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

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LIRR_Train33 people suffered personal injury in a train crash in Long Island, NY on Saturday night. A Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train carrying 600 passengers sideswiped a maintenance train and derailed just East of the New Hide Park station in Nassau County. The accident occurred around 9:00 pm. The Huntington Bound passenger train was coming from New York City. After the crash, scared passengers were trapped in the dark for up to an hour until they could be rescued. Among the people injured, 27 were passengers and 7 were workers. The New York Times reported 4 serious injuries.

In a press conference, NY Governor Cuomo told reporters that the accident could have been worse. He also said that the maintenance train violated clearance and intruded into the space of the commuter train. The passenger train sideswiped the maintenance train causing some cars to derail. Yellow paint from the maintenance train was found on the passenger train where the side swipe occurred.

Further investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board  will determine why the maintenance train violated clearance. Regulations related to operation of work equipment are different than regulations related to operation of passenger trains. According to Union sources the maintenance train was operated by a non union LIRR employee.

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the truck that struck the bicyclistA bicyclist suffered critical injury after being struck by a tractor trailer truck in New York City.  The accident happened yesterday morning around 7:15 am at the intersection of Jay Street and Tillary Street in Brooklyn. According to Streetblog the truck struck the bicyclist while making a right from Jay onto Tillary. The victim, a 35 year old man, got stuck under the truck.  His left leg was completely mangled and  he suffered massive head trauma according to the NY Daily News.  He was transported to the hospital in critical condition.

The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident and hasn’t been charged. The truck was a tractor trailer truck belonging to Mountain Man Sand and Gravel. The truck was on an authorized truck road however it was larger than 55 feet long. Trucks larger than 55 feet long are only allowed in New York City if they transport material that is “non-divisible” and have special authorization. In the case of this accident, the Gothamist indicates that the truck was a Mac trailer Dump truck.  There is a high probability that the truck was not legally authorized to drive where the accident happened. This is the second time this year that a bicyclist has been struck by an over-sized truck driving in a pedestrians and bicyclists area. In April, a cyclist died after being struck by a tractor trailer truck which was illegally driving in a Brooklyn residential area (see previous blog).

Jay Street is considered one of the most dangerous streets for bicyclists in New York City. Recently, the DOT started to remodel the street and add protected bike lanes. However at the intersection of Jay and Tillary protective bike lanes are still nonexistent. Since the beginning of the year, 3 people were injured in bicycle accidents at this intersection according to Vision Zero Map. Also according to data from Transportation Alternatives there were 41 pedestrian and bicyclist accidents at this location between 2002 and 2011.

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Daniel+Pollack-1When a vulnerable individual is injured or dies because of negligent supervision the term “line of sight” is often used. In a recent article, Daniel Pollack, a professor at the School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, in New York City, looks at the meaning of “line of sight”.

If an individual requires continuous line of sight supervision, what does it mean exactly? Does it mean that a supervisor must constantly have his or her eyes on the individual? Does it mean that a person must have an unobstructed  view of the room where the individual is? Daniel Pollack relied on his previous experience as an attorney for the Ohio Department of Youth Services to explain that the interpretation of “line of sight” varies depending on cases.

The complete article can be downloaded here

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25 people died and 5,383 were injured in motor vehicle accidents in New York City last August. During this month, the NYPD recorded a total number of 19,388 traffic accidents. Motor vehicle accidents have been on the rise in New York City over recent years. From 16,729 in August 2013 the number of accidents steadily increased to 17,000 in August 2014 and  18,862 in August 2015. A monthly record was reached last June with 20,362 accidents.

NYC traffic accidents August 2016
In an attempt to reduce the number of deaths related to these accidents, New York The de Blasio administration launched Vision Zero at the beginning of 2014. Since then, the number of fatal traffic accidents has been on a declining trend despite an increase in the total number of crashes.  After reaching a monthly record low of 11 in March 2016, fatal traffic accidents spiked again to 29 last June and 25 last August.

NYC traffic accident deaths August 2016
While Vision Zero may have helped in curbing the number of deaths on the road, the number of people injured in motor vehicle accidents in New York City continued to rise over in recent years. In August 2013, 4,846 people were injured in NYC traffic accidents. This number decreased slightly in 2014 to 4,445 before increasing again in August 2015 to 4,737 and reaching almost 6,000 in August 2016.

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Our NY personal injury law firm is proud to announce that our partners Ben Rubinowitz and Richard Steigman obtained a $7.75 million settlement in  a snowmobile accident in Saranac Lake, NY.

snowmobile accident
The plaintiffs, Thomas Taylor (63) and Linda Taylor (57) were guests at The Point at Saranac Lake, a luxury 5-star hotel in Franklin County. The plaintiffs claimed that the hotel arranged a snowmobile tour with Adirondack Snowmobile Rental. The tour was set up by the hotel for the plaintiffs and four other guests (2 other couples) who were also staying at the hotel. All 6 of the guests were beginners – each of whom had never been on a snowmobile before.Payment was arranged through the hotel. The hotel not only arranged the tour but charged the guests 20% extra for this service.

The Tour Guide, Robert Pinsdorf, an employee of Adirondack Snowmobile, started the tour approximately 10 miles from the hotel, at a campground know as Charlie’s Inn. The hotel guests were given a 10-20 minute lesson in the operation of the snowmobile; however, the guide was charged with the responsibility of leading the guests on the tour and keeping them safe throughout the tour. The plaintiffs claimed that they were unfamiliar with the trails, road crossing and trail signs. Although the first hour of the tour went fine during the second hour, one of the snowmobiles broke down due to a faulty drive belt. The tour guide then decided to head back to Charlie’s Inn to get another belt. He left one guest in the broken snowmobile and took one guest with him on his snowmobile. He told the others to follow him. It was claimed that he was in a rush and, at this time, failed to protect the novice snowmobilers by traveling ahead of them without warning them of road crossings and stop signs and without knowing where they were. Plaintiff s decedent, Thomas Taylor, failed to stop for a stop sign. It was claimed that he was unaware that he was traveling towards a road and stop sign. It was at this point that the plaintiff s decedent crossed the road, without stopping, and was struck by a van driven by an elderly man (who was dismissed from the case on summary judgment).

