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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Medical Malpractice lawsuit rate per stateThe New York Medical Malpractice lawsuit rate was 19.3 Per 100K residents in 20015. A new study released by Zippia identifies in which  states  the highest and the lowest amount of malpractice lawsuits against medical practitioners were brought in 2015.

For this study Zippia used the data from the National Practitioner Data Bank. The results are somewhat surprising with Louisiana coming first with 44.1 lawsuits Per 100k residents, followed by Oklahoma and Delaware with respectively 36.3 and 35.2 lawsuits Per 100K residents.

New York State came in 31st with 19.3 medical malpractice lawsuits Per 100K residents.

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brCongratulations to Ben Rubinowitz for being selected NYC Personal Injury “Lawyer of the Year”-Plaintiff 2017 by Best Lawyers in America. This is the third time that our managing partner has been selected Best Lawyer’s “Lawyer of the Year” by his peers.  Last year Ben was named New York City “Lawyer of the Year” for Product Liability Litigation  – Plaintiff 2016 and in 2013 Ben was selected by Best Lawyers as New York City Personal Injury “Lawyer of the Year”-Plaintiff.

Ben Rubinowitz started his legal career more than  30 years ago and this award is a result of his hard work and dedication to helping people who have been injured by the negligence of others. Starting as a prosecutor, Ben honed  remarkable trial skills and courtroom presence that have now become his hallmark. He then continued his career serving as a personal injury attorney and joined Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf  in 1989. In 2013 Ben replaced Robert Conason as managing partner of our firm. Ben has achieved numerous verdicts and settlements in excess of one million dollars. A few months ago, Ben and our partner Jeffrey Bloom reached a substantial confidential settlement in The Joan Rivers  medical malpractice case. Ben also represented the family of Marylin Dershowitz, a retired Manhattan Supreme Court special referee who died in a bicycle accident. Ben obtained a $4.6 million verdict for her family.  In another recent case Ben obtained a verdict of $27.5 million for a pedestrian who lost her leg after being struck by a bus.

Recognition by one’s peers is one the most meaningful forms of recognition among attorneys and Best Lawyers is considered the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 36,000 leading attorneys cast almost 4.4 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

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Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is proud to announce that 9 of our New York Personal Injury Lawyers were listed in The Best Lawyers in America© 2017.

Marijo AdimeyJeffrey B. Bloom, Seymour Boyers, Anthony H. Gair, Howard S. Hershenhorn, Stephen H. Mackauf, Ben B. Rubinowitz, and Richard M. Steigman were selected in the following practice areas:

Marijo Adimey, listed in Best Lawyers since 2015

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King Plaza and FlatbushA hit and run driver hit a couple crossing Flatbush Ave, killing the husband and seriously injuring the wife.  Last Thursday around  5pm Angel and Samantha Sagardia were crossing Flatbush Ave in front of the King Plaza Mall in Marine Park, Brooklyn when they were struck by a van. According to witnesses the van was speeding. He hit the woman first and then the man. The van driver didn’t slow down and continued on his way leaving the couple critically injured on the road. A side mirror from the van was also found on the street by investigators. The van was also found later on near the intersection of Rogers and Tilden Avenues in East FlatBush. The driver is still at large.  Read more in the NY Daily News

 

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rubinowitz_torganIn their recent  Trial Advocacy column in the New York Law Journal, Personal Injury Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Evan Torgan write: With discovery and depositions as broad as they currently are, problematic issues in a case should be laid bare before you even walk into the courtroom. It is not the fact that there is a problem but often the trial lawyer’s ability to confront and address the problem during jury selection that can make the difference in the outcome of a case.

