of Appeals found that the hosts were no longer in a position to control the defendant when he entered his vehicle and drove away, and that they had no duty to assist the defendant as he pulled out of their driveway. The Court of Appeals also conclude that the hosts had no duty to assist the defendant as he pulled out of their

A study by Newsday of pedestrian accidents reports from 2005 through 2010 published in today’s paper finds that pedestrians are killed an average of more than five times a year on Hempstead Turnpike’s 16 miles through Nassau County, making it Long Island’s most dangerous road.  Thirty-two people were killed and at least 427 injured in 457 pedestrian accidents.  Three more people have died since last July.  Even crossing at intersections is not safe.  More than half of the incidents examined occurred at intersections.  Pedestrians were struck far more often by drivers turning left than turning right.  Seventy percent of the pedestrians killed were not at intersections.

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).