Our managing partner, Ben Rubinowitz will be a speaker at the New York State Lawyer Association Seminar “Decisions 2015: Recent Developments in Tort Law
– NYC” that will take place in Manhattan on September 25 and 26. Ben will speak on the 26th. The following topics will be covered:
When the injury or the death of a child may have been caused by abuse or neglect, Child Protective Services (CPS) send investigators to discover and examine the facts that led to the incident so as to establish the truth. Unfortunately investigators sometimes commit legal mistakes that can have dire consequences. In a recent article, Professor Daniel Pollack from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University, describes what are the most common avoidable legal mistakes CPS investigators make and explains the reasons why they are committed. For example an interviewer may view a child’s anti-social behavior as a sign that the child is not a trust worthy reporter of abuse while this type of behavior is actually a sign of the abuse itself. The complete article can be downloaded here
Between six and ten people were injured in New York after the East River Ferry experienced a hard landing at Pier 11 in Wall Street. The accident happened yesterday a little after 5:30 pm. There were 36 people on board when the accident happened. Most passengers were not injured and refused medical attention. Six passengers who suffered minor injury were treated at the scene of the accident by paramedics and two were sent to the hospital according to NY1.
A 64 year old man died in a truck accident in New York City yesterday morning. The man apparently suffered a heart attack and lost control of the truck he was driving. The accident happened early Monday morning around 6:30 am. Frederick Harris of Westminster was driving north on Francis Lewis Boulevard when he lost control of the box truck he was driving. The vehicle crossed the median veering into oncoming traffic before hitting three unoccupied parked cars. He died at the scene. Read more in the NY Daily News
A female pedestrian suffered severe injury after being struck by a car in New York yesterday afternoon. The woman was standing on a sidewalk at the intersection of East 49th Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan, NYC, when an out of control driver jumped the curb and pinned her against a light pole. According to witnesses the victim’s clothes were completely ripped and she was lying on the street almost naked and severely injured. Moments after the crash, doctors from a nearby emergency clinic ran to the scene of the accident and covered the victim with blankets until EMS arrived and transported her to the hospital. See video on Pix11
A few hours earlier another car jumped the street on East 69th Street and First Ave and crashed into a Starbucks. Thankfully nobody was injured in this accident.
See surveillance video and read more about it on NBC New York
32 year old David Rodriguez died from injuries he sustained in an accident during which he was hit by a NYC MTA Bus as he was riding his bike 9 days ago. Rodriguez was biking east on Van Dike Street in Brooklyn, NYC, when he was struck by a MTA B57 Bus that was heading south on Dwight Street. The accident happened at night after 11:00 pm on July 29th.
Rodriguez was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Last Friday, 9 days later, he died from his injuries.
After the accident, the bus driver stayed at the scene and wasn’t charged.
86 cases of Legionnaire’s disease have been confirmed in the South Bronx during the last three weeks. This is the largest and deadliest outbreak of Legionnaires’disease in New York City. The disease which is a severe form of pneumonia is spread through a bacteria that grows in the water. This bacteria has been plaguing New York City cooling towers for years and there are between 200 and 300 cases reported every year in New York City. New York City residents contract the disease when they inhale the mist of cooling water contaminated with the bacteria. According to the CDC, the number of Legionnaire’s disease cases in NYC increased by 230% between 2002 and 2009. The city’s rate of Legionnaire’s disease is twice the National average. The outbreaks have been happening all around the city for decades especially in poor neighborhoods but so far the city has been neglecting the deadly problem and has no regulations in regards to cooling tower safety.
It took seven people’s deaths in the last three weeks for the City to finally take action and propose legislation to identify, regulate and inspect all New York City buildings using a cooling tower. Mayor de Blasio held a press conference yesterday at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. He provided an update on the recent outbreak of the disease and said the new laws will be introduced to the City Council this week.
Last April, 22 year old Carlos Moncayo died in a construction accident in New York because two construction managers put profit over safety. According to the NY Daily News, on April 6th, Christian Ofusu, an independent engineer assigned to oversee the work on a Ninth Ave site in the Meatpacking district warned Alfonso Prestia, the construction site superintendent, that the site was too dangerous and that it should be shut down. Prestia ignored the engineer’s warning so Ofusu went to voice his concerns to foreman Wilmer Cueva who also refused to stop the work. Moments later, as Ofusu was trying to convince the project manager, Mohamad Sharif to shut down the site, a wall collapsed and crushed Carlos Moncaya to death. Cuevas who works for Sky Materials Corp and Prestia who works for Hartco Consultants Corp have both been indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
Yesterday another wall collapsed on a construction site in Nolita, downtown Manhattan, injuring two construction workers (see NY Daily News) and the day before a construction worker was seriously injured after falling two-stories at a construction site in Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan (see previous blog).
A worker was seriously injured in a construction accident in New York yesterday afternoon. The worker fell from the second floor of a future 62-story building located at 435 W. 31st St in Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition. The builder, Hunter Roberts Construction Group told the New York Daily News that they were cooperating with investigators.
A few hours before the accident happened, The NY Daily News published an article indicating that The Department of Buildings agreed to the construction of 52,618 residential units over the last fiscal year, a massive 156% increase from the previous fiscal year and a 749% increase from the post-recession low of 2010. As construction is booming, construction accidents increase as well (see our previous blog).
A worker was injured in a construction accident Friday in New York City. The accident happened at the Red Hook East Houses on Henry Street in Brooklyn, NYC. The worker was standing on scaffolding on the second floor when an AC Unit fell on him. The cooling unit was being removed from the sixth floor by other workers when it fell. The construction worker was transported to the hospital. He suffered non life threatening trauma and was hospitalized in stable condition. Read more in the NY Daily News
Red Hook East Houses, picture: Google Maps
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog