NY Accident Lawyers Blog

As if political turmoil in Albany isn’t bad enough, it seems like New York’s capital city has some controversial new problems on it’s hands. Today, about 200 health care workers gathered on the steps of the state Capital building for a lunchtime rally to protest a mandatory requirement for all workers to get an H1N1 flu shot.

Health care workers must get the shots by Nov. 30. One demonstrator carried a sign that said “Don’t shoot” and others expressed the viewpoint that vaccination should be a matter of personal choice.

I’m not sure on what legal grounds the State of New York can require employees to be vaccinated against their will. But, New York State health officials showed no sign of backing down on its plan to require the flu shots for them.

I would be interested in getting the POV from any personal injury lawyer who might be reading this blog.

I just don’t know what it’s going to take to convince people that drinking and driving is a very, very bad idea. Every single day there’s another story about a person injured by a drunken driver. Just today, The New York Times reported that an off-duty police officer — a police officer — was charged on Sunday with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated after, according to the police and relatives, the sport utility vehicle he was driving struck and killed a Brooklyn woman who was hailing a taxi.

Laws have gotten tougher and fines, even jail time, is the norm for offenders. But have we gone far enough to provide just rewards for the victims? Yes, what about the victims, many of whom are injured irreparably, or lose their lives at the hands of these criminals behind the wheel of a car. I commend the work of trial attorneys who represent victims of drunken drivers. They fight the good fight in an effort and get victims the compensation, they so rightly deserve. Without the trial lawyers, the victims would have no advocates and would end up suffering in silence.

Here’s one case that should that should go down in the personal injury record books. Seems a Long Island woman was buried under an avalanche of spaghetti sauce and claims she sustained permanent injuries in the grocery store spill. The lawyer for the woman claims that an improperly stacked sales display collapsed on her when she reached in to get a jar, raining bottles of sauce down on her head and landing her in the hospital. “Before I knew it,” the woman said, I was covered in spaghetti sauce.”

Who knows what will come of her lawsuit. But if this incident is true to form, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sign in the pasta sauce aisle the next time I’m in Pathmark that reads: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!

A Bronx woman, frustrated by the city’s foot dragging on ridding older schools of toxic materials, is going to court to force action. It’s the kind of action typically taken by New York trial lawyers on behalf of people like Naomi Gonzalez.

Apparently, Ms. Gonzalez has decided to go it alone since no lawyer’s name was mentioned in the recent article about Ms. Gonzalez that appeared in The New York Daily News, other than for Dan Greene, a lawyer in the city Law Department’s environmental law division. Gonzalez said although it has been more than a year since the Daily News uncovered window caulking material contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls at her daughter’s school and others, the city has yet to remove it.

Ms. Gonzalez certainly has a legitimate concern. Her daughter, Emelina, 6, attends Public School 178 in the Bronx.

The question I have for any personal injury lawyer out there who might be reading this blog: Should Ms. Gonzalez try and take the City on alone? Or, would she be better off engaging the services of an attorney, particularly one with a track record of winning cases like these against the city?

I would be interested in hearing the opinion of a personal injury lawyer.

According to the News report, Gonzalez is filing a lawsuit on Wednesday asking Manhattan Federal Court to require the city Education Department to test for PCB caulk in at-risk schools and force the removal of all tainted material.

It is hard to believe with the economy such as it is today that the LVMH fashion conglomerate is trying to peddle (no pun inteded) a stylish new handmade Dutch bicycle to the tune of $5900.

But, there is Renaud Dutreil, the chairman of the North American unit of the luxury brand, riding one of these babies to his Midtown office. He has become a one man urban billboard.

And he is not alone.

Fendi, for example, recently introduced the Abici Amante Donna, a handmade $9500 bicycle with a front-mounted beauty case and saddlebags in Selleria leather. At Louis Vuitton, the designer Paul Helbers riffed on Manhattan bike-messenger style at the Paris runway shows in June. Last spring another LVMH brand, DKNY, helped execute the Bike in Style Challenge, in which aspiring designers were asked to create fashionable bike apparel. And in June, Hublot, the luxury watchmaker, partnered with BMC, the Swiss bikemaker, to create a sleek black 11-speed, for about $20,000.

Given the frequency of accidents to people on bicycles in the city, I am sure it will not be long before we hear stories of high society types being sued for running pedestrians down on their million dollar bikes.

As the City of New York prepares for a second wave of the swine flu, the disease is beginning to change the normal course of civility in an otherwise rough and tumble town. Handshakes are being cut short and kisses avoided. Warm embraces are being replaced by swift pats on the back.

The school district in Glen Cove, N.Y., for example, is discouraging students from exchanging high-fives. 

New York City — where Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced a series of steps to prepare for a resurgence of the virus — has no formal stance on touching.  Maybe he should.

I, for one, would hate to be on the receiving end of a personal injury lawsuit should I ever happen to be accused of infecting someone with this dreaded virus.  Imagine facing millions of dollars in legal costs for gently embracing someone?  

The problem, doctors say, is when you shake someone else’s hand after sneezing or coughing, thereby transmitting the virus.  When someone with the flue sneezes or coughs without covering the face, the virus is sprayed out in tiny airborne droplets that travel three to five feet before hitting the ground. So a face-to-face conversation could result in infection. 

My advice: Greet people elbow to elbow.  Saluting is good. Bowing is perfectly acceptable. So too, I think, is just saying hi.  And, wash your hands constantly.  

It must be difficult for city administrators.  Just trying to keep people honest seems like a nearly impossible task these days given the steady stream of news reports about crooked suppliers, like those independent companies that portend to provide safety evaluations for the concrete used in citywide projects.