Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.
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traffic-fatalities-in-nyc-by-year-and-by-category-2024On December 2, 2025, The New York Times published a compelling guest essay by neurosurgeon Dr. Jonathan Slotkin, titled “The Data on Self-Driving Cars Is Clear. We Have to Change Course.” In it, he describes what he sees every day in trauma units: catastrophic injuries from motor vehicle crashes that no amount of surgical skill can reverse. His perspective is not theoretical or technological — it is medical, urgent, and grounded in human outcomes.

As New York car accident lawyers representing victims of severe crashes, the data and warnings he highlights are deeply relevant to the families we serve.

A Doctor’s View From the Trauma Bay

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Orla Baxendale lost her life due to anaphylactic shock resulting from a severe allergic reaction to a cookie manufactured by Cookies UnitedWhen a family loses a daughter to a preventable tragedy, accountability is not optional. It is essential. At Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, our attorneys are representing the family of Órla Baxendale, a 25-year-old dancer whose life was cut short by a mislabeled cookie that was packaged and sold by Stew Leonard’s. The substitute complaint we filed on October 16, 2025, details systemic failures in the grocery chain’s allergen disclosure and product labelingprocedures — procedures that the complaint describes as “broken, unreliable, inherently dangerous, undependable, untrustworthy, erratic, and deplorable.”

Órla had severe allergies to peanuts. On January 11, 2024, she ate a Vanilla Florentine cookie that was purchased from a Stew Leonard’s store in Connecticut.  The cookies’ label did not list peanuts as one of its ingredients. Specifically, the cookies’ “contains” statement did not list peanuts. But the cookies contained peanuts — and Órla suffered a fatal anaphylactic reaction as a result of eating one.

Our substitute complaint outlines how this mislabeling was not an isolated mistake. Instead, it reflects systemic shortfalls in the grocer’s allergen-control and labeling systems.

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location of the NYPD vehicle accident that injured two in TribecaA marked NYPD vehicle collided with a private bus in Tribeca early Saturday morning, setting off a chain-reaction crash that left two people injured and caused damage to the historic Walker Hotel Tribeca. According to police, the crash occurred around 5:50 a.m. when the police SUV, traveling southbound on Broadway, struck a white passenger bus at the intersection of Walker Street.

The force of the impact pushed the bus into a parked delivery truck and into the side of the Walker Hotel building, cracking part of its 19th-century façade. The 49-year-old truck driver and his 36-year-old passenger were transported to New York Downtown Hospital in stable condition. The bus driver was uninjured, and passengers left the scene before officers arrived. The NYPD officer driving the police SUV was also hospitalized in stable condition.

Witnesses described a sudden, violent collision. One employee at a nearby coffee shop reported hearing a police siren moments before the impact and feeling the building shake when the bus struck the hotel’s corner.

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From our New York medical malpractice lawyers

When the Leapfrog Group released its Fall 2025 Hospital Safety Grades on November 13, 2025, New York patients were given a stark reminder of how uneven hospital safety can be across the state. Out of 143 New York hospitals, only 33 earned an “A”, while 16 received a “D” and 2 were given a failing “F” grade.

A grade hospital NY

For patients and families who have  suffered serious harm in a hospital, these grades are not just abstract numbers – they can be powerful evidence of broader patient safety problems and systemic negligence.

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intersection of Meserole and Leonard where the fatal bike accident occuredA 33-year-old Medford man has been arrested in connection with the hit-and-run crash that killed cyclist Alexandra “Allie” Huggins, 32, in Williamsburg. This development brings long-awaited progress in a case that outraged Brooklyn’s cycling community and highlighted once again the devastating consequences of drivers fleeing crash scenes.

What Happened on the Night of the Crash

According to police, the collision occurred at about 2:30 a.m. on September 27 at the intersection of Meserole Street and Leonard Street.

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baby in hospitalIf your child suffered a birth-related neurological injury because of medical negligence, it is critical to speak with an attorney as soon as possible. New York has a unique system for addressing the lifetime medical needs of children harmed during labor and delivery: the Medical Indemnity Fund, commonly known as the MIF. Recent changes in state funding have placed this program under intense scrutiny, and families need to understand how these developments can affect their rights, their care, and their long-term financial security.

What Is the Medical Indemnity Fund?

The Medical Indemnity Fund was created to ensure that infants who sustained birth-related neurological injuries because of malpractice receive the future health-care services they will need throughout their lives. Instead of providing a lump sum for future care in a settlement or verdict, qualified plaintiffs are enrolled in the fund, which then pays for approved medical expenses as they arise.

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Fatal Bronx intersectionAn 80-year-old Bronx resident, Rose Young, was fatally struck last Thursday while crossing the intersection of Holland Avenue and Allerton Avenue in the Allerton neighborhood. According to police, Ms. Young was walking through the crosswalk when a 56-year-old driver operating a 2005 Honda Odyssey made a left turn from northbound Holland Avenue onto Allerton Avenue and hit her.

Emergency Medical Services transported Ms. Young to Jacobi Hospital, where she later died from her injuries. The driver remained at the scene. As of now, no arrests have been made, and the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad is continuing to review the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Ms. Young lived only two blocks from where she was struck. For many Bronx families, this proximity underscores the devastating reality that serious and fatal collisions often occur directly within the communities where residents walk every day.

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AMiriam Yarimi killed a mom her two dauthers and badly injured the son in a reckless car accident Brooklyn Supreme Court judge has sentenced the driver responsible for the devastating Ocean Parkway crash that killed a mother and two of her young children and severely injured a third one. But while the criminal case has concluded, the sentencing does nothing to address the ongoing needs, losses, and long-term impact faced by the victims’ family. For them, the legal work is far from over.

The Facts of the Crash

On March 29, 2025, 33-year-old Miriam Yarimi, a social media influencer known for her wig-making business, was driving her Audi A3 northbound on Ocean Parkway with a suspended license and a long record of dangerous driving — including:

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Speeding ruins life NYC campaignA new state bill could soon require thousands of chronic speeders in New York to install “speed limiter” devices—technology that uses GPS to cap how fast a car can travel. As NYC car accident lawyers who regularly handle cases involving catastrophic injuries caused by excessive speed, we see firsthand how a small number of reckless drivers disproportionately endanger everyone on the road. This proposed measure directly targets that problem.

A Targeted Response to Drivers Who Repeatedly Put Others at Risk

The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Andrew Gounardes, focuses exclusively on motorists with extensive histories of speeding violations. Under the proposal, drivers who have 16 or more speed-camera violations in a single year, or 11+ license points in 18 months, could be ordered by a judge to install a $1,000 “intelligent speed assistance” device for up to a year.

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Frank_Morano_05-27-2025-1New York City took an important step in the ongoing effort to reduce preventable crashes this week — and the momentum came from an unexpected place. At a recent City Hall rally, Republican Council Member Frank Morano, representing the car-heavy South Shore of Staten Island, delivered one of the strongest public statements in support of universal daylighting at intersections.

In a city where street safety is often framed as partisan, Morano made clear that protecting pedestrians and drivers is a shared interest:

“From my perspective this is not something that should be a partisan issue.