Personal Injury Law

New York Personal Injury Case-The Deposition-Part 2

Posted on November 19, 2009
In the previous article in this series, we focused on the preparation for your deposition. Now that you have properly prepared for your deposition, here are the do's and don'ts for your testimony. First, make sure that you clearly understand the questions you are being asked, and if you don't, say so...

New York Personal Injury Case-The Deposition--Part 1

Posted on November 16, 2009
In your lawsuit for injuries suffered in a New York car crash, Bronx trip and fall, construction accident, from a defective or dangerous product or a dog bite, (to name a few examples), the single most important event in that lawsuit before the trial is known as the deposition, or "examination before trial...

New York Accidents--Notice Of Claim Must Be Filed When Suing Municipality

Posted on October 27, 2009
Here are three very common scenarios for prospective clients who come for their free consultation to our White Plains, New York law offices. The client was walking on a public sidewalk and tripped and fell on a defective sidewalk, suffering serious injuries...

Third Wrong Way Driver on Westchester County Taconic Parkway

Posted on October 08, 2009
Following the tragic Westchester County fatal car crash this past July, in which Diane Shuler killed herself and 7 others driving while intoxicated southbound in the northbound lanes of the Taconic Parkway, two other allegedly intoxicated drivers have driven the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway...

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New York Personal Injury Cases--Documentation Is Essential

Posted on September 22, 2009
When you have been injured in a New York car crash, or slip and fall accident, fallen off a ladder or scaffold on a construction site, or been the victim of a dangerous product or medication, it is vital that you document your accident and injuries. Previously, we have written about the importance of reporting your accident and obtaining a copy of the accident report from the owner of the premises and we discussed getting the names, addresses, and phone numbers of witnesses...

New York's Ban On Driving While Texting Coming Soon

Posted on September 16, 2009
On November 1, 2009, New York's statewide ban on texting while driving goes into effect. The law was designed to prevent or reduce serious New York car crashes such as the tragic accident last year in which several young teens lost their lives when the driver lost control and struck a tractor trailer while texting...

Westchester County Fatal Accident--Was It Unavoidable?

Posted on August 06, 2009
In the wake of the horrific Westchester fatal car crash which killed 36 year old Diane Schuler, her 2 year old daughter, three young nieces, and three men on their way to a Sunday lunch with family, there is this question: Was this terrible tragedy avoidable? We have all heard the main facts by now--A 36 year old woman with her infant daughter, young son, and three young nieces in her minivan, on her way home from a weekend camping trip in Sullivan County, drives the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway for almost two miles, and collides head on with a Chevy Trailblazer occupied by Michael Bastardi, his son Guy Bastardi, and family friend Daniel Longo...

New York Car Accidents--Cellphones Dangerous Even With Handsfree Devices

Posted on July 24, 2009
We all have witnessed drivers on the highway applying makeup, shaving, looking at maps or other reading materials, and focusing on everything but the road. But in an eye-opening series in the New York Times entitled "Driven to Distraction", studies have apparently shown that drivers using cellphones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers, and their likelihood of causing a car crash is equal to that of someone who is intoxicated with a blood alcohol of ...

U.S. FDA Panel Recommending Ban Of Vicodin And Percocet

Posted on July 09, 2009
Last week, a federal advisory panel of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) voted 20-17 to recommend a ban of Percocet and Vicodin, two very popular painkillers, due to their damaging effects on the liver. Percocet, also known as Oxycodone, and Vicodin, another name for Hydrocodone, are controlled substances due to their addictive nature, and combine a narcotic with high dosages of acetaminophen, a painkiller found in such medications as Excedrin, Tylenol and Nyquil...

After NY Car Crash, Be Wary Of Insurance Company Calls

Posted on July 03, 2009
When you have been injured in a New York car crash, you will be contacted by two insurance companies--your own, and the carrier for the car that hit you. As will be described below, the simple rule is: cooperate with your insurance company, and hang up on the other driver's representative...

New York Drivers Score Lowest On Written Driving Test

Posted on June 03, 2009
In a national written driving test sponsored by GMAC Insurance, New York drivers scored lower than any other state in the nation this year, according to the company. New Jersey drivers scored the lowest last year. The test consists of 20 questions about driving rules that are uniform across the U...

Ten Things To Do When You're In A New York Car Accident

Posted on May 03, 2009
When you are injured in a New York car crash, here are ten things that you should do: 1. Make sure to call the police. The other driver may ask you to "work it out between us", but that is always a bad idea, and will certainly hurt your prospects for a settlement with the other driver's insurance company if the accident was not reported...

