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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11 pedestrians, 3 cyclists, 4 passengers and 8 motor vehicle operators died in crashes in New York City last May compared to respectively 6,2,0 and 2 in April and 15, 1, 3 and 11 in May 2021. This is the first time that the number of monthly fatalities is above 25 since October 21.

After a drop during the Covid19 crisis in 2020, monthly traffic accident fatalities have been above 25, 8 times during the last 2 years, Before the Covid19 crisis, since Vision Zero started in 2014, fatalities only went above 25 5 times over a period of 6 years. These numbers are very preoccupying.  At the very beginning of May, The Adams administration launched a $4 million campaign urging  motorists to slow down but so far this campaign doesn’t seem to have much effects on car accident fatalities.

New York motor vehicle accident fatalities May 2022
Car accident deaths have been exploding over the last two years in New York City. Last May, as mentioned above, 26 people died in traffic accidents compared to 10 a month earlier and 30 in May 2021. Since May 2015 when they reached 28, monthly car accidents deaths had remained below 20 during the months of April and May. While the trendline since Vison Zero started remains on the decline, the last 2 years have been more deadly than before.

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NYC Medical Malpractice Attorneys Jeff Bloom and David LarkinOur NY Medical Malpractice attorneys Jeffrey Bloom and David Larkin settled a wrongful death case for $3 Million for the death of a man overdosed with narcotics

Our client, a man in his fifties, walked into the emergency department of his local hospital with complaints of abdominal pain.  He was dead within hours.  He left behind a wife and three grown sons.

The nurse receiving the telephone order from the pain management specialist transcribed it incorrectly and raised the dose for Dilaudid to a deadly amount

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Senior pedestrian zonesIn New York City,  45% of the pedestrians who die in a car accident are seniors while they make up only 15% of the total population of the city.

10 years ago senior pedestrian fatalities represented 33% of all pedestrian fatalities, but their numbers are gradually growing and as a result senior pedestrian fatalities are representing a higher percentage of  all pedestrian fatalities than they used to.

The DOT wants to address this problem and  yesterday, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez visited a senior center in Washington Heights to announced the release of an extensive study about senior pedestrian fatalities  and a plan to prevent them.

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a solution to keep cyclists safge during the greenway repairsTo prevent potential bicycle accidents, the Parks Department has delayed the much needed repair of the upper section of the Hudson Greenway until a safe detour can be figured out. The repairs that were supposed to start last Monday would have closed the Greenway for the next 4 months between West 181st Street and Dyckman Street and cyclists would have been redirected onto Broadway via 181st Street and Dyckman Street. This plan was extremely dangerous for cyclists and after multiple calls from local cyclists and street advocates the Parks Department has now postponed the repairs until a safe detour is found.

Several options are being explored to offer a safe detour to cyclists

One of them, a proposal by Community Board 12  endorsed by former Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz, suggests to take one line out of the 3 lines on the Hudson River Parkway north of the George Washington Bridge and to transform it into a temporary bike path separated from the highway with Jersey barriers. This solution would be much safer for cyclists and would not affect the car traffic much as the part of the Hudson River Highway north of the George Washington Bridge is usually extremely fluid.

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Forklifts can be dangerous and result in accidentsAround 100 people die and around 34,000 are injured in forklift accidents every year. The most common forklift accidents are rollovers  and in almost half of the fatal accidents, the operator of the forklift is being crushed when the forklift tips over. Forklifts can also be very dangerous to pedestrians who can get struck or crushed by a forklift or by a falling load.

To raise awareness about forklift safety, the second Tuesday of June is NATIONAL FORKLIFT SAFETY DAY for the 9th consecutive year.

Why do forklift accidents occur?

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Two 13 year old boys who skipped school last Friday and went to the beach instead, died after drowning in Jamaica Bay. The tragedy took place last Friday, 13 year old Daniel Persaud and his best friend Ryan Wong skipped the last day of school and joined a group of friends at Beach 121 in Broad Channel.  The 5 teenagers were seen by fishermen playing in and out of the water a little bit before noon. According to witnesses, Daniel and Ryan were standing on a sand bar when they got submerged in water.

