Personal Injury

Published on: October 18, 2022

Potentially defective e-bike lithium battery recalled after 4 people got injured

Ancheer is recalling the potentially defective lithium battery of 22,000 e-bikes. The recall decision was made after the company received 6 reports of accidents that include batteries igniting and causing sparks, fires and/or explosions. Among the 6 accidents reported, 4 resulted in burn injuries.

The battery recalled is a cylindrical battery that looks like a water bottle and is mounted on the Ancheer e-bikes model AM001907. The model number can not be found on the bike but on the packaging and on the user manual.

The recalled Ancheer e-bikes models were sold between January 2016 and June 2022 by major retailers including Walmart, Sears, Amazon, eBay, Overstock, Aliexpress, Ancheer, Newegg, Rakuten and Wish.

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Published on: October 14, 2022

Beloved tow truck driver killed by drunk driver in Queens, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

A beloved and popular truck driver died and his customer suffered serious personal injury in a multiple vehicle crash caused by a drunk driver on the Long Island Expressway in Queens.

The accident occurred last Saturday night around 3:30 am. 47 year old Carlos Santiago (Campy), a tow truck driver working for Knights Towing and the father of 3 children, was sent on a call to help a stranded driver in a Nissan on the Long Island Expressway near exit 19 in Elmhurst, Queens.

Drunk driver responsible for chain collision that ended killing Campy and seriously injuring his customer

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Published on: October 10, 2022

10 people injured including 2 children after NYPD cruiser jumps the curb in the Bronx, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

A police officer driving a NYPD car and responding to a call for a stolen car lost control of his vehicle, jumped the curb and slammed his the cruiser into multiple pedestrians that were on the sidewalk. Among them were a mother, her 5 year old daughter and the grand-mother who were on their way to the grocery store.

The crash occurred Thursday afternoon around 3:pm in the Longwood section of the Bronx at the intersection of Westchester Avenue and Hoe Avenue. A surveillance video shows the NYPD cruiser travelling at a high rate of speed, crossing the yellow line and driving against traffic. As the NYPD cruiser approached the intersection, a civilian car started to make a left turn. The cruiser clipped the front of the car and careened toward the sidewalk. It then jumped the curb and hit 4 pedestrians and a traffic pole that fell onto two other pedestrians. Among the 4 pedestrians that were directly struck by the NYPD cruiser were the 5 year old daughter, mother and grand mother and another man. Additionnally 2 people in the car that was about to make a left turn were injured and one of them was a 2 year old child. The two police officers in the cruiser also suffered injury. A total of 10 people were transported to the hospital. According to the NYPD 4 of them suffered life-threatening injuries including the 5 year-old child and the man who was ran over by the cruiser.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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Published on: October 6, 2022

New bill proposal to address illegal parking in NYC bike lanes and prevent dangerous accidents

By GGCRBHS&M

New York cyclists are facing higher risk of getting injured or killed in accidents every time they have to go around vehicles parked in a bike lane. To deter drivers from doing so, the city is proposing a new law that would allow citizen not only to report truck and cars parked in the bike lanes but also to get a percentage of the money the city will make by ticketing the offender.

New bill would pay back citizen $43.75 per vehicle reported to the DOT

A bill proposed by NYC councilman Lincoln Restler wants to use citizen enforcement to fight back against the multiple motor vehicles obstructing bike lanes. Bikers encountering violators would snap a picture of the vehicle and submit it to the department of transportation for review. If legit, the vehicle owner would then receive a $175 ticket. The city would then give back 25% or $43.75 to the person who reported the violator.

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Published on: October 5, 2022

12 of our NYC personal injury attorneys selected by Super Lawyers

By GGCRBHS&M

Congratulations to our 12 New York Personal Injury Lawyers who have been selected to the Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists for 2022. These attorneys are:

Super Lawyers

Ben Rubinowitz. Not only was Ben selected for the 17th consecutive year but he also ranked third in the Top 10: 2022 New York — Metro Super Lawyers and was listed in the Top 100: 2022 New York — Metro Super Lawyers

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Published on: September 29, 2022

Traffic Accidents Fatalities reached record high in New York City this summer

By GGCRBHS&M

17 pedestrians, 4 cyclists, 14 passengers and 22 motorists died in auto accidents in NYC during the two hottest months of the summer. Truck accidents were close to record highs while bus accidents were slightly lower than usual.

35 people died in car accidents in New York City in July and 22 in August for a total of 57 fatalities compared to respectively 51, 42, 39, 32, 43, 44, 41, 50 and 56 during the months of July and August 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. The number of fatalities was even higher this summer than what it was during the summer of 2013 before Vision Zero started.

