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:

70 people died in traffic accidents in New York City during the third quarter of 2022. Among the victims were 26 pedestrians, 4 cyclists, 15 motor vehicle passengers and 25 motor vehicle operators. Pedestrians and motor vehicle operators accounted for most of the deaths while passengers fatalities reached a record high.

Since Vision Zero started in 2014, auto accident fatalities gradually declined from 82 during the third quarter of 2013 to a record low of 56 fatalities during the third quarter of 2019. However, everything changed during the Covid19 crisis of 2020 when NYC streets were almost empty and speeding caused traffic fatalities to peak again and reach 77 during the third quarter of 2020. Since then, the number of fatalities during Q3 never went back below 70.

Auto accident fatalities NYC Q3 2022

While fatalities remained higher than usual, car accident injuries stayed lower than usual

Published on:

429 Est 52nd street where the fire occurredAn occupant of a Midtown high rise who, according to the FDNY, was repairing e-bikes and e-scooters out of his apartment caused a major fire in a high rise after a lithium-ion battery exploded in the front door of his 20th floor apartment. Firefighters said they recovered at least 5 e-bikes from the apartment where the fire started. A woman had to be rescued out of her window in a heroic rescue effort. Firefighters were forced to use a technique called “roof rope rescue” which is a last resort technique to save the woman blocked in the 20th floor apartment.

Firefighters  instructed other residents to shelter in their apartments, put wet towels under the door and wait until they came to rescue them.

A total of 38 people suffered injury in the fire. Two of them are in critical condition. Five of them suffered serious injury and the rest were minor injuries.

Published on:

KIa-challengeAn ongoing “Kia Challenge” instructing Tiktok followers on how to steal Kia or Hyundai cars with a USB charging cord and encouraging users to post videos of their joy rides caused the deaths of 4 teenagers in Buffalo, NY.

19 year old Marcus Webster, 17 year old Swazine Swindel, 16 year old Kevin Payne and 14 year old Ahjanae Harper were passengers in a stolen Kia driven by a 16 year old boy who lost control of the car and crashed it. The four of them  died in the crash. Harper had just gave given birth to a baby daughter. The driver and another 15 year old passenger survived the accident.

The young driver has been charged with criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized used of a vehicle. He is due to appear in court in November.

Published on:

Mulberry and Canal where the bicycle accident occurredA cyclist suffered injury after a driver ran a red light and struck him on Canal Street. The cyclist had a camera mounted on his helmet and the entire accident was caught on camera showing not only the cyclist proceeding with caution but also the driver clearly running the red light.

The cyclist, a 37 year old IT technician was riding north on Mulberry Street. As he arrived at the intersection of Canal he stopped at the red light. As the light turned red for the cars on Canal Street the cyclist peaked to his left – the black Acura who later on hit him is still so far away that it seems obvious that the driver would stop at the light  – and waited for the green light on Mulberry to proceed. As he started to pedal through the intersection and 14 seconds after the light had turned red on Canal, the driver of the Acura just drove through the red light and crashed into him.  The cyclist screamed and fell on the pavement in agony. He lied in the street for more than a minute until the driver came out of his car and excused himself telling him he didn’t see him because the sun was in his eyes.

The driver was on the phone with 911 and EMTs showed up a few minutes later. The cyclist couldn’t move and mentioned pain in his back and leg.

Published on:

gair-150x150-1Harriet  Gair who founded our personal injury law firm with her husband Harry Gair is among  several powerful women attorneys that are featured in the New York Women’s Bar Association (NYWBA) Legacy Project. The project is a series of short videos about NYWBA’s history.

The first set of these videos was presented last Thursday night at a reception and special screening. Our partner NYC Personal Injury Attorney Anthony Gair who is the son of Harriett and Harry Gair, spoke on behalf of his deceased mother in a video, was also present at the reception.

Legacy-Project-6651Harriett started to work for her late husband, the noted trial attorney Harry Gair at the age of 15.  She attended high school and college at night, earning her Bachelor degree in 1938. She was married to Harry Gair after that and then attended Law School and obtained her LLB in 1940. In 1945 she became a managing partner in the personal injury law firm of her husband which was thereafter named as “Gair & Gair”. Harriett managed the firm while her husband concentrated on achieving eminence in the court room as a trial attorney.

Published on:

medical malpractice attorney Allan ZelikovicOur NY personal injury law firm is proud to announce that Allan Zelikovic obtained a $1 million settlement for a delivery driver killed in Manhattan.

This medical malpractice/wrongful death case involved a 51-year-old delivery driver who presented to Wyckoff Heights Hospital with chest pain.  He was examined in the emergency room and determined to be suffering from a myocardial infarction (heart attack) and atherosclerosis. A decision was made to transfer the patient to another hospital equipped to perform coronary angiography and place percutaneous coronary artery stents to re-open the coronary arteries thereby restoring the blood flow to the heart.

The doctor ruptured the patient’s left circumflex and obtuse marginal coronary arteries during coronary artery stent placement and despite evidence of blood leaking into the pericardial sac, the doctor completed the procedure and discharged the patient to the recovery room where he suffered another heart attack

Published on:

NYC Personal Injury Attorney Chris DonadioOur NY personal injury law firm is proud to announce that our partner Christopher J. Donadio obtained a $1 million settlement for a young child injured as a result of a doctor’s negligence.

The case arose when a young child suffered an injury to her brachial plexus during her birth. As a result of the injury, the child suffered Erb’s palsy, a nerve condition in the shoulder and arm that results in weakness or loss of muscle function.

During the child’s delivery, one of her shoulders became stuck behind her mother’s pelvic bone. This is known as a shoulder dystocia. In order to relieve a shoulder dystocia and deliver the baby, there are a number of maneuvers that obstetricians are trained to use, including the McRoberts maneuver, Wood’s corkscrew, Rubin’s maneuver and the posterior arm delivery maneuver. It is imperative that an obstetrician not exert excessive downward force on the child’s head to relieve a shoulder dystocia, as excessive downward force may result in Erb’s palsy.

Published on:

e-scootersThe Consumer Product Safety Commission just released an in-depth report on personal injuries, deaths and hazards linked to the usage of micro-mobility devices. The report looked at data from 2017 to 2021 and  found that personal injuries and fatalities have been growing significantly over the last 5 years.

Hoverboards and e-scooter accidents accounted for almost 90% of all visits to the Emergency Department

It is estimated that 34,000 people visited the Emergency Room in 2017, after they suffered personal injury associated with the usage of a micromobility device.

Published on:

accident sceneReckless driving was a factor in multiple deadly crashes in New York City that occurred at the end of last week.

  • The first accident occurred Friday early morning, around 2:30 am when a 23 year old driver identified as Ravinder Singh who was drunk behind the wheel killed his 29 year old passenger Harjot Singh,  in a wrong way crash on the Brooklyn-Queens-Expressway. The driver is now facing several charges including criminally negligent homicide and drunk driving. (read more in the NY Daily News)
  • A few hours later. around 6:30 am  another deadly wrong way accident occurred, involving a car and an ambulance that was transporting a victim that was previously hit by another car (see previous blog). The victim, a mother of two young children, died and several EMS members were injured and hospitalized.