Two deadly crane collapses in 2008, ignited furious investigations into the world of construction cranes and their safety, or lack thereof. Crane rigger William Rapetti has been indicted for manslaughter. Although not involved in the crane collapses, one investigation led to the guilty plea by James Delayo, the city’s former chief crane inspector, pleaded guilty in March to approving cranes that he had not inspected, and issuing operator’s licenses to people who had not earned them.  (more…)

In 2008, the New York State Bar Association (“NYSBA”) created a permanent Task Force on Wrongful Convictions.  The task force examined 53 cases where a defendant was wrongfully convicted of a crime but later exonerated. In a report issued last year, it concluded that wrongful convictions resulted from multiple factors including identification procedures, government practices, mishandling of forensic evidence, defense practices, the use of false confessions and the improper use of jailhouse informants.  Based upon the findings and recommendations of the Task Force on Wrongful Convictions, the NYSBA earlier this month unveiled new legislation that would amend the Criminal Procedure Law in order to address the growing problem of wrongful convictions. (more…)

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 part related to the economy. (more…)

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 ship’s 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.  (more…)

The dead man’s 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 man’s 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. (more…)

One of our negligent security cases, Benson v. Monte Carlo, LLC, (Nassau County, Supreme Court Index # 016489/2007) made the front page of today’s New York Law Journal.  We successfully opposed the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, and an article appears in the newspaper discussing the decision of Hon. Thomas Feinman, dated February 23, 2010, that denied the motion.  Our client was assaulted (stabbed and sustaining a broken ankle requiring surgery) in the courtyard of the building where he resided while trying to protect his wife and son from a group of men who were trespassing and drinking in the courtyard.  We were able to defeat the motion largely in part due to our investigation which revealed that police had been to the premises 188 times in the previous five years.  The Decision and Order is included below. (more…)

The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) had its annual meeting in New York City this week. For the past number of years the meeting has featured a Presidential Summit at which the Bar President chooses hot topics of the day for a distinguished panel to discuss. This year’s topics were wrongful convictions and attorneys’ use of social media, which centered mostly upon issues of privacy and the internet. I was fortunate this year to be able to attend the Presidential Summit for the first time, and it was well worth the time (I shouldn’t say it was well worth the price of admission because attendance was complimentary to meeting registrants). (more…)

Well there’s a mouthful. The quote, from Senator Rockefeller in the context of the health care reform debate, was said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. He is not only critical of the insurance industry, but he intends to do something about it. Specifically, Rockefeller said he would introduce an amendment requiring insurers to spend 85 percent of their revenue on health care for consumers. Rockefeller also said he would back a plan, in separate legislation, to repeal the insurance industries’ antitrust exemption. Rockefeller was critical of Senate Finance Committee because it failed to include the public option, although he did vote for it. (more…)

Sidewalk sheds are typically wooden structures (nowadays usually painted blue) built over public space to protect pedestrians during construction activity. Walking around Manhattan while trying to avoid walking under a sidewalk shed can be a true challenge. There are currently more than 6,000 sidewalk sheds installed and in use today at New York City’s buildings and construction sites, spanning more than 1,000,000 linear feet. A lawyer for insurance companies once told me that because he has defended so many cases in which a pedestrian or construction worker was injured due to a collapse or other calamity involving a sidewalk shed, he would never, ever walk under one. Besides, they’re hideous-looking. On August 13, 2009, the Department of Buildings and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects launched the urbanSHED International Design Competition – a competition to tap the global design community to develop the sidewalk shed of the future.  (more…)

Year ago our office represented the estate of Randolph Walker, who was run over and killed by a New York City Apple Tours bus in an accident that received much coverage in the press at the time. The circumstances were abhorrent and the company was effectively put out of business by the city after this accident.  Just yesterday we were contacted by a community organization called CHEKPEDS (Clinton Hell’s Kitchen coalition for Pedestrian Safety) and advised that a “Pedestrian Memorial March” will be held this Saturday, June 13, 2009, in memory of 6 pedestrians killed by careless drivers on Ninth Avenue.  The march starts at 2:00 P.M. and will proceed on the west side of Ninth Avenue from 45th to 36th Streets. (more…)