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.
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Defective Panasonic TVA potentially defective tabletop swivel stand sold with a 55-inch flat screen TV  was recently recalled by Panasonic. The Panasonic 55-inch, LED/LCD flat screen televisions with a tabletop swivel stand is a model that was sold to schools, government buildings and hotels from July 2012 through March 2014 .  The mounting screws that connect the stand to the TV can become loose and the TV can unexpectedly fall off the stand. This pose a risk of severe injury or even deaths to children.

If you see one these TVs on a swivel stand at your child’s school, at work or in a hotel please inquire if it was recalled and repaired. If it wasn’t please make sure that the  TV is detached from the stand and placed in a safe location before calling Panasonic for a free repair kit.

Panasonic indicates that so far nobody was injured.  755 models have been sold in the US and 130 in Canada. The TV is black with Panasonic printed in the front and the swivel stand is in a glossy black color and is 50 inches long. The model number for the television is TH055LRU50. It can be found on a tag on the back of the television.

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5,190 workers suffered fatal injury on the job in 2016, an increase of 7% compared to the 4,836 fatal injuries recorded in 2015. This is the first time since 2008 that the annual number of fatal work injuries is above 5,000. The fatal injury rate was on the rise as well with 3.6 per 100,000 full-time workers being injured on the job compared to 3.4 in 2015.fatal work injuries 2016

Almost half of the fatal work injuries occurred during transportation events. Among the 2,083 workers who suffered fatal injury in a transportation accident, 1,252 died in roadway accidents involving motorized land vehicles, 342 were pedestrians struck by a vehicle, 245 were involved in accidents involving motorized land vehicles, 130 in accidents involving an aircraft, 50 in accidents involving a rail vehicle, 48 in accidents involving a water vehicle and 16 in accidents involving animal transportation or pedal vehicle.

866 workers died from violence or other injuries by persons or animal. Violence at the workplace is the second most common cause of  fatal work injuries.  It increased by an alarming 23% last year.

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OSHA-inspectorTo prevent workers, especially construction workers, from being killed or injured on the job, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducts thousands of work sites inspections every year. After Trump took over some worried that OSHA power would be diminished and that workers might be exposed to riskier work conditions. So far it hasn’t been the case.

During the fiscal year 2017, OSHA conducted 32,396 inspections compared with 31,948 during the fiscal year 2016.  The average penalty per violation was $3645 during the 2017 fiscal year compared with  $3415 during the 2016 fiscal year. Between 2010 and 2015 there was an average 8.4 $1 million cases reported yearly however in 2017 there were only 6 $1 million cases.

Despite being nominated by the president to head OSHA, Scott Mugno, currently vice president for safety, sustainability and vehicle maintenance at FedEx Ground hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate yet. So far the career OSHA people are still running the show and things are not expected to change dramatically.  This is mainly because the lack of political leadership and the language and requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act are preventing deregulation.

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CuomoWould the risk of medical malpractice increase if New York retailers were allowed to operate in-store clinics or would it just help cutting back on unnecessary visits to the emergency room?

According to Cuomo administration Medicaid could save $10 million every year if corporate outfits such as Wallmart and CVS could run medical clinics in their stores. This is the proposal made to New Yorkers by governor Cuomo last week when he unveiled his budget.

While Governor Cuomo believes that in-store medical clinics would improve access to affordable care, opponents are worried that corporate may be more concerned by profits than by patients well being. They also argue that if a pharmacy runs a clinic they may want to try to increase the pharmacy business through the clinic.  Additionally patients visiting these types of clinics will mostly be treated by nurse practitioners or physicians’ assistants rather than by physicians. However Cuomo’s proposal indicates that clinics would only be allowed to treat minor injuries and illnesses.

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accident sceneA pedestrian was fatally struck by a car in New York and the police are still looking for the driver. 61 year old Mercedes Dearmas was killed on Saturday night by a reckless driver who took off after he hit her.  That day Dearmas was celebrating her birthday. She had spent the day picking out a birthday outfit and chatting with neighbors. She spent the evening at her home located on Seventh Ave and 120th Street in Harlem with her long term boyfriend Rodolpho Rabaza. A little after midnight she told him she was going to the store. She walked down to 113th Street. As she tried to cross Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd a silver Sedan fatally struck her. She was rushed to the hospital but she couldn’t be saved.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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NY Top Verdicts Personal Injury 2017
The New York Personal Injury Lawyers at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom Hershenhorn, Steigman and Mackauf obtained the second and the third highest personal injury verdicts in New York in 2017.

