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.

Articles Posted in Personal Injury

Published on:

By

In Blackstock v.Board of Education of the City of New York, decided on May 12, 2011 by The Appellate Division, First Department, a special education speech therapist employed by the defendant Board of Education, claimed that she suffered personal injury as the result of an assault by a student. She alleged defendant failed to properly supervise its students. The Court granted defendant summary judgment holding plaintiff failed to show that defendant owed her a special duty of protection. The Court held as follows;

“Under these circumstances, in order to impose liability, plaintiff had to show that defendant owed her a special duty of protection (see Bonner v City of New York, 73 NY2d 930, 932 [1989]; see also Vitale v City of New York, 60 NY2d 861, 863 [1983]). Plaintiff’s failure to allege or provide the factual predicate for the special relationship theory in her notice of claim or complaint is fatal to maintenance of this action (see Rollins v New York City Bd. of Educ., 68 AD3d 540, 541 [2009]). Moreover, the record shows that plaintiff could not prove all of the necessary elements of that theory (see Cuffy v City of New York, 69 NY2d 255 [1987]). Accordingly, there are no material issues of fact, and summary judgment was properly granted.”

Published on:

By

In Churchill v Malek, 2011 NY Slip Op 03673, decided May 3, 2011, The New York Appellate Division, First Department held that a plaintiff in a personal injury action cannot be compelled to disclose confidential psychological or psychiatric records. The Court stated as follows;

“Given that, in this personal injury action, there is no claim to recover damages for emotional or psychological injury (see Valerio v Staten Is. Hosp., 220 AD2d 580 [1995]), or aggravation of a preexisting emotional or mental condition (see Sternberger v Offen, 138 AD2d 480 [1988]), plaintiff cannot be compelled to disclose confidential psychological or psychiatric records (cf. Carr v 583-587 Broadway Assoc., 238 AD2d 184, 185 [1997]). Defendant’s unsubstantiated claim that plaintiff’s mental illness might have caused the accident is insufficient to warrant mental health disclosure (see Zimmer v Cathedral School of St. Mary & St. Paul, 204 AD2d 538, 539 [1994]).”

Published on:

By

In Fox v H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P;et.al., 2011 NY Slip Op 03205, decided April 19, 2011, The Appellate Division, Second Department rejected defendant’s claim that plaintiff was enagaed in routine maintenance and thus Section 240(1) was not applicable.

The facts as set forth by The Court were as follows;

“The plaintiff was employed by the fourth-party defendant Garrity Electric, Inc. (hereinafter Garrity), as a mechanic performing general electrical contracting work. Pursuant to an agreement between the defendant third-party plaintiff, H & M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. (hereinafter H & M), and the third-party defendant/fourth party plaintiff Maintenance, Etc., LLC (hereinafter Maintenance), which provides retail companies with vendors for construction services, Garrity was hired to replace bulbs and ballasts/transformers in 78 overhead light fixtures, located approximately 12 feet above the floor, in a retail store leased by H & M. Garrity had done business with H & M since 2000, performing electrical work for which it was paid the sum of $30,000 to $50,000 per year. Garrity furnished a team of “seven or eight” workers, including the plaintiff, which was led by a team foreman, to perform the subject work in the H & M store. The plaintiff allegedly was injured when he fell from a ladder while engaged in this work. The Supreme Court, inter alia, granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability on the Labor Law § 240(1) cause of action.”

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

busOur partner Ben Rubinowitz successfully resolved a claim against the New York City Transit Authority for $4 million. At the time of the accident, a young woman was crossing a New York City street when she was struck by a bus driven by a N.Y.C.T.A. employee. The defense claimed the accident was her fault asserting that she had not crossed in the crosswalk and that she failed to pay attention to the traffic conditions. The injured victim asserted that the bus driver failed to keep a reasonable and proper lookout failing to pay proper attention and in failing to avoid the pedestrian. As a result of the impact the woman suffered a degloving injury to her knee and pelvic fractures.

