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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Hoverboard fireAnother defective hoverboard burst into flames creating a fire in a New York City home last week. According to the FDNY this is the third recent case of  a hoverboard fire in the city. Lorraine White from Staten Island paid more than $400 for a Swagway hoverboard for her son last Christmas. She knew about the risk of fire. Therefore she avoided buying a cheap knockoff and paid over $400 for a popular “Swagway” model thinking that it would be safer. It wasn’t the case.  One evening, the hoverboard started to smoke in her son’s room and then burst into flames destroying part of the bedroom. Thankfully nobody was injured. (read more in the silive)

Another boy from Staten Island suffered personal injury after he tried to clean his hoverboard during a vacation in the Poconos. 11 year old Brandon Miller was hospitalized after the middle finger of his left hand became stuck between the wheel and the base. According to the mother the device started rotating unexpectedly and sucked the boy’s finger in. The boy may risk loosing his finger due to infection and may have permanent burn scares.

Previoulsy the FDNY was also called to stop a fire caused by a defective product in Brooklyn.  (see NY Daily News)

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a 68 year old pedestrian died after being hit by a SUV in New York. The car accident happened last Thursday on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Andrea Kremen from Fort Lee (NJ) was crossing York Ave at East 78th Street in Manhatten when she was hit by a SUV. The SUV was making a right turn onto York. According to a witness the impact was so strong that the victim was thrown 70 yards away from the the initial impact. Witnesses rushed to help the woman before the FDNY arrived. She was bleeding heavily and was rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest. She didn’t survive. Read more in the New York Daily News

Last year a total of 133 pedestrians died in car accidents in New York City compared to 139 in 2014. This is is the lowest number of pedestrians killed in traffics accidents in New York City in a year.  This decreasing trends in pedestrian fatalities in the city can be credited to the Vision Zero initiative launched in 2014 by the mayor de Blasio administration. The installations of speed cameras and the lowering of the city default speed limit are some of the measures that have helped in reducing the number of pedestrian deaths.

Safer street redesign by the DOT such as the creation of slow zones in residential neighborhoods, the redesign of many dangerous intersections in the city as well as the creation of arterial slow zones also  contributed to make streets safer for New-Yorkers.

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A 29 year old pedestrian died after being struck by a hit and run driver in New York on Friday night. The accident happened in Midtown Manhattan on the FDR Drive next to the 34th street exit. The police are still looking for the driver. The victim was transported to the hospital were he died. Read more in the NY Daily News

Last year from January to December NYPD  recorded 38,000 hit and run incidents. In 4,000 cases victims were left injured on  the road. In 48 cases the victims were severely injured or died in the accident. The police arrested 28 people who were related to these 48 cases (read more in Capital New York)

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brOur managing partner NYC truck accident attorney Ben Rubinowitz obtained a $4.8 million settlement for the family of a victim of a NYC truck accident.

On March 9 2011, around noon, Albert DeFilippo was riding in a “Lifestyle for the Disabled” van in Staten Island when the vehicle was struck by a FDNY truck.  DePhilippo and the other passengers of the van had attended a workshop and eaten lunch and were being driven back to Pleasant Plain when the accident happened.

The FDNY truck was rushing on Richmond Road toward the Staten Island Expressway. Its lights were flashing and its siren was wailing. When the truck reached the intersection of Burgher Avenue it collided with the Lyfestyle van. The van was making a left turn from Burgher. The impact was so strong than one of the riders died, two others were critically injured and 6 others suffered minor injuries.

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A pedestrian died in a car accident in Brooklyn, NYC last Thursday. The driver was charged with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care and issued a desk appearance ticket.  The victim is a 77 yearl old woman. She was crossing the road at E. 21st Street and Gravensend Neck Road in Sheepshead Bay when a van making a left turn hit her. The driver 23 year old Zafrom Ghafoor was driving South on E. 21st Street. He drove thru a stop sign before making the left turn. If he had stopped he would probably have seen the elderly woman and the accident could have been avoided.

Earlier during the day, a 67 year old female pedestrian was severely injured after being hit by a car in Queens, NYC.  The accident happened at the intersection of 39th Street and Queens Blvd in Sunnyside, Queens, NYC. The driver was making a left turn when he hit the victim. He said he didn’t even see the victim. The woman was severely injured and her leg was partially amputated at the right ankle according to the FDNY.

That same day a 31 year old bicyclist crashed into a 65 year old pedestrian in Brooklyn, NYC. The pedestrian was crossing 60th street at Eighth Ave in Sunset Park when the bicyclist plowed into him. Both of them were injured and taken to the hospital. The pedestrian who suffered head trauma was in critical condition. The bicyclist only suffered minor injury.

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3 pedestrians suffered personal injury after being hit by a car in New York. The pedestrians were walking on the Upper East Side of Manhattan when a car plowed into them. The driver identified as 27 year old Cameron Cohello fled the scene of the accident, striking another car. He continued to drive toward the Queensboro Bridge. He abandoned his car near the bridge. He then tried to force a cab driver out of his car to steel his vehicle. A traffic agent ran to the rescue of the taxi driver. As the traffic agent was trying to grab him, Cohello punched him in the chest. Cohello was finally arrested by the police and sent to the hospital for psychological evaluation. He was charged with felony, assault and attempted robbery.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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MTAAfter a pedestrian died in a New York City bus accident, officials announced that the driver was arrested under the city’s Right of Way Law. The fatal bus accident happened a week ago in Brooklyn, NYC.

62 year old Eleanora Shulkina was crossing East 17th Street near Avenue Z. The woman was in the crosswalk when she was hit by a MTA bus making a left turn on Avenue Z. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. She didn’t survive her injuries and died shortly after.

The bus driver, 52 year old Wayne Alman, stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t immediately charged. However yesterday officials announced that they had arrested the bus driver. He is charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian, a misdemeanor under the newly signed Right of Way Law.

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The police are looking for a hit and run driver who killed a teen pedestrian Tuesday night in Queens, NYC.  The accident happened on Northern Blvd near Junction Blvd. 17 year old Jaremello Ovidio was crossing the road when he was hit by the car. The driver didn’t stop. The teen was left dying in the street. He was walking home from a funeral when he was hit by the car. The police are looking for a black Toyota Camry that was driving westbound on Northern Blvd around 11:00 pm on Tuesday night.

So far this year there were 38,000 hit and run accidents in New York City. 31 people died in these accidents and 4000 suffered personal injury.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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Lenox HillHospital negligence and abuse is not only related to patient care, it can also be related to how well the hospital protects the identity of its patients. Yesterday, a former employee of the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and his wife appeared in front of the Manhattan Supreme Court because they allegedly stole the personal information of more than 80 patients and use their credit cards to charge a total of $300,000 fraudulent charges at Saks Fifth Ave in Manhattan. They tried to charge over $1 million according to prosecutors. Kyle Steed and his wife pleaded not guilty to a 193-count indictment that included, grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, identity theft and possession of stolen property charges in a scheme that targeted elderly people. Read more in the NY Daily News