The area is known to be dangerous and signs warn visitors not to swim in the water because of dangerous currents and sudden drop-offs. The two boys did not know how to swim and were swept away by the current. Their friends called 911 and a team of 9 rescuers were sent to the beach but it was too late. One of the boys was found pretty quickly and was still alive when rescuers pulled him out of the water. However he did not survive his injuries and died a few hours later.  it took rescuers another 45 minutes to find the body of the other boy. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

The dad was already mourning his son when he received the school’s notification that his son was absent

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Emotional-trauma-soon-to-be-compenated-in-NY-wrongful-deathThe Grieving Families Act that extends the compensable damages to include damages for emotional damages including grief or anguish caused by the decedent’s death as well as loss of love, society, protection, comfort, companionship, and consortium in a NY wrongful death lawsuit was passed by the New York Senate and is on its way to be delivered to New York Governor Hochul to be signed. It also extends the statute of limitations from 2 years to 3 years and 6 months. Our partner, Jeffrey Bloom, was instrumental in the passing of this law.

The current law in New York State only allows families pursuing a wrongful death action to claim damages such as  loss of financial support, medical expenses and funeral expenses. As a result, families who lost a child, a senior person or a loved one who is unemployed and is not providing financial support are not compensated for the pain and emotional distress they suffer.  For example if a child is struck by a car driver who did not yield, the current law basically estimates that the life of the child has little to no value while if the CEO of a successful company  was fatally struck in the same circumstances, his family would probably be able to recover a significant amount of damages for their financial loss.

The actual law basically tells parents and family that the life of their loved one has no value if they are not big earners. This 19th century law is extremely unfair to grieving families in New York and if  Governor Hochul signs the new bill, these families will be able to claim the above damages they suffered when their loved one was wrongfully killed by a negligent person or entity.

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Injured in New YorkIn New York,  anyone who suffered injury or damages as a result of the negligence of someone else or of an entity can file a claim. In order to obtain compensation the victim will have to prove the liability of the person or entity responsible for the injury and the damages resulting from the negligence. These element constitute the basis of a personal injury case. Because they are sometimes difficult to evaluate, victims of personal injury, especially those who suffered catastrophic injury work with personal injury attorneys who will handle their claims so they can concentrate on their recovery.

In New York, the most common personal injury claims are auto accident claims. In New York City only, according to the most recent statistics, 15 people were killed and 4,105 people were injured in car accidents last March.  Among those killed were 8 pedestrians, 3 drivers and 4 passengers. Among those injured were 1782 drivers, 1289 passengers, 294 cyclists and 740 pedestrians. Crash injuries or death are most of the time caused by the negligence of another road user and therefore  victims of car accidents can often file a personal injury claim.

Premises liability claim are also quite common in New York City as anyone who suffers injury on the premises of a residential or commercial property that was caused by dangerous or defective conditions on the premises can potentially file a lawsuit. Falling debris from inadequately maintained buildings, faulty cellar doors or cellar grate, sidewalks not proprely maintained, defective elevator or escalator, electrical issues can all lead to accidents causing personal injury and sometimes death.

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Ghost bike showing locations of previous NYC deadly bicycle accidentsWhen a cyclist is hit by a car, the injuries can be devastating and sometimes deadly. Some injured cyclists will recover others will required medical treatments for a lifetime. On the top of expensive medical bills,  injured bicyclists might also suffer emotional consequences and life changes that can have significant financial consequences. Depending on the case, the cyclist and his/her family might be able to obtain compensation for their damages and should consult with an experienced bicycle accident attorney.

What does recovering from a bicycle accident look like?

In a recent article, the New York  Post describes how David Jevotovsky,  a medical student who was riding a bike, suffered traumatic brain injury and almost died after being hit by a car in New York City in 2017. After the accident, he was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with what is called an epidural hematoma which is a bleeding between the skull and the brain. This type of injury can sometimes be deadly or if the victim survives, it can have lifetime consequences.

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increased risk of crashes on highway work zonesHighway construction zones are dangerous areas where both construction workers and motorists are at risk of getting injured or killed in crashes.

An annual study conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America and Heavy Construction Systems Specialists (HCSS), found that during the past year 64% of contractors working on highways experienced at least one crash on their work site. Among them, 32% reported 5 crashes or more.

5 or more construction workers were injured in 2% of these crashes, 3 workers were injured in 3% of them, 2 in 5% of them and  1 hard hat was injured in 8% of them. In the majority of the accidents (82%) no workers were injured.