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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yield to pedestriansVision Zero’s “Right of Way” law makes it a misdemeanor for drivers who killed or injured a pedestrian because they failed to yield. However after 6 bus drivers were arrested last year, TWU, the bus drivers’ union started a heavy campaign to protect bus drivers from the law. Yesterday a federal lawsuit brought by TWU against Mayor de Blasio in April resulted in a settlement that drivers will not be strictly liable for seriously injuring or killing pedestrians in a crosswalk. Investigators will have to determine that a driver failed to “exercise due care,” which will now be defined as “care which is exercised by reasonably prudent drivers.”  Read more in the NY Daily News

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Death or personal injuries such as burns, smoke inhalation and wounds from falling merchandise are among the risks faced every day by New York High end store Idea Nuova’s employees. According to OSHA, the aisles are clogged with merchandise and, at the time of the inspection, an emergency exit was blocked by disco balls, desks and lamps preventing a quick evacuation in case of a fire. Additionally many stairwell exit doors that must remain closed to prevent the fire from spreading were propped open, haphazardly stacked merchandise was  threatening to fall on  anyone passing to close to it and exposed electrical outlets were a risk for electric shock.

This is the second time in two years that OSHA found unsafe conditions at the high end store located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The company was cited in 2013 for similar hazards at the Manhattan location as well as the Brooklyn location.

Read the OSHA press release

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NYC explosionA construction worker was critically injured and two others suffered serious personal injury in a gas explosion that rocked the walls of the science lab at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, NYC. 36 year Luigi Barillaro, 38 year old James Intriago and 53 year old Charles Marullo, were all working for the plumbing and heating company Mar-Sal Plumbing & Heating Inc., based on Pitkin Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens, NYC. The company was hired to install a tabletop gas valve as part of a science lab construction project located on the sixth floor of the building. The 3 men had been working all day and the room was filled with gas but they apparently didn’t detect the smell of gas because they had been desensitized to it. At one point Luigi Barillaro lit a match to check if the gas was working, sparking a huge explosion, blowing out the walls and sending debris flying 200 feet.

Barillaro was critically injured and had burns over most his body. He has already undergone multiple skin-grafting surgeries. Intriago and Maruallo were also still in the hospital and being treated for burns to their arms and faces.

The school was issued a full vacate order for the entire building and a safety zone was put in place along some facades. Students who were supposed to start school there on September 9 will have to be temporarily relocated.

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A female pedestrian was left injured on the road by a negligent driver who backed into her and took off.  The accident was caught on camera. The video shows that after the driver struck the victim, he stopped and got out of his car. However moments later he got back into his car and took off.  The accident happened on August 19th in front of Jackson Ave in Mott Haven. The police are looking for the hit and run driver.

 

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legionellaAfter a dozen died and over 100 more suffered serious personal injury from Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks this summer in New York City, Local Law 77 of 2015 was recently enacted to identify, regulate and inspect all buildings using a cooling tower.  As a first step building owners have until September 17, 2015 to register existing cooling towers with the NYC Department of Buildings. A new NYC Cooling Tower Registration Portal has been created for this purpose. More information can be found here.

The dangerous bacteria continues to spread in the city. Yesterday, a catholic school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan had to temporarily close for disinfection after tests showed some legionella bacteria in a cooling tower.

 

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Daniel+Pollack-1By simply noting red-flag concerns front and center of  a patient’s file, child welfare workers can protect children from being seriously abused, injured or killed. In a recent article in Youth Today, Daniel Pollack, a professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University in New York City and a frequent expert witness in child welfare cases describes how crucial information related to a child’s personal safety can get buried into electronic files and later lead to disaster. For example red flag sentences such as “Johnny is a runner. He needs to be watched at all time” should not be hidden somewhere in the child’s file but should be front and center of the file so, as time goes by, the next person to open the file will make sure Johnny doesn’t get killed running into traffic.

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Tow teenagers from Manhattan were injured, one critically in a car accident on Saturday around 8 pm.  The  non identified 17 year old driver and his 18 year old passenger identified as Steven Fermin had stolen the car from the Six Flags Great Adventure theme park in New Jersey. They were pursued by the police on the New Jersey Turnpike near Ridgefield Prk when the accident happened. During the crash the driver was thrown from the car. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Read more in the NY Daily News

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A woman in her thirties suffered critical personal injury after she was pinned between a car and a a wall by a drunk driver who slammed into a Bronx produce stand yesterday. Another pedestrian was injured by flying debris. The 68 year old driver stayed at the scene of the accident and was taken into custody by the police. He was charged with driving while intoxicated and he is now facing criminal charges.

 

 

 

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There were 19,061 motor vehicle accidents in New York City in July 2015 compared to 19,428 the previous month. During the same month in 2014 and 2013 there were respectively 17,361 and 17,548 crashes.  For the last 3 months the number of  accidents was unusually high and stayed above 19,000. So far since the beginning of the year there were 123,697 traffic accidents in NYC compared to respectively 118,195 and 117,022 for the same period of 2014 and 2013.

Motor Vehicle Accidents NYC July 2015
4,776 people suffered personal injury in motor vehicle accidents in NYC in July compared to 4,795 the previous month and respectively 4,591 and 5,077 for July 2014 and July 2013. Even though the number of motor vehicle accidents was very high in the month of July the number of people injured in these accidents was lower in July 2015 than in July 2013 and almost the same as in July 2014.

The number of motorists injured in a vehicle accident in July 2015 was unusually high and above 2,000 for the first time over the last 3 years under review.

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A bicyclist was critically injured after being hit by a truck in Brooklyn, NYC yesterday. The accident happened at the intersection of Bath Ave and Bay 25th Street. The bicyclist who was delivering food for China Garden located half block away was trying to cross Bath Ave when he was hit by a truck traveling east on Bath Ave. The victim who is 65 years old was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Read more in the NY Daily News