NY Accident Lawyers Blog

A rash of drownings at local New York area beaches last summer should ring a warning bell for local authorities this season when the rain finally stops and area residents begin their annual trek to Long Island and New Jersey beaches.  

In the weeks ahead, hundreds of thousands of kids in New York State will be on their way to sleep-away camp for all, or part, of the summer.  But this year, preparations at summer camps will be a little different than in years past.  According to an article in The New York Times today, housekeepers will be wiping down doorknobs, among other high contact objects , in an effort by camp managers to erect a firewall against  swine flu.

In a bewildering move that makes politics in New York State look like a model of good governance, the state Legislature in Tennessee overrode the governor’s veto and actually rescinded a law barring patrons from carrying handguns in bars and restaurants.

What is it going to take for New York City to provide safe environments for the millions of students the city has responsibility for protecting during the school year?  The New York Daily News ran a story today about an effort by Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. to press the city to begin testing for contaminated caulking in all older public schools.

A four-story apartment building collapsed today in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn injuring four people, including a 10-year-old girl, but not badly, just minor scrapes and bruises.  And no one was killed.  I suppose we should be grateful.   But I would like to know what would have happened if someone was seriously injured, or killed, when the building fell?  Who would have been responsible in a court of law to compensate the people who easily could have suffered dire consequences?  According to news reports, people who lived in the building, and the owner, knew it had a crack in the facade.    The owner, William Sang, said he knew the crack was there for the past decade.  And he said he never fixed it because he had “no reason to believe it was unsafe.” 

The controversy over a booming city industry: should pedicabs — the pedal-powered rickshaws that delight tourists and bedevil taxis — be regulated? was raised again in an article today in The New York Times.

The city acknowledges that safety and licensing provisions for pedicabs are still not being enforced — a lack of oversight highlighted by an accident on Wednesday at the entrance to the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge, where a taxi collided with a speeding pedicab driver who was seriously injured.

According to the Times, the law calls for a licensing system that would issue permits to pedicabs and require them to display registration plates, carry insurance, and install seat belts and hydraulic brakes, among other measures.

The next step was for the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs to create a new set of rules to issue permits.

But so far, that has not happened. And in the interim, the safety provisions — including a ban on bridge travel — are not being enforced.

I wonder if this situation with pedicabs will only resolve itself after someone is killed in one of these vehicles and the city is stuck with the tab for damages? as it is in so many other personal injury cases that are brought on the city for failure to act, or for outright negligence.

The number of New York City police officers under review for racking up too many civilian complaints is up 50% in the last two years, department figures show.  These numbers reveal an alarming increase in the incidence of the use of excessive force by the very same people who have taken an oath to protect the public from harm.  Not only does this situation reflect badly on the city, and one of its most important institutions, it also opens up the city to the many lawsuits that are filed by the victims — lawsuits that often end up costing city taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.  This is money that could be much better spent on improving city schools, healthcare, public transportation and the myriad other services being chocked for dollars right now as a result of the economic downturn on Wall Street.

The battle to breathe with damaged lungs seems to pale in comparison to what Daniel Arrigo had to go through to collect what he deserved from Zurich North America, the big insurance company that covered Tishman Corporation after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.  Mr. Arrigo, who was one of many first responders employed by Tishman at the World Trade Center site after the attack, finally received the check he deserved, many months late and after he, his wife and three children were forced to leave their his home on Staten Island and move in with Mr. Arrigo’s brother. Insurance companies have whole teams of lawyers whose job is to block workers’ compensation claims.    “Mr. Arrigo’s situation is indicative of the shortcomings inherent in the whole system in New York State.   

Preston J. Douglas, a New York City medical malpractice attorney and partner in Gurfein Douglas LLP, represented the child. At the time of the delivery the doctor directed the nurse assisting him to apply “fundal pressure” or pressure at the top of the stomach. The made the baby’s stuck shoulders even more difficult to delivery and caused the doctor to pull too hard to delivery the baby. This excessive pulling caused nerve damage to the nerves the control the arm and left the baby with Erb’s Palsy.