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.

Articles Tagged with new york personal injury

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Gotham residential construction siteIn June 2018 two construction workers were seriously injured in a mini crane accident in New York because of the negligence of their supervisors. These supervisors were indicted last week for their reckless behavior. They face second degree assault and reckless endangerment.

The accident occurred on June 25th at a Harlem construction site located on East 126th Street near Lexington Avenue. Workers hired by Western Waterproofing were installing a facade for a building made of stainless steel and giant glass panels. To help them install the panels, 41 year old Timothy Braico, a senior branch manager, rented a mini crane that was installed on the fourth floor of the building. None of the workers in the team had proper training to use the crane and no one knew how to proprely set it up. After the crane was installed without an approved DOB engineering plan specifying crane use and tethering, the site supervisor, 39 year old Terrence Edwards, ordered an untrained iron-worker to operate the crane.  The crane maximum load was 880 pounds. As workers were hoisting a 1500-pound glass panel onto the facade of the building, the crane toppled and crashed to the ground.  39 year old Christopher Jackson, was ejected in the air and fell 3-story to the ground. He suffered traumatic brain injury that affected his capacity to talk and walk.  Another worker, 37 year old Jorge Delgado was struck in the back and suffered severe spinal injury that affected his mobility.

In New York, construction sites using mini cranes have to follow specific procedures in order to legally use them. A permit application that includes detailed plans as well as the proof that the contractor hired a certified operator and certified rigging crew must be submitted to the DOB in order to use a mini crane.

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New York Bicycle Accident Lawyer Anthony Gair
Our NYC bicycle accident lawyers are suing the city and the Hudson River Park Trust on behalf of the families of the victims of the terror attack that took place a year ago on the West Side Highway bike path.  Our firm is representing the families of 20 victims who were among the people who were killed or injured  by a pro-ISIS terrorist who rented a truck from the Home Depot and sped down  the Greenway, a popular bike path along the Hudson River, mowing down anyone in its path.

The city’s Department of Transportation and Parks Dept as well as the Hudson River Park Trust “were on notice since at least 2007 of the numerous vehicles that were entering the Greenway,” said our partner Anthony Gair to the NY Daily News. “Nothing was done.”

Previous Transportation Alternative study ignored by the city

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17 people were injured in a fire that erupted in a Manhattan building early Wednesday morning.  Among the injured were 14 firefighters and 3 residents who were treated for smoke inhalation, heat exhaustion and minor injuries. The fire was so smoky that it was difficult for residents that were being evacuated to see where they were going. The firefighters stayed on location for 6 hours.

Most of a roof extension located on the first floor of the building was on fire and  posing a risk of collapse,preventing firefighters to get in that small section of the building. Investigation is still ongoing but according to the media, the fire probably started a little bit before 2 am on the first floor of the five-story building located on 188 First Avenue between 11th and 12th Street. The restaurant Uogashi as well as the 8 apartments of the building were badly damaged by the smoke and the fire. The East Side Community High School at 420 East 12th Street near First Avenue and P.S. 19 at 185 First Avenue near East 12th Street were closed for one day to make sure students didn’t get exposed to smoke.

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Last Halloween, a terrorist driving a rental truck plowed into bicyclists and pedestrians on the Greenway bike path along the West Side Highway near Battery Park. In his act of terror, Sayfullo Saipov killed 8 people and injured 13 others after he entered the bike path  North of Chambers Street and drove 14 blocks down the path, striking bicyclists and pedestrians on his way.  The police were able to stop him after he slammed into a school bus at the Chambers Street intersection and tried to run away on foot.

According to the authorities, Saipov was inspired by the Islamic Sate group when he committed his act of terror. He is now behind bars and held without bail. He pleaded not guilty but the federal prosecutors announced on Friday that they are seeking the death penalty which is extremely rare in New York. The last time it occurred was in 1953 for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Our firm represents most of the victims of the terror attack and while this decision by the  federal prosecutors will satisfy the families of the victims it will never make up for their losses.

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Among all the States in the US, New York State has the highest rate of mothers injured while giving birth.  Many of these injuries are the direct result of hospital negligence and medical malpractice. A recent investigation by USA Today shows that not only in New York but all over America negligent medical workers skip basic safety practices that have proven to be life savers for mothers.

