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

Due to reports of injuries and deaths, and concerns for children's safety, this past month the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) filed Administrative Complaints against the manufacturers of high-powered magnets and infant recliners.  The CPSC alleges that Magnicube Magnet Balls and Magnet Cubes contain defects in their design, packaging, warnings and instructions pose a substantial risk of injury to the public. The second complaint alleges that the Nap Nanny Generation One and Two, and Chill model infant recliners contain defects in their design, warnings and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury and death to infants. CPSC has received 80 reports of incidents involving ingestion of high powered magnets, resulting in 79 reports seeking medical intervention. CPSC is aware of five infants who died in infant recliners and has received a total of over 70 additional incident reports of children nearly falling out of the product.

Vehicle-pedestrian accidents injure 60,000 and kill 4,000 people every year in this country. Researchers watching1,102 Seattle pedestrians at 20 high-risk intersections during randomly assigned times found that nearly one in three people crossing the street at high-risk intersections was distracted by use of a mobile device. Only one in four followed the full safety routine of looking both ways, obeying the lights, and crossing at the appropriate point, the study found. Texting was particularly dangerous as texting pedestrians were 3.9 times more likely than undistracted pedestrians to display at least 1 unsafe crossing behavior (disobeying the lights, crossing mid-intersection, or failing to look both ways).  People texting also spent more time in the intersection, by 1.87 seconds, or 18%.

A new analysis released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that highway deaths fell to 32,367 in 2011, the lowest level since 1949.  2011 also saw the lowest fatality rate ever recorded, with 1.10 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2011. Deaths in crashes involving drunk drivers dropped 2.5 percent in 2011. Fatalities declined by 4.6 percent for occupants of passenger cars and light trucks, including SUVs, minivans and pickups. Fatalities increased among large truck occupants (20 percent), pedalcyclists (8.7 percent), pedestrians (3.0 percent), and motorcycle riders (2.1 percent). The number of people killed in distraction-affected crashes rose but the number of people injured in them declined.

Last month the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that it had voted unanimously (3-0) to approve a new federal mandatory safety standard to improve the safety of infant swings to prevent injuries and deaths to children, effective May 7, 2013. Between May 2011 and May 2012, the CPSC received reports of 351 infant swing-related incidents that occurred between 2009 and 2012. Two of the 351 incidents resulted in fatalities, and 349 incidents were nonfatal. 24 of the nonfatal incidents resulted in injuries.  Hazards from infant swings can come from instability, unintentional folding, restraints that slip or break and toys on mobiles that detach when pulled.

In Custodi v. Town of Amherst, the plaintiff broke her hip when she tripped and fell while rollerblading in her neighborhood on the defendants' driveway.  The Court of Appeals held that ordinary premises liability principles applied and that the defendants’ duty of care as landowners was not negated by plaintiff’s voluntarily engagement in recreational rollerblading. The court agreed with the plaintiff that even though she was aware that a skater using the neighborhood's driveways and sidewalks could encounter bumps or height differentials, she did not assume the inherent risk of a fall by choosing to rollerblade on the defendants' property. The court reasoned that if assumption of the risk applied to rollerbladers skating around a neighborhood so too could it apply to other non-pedestrians such as joggers, runners and bicyclists.

Imagine consuming energy drinks increasing the likelihood that armed service members would fall asleep during briefings or while on guard duty?  In fact, data collected regarding armed service members in Afghanistan in 2010 showed that 44.8% of deployed service members consumed at least 1energy drink daily, with 13.9% drinking 3 or more a day. Service members drinking 3 or more energy drinks a day were significantly more likely to report sleeping 4 hours or less a night on average than those consuming two drinks or fewer. Those who drank three or more drinks a day also were more likely to report sleep disruption related to stress and illness and were more likely to fall asleep during briefings or on guard duty. In recent weeks, the FDA has confirmed or disclosed a total of 18 filings involving deaths and over 150 others involving injuries that mentioned one of four top-selling energy drinks — Red Bull, Monster Energy, Rockstar and 5-Hour Energy.

In Lofton v. Grieco, the plaintiffs argued that Glen Cove Hospital delayed performing necessary surgery on a patient who died before the surgery was performed.  The hospital record contains a doctor's note purportedly documenting the decedent's refusal to have the surgery, but the plaintiffs contend that the doctor's note was written after the decedent died in an attempt to cover-up medical malpractice.  The plaintiffs moved for an order compelling the hospital to produce the original record for a non-destructive examination, inspection and photographing by plaintiff’s forensic handwriting expert. Plaintiff's motion was granted by Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Randy Sue Marber.

This past Friday, October 26, 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a copy of the FDA Form 483 issued to the New England Compounding Center (NECC) that produced contaminated steroid injections and triggered an FDA investigation of a multistate fungal meningitis outbreak among patients who received the injections. The investigators observed problems with NECC’s ability to maintain its clean room that is designed and maintained to have a controlled environment with low levels of airborne particles and surface contamination.  The FDA found some vials of the purportedly sterile injectable drug contained a greenish black foreign matter and others a white filamentous material.  Rooftop units serving NECC’s HVAC system are approximately 100 feet from a recycling facility that handles such materials as mattresses and plastics and uses large equipment that produced airborne particulates such as dust.

With a Texas family being charged $442.00 for a 14-block ride in a pedicab this past summer, more regulations may be on their way.  Approximately two years ago the New York City Council imposed comprehensive regulations upon pedicabs which had been operating with almost no rules and endangering the safety of riders, pedestrians and others.  The closest those regulations came to controlling pedicab rates was requiring that a rate card be posted, but not limiting how much could be charged.  But now that could change.  Whereas before pedicabs had the option of charging by time, the law may be changed to prohibit all other formulas and to set a mandatory fee schedule.

Many of our clients suffer from intractable neck pain and face difficult risk-laden choices as to how to try to obtain relief from their debilitating symptoms.  Many are given the option of undergoing surgery, which could potentially result in paralysis, or first trying epidural injections.  Patients are usually told that the injections may not work, but now they have something more to fear: fungal meningitis.  The latest report is that there are 119 cases of people who were infected from contaminated steroid injections (preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate (80mg/ml)).  11 people have died and many others have suffered a stroke. Three facilities in New York State received shipments of the contaminated steroid, Action Sports Medicine and Pain Management in Mineola, Obosa Medical Services in Mount Vernon and Rochester Brain and Spine in Rochester.