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 Wrongful Death

Published on:

Speed_Limit_25_sign.pngA major step in Vision Zero plan to reduce the number of injury and death related to traffic accidents in New York City has been achieved this week. Albany just granted Bill deBlasio the authority to reduce the maximum speed limit from 30 mph to 25mph in all 5 boroughs of New York City.

Read more in Mobilizing the region, the blog from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign

Published on:

In New York City, being struck by a vehicle is the leading cause of injury related death for children under 14 years old. Speeding drivers in school areas are of particular concern. As part of the Vision Zero program to improve traffic safety, the City of New York has been working on various initiatives to protect children form being struck by cars in school zones. One of the latest initiative announced by the the NYC DOT is the addition of speed bumps near 3 schools in lower Manhattan.

The bumps will be installed behind Battery Park City’s P.S./I.S. 276, on Little West Street, between First and Second places; in front of the Lower East Side’s P.S. 2, at Pike and Rutgers streets; and in front of Chinatown’s P.S. 124, on Division Street between Bowery and Market Street.

Read more in DNA Info New York

Published on:

16 year old Oscar Hernandez suffered catastrophic personal injury as the result of the gas explosion accident that happened last March in Harlem, New York. 3 months later he is still in the hospital recovering from severe burns, broken bones and internal injuries. Oscar was in the coma for 11 days and has no recollection of the gas explosion. He woke up in the hospital to hear that his mom and sister had passed. Today the New York Daily News wrote a touching article about the difficulty endured by Oscar Hernandez and his family to overcome this tragedy. Read the article here

Published on:

A construction worker died recently after plunging 5 stories down an elevator shaft on a New York construction site. The worker was wearing a safety harness but he wasn’t connected to a lifeline. A second worker was also injured as he plunged from the second to the first floor. The site, a 6-story new building under construction, was hit with a stop work order by the Department of Buildings.

Falls is the deadliest hazard in the construction industry. The accident happened during the OSHA National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction.

Read more in CBS New York

Published on:

A 22 year old Brooklyn supermarket worker was crushed to death by a forklift yesterday. According to the media, Gustavo Tapia was using an electric pallet stacker to push a Yale forklift up a ramp leading to the rooftop of Moisha’s Discount Supermarket on Ave M in Borough Park, Brooklyn when the forklift suddenly rolled backward and pinned the young worker against the wall. Gustavio Tapia suffered fatal chest injury and was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital.

Read more in the Gothamist and the NY Daily News

Published on:

A 63 year old woman died and a 58 year old man is in critical condition after both were involved in two separate car accidents in Brooklyn, NYC, this week-end. The first accident happened at the intersection of Coney Island Ave and Avenue N. Two cars collided and went spinning through the intersection. One of them hit 63 year old Galina Truglio who was walking in the crosswalk before hitting another car. Galina Ruglio was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The Intersection of Coney Island Ave and Avenue N is a very dangerous intersection. According to NYC Crashmapper there were 46 collisions over the last 31 months at this intersection. 4 pedestrians, 2 cyclists, one passenger and one driver suffered personal injuries at this location during the last 31 months.

accidents%20at%20Coney%20Island%20Ave%20and%20Avenue%20N.jpg6 hours later a 58 year old man suffered serious personal injury after being struck by a car while crossing Nostrand Ave at Church Ave in Brooklyn as well.

Published on:

The City Council just passed 11 traffic safety bills to crack down on reckless drivers and reduce accidents related to traffic violence. Drivers who fail to yield to a pedestrian or a cyclist will be punished by a penalty of $50 to $250 and up to 15 days in jail. Drivers who hit a pedestrian or a cyclist who has the right of way will be criminally charged and punished by up to $500 in fines and 30 days in jail. Cab drivers who injure or kill someone while committing a traffic violation will have their license immediately suspended. Stunt behaviors by motorcyclists such as wheelies and donuts will be prohibited.

Read more about these bills in New York Street Blog

Published on:

As part of the Vision Zero Initiative to reduce pedestrian deaths, the NYPD led a two-day crackdown on speeding in New York City. The police issued a total of 4814 tickets: 1249 in Brooklyn, 1219 in Queens, 1175 in Manhattan, 782 in the Bronx and 389 in Staten Island.

Read more in CBS New York

Published on:

Window%20guards.jpgA toddler fell yesterday from the sixth floor of a Crown St. building near Albany Ave in Brooklyn, New York. He landed on a balcony and later died of his injuries at the hospital. The window where the child fell from was open and didn’t have a guard. (read more in the New York Daily News)

Every year in New York young children are dying or are being seriously injured after falling from unguarded windows. These deaths and injuries are preventable.

The window guard law requires owners to send an annual notice to tenants of multiple dwellings (buildings of 3 or more apartments) regarding window guards. It also requires owners to provide and properly install approved window guards on all windows, including first floor bathrooms and windows leading onto a balcony or terrace in an apartment where a child 10 years of age or younger resides and in each common area window, if any, in such buildings. The exceptions to this law are windows that open onto a fire escape and windows on the first floor that are a required secondary exit in a building in which there are fire escapes on the second floor and up.

Published on:

As part of the Vision Zero Initiative to reduce deaths and injuries related to traffic accidents, New York police officers gave out more than 1000 summonses including 500 for failure to yield to pedestrian between May 5th and May 10th at a dangerous Queens intersection located near 74th street, Roosevelt Ave and Broadway.

The location was selected by the city because it has a history of accident. Last February a 25 year old woman was struck to death by a MTA bus at this intersection.

Read more in DNAinfo New York