Rubinowitz, who recently won a $27.5 million verdict for another client struck by a bus said: “This successful result was part of a team effort. Howard Hershenhorn, Diana Carnemolla and Peter Saghir also worked timelessly for our client.” Rubinowitz continued: “We have the ability to secure the very best results for our clients because of two main reasons: We work harder and put in more effort than any other law firm.”

Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf has had remarkable results for its clients in car accident, construction, premises liability, civil rights and medical malpractice cases. Ten of its lawyers have been listed in Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers.

Published on:

By
 
nassaubar

The Nassau Academy of Law is hosting a 6-session hands-on workshop series to learn and develop effective trial skills, from jury selection through summation.
On Monday,  April 4, 2011 our Partner Ben Rubinowitz will co-chair and present a lecture and interactive workshop on cross examination to lawyers who attend this lecture series.  Recognized for obtaining some of the largest verdicts in the State, Ben has always been willing to share his expertise with fellow trial lawyers. “I view it as an honor to be asked to speak at the Nassau Academy of Law and look forward to speaking on this subject.”
Ben’s firm,  Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is known for their expertise in representing victims of car accidents, bus and train accidents, construction accidents, products liability, wrongful death  and medical malpractice claims and is the only Plaintiff’s Firm in New York with 10 of its lawyers listed in “Best Lawyers.”
Monday, April 4
DELIVER OPENINGS WORKSHOP DIRECT & CROSS EXAMINATION LECTURE
Marvin Salenger, Esq.,
Salenger Sack
Schwartz & Kimmel, Woodbury
Ben Rubinowitz, Esq.
Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, New York

Event Program

Published on:

By

In Jose Miguel Moran v 200 Varick Street Associates, LLC, et al., 80 A.D.3d 581; 914 N.Y.S.2d 307, The Court granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on his 240(1) cause of action. The plaintiff suffered injury when he fell from a scaffold that lacked proper safety railings. Of particular interest is The Court’s holding regarding intoxication of the injured worker;

“The evidence that the plaintiff was not engaged in a statutorily protected activity or was intoxicated was not admissible (see Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 563, 404 N.E.2d 718, 427 N.Y.S.2d 595; Maniscalco v Liro Eng’g Constr. Mgt., 305 A.D.2d 378, 380, 759 N.Y.S.2d 163; Madalinski v Structure-Tone, Inc., 47 AD3d at 688). Moreover, since the scaffold lacked safety railings, the defendant’s alleged intoxication was not the sole proximate cause of his injuries (see Bondanella v Rosenfeld, 298 AD2d 941, 942, 747 N.Y.S.2d 645; Podbielski v KMO-361 Realty Assocs.., 294 A.D.2d 552, 553-554, 742 N.Y.S.2d 664; Sergeant v Murphy Family Trust, 284 AD2d 991, 992, 726 N.Y.S.2d 537).”

The New York Construction Accident Lawyers at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf have years of experience representing construction workers who have suffered injury in construction accidents in New York.

Published on:

By

nylj.gifWe are pleased to announce that our partner Ben Rubinowitz and his good friend and colleague Evan Torgan were recently featured in the New York Law Journal. For more than 10 years Ben Rubinowitz and Evan Torgan have been providing Expert Commentary in their column, “Trial Advocacy.” Often, Richard Steigman of Gair Gair Conason Steigman Mackauf Bloom and Rubinowitz contributes to these articles.

This month they wrote an influential article “Using the Internet as a Tool for Cross-Examination.” According to Rubinowitz, “It is common for Internet users to post status updates, personal comments, photographs, videos and tweets that quite often reveal their recent activities, whereabouts, activities and even their thoughts.” Rubinowitz explained the dangers of such conduct: “All of this information can be used as a tool for cross examination. It now becomes obligatory for lawyers to carefully check the Internet not only to dig up information on the witnesses they expect to cross examine but to check the Internet for content about their own clients as well.

