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

The decision of First Department, in King v. St. Barnabas Hospital., 2011 WL 2567782 (June 30, 2011), a medical malpractice case,interestingly found that the evidence from which a jury could find that the proximate cause of the death of a heart attack victim came not from expert testimony on behalf of the plaintiff but from [t]he very fact that advanced life support protocols exist for patients in an asystolic (no electrical activity in the heart) state . According to the court, the existence of advanced life support protocols for patients in an asystolic state in and of themselves means that adherence to the protocols afford a chance of reviving the patient, notwithstanding the grave nature of the condition. It necessarily follows that failure to follow the protocols reduces the chances for reviving the patient. The cour

In Edwards v. Erie Coach Lines Company, 131, NYLJ 1202499068316 (Decided June 30, 2011), New York States highest court was called upon to answer a choice-of-law question regarding a motor vehicleaccident wherein a charter bus carrying members of an Ontario women's hockey team plowed into the rear-end of a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder of the highway near Geneseo, New York on January 19, 2005. Four bus passengers and the trailer's driver died; several bus passengers were seriously hurt. The charter bus's driver, his employer, and the company that leased the bus are Ontario domiciliaries, as are (or were) all the injured and deceased passengers. The tractor-trailer driver was a Pennsylvania domiciliary, as are his employer and the

The plaintiffs in DeRiggi v. Krischen, 20753/08, NYLJ 1202476938011, at *1 (Sup., Nassau Decided December 17, 2010) sought to recover for the wrongful death of Patricia DeRiggi, who died at the age of 30 during percutaneous disk decompression surgery, an out-patient procedure used to treat lower back pain. Plaintiffs allege that Mrs. DeRiggi's left common iliac vein was perforated twice during the surgery resulting in an intra-abdominal hemorrhage and death. They also allege that the defendants HydroCision and/or New York Spinal Implants, the manufacturer and/or distributor of the Spine Jet HydroDisectomy System used in the procedure, were negligent in their design, manufacturer and dist

In the Court ofAppeals decision inJohnson v. City of New York, 2010 WL 4720753 (November 23, 2010), five police officers got into a shootout with a robbery substance at 126th Street and Lenox Avenue in Manhattan. Plaintiff Tammy Johnson was playing with her 18-month-old daughter and socializing with neighbors on 126th Street near her residence when she heard gunshots, and she and her daughter took cover by lying on the ground behind an SUV. An errant bullet struck Johnsons elbow, and she commenced a negligence action against the City on behalf of herself and her daughter. A divided Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Divisions dismissal of the suit. Johnson opposed the City's motion and cross moved for summary judgment on liability, claiming that the officers violated Police Procedure No. 203.12, entitled Deadly Physical Force, which sets forth the guidelines for the use of firearms. The relevant gui

In Dowd vs. New York City Transit Authority, 2010 WL 4678916 (November 16, 2010), the 79-year old decedent was struck by a bus that was backing out of a parking space at the bus terminal located at 165th Street and Merrick Boulevard in Queens. Part of the maneuver needed to exit from the parking space required a bus operator to reverse the bus, encroaching on the sidewalk that ran along Merrick Boulevard, before moving forward to exit on 89th Avenue. Because of a blind spot directly behind the bus, bus operators are advised that they are to ask a responsible person to guide them when they are backing up, and to avoid backing up a bus alone. The accident occurred at 6:20 A.M. on June 2, 2006, when the bus driver sounded his horn and reversed slowly out of the spot with the reverse alarm automatically sounding. The

Sometimes parents can try to do the right thing but end up liable for someones injuries anyway. In Aquino v. Higgins, 891 N.Y.S.2d 853 (4th Dept. 2009), reversed 2010 N.Y. Slip Op. 08386, 2010 WL 4642476 (November 18, 2010), the defendant parents permitted their daughter to host a party at their residence following a high school dinner dance. Defendant father expressly told his daughter that alcohol would not be permitted to be served. Although defendant parents were home, they were not aware that there was alcohol present at the party until defendant mother entered the basement at the end of the party and observed approximately 12 beer cans. Defendant father suspected that his son, defendant Michael Higgins, had been drinking, and he escorted his son to the son's bedroom and instructed the son to go to bed. Meanwhile, defendant mother asked the guests whether anyone needed a ride home, but no one ac

The case involving a 47-story fall of a scaffold where one of two brothers on it died and the other lived (albeit with catastrophic injuries) is wending its way through the court. This past week the estate of the deceased window washer was granted summary judgment pursuant to Labor Law 240(1) (the scaffold law) in Cumbicos v. Tractel Inc., 103247/08, NYLJ 1202473921555, at *1 (Sup., NY, Decided October 25, 2010). The decision highlights the utter carelessness of the company hired to maintain the scaffold for attempting to repair the ends of brand new cables that were delivered in defective condition rather than replacing the defective cables with new ones in good

In August of 2006, Evan Marshall, who lived with his mother in a gated community in Glen Cove, New York, dismembered and decapitated his neighbor, Denice Fox, a retired schoolteacher who lived across the street. Marshall took her remains to his mothers home and dismembered them, stashing the body parts, along with two knives, in basement trash cans. He was arrested the next day as he pulled into his mothers driveway. Mrs. Foxs head was later found in the trunk of that vehicle. Marshall pleaded guilty to murder, assault and other charges, saying he was in search of money for drugs when he confronted the woman and repeatedly stabbed her. Foxs estate commenced a civil action against Evan Marshall and his mother, Jacqueline. Evan Marshall did not live with his mother on the date he murdered Denise Fox.He was out on a weekend pass. Jacqueline Marshall denies even knowing that her son was out on a weekend pass and maintains that she was not home on the date in qu

Earlier this year the New York City Department of Buildings had a No-Penalty Retaining Wall Inspection Program, in which homeownerscould call 311 to request an inspection of their retaining wall without the penalty of violations. Retaining walls are important because they are designed to hold back soil that would move to a more natural slope or incline if the wall was not in place. Were that to occur, damage could be sustained not only to the building's foundation, but to the foundation of an adjacent property. Additionally, there is a potential for injury or even death where construction work is being done below street level of the adjacent property and a retaining wall collapses.Similarly, when major excavation causes damage to adjacent structures, Administrative Code of the City of New York 27-1031(b)(1) (now Administrative Code 28-3309.4) imposes liability on an owner and contractor for s

In the early days of our blog, one of our earliest posts concerned a man who (unsuccessfully) sued his dry cleaners for $54 million for supposed consumer abuse for losing his suit pants and attempting to replace them with a different, cheaper pair that did not belong to him. Now a woman is suing Google because, after using her Blackberry to Google walking directions for a trip in Park City, Utah, she claims she was led onto a busy highway, where she was struck by a vehicle. She is suing the driver of the vehicle and Google for damages in excess of $100,000. Lauren Rosenberg used Google Maps on January 19, 2009, via her Blackberry, to get directions between 96 Daly Street,