  • On September 28 2017, Ben Rubinowitz, Rachel Jacobs and James Rubinowitz obtained a $71 million verdict for a 19 year old woman who suffered a fracture of her lumbar spine in a car accident. This is the second highest personal injury verdict and the highest car accident verdict in New York in 2017. It is the fourth of all New York verdicts among all categories of law (read more here)
  • Less than a month later, on October 24 2017, Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Saghir obtained a $41.5 million verdict for a 43 year old sanitation worker who was fatally struck by a street sweeper.  This is the thirdd highest personal injury verdict and the highest truck accident verdict in New York in 2017. It is the fifth of all New York verdicts among all categories of law (read more here)
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NYC construction workers safetyIn an effort to reduce the number of construction workers injured or killed in New York City, Mayor de Blasio introduced at the end of last year “Intro. 1447-C”, a bill requiring each construction worker to attend 40 hours minimum of safety training to be able to work at a New York construction site (see previous blog).

Therefore by March 1 2018, hard hats working on a NYC construction site will have to show that they attended at least 10 hours of safety training within the previous five years if they want to continue working. Workers can do so by attending an OSHA 10 class.  Workers can Google” OSHA 10 training NYC” to find many options available during the week as well as during the week-end.  During an OSHA 10 hours training course, workers will learn basic work place safety and how to reduce the risk of accidents. They will participate in interactive exercises and study real life cases. Subjects will include fall protection, personal protective equipment, electrocution and more.

By December 1st 2018, construction workers are required to complete OSHA 10 and 20 additional training hours specified by DOB or OSHA 30. Workers also have the option to attend a DOB-approved 100-hour training program.

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accident sceneA 26 year old pedestrian suffered critical injury after being struck by a car in Long Island City, NYC,  on Tuesday night.  The man was hit by a dark-colored SUV at the corner of 35th Street and 46th Avenue. The SUV driver didn’t stop, leaving behind him a man critically injured. A woman who was working in a nearby warehouse heard the accident and ran out in the street. She told the Daily News that the victim was trying to get up but he couldn’t. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition. The police are still looking for the driver. Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-8477, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.

A little earlier in the afternoon, a 15 year old boy was struck by a car at the intersection of Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp Lane in Staten Island. the pedestrian was transported to the hospital with shoulder pain. The driver, a 68 year old man, stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged. According to the police the teen was walking outside of a crosswalk at the time of the accident. Read more in the SILive

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de Blasio Congrats NYPD214 people died in a motor vehicle accident in New York City in 2017 compared to 231 in 2016. This is the lowest number of traffic fatalities ever recorded in one year since record keeping started in 1910.

Among the 214 fatalities, 101 of them were pedestrians. The number of pedestrians killed in NYC crashes decreased by 32% between 2017 and 2016. There were 148 in 2016. Also in 2017 among the pedestrian fatalities there was only one child compared to an average of 7 for the previous 5 years.

Among the five boroughs, Brooklyn was the only borough where deadly crashes increased last year. Traffic fatalities declined by 9% from 65 in 2016 to 59 in 2017 in Queens. Queens Boulevard which in the past was nicknamed the Boulevard of Death was progressively revamped and made safer over the last 3 years. Last year the DOT completed the third phase of street redesign of the  Boulevard in Rego Park and Forest Hills. The boulevard hasn’t seen a fatality since 2014.

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New york City Personal Injury Lawyer LawyerOur managing partner Ben Rubinowitz has been asked by Columbia, Vanderbilt and University of California Davis Medical Schools to speak about medical malpractice at the 42nd Annual Winter Urologic Forum. The  Forum will take place in Vail Colorado at the Vail  Marriott Mountain Resort from January 13 to January 16 2018.  A Top New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer, Ben Rubinowitz and all of the lawyers at our firm have successfully resolved thousands of medical malpractice cases for those who have been injured as a result of medical negligence. Ben commented that ” it is truly an honor to have the privilege of speaking to such a distinguished group of doctors. I always find it interesting that the physicians have asked a plaintiff’s lawyer rather than a defendant’s lawyer to deliver the National Lecture on Medical Malpractice.”

This meeting will summarize for practicing urologists and other interested professionals, new concepts in diagnosis and treatment for conditions including local and advanced prostate and bladder cancer, lower urinary tract symptoms, incontinence, urinary tract infection, reconstructive urology, andrology and medical malpractice. At the completion of the meeting, urologists will have been exposed to methods to optimize patient care well maintain patient centricity of care delivery.

The session on Medical Malpractice will take place  on Monday January 15 at 4:00 pm. Ben Rubinowitz will  explain how doctors can protect themselves from being sued and  what  they should do if they are sued.  The moderator for this session will be Roger R. Dmochowski, MD, MMHC, FACS.