Known as experts in the field of personal injury law, wrongful death cases, medical malpractice cases and products liability claims, Rubinowitz and Torgan have not only written numerous articles but each has obtained multiple million dollar awards for their clients.

Published on:

By

The Court of Appeals on February 17, 2011, in a 4 to 3 decision has just written an extremely interesting and important opinion (Kabir v. County of Monroe) regarding New York Vehicle & Traffic Law, Section 1104(e).

The Court held that the reckless disregard standard of care in V & T Law 1104(e) only applies when a driver of an authorized emergency vehicle involved in an emergency operation engages in the specific conduct exempted from the rules of the road by V & T Law 1104(b). Any other injury causing conduct of such a driver is now governed by the principles of ordinary negligence.

In Kabir the police officer was responding to a burglary alarm radio call. He did not activate his emergency lights or siren and was traveling well below the speed limits when he rear ended a vehicle in front of him which had stopped for a red light and was just beginning to slowly move forward. The officer admitted he had taken his eyes off the road for 2 to 3 seconds to look at the vehicle’s display panel.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By
Gloria Aguilar was awarded $27 million
Gloria Aguilar was awarded $27 million

The Appeals Court in New York, known as the Appellate Division, First Department, allowed a total damage award of 18.5 Million Dollars for a woman who lost her leg as a result of the negligence of a bus driver employed by the NYC Transit Authority. The injured woman, Gloria Aguilar, was injured when she was crossing the street in Manhattan. Her left leg was traumatically amputated. This award is the largest ever allowed in the country for this type of injury. Our Partner, Ben Rubinowitz , tried the case in New York Supreme Court and argued the appeal for the injured plaintiff. 2011 Slip Opinion 01117. The case has been widely reported throughout the country.

According to Ben Rubinowitz, ” Our firm is particularly well equipped and staffed to handle cases of this magnitude. We specialize in catastrophic personal injury cases. We are always willing to work harder than anyone else and take the case to verdict to make sure our client’s receive the best possible award. Richard Steigman wrote a powerful and compelling brief. I am delighted that the Appellate Court saw fit to allow this type of damage award. Ms. Aguilar suffered life changing injuries. She was a pedestrian crossing the street when she was struck by the bus. We prepared the case with extreme attention to detail and fully protected our client’s rights and interests. ” In describing his job as a Trial Lawyer, Ben Rubinowitz said, ” A Trial Lawyer must at all times fight for his client’s plight. If the offer to settle is insufficient, this firm is prepared to go the distance. We will not sleep until we achieve the best result we can. The Transit Authority’s offer was insufficient and we insisted on taking the case to verdict. ” GGCSMB&R has some of the finest lawyers in the field of Personal Injury. It is the only Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Firm with 10 Lawyers Listed in the Best Lawyers in America.

$27.5 million payout for mom who lost leg to bus, New York Daily News, April 17th 2009

Published on:

By
Waldorf-Astoria
750px-PA-366.svg.png

A guest who stayed at New York’s famous Waldorf Astoria hotel claims she was bitten multiple times during a 2007 visit. Svetlana Tendler, a doctor, is the third person to file a personal injury lawsuit against the storied hotel for bed bug related injuries, as reported by The Gothamist.

The suit is in the amount of $10 million for damages and plastic surgery to address scaring. Her lawyer claims the bites caused “a serious infection and significant prominent scarring.” The medication she received over the recovery period also resulted in a fungal infection of the face. According to the suit, Tendler spent the past 3 years trying to get the hotel to reimburse her medical costs in order to avoid a costly legal battle. All she received from the Waldorf was a letter asserting there were no bugs in her room.

in November, a Michigan couple also filed a bed bug lawsuit against the hotel.

  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 140
  6. 141
  7. 142
  8. 143
  9. 144
  10. 145
  11. 146
  12. 147
Badges
Super Lawyers Best Lawyers Martindale-Hubbell
SEE NEW JERSEY DISCLAIMER PAGE- AWARD METHODOLOGY