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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A truck fatally  struck a bicyclist in Brooklyn, NYC. The truck accident happened yesterday at 5 pm in Sheepshead Bay. 54 year old Reng Can Ma was riding his bicycle westbound on Avenue U near Ninth Street.  A truck driver who was riding in the same direction passed him to closely and hit him. The truck driver didn’t stop. Witnesses believe his truck was so big that he may have not realized that he hit the bicyclist. The police are still looking for him. They have released a surveillance video showing the truck passing the cyclist seconds before the accident. The truck was a large Ryder truck with Indiana license plates. Several people who witnessed the accident ran over to the victim and tried to help him but there was little they could do. The man was lying in the middle of the street and wasn’t moving. According to a witness he was bleeding from the head and he was confused. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Read more and see video on ABC7 NY.

Avenue U is Brooklyn’s second Chinatown. It’s a neighborhood that has been developing fast recently. More and more Chinese food markets, bakeries nail salons and electronic stores are opening between Coney Island Ave and Ocean Ave. The traffic has increased as well and numerous complaints have been reported on the Vision Zero map by concerned residents. The Vision Zero map that was used to define the City’s Vision Zero borough safety action plans shows that Sheepshead Bay residents were worried about the safety of Avenue U. Most of the complaints are related to double parking. Residents reported that there were constantly cars double parked on both side of the Avenue.  Jay walking was also reported on several spots. Additionally complaints of running red lights, failure to yield to pedestrians and illegal U-turns were also reported by some residents.

Avenue U

 

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Brown25 year old Stephen Hewett Brown was killed by a malfunctioning elevator in New York seconds after he saved a mother from being killed herself. New Yorkers moved by the terrible accident helped the family raise almost $14,000 for his funeral. On New Year’s Eve, Brown was in an elevator at 131 Broome on his way to a party on the 25th floor of the building. When the elevator reached the third floor, 43 year old Erude Sanchez stepped out to exit. At the same time the elevator started moving down. Brown immediately understood what happened and pushed the mother into the hallway, protecting her from injury and maybe death. Unfortunately seconds after he pushed the woman to safety he was pinned between the elevator’s roof and the third floor entrance. According to the 10 witnesses who were also trapped in the car, the elevator doors kept opening and closing on him when he was screaming that he couldn’t breath.

According to the New York City Department of Building records, the elevator at 131 Broom Street was defective at the time of the accident. The building had 3 open violations for failure to correct defects in the elevator going back to 2012. Last August, the owner of the building, Grand Street Guild East HDFC, received two Environmental Control Board Violations for failure to maintain the elevator in a code complaint manner. the hearing on that case was schedule the same day of the fatal elevator accident.

Dashia Impaeriali who was the president of the building tenants association from 2006 to 2011 told the NY Daily news that she wasn’t surprised by the accident. She explained that the elevator would sometimes jump several floors and go up and down without reason.

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Polack and LernerIn a recent article, Daniel Pollack, a professor at the School of Social Work at Yeshiva University in New York and Jonathan G. Lerner look at the progressive deinstitutionalization of  individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in favor of community-based services. While some are pleased with the progressive closings of developmental centers others believe that some patients are not fit for community based services and would fair better in an institution.

The article looks at the following subjects:

  • Recent deinstitutionalization trends and services available now for  individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
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brSeven of the best New York personal injury attorneys as well as an ethics attorney and the Honorable Douglas E. McKeon will be discussing some of the most challenging issues that trial attorneys face during trial in a seminar organized by NYSTLA. This seminar will be co-chaired by our managing partner Ben Rubinowitz and by Jeff S. Korek from Gersowitz, Libo & Korek P.C.  It will take place on January 26th and February 9th 2015 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, 132 Nassau Street in Manhattan.  The seminar will also be broadcasted  live. An audio CD and a video DVD will also be available as well as printed materials. They can all be ordered here.

During this seminar  the following subjects will be covered:

  • collateral attacks on expert witnesses
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School bus accident4 children and 3 adults were injured in an accident involving a school bus and a passenger car. The accident happened at the dangerous intersection of First Street and Fourth Ave in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NYC last Friday around 3pm. The school bus was traveling northbound on Fourth Ave and was trying to make a left turn onto First Street when a Mustang struck it. The impact was so strong that the bus flipped on its side. The passengers, 4 children and 2 adults as well as the driver of the mustang were all transported to the hospital.

Located one block away from a school, the intersection of First Street and Fourth Ave is both dangerous for drivers and for pedestrians. On the Vision Zero map two people complained about poor visibility at this intersection.  One of them expressed concern about the fact that many school buses were turning left onto First Street from Fourth Ave with almost no visibility. The other one called the intersection chaotic. Double parking as well as a nearby car wash are also  adding to the chaos according to the comments.

Continue reading →

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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.