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constructionA construction worker was in critical condition yesterday after a four-story fall at a Brooklyn construction site. According to neighbors, the construction site located on Nostrand Ave was previously a case wash that was being converted into a five-story condo building.  The construction site was lacking safety as no gate had been built around the 10-foot foundation. Neighbors also complained their houses were shaking during construction. After he fell the worker was rush to the hospital. He suffered traumatic arrest. Read more in the NY Daily News

A few days before a construction worker was injured after he fell 10 feet down in a trench on a Queens construction site. The man who was covered by debris was promptly rescued by the FDNY. Thankfully he only suffered minor injuries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJcBpHhugYs

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Grand Central ParkwayA man died in a NYC motorcycle accident yesterday night. According to the NYPD the 28 year old motorcyclist was speeding on Grand Central Parkway, weaving in and out of traffic. As he was traveling in the right center lane he crashed into the back of a SUV. The driver and the passenger of the SUV suffered neck and back injuries and were transported to the hospital. The motorcyclist was also taken to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved.

Read more in the NY Daily News 

Picture of the Grand Central Parkway and Jewel Ave courtesy of Google Map

 

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57 pedestrians, 21 bicyclists and 289 motor vehicle occupants were injured in a car accident between 2010 and 2014 at the intersection of Atlantic Ave and Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn, New York City. 5 people also died in crashes at this same location between 2008 and 2016. This busy intersection is one of the most dangerous in New York City and the Department of Transportation wants to make it safer. Last week the DOT presented  a study of the actual traffic conditions at this intersection and proposals to make it safer. As of now, pedestrian crossings are extremely long, the traffic is heavy and often conflicting with pedestrians while turning. Bike lanes do no connect, taxi and buses block the traffic while dropping passengers and the sidewalk design is not appropriate. The intersection is very dangerous. The DOT proposes not only to redesign the intersection of of Flatbush Ave and Atlantic Ave but also the Flatbush Ave intersections near Hanson Place and Ashland place. Among the changes, the plan includes the addition of pedestrian islands and curb extensions to reduce the crossing distances as well some blocks being converted to pedestrian areas and new signalization. The complete study can be downloaded here

Dangerous Intersection NYC

Picture courtesy of Google Map

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boy dead in water slide accidentCaleb Schwab sustained a fatal neck injury as he was riding the the “Verrückt” which is the world’s tallest water slide. The 10 year old boy was decapitated and found dead in a pool at the bottom of the slide.

The accident happened at the Schlitterbahn water park  in Kansas. The “Verrückt” which means insane in German was named the tallest water slide in the world by the Guinness Book of  World Records in 2014. The opening of the ride was delayed after tests on the 168-foot water slide had rafts flying off the slide (see video below).  When the ride finally opened the minimum age to ride it was 14 years old. However a month after the opening the age limit was removed and only the height requirement of 54 inches was kept as a limit to get on the ride.

Caleb boarded the raft with two other women who were not related to him. Both women suffered face injuries. Kelsey Friedrichsen and Josh Foster, a couple waiting  at the top of the water slide to be on the next ride told People Magazine that they saw a group of people at the bottom and a woman being treated for injury to her face. Then they saw first responders covering the body of Caleb.  “It looked like he must have somehow been ejected from his seat, bounced around between the netting and the slide and just slid down,” Friedrichsen said. “He would have fallen down without the raft. It’s kind of like a tube.” A 14 year old girl who took a ride on the “Verrückt” earlier during the day also mentioned that “toward the end of the ride the Velcro on her belt had come undone.” Investigators are still working on determining the exact cause of the accident.

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NYPDWhen a victim is injured in a car accident in NYC, the NYPD tends to blame the victim and anonymous police sources often speculated to the press about the cause of the accident. This attitude was criticized  in a recent report published by Transportation Alternatives (see page 19 of the report). They did it again last week as a preliminary report  from the police indicated that 22 year old Jack Delaney Koval was killed on the West Side Highway after the young man jumped a divider and stepped into oncoming traffic. Further investigation and surveillance footage of the accident revealed that the young man was in the crosswalk when he was fatally hit by the car. He wasn’t jumping a divider like police sources initialy told the press.  Read more in the Gothamist