Weighing blood pads to track dangerous hemorrhages as well as controlling blood pressure and if necessary immediately providing medication to prevent strokes are basic procedures that protect a mother about to give birth. However in the US many nurses, doctors and hospitals continue to ignore them. As a result while in most developed countries the rate of maternal deaths and injuries dropped drastically over the last decades, it rose sharply in the US.

maternal deaths in developed countries
Excepted for California where safe practices have been implemented, hospitals in other Sates continue to ignore basic safety practices.  As a result, every day in the US, 2 mothers die from complications related to delivery. Many of them bleed to death because doctors and nurses don’t bother to quantify blood losses. Many others die from stroke because the hospital staff didn’t track their blood pressure or didn’t provide blood pressure medication on time. Most of these deaths are preventable. Experts estimate that 93% of the deaths related to bleeding could be avoided by quantifying blood loss and 60% of the deaths related to blood pressure disorder could be prevented simply by proprely monitoring blood pressure.

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Last week a pedestrian was critically injured in a truck accident in New York. The 37 year old man was run over by a tractor trailer at the intersection of Amsterdam Avenue and 81st Street last Thursday evening a little bit before 7:00 pm. He was rushed to the hospital with severe trauma and was likely to die according to media.

BIG RIGS HAVE NOTHING TO DO IN A NEW YORK RESIDENTIAL AREA AT DINNER TIME

It was a busy summer night in a residential neighborhood and people were having dinner in the various restaurants and terraces located in the area. Witnesses eating at a nearby restaurant said they heard a big thump and then they saw the man laying face down in the street and not moving.  Witnesses rushed to the victim to try to help while the truck continued on its way. He stopped one block away from the accident after a crowd gathered at the rear end of his truck. The driver then cooperated with the the police He told them that he he didn’t realize he had hit someone.

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5 people suffered personal injury in a steam pipe explosion in Manhattan last Thursday. The injuries were minor but nearby tenants were worried about the effect of possible asbestos exposure as the explosion produced a thick geyser of white smoke and debris that contained asbestos.  The pipe that exploded was installed in 1932 at a time when asbestos was used as a component for the thermal insulation around the pipe. It was banned in the 1970 after studies demonstrated that exposure to the substance could lead to serious health problems including lung cancer.

In the afternoon following the explosion Mayor de Blasio confirmed that the steam line pipe was contaminated with asbestos and that authorities were concerned about  whether any debris entered into buildings or into air conditioning systems. Streets were closed to the public around the explosion area on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Flatiron district and 49 buildings were evacuated so that the area could be fully decontaminated.

According to Dr. Norman Edelman, a pulmonologist interviewed by the New York Times, the health risk associated with a one time exposure to asbestos are minimal. Its chronic exposure, over years or decade that is the real danger.

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5,569 people suffered personal injury in 20,551 traffic accidents in New York City last May. Among them were 2,534 motorists, 1,755 passengers, 430 cyclists and 850 pedestrians.

While looking at past statistics,  we notice a seasonal factor that causes the number of crash injuries to always increase during the month of May compared to the previous months of  February, March and April. Last May the auto accident injuries in New York City increased to a record number.

In May 2013, before Vision Zero, 4,988 people suffered injuries in NYC crashes.  Then the Vision Zero program started and the number of crash injuries declined to 4,621 in May 2014. It increased again slightly to 4,788 in May 2015 but stayed below the Pre-Vision Zero number of injuries recorded in May 2013. In May 2016, it peaked above 5000 and never went back below that level for the last 3 years. 5,415 crash injuries were recorded in May 2016 and 5,314 in May 2017.

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A motorcyclist was injured in a road rage accident on Wednesday morning on the west side of Manhattan, New York City. The motorcyclist and the driver got into a verbal argument. After that the enraged driver intentionally struck the motorcyclist with his SUV. The bike ended up mangled under the SUV and the motorcyclist was brought to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. He is expected to survive. The driver was arrested. The accident occurred on 57th street and 11th Ave.

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34 people suffered personal injury in an accidents involving two buses. The accident occurred in the center tube of the Lincoln tunnel that links New Jersey to Manhattan.  The two NJ Transit bus who were coming from Wayne and from Oradell were following each others when one of them rear ended the other one. 25 passengers were on board one of  the buses and 37 were riding in the other bus.  32 of them were injured. 8 of them suffered serious injury. Instead of ambulances, FDNY used a special bus that allowed them to transport dozens of injured passengers to the hospital at the same time.

The police are still investigating the exact cause of the accident.