The month of July was particularly bad with a record 35 people dying during this month. The only time since 2013 that this number of people were killed in traffic accidents was in September 2020. Since the Covid19 crisis of 2020, traffic accidents fatalities have been much higher than what they were the years before. Among those who died in July were 11 pedestrians, 3 cyclists, 7 motor vehicle passengers and 14 motor vehicle operators. The number of motor vehicle operator deaths in July reached a level never seen since the beginning of Vision Zero except again in September 2020.

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Published on: August 29, 2022

NYC Woman suffers personal injury after falling from her bathroom floor to the basement in badly maintained Bronx building

By GGCRBHS&M

The poor maintenance of a NYC residential building caused a woman to fall to the basement of her building after a bathroom floor collapsed. The woman was injured and is now recovering in the hospital. After the accident occurred, the Department of Buildings came to the premises located on Shakespeare Avenue in the Bronx and started an investigation of the premises. They found that a lack of maintenance lead to a collapse of the portion of the bathroom floor to the basement. A partial vacate order was issued and the landlord was issued a violation for failure to maintain his property. The DOB also ordered him to hire a professional engineer to produce a report on the structural stability of the other floors of the apartment.

Other tenants are scared for their life

While the DOB focused mostly on the apartment where the accident occurred, a CBS crew went to visit the tenants on other floors and the video below shows that the entire building is in serious need of repair. Other tenants are concerned that the same accident may occur to them as well and do not feel safe in their apartments. They have been complaining to the landlord for years about the need for maintenance but the landlord has not done anything. Leeks are everywhere, bathroom ceilings are destroyed, and when it rains, water is pouring on the stairways and in the apartment of a tenant. Doors that can not be closed so damaged they are by water, broken sink, tiles that barely hold on the walls of showers in multiple apartments visited by the tv crew show a building in total disrepair and in real need of maintenance.

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Published on: August 29, 2022

2 people injured in another MTA Bus Accident in New York City

By GGCRBHS&M

Two people suffered personal injury after a MTA Bus crashed into a light pole in Midtown Manhattan on Sunday around 7:30 pm. The accident occurred at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and East 58th Street. The driver of the M103 bus made a too sharp turn and hit a light pole that then crashed into the street. A 90 year old passenger suffered head injury and is in stable condition at the hospital. The driver also suffered injury and was hospitalized to be evaluated.

Earlier this month another MTA Bus accident in the Bronx caused 13 people to be injured. According to MTA officials, the driver of the bus suffered a medical condition and crashed into a subway pillar on Boston Road, near the intersection of East Tremont Avenue. According to MTA, the driver had been with them since 2008. She had passed her biannual physical exam and had been declared fit to drive. She suffered critical injury during the accident and was found at the scene of the accident unconscious and unresponsive.

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Published on: August 29, 2022

Battery problems with the Medtronic HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) causes 6 more patients to suffer personal injury and another one to die

By GGCRBHS&M

Medtronic HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) device caused the wrongful death of more than 3,000 people since it was introduced on the market more than 10 years ago. The sale and distribution of the heart pump was stopped in June last year but many patients still have the pump implanted in them. Now some of the batteries powering the device might be deadly too.

Medtronic announced last May that a model of battery that was powering the Medtronic HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) was defective and that it could cause serious personal injury or death if it was not changed for a new battery. An urgent Medical Device Correction letter was sent out by Medtronic to all affected customers on May 5th recalling 429 devices manufactured in April 2021. Then a month later, after the company received 1,159 complaints including 6 injuries and one death, the recall of the same model of batteries was extended to those that were distributed since January 2009.

The recall affects 23,372 Medtronic HVDA Batteries with model number 1650DE that were distributed between January 1st 2009 and now

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Published on: August 22, 2022

Peter Saghir and Ben Rubinowitz served as faculty at the 2022 Legal Services Advocacy Program in New York

By GGCRBHS&M

Last week our partner Peter Saghir and our managing partner Ben Rubinowitz served as faculty at the American Bar Association (ABA) Litigation Section and National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) Legal Services Advocacy Program held in New York City. This program offers free two-day intensive trial advocacy training to attorneys who do not usually have access to this type of training.

During the workshop, Peter and Ben volunteered their time to train lawyers in the art of trial advocacy who work at various services for indigent clients including Prisoners Legal Services of New York, The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Bronx legal services, Queens legal services, The Urban Justice Center, The Brooklyn defender services, The Federal Public Defender, and Staten Island legal services.