Rollover crashes constitute 3 percent of passenger vehicle crashes, but about one third of the fatalities. Injuries can occur even if there is minimal roof deformation after a crash. At other times vehicle occupants are unharmed even if there is significant roof deformation. A recent study performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has demonstrated the inadequacy … Read the rest
Month: June 2008
A New Fire Code and an Improved Building Code For New York City Effective July 1, 2008
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has signed legislation establishing a new Fire Code for the City of New York, effective July 1, 2008. It is the first comprehensive revision since the City’s Fire Code was adopted in 1913. The Fire Code, enforced by the Fire Department, governs emergency preparedness and planning and more specifically the permit and inspection process for the … Read the rest
Major League Baseballs Liability for Injuries Resulting from Shattering Maple Bats
When players or spectators are injured at sporting events, a common and often successful defense alleged by the team or stadium owner is that the person injured assumed the risk of injury; in other words that the injury is considered to be an acceptable risk understood and known to the injured person. Another common defense is that the defendant did … Read the rest
Protest and Crane Dismantling Latest Developments Highlight Critical Importance of NYC’s Proposed Legislation To Increase Construction Site Safety
Families of the firefighters who died in last summer’s fire at the former Deutsche Bank building held a demonstration at the Manhattan site yesterday morning to call for construction site safety and reform throughout New York City. Meanwhile, a Kodiak crane owned by New York Crane at a Washington Street construction site is being dismantled after inspectors found two cracks … Read the rest
New York State Bar Association Creates Task Force To Study Proliferation Of Wrongful Convictions
The new President of the New York State Bar Association Bernice Leber, noting that the number of criminal convictions overturned in New York State is undermining public confidence in the justice system, recently announced the creation of a Task Force on Wrongful Convictions. The task force will study the systemic, procedural and statutory causes that contribute to wrongful convictions and … Read the rest
June Through August is the Deadliest Time of Year for 15-Passenger Van Occupants
New research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found June through August to be the deadliest time of year for 15-passenger van occupants, due to rollover crashes. Statistics show that 31 percent of fatal rollovers involving 15-passenger vans occur during the busy summer travel months.
The NHTSA also emphasizes that conventional 12 to 15-passenger vans cannot … Read the rest
From Cranes to Window Washers to Trenches, Construction Accidents Roil New York City
It seems that troubling news regarding the construction industry and construction accidents in New York City are heard on a daily basis. 15 people in construction-related accidents have been killed in the city so far this year, compared with 12 in all of 2007. After the second of two recent crane collapses within 12 weeks of each other during which … Read the rest
Medtronic Recalls Selected Heparin-Coated Products
Medtronic, Inc., in what is termed a precautionary measure, has voluntary recalled selected products featuring its Carmeda BioActive surface, a coating applied to some devices used in heart bypass surgery and dialysis, because the coating includes contaminated heparin, a blood thinner that has been linked to 81 deaths. Affected products include blood oxygenators, reservoirs, pumps, cannulae, and tubing … Read the rest
Court Victories Last Week for Fantasy Baseball and Mayor Bloomberg
Last week, the United States Supreme Court declined to accept an appeal of an 8th Circuit decision that upheld a fantasy baseball company’s right to use, without license, the names of, statistics and information about major league baseball players in connection with its fantasy baseball products. Fantasy sports are estimated to generate $500 million in revenue per year from more … Read the rest
Litigation Again Reveals What Big Pharma Wants Kept Secret
Recent federal court filings in the Ortho Evra products liability litigation disclosed that Johnson & Johnson hid data from the FDA about their birth control patches’ side effects and failed to address flaws in the manufacturing process which could increase the risk of serious and potentially fatal problems.
The factual allegations were publicly released as part of the plaintiffs opposition … Read the rest