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OImage result for hoboken train terminalne person died and around 100 were injured in a train crash in Hoboken, just across the Hudson River from New York City. The train entered the terminal at high speed, crashed into the barriers and jumped onto the platform. The accident occurred yesterday morning during rush hour. Thousands of commuters were crowding the station. The impact was so strong that the concourse inside the terminal was torn apart. The ceiling fell onto the locomotive.

34 year old Fabiola Bittar de Kroon had just dropped her 18 month old child at a day care center and was waiting at the terminal to catch a train. During the accident, she was fatally hit by debris. A little more than 100 people were also injured by flying debris. More than 70 of them had to be transported to the hospital to be treated.  The young woman who was killed was a Brazilian lawyer. She had just moved to the United States a year ago to be with her husband, a businessman who had recently been relocated to New York by his company. De Kroon’s husband, Dann,  was in Pennsylvania for his work when the accident happened. He rushed back to the city to pick up his daughter at the day care center. He was clearly distraught. He asked the owner of the center  “How do you tell an 18-month-old that her mother is gone?”

The terminal was closed to the public Today as federal investors are inspecting the site of the train accident. The National Transportation Safety Board is turning its attention to the train engineere, Thomas Gallager, to better understand what he was doing during the crash.  Gallager who was rescued from his crumbled cabin, is fully cooperating. Gallager has been a train engineer for 29 years. According to his neighbor, Gallager wanted to be a train engineer since he was a kid and was enthusiastic about how much he loved his job.

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Personal injury is the number one cause of death among children 1 to 18 year old in America.  Every year, 1 out of 4 children will end up at the emergency room to be treated for unintentional or intentional injury. Some of them will end up with lifelong disabilities. On average, the  American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that $50 billion is spent each year in the US to care for injured children. Children’s injuries often cause emotional distress not only to the child but also to the family. The financial burden caused by injured children often add to the existing stress caused by the injury itself.

Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics published Best Practices for  Pediatric Injury Care.  In their guidelines, the lead authors David W. Tuggle, MD, FAAP, FACS and Sally K. Snow, RN, BSN, CPEN, FAEN  recommend that:

  • A pediatric trauma system be included in every emergency medical service (EMS) or hospital
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A bicyclist may need a leg amputation after he was struck by a truck in New York. The 30 year old man was riding his bike South on 8th Ave in Manhattan, NYC, around 3:30 am Friday. As he crossed West 40th Street, a commercial truck slammed into him. The truck driver didn’t stop. He just continued on his way. The cyclist was left bleeding in the middle of the street. A witness working at a nearby Duane Reade saw the accident. He told the NY Daily News that the truck was speeding when he hit the victim. The man was transported by ambulance to the hospital. He suffered serious head and leg injuries. His leg may be amputated. The police are still looking for the hit and run driver.

Previously several people reported on the Vision Zero Input map that vehicles were failing to yield at this specific location. So far 4 people were injured in 2016 at the intersection of 8th Ave and 40th Street.

Failure to yiled reported at accident location

Picture source: Vision Zero Input Map

 

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daLeft turn accidents in New York City kill or severely injure pedestrians and bicyclists 3 times more than right turns. These findings are part of a study focusing on left turn crashes that was recently released by the NYC DOT.  As part of Vision Zero, the DOT carefully analyzed 1,105 crash reports over a period of 5 years.

The most dangerous intersections for left turns are those when a vehicle is turning left from a one lane and one way street onto a two way and two lane street wider than 60 feet. When a driver makes a left turn in this type of intersection, his visibility of pedestrians is limited. Additionally, the driver often pressured by traffic behind him, has to find gaps between the incoming traffic and the pedestrians crossing.

The study also found that victims of left turn accidents are mostly pedestrians with a median age of 67. They are most commonly hit by cars, vans or pickup trucks.

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NYC Construction accident injuries and fatalitiesConstruction accident injuries in New York are on the rise as the city is experiencing a boom in this industry. The de Blasio administration just released the Mayor’s Management Report that covers the fiscal year that goes from July 2015 to the end of June 2016. The report indicates that 526 construction workers were injured and 11 died in construction accidents in New York City during the last fiscal year compared to respectively 324 and 10 during the previous fiscal year. During the same periods of time the average number of employees in the construction industry in NYC went from 38,600 to 42,200. While the workforce on construction sites only increased by 9%, the number of injuries increased by 62%.  The number of fatalities increased by 10%.

These statistics only reflect accidents injuries and deaths that occurred after a violations of the city’s construction code. The real number of deaths that occurred on New York City construction sites during that time is 18 according to OSHA statistics (see previous blog). Therefore the real number of injuries related to accidents on NYC construction sites may be much higher than 526, not only because the city’s manner of reporting injuries is biased but also because  many injuries are simply not reported. Construction workers  are often pressured not to report injuries by greedy contractors who don’t want to see their insurance increase or be investigated by OSHA or the DOT inspectors.

To try to make NYC construction sites safer, de Blasio announced new safety measures at the beginning of the year. Among the measures, new inspectors have been hired to increase the number of sites inspections. Penalties for violations of safety standards increased from $2,400 to $10,000 and penalties for not having a supervisor on site from $5,000 to $25,000. Additionally after a giant crane crashed on pedestrians in lower Manhattan, the city ordered a special study to update the city’s crane regulations.

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