$1.25 Million Settlement In Playland Death

Posted on March 26, 2009
The family of the late Jon-Kely Cassara, a seven year old boy who died on the Ye Old Mill ride at Playland Park on August 3, 2005, settled this New York dangerous premises case for $1.25 million on March 23, 2009. The Westchester fatal accident occurred when Jon-Kely got out of his boat and fell in a dark tunnel, apparently getting stuck under the ride apparatus and drowning...

U.S. Supreme Court Delivers Blow to Pharmaceutical Industry

Posted on March 11, 2009
In a great decision for victims of dangerous drugs throughout the United States, on March 4, 2009 the Supreme Court upheld a Vermont state court decision awarding 6.7 million to a woman who suffered permanent injuries from an anti-nausea drug. The case involved a Vermont resident who developed gangrene after a botched injection of the drug, which tragically resulted in the amputation of her hand and lower arm...

Philip Morris Hit With 8 Million Dollar Verdict

Posted on February 23, 2009
The tobacco giant Phillip Morris was ordered to pay 8 million dollars this week to Florida widow Elaine Hess, whose late husband Stuart Hess died of lung cancer at age 55 in 1997. A jury in Fort Lauderdale awarded compensatory damages of 3 dollars and a whopping 5 million dollars in punitive damages, obviously convinced that Philip Morris knew that the cigarettes they marketed and sold are a dangerous product but that the company was more concerned about profit than safety...

New York Accident Case--The Insurance Company Examination

Posted on February 16, 2009
You have been involved in a New York car accident, or a slip and fall accident, or you have been the victim of a defective product in New York. You hire a lawyer, who commences a lawsuit on your behalf when the insurance company won't make a fair offer to settle your case...

New York Accidents--Alternative Dispute Resolution

Posted on February 09, 2009
If you are injured in a New York car crash, a Westchester slip and fall accident, a Bronx dog bite, or Brooklyn construction accident, (among numerous other types of accidents) after you have consulted an attorney and started a lawsuit or claim, there is another possible way to resolve your case with the insurance company or defendant...

New York Car Accidents--Distracted Driving A Serious Problem

Posted on December 26, 2008
According to a study by the Network of Employers For Traffic Safety, distracted driving is a factor in 25% to 30% of all car accidents, or 4,000 car crashes every day. As hard as it is to believe, drivers make an average of 200 decisions for every mile traveled, making it all the more critical that your attention is on the road, not on that important meeting you are heading to or a cell phone call you need to make in the car...

Westchester County Malpractice Verdict Against Medical Center

Posted on December 22, 2008
On December 12, 2008, a jury in a Westchester County medical malpractice case awarded a 7 million dollar verdict to the family of Theresa Capwell, an Orange County mother of three who died on September 10, 2001. Ms. Capwell had been admitted to Westchester Medical Center on September 18, 2000 complaining of abdominal pain...

U.S Supreme Court Deals Large Blow To Big Tobacco

Posted on December 18, 2008
The United States Supreme Court ruled this past Monday that smokers may sue tobacco companies for fraud in the marketing of "light" cigarettes. In a surprising 5-4 decision considering the conservative, pro-business nature of the Court, the Supreme Court determined that several Maine residents had been deceived by Altria and Philip Morris USA into believing that light cigarettes deliver less tar and nicotine to smokers than regular cigarettes...

Accurate Hospital Charts--Vital To A Successful Personal Injury Case

Posted on November 29, 2008
In New York accident cases, the hospital chart description of how an accident occurred is tremendously important in a successful settlement or jury verdict. What I have seen over the last several years is a carelessness, or in some cases intentional effort by emergency hospital personnel to minimize, downplay, or simply disregard the patient's description of how she or he was injured, with a serious negative impact on the client's case...

New York Medical Malpractice--What Is Informed Consent?

Posted on November 26, 2008
You have decided to have elective surgery, such as breast implants, a nose job, or radial keratotomy. Before the procedure is performed, the surgeon (or more likely his nurse or assistant) will hand you a document which contains a long list of potential complications and risks of the procedure you are about to undergo...

New York Car Accidents--The Five Most Dangerous Holidays To Drive

Posted on November 25, 2008
According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in which NHTSA reported on motor vehicle deaths from 2001 through 2006, there are five holidays that drivers should try to steer clear of, if at all possible. The fifth most dangerous holiday is New Year's Day, (which surprised this writer--I would have thought it would be the most dangerous with the amount of alcohol consumed and volume of drivers on the roadways) with an average of 421 vehicular deaths...

Medical Malpractice in New York-Get Your Medical Records Promptly!

Posted on November 22, 2008
If you are the victim of New York medical malpractice by a hospital, doctor, physical therapist or chiropractor, it is vital that you obtain your records immediately after the malpractice has occurred. The most important reason is that an attorney cannot commence a medical malpractice case in New York without having an expert in the that field of medicine review the records and make a determination that there was a "departure from good and accepted medical practice...

Plaintiffs Won More Than 50% of 2005 State Court Civil Trials

Posted on November 08, 2008
According to a study conducted by the United States Department of Justice, Plaintiffs won more than 50% of state court civil trials throughout the U.S. in 2005. Surprisingly for trial lawyers such as this writer, plaintiffs were more likely to get favorable results in bench trials, in which the judge renders the decision, than in jury cases; specifically, plaintiffs won 68% of bench trials and 54% of jury trials...

New York's No-Fault 30 Day Rule -Trap For The Unwary

Posted on October 16, 2008
When you are in a New York motor vehicle accident, your medical bills, hospital bills and lost wage claims are paid by the no-fault insurance company, which is your own insurance company, even if the other car was at fault for your accident. Any occupant of your vehicle that is injured in this New York car crash is also covered under this provision, and makes a claim through your insurance company...

New York Dog Bite Case--Protect Your Legal Rights

Posted on October 02, 2008
If you are bitten by a pit bull in a Bronx County dog bite incident, for example, here is a list of what you should and should not do: Find out immediately from the dog owner if the animal has had its rabies shots so you are aware of the extent of this potential risk; Try to locate and identify any witnesses to the dog bite, and if possible, obtain the names, addresses and phone numbers of these witnesses; Immediately report the incident to the local police precinct or division to have a report prepared; Question the owner of the dog, assuming the owner will tell you this, as to whether the dog ever exhibited any "dangerous propensities" previously, including biting, jumping on people, or even aggressive barking--this is critical information in establishing fault against the dog's owner; Obtain from the owner the name, address and phone number of any homeowner or renter's insurance company, and with this information, make an initial claim against that insurance company; Get immediate treatment for your injuries, especially in cases of severe trauma and where it is unclear if the dog has been vaccinated against rabies; If possible, try to obtain photographs of the dog by requesting that a family member or friend assist you in this effort; DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES sign any release sent to you by an insurance representative who offers to pay your medical or hospital bills in exchange for your signed release which prevents you from bringing a claim for your pain and suffering and emotional trauma; DO NOT GIVE ANY SIGNED STATEMENT OR A TAPE RECORDED INTERVIEW TO AN INSURANCE AGENT; Do not speak with the owner of the dog if he or she calls you after the bite, other than to obtain insurance information or more information about the dog's history and vaccination records...

The Do's and Don'ts When You Are Injured In An Accident

Posted on September 25, 2008
When you or a family member are involved in a New York motor vehicle accident, slip and fall accident in the Bronx, from a dog bite, or on a construction site, for example, it is vital to remember the following: Immediately get treatment at a hospital, doctor's office, or clinic, as insurance companies consider very closely the time between an injury and treatment...

Arthroscopic Surgery Won't Cure Arthritis According To Study

Posted on September 12, 2008
A report in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms a 2002 study that arthroscopic knee surgery is not effective in reducing the joint pain or stiffness associated with arthritis. Arthritis is caused when cartilage that protects bones at the joints (knee, hips, shoulders, hips) wears down abnormally, causing pain and stiffness due to the bones rubbing together...

Allstate Named America's Worst Insurance Company

Posted on September 05, 2008
The American Association of Justice recently released their report named "The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America: How They Raise Premiums, Deny Claims, and Refuse Insurance To Those Who Need It Most." In the report, Allstate is cited as the worst insurance company in the U...

New York City Councilman Seeking Ban On Text Messaging Drivers

Posted on September 02, 2008
New York City Councilman David Weprin has introduced a bill which would ban the sending or reading of text messages while driving within New York City. As the Queens Democrat stated: You're not looking at the road and you don't have both hands on the wheel when driving while text messaging...

Heath Ledger's Accidental Drug Overdose Part Of Growing Trend

Posted on August 05, 2008
Deaths such as actor Heath Ledger's drug overdose from a mixture of medications have soared since the 1980's according to a study published in The Archives of Internal Medicine yesterday. The authors studied 50 million death certificates since 1983, and found that there were more than 224,000 fatal medication errors, including mixing prescription drugs with alcohol and street drugs...

Putnam County Town Supervisor Pleads Guilty to DWI

Posted on July 30, 2008
In a follow up to our July 25 blog, Michael Rights, the Southeast Town Supervisor, pled guilty to driving while intoxicated this week in connection with his July 20th arrest in which he was charged with two DWI counts. Rights was sentenced to enter what is commonly referred to as the DDP or Drinking Driver Program, a seven week course required of all drivers convicted of a New York DWI, must pay a fine of $1,000, and his driver's license has been revoked for 6 months by Judge Spofford of Carmel Town Court...

Putnam County Official Has Second DWI Arrest In 13 Months

Posted on July 25, 2008
Putnam County Official Michael Rights, the Southeast Town Supervisor, was arrested at 3:00 AM this past Sunday on DWI charges when he failed to dim his bright lights and allegedly failed several Field Sobriety Tests at the scene. Rights was taken to police headquarters in Carmel and a chemical test apparently revealed that he had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of above 0...

Expired Tires Causing Needless Deaths And Serious Injuries

Posted on July 22, 2008
There was a shocking and sobering story on the ABC's 20-20 program several weeks ago. Tires sold throughout this country in stores such as Sears, Wal-Mart, and Goodyear have expiration dates, and become dangerous after 6 years regardless of whether they have ever been placed on a vehicle and put in use...

90 Year OId Staten Island Man Mauled By Neighbor's Pit Bulls

Posted on July 18, 2008
90 year old Henry S. Piotrowski of Staten Island was mauled by two pit bulls in his yard earlier this month, causing severe injuries which required doctors at Richmond Hospital to amputate one leg. The two male pit bulls were apparently owned by Mr. Piotrowski's neighbor, and managed to get into the yard through a fence which separated Mr...

Westchester County Close To Approving Social Host Bill

Posted on July 14, 2008
The Westchester County Board of Legislators appears ready to approve a Social Host Law by this fall. Under the proposed bill, Westchester would join other counties such as Nassau and Suffolk in imposing criminal penalties on adults who allow those under under the age of 21 to drink alcohol on their property...

New York DWI Charges Against Three Wrong-Way Drivers

Posted on July 09, 2008
Over the last month, DWI charges have been filed against three motorists driving the wrong way on local highways. Most recently, on July 1, New York State troopers arrested a Mohegan Lake resident for driving south on the northbound lanes of the Taconic Parkway in New Castle...

Westchester Police Seek To Curb Motorcycle Fatalities

Posted on June 30, 2008
Since 2007, there have been seven fatal motorcycle crashes in Westchester County . The vast majority of these Westchester County motorcycle accidents have been caused by two factors: speed, especially around curves, and the rider's failure to wear helmets...

Local Legislators Targeting Immigrants With Criminal Convictions

Posted on May 15, 2008
Under a federal plan known as the "287g" program, local legislators including Ron Ball, R-Carmel are seeking to arm local police with the ability to start deportation proceedings against Putnam County illegal immigrants convicted of felonies. Essentially, Ball's plan is to implement the federal government's 287(g) program on a statewide basis, by which local police or correction officials would perform deportation duties normally handled by the U...

Westchester County Car Accident Verdict

Posted on May 12, 2008
This past week, our firm won a significant Westchester County car accident verdict in a case in which Allstate Insurance, as its custom, refused to make a reasonable offer. The case was simple. Our client, a woman in her late fifties, was hit by a car while walking to work and suffered a left hand injury, and other injuries of lesser severity...

Just Say No To Inquiring Insurance Investigators

Posted on April 20, 2008
Our personal injury clients in New York slip and fall cases, automobile accidents, various premises liability cases and construction accidents are often contacted within a few days of the accident by "concerned" investigators hired by insurance companies (especially Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, New York Central Mutual and Countrywide) allegedly to "help" them or "assist you in any way we can...

Westchester County DWI Charge Against Teacher With Children In Car

Posted on April 16, 2008
In the latest installment of our series on mothers driving while intoxicated with their children in the car, in a Westchester County DWI this week, a 35 year old teacher named Karen Kayser was charged with aggravated DWI, and two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment for driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0...

Westchester County Corrections Officer Victim Of Drunken Driver

Posted on April 11, 2008
A Westchester County Corrections Officer was severely injured on April 6, 2008 when his car was rear ended by a drunk driver on the Sprain Brook Parkway, two miles north of the Jackson Avenue exit. Mr. White's Land Rover flipped over several times as a result of this Westchester County car accident...

Medication Errors Injure 1 Of 15 Hospitalized Children

Posted on April 08, 2008
A study conducted by The National Initiative For Children's Healthcare Quality, using a new scientific detection method, has determined that for every 100 hospitalized children, there are 11 drug-related harmful events. These include medicine mix-ups, accidental overdoses, and bad drug reactions...

Putnam County DWI--Bar Owner Sentenced To 9 Months

Posted on April 02, 2008
Following up on our February 4, 2008 post "Fatal Putnam County DWI Crash Leads To Conviction Of Bar Owner", on February 24th, Paddock Tavern owner Ray Knox Jr. was sentenced to 9 months in the Putnam County jail for his conviction of allowing his off-duty bar manager Sandra Longchamps to be served alcohol while visibly intoxicated...

Dennis Quaid's Twins Almost Die From Massive Overdose Of Heparin

Posted on March 28, 2008
Supplementing our February 29, 2008 post "Blood Thinner Heparin Tied To Several Deaths", the actor Dennis Quaid appeared on "60 Minutes" last Sunday to reveal every parent's nightmare: He and his wife almost lost their newborn twins last year at Cedar's Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles due to a massive overdose of the blood thinner Heparin, manufactured by Baxter International...

Westchester County DWI--First Person Convicted Under New Vehicular Manslaughter Law

Posted on March 25, 2008
In a Westchester County DWI case, this week Shaheed Emery became the first person convicted in Westchester County under the new First Degree Vehicular Manslaughter charge, as the result of a fatal New York drunk driving crash on the Sprain Brook Parkway last year...

Study Shows That More Than 60% Have Pain 1 Year After Accident

Posted on March 21, 2008
The Journal Archives of Surgery published a study on March 17th which found that a year after an injury in a car accident, slip and fall or other types of accidents, 63 percent reported that they still had substantial pain related to the injury. The over 3,000 patients studied were 18 to 84 years of age, who had survived a traumatic injury...

New York Construction Accident Kills Seven People

Posted on March 19, 2008
On March 15, 2008, in a fatal New York construction accident, a construction crane collapsed on East 51rst Street in Manhattan, killied seven people and injuring several others. Aides to the Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, said they had been told by the Office of Emergency Management that the crane fell on two buildings, destroying one at 305 East 50th Street and partly collapsing the building at 301 East 50th Street...

New York DWI Charges Against Public Officials

Posted on March 17, 2008
New York DWI Charges have been filed against three public officials in the last month: two drunk driving charges against prominent figures, and the third against a New York City police officer. On January 30, in a Rockland County DWI case, former Rockland legislator and State Assembly member Ryan Karben was arrested and charged with Driving While Intoxicated when he crashed his Acura into a utility pole in Ramapo, New York...

Immigration Department Admits Wait For Green Card And Citizenship Now 18 Months

Posted on March 14, 2008
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS acknowledged that due to a huge increase in applications for green cards and citizenship in July of 2007, the average waiting time for legal residency and citizenship is now 18 months. The surge in applications in July of 2007 (7 times more than the average month), which resulted in the increased waiting time from approximately 7 months to 18 months, was due to applicants submitting their papers just before the almost 50% increase in fees on July 30, 2007...

U.S. Supreme Court Now Considering Protecting Drug Manufacturers From Lawsuits

Posted on March 10, 2008
Following up on our blog "U.S. Supreme Court Deals Blow to Lawsuits Against Defective Products", the Court heard arguments on February 25 in Warner-Lambert v. Kent, to determine whether drug manufacturers should receive similar protection from lawsuits that the Court handed out to medical device makers earlier in February...

U.S. Supreme Court Deals Blow to Lawsuits Against Defective Products

Posted on March 04, 2008
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that private lawsuits against medical device manufacturers are not permitted when the device in question complies with federal requirements. Essentially, the Court's decision in Riegel v. Medtronic is another example of the U...

Blood Thinner Heparin Tied To Several Deaths

Posted on February 29, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration announced on February 28 that "potential deficiencies" at a Chinese plant that produces the active ingredient in Heparin, a blood thinner used to treat blood clots during dialysis and after some surgery, is a possible cause of 21 deaths, as well as hundreds of allergic reactions including vomiting, nausea and difficulty breathing...

Do You Need a Private Attorney in New York Insurance Cases?

Posted on February 25, 2008
Our White Plains, New York office gets numerous calls and e-mails from clients confronted with a scenario in which they have been sued for more than their insurance coverage, and they receive a notice from the insurance company stating the following: "You may wish to retain a private attorney at your own cost and expense to protect your interests over and above your insurance coverage...

NY Insurance Companies Latest Attack on No-Fault Benefits

Posted on February 12, 2008
Almost since the inception of New York's No-Fault Law in 1974, New York automobile insurance companies, and particularly, Allstate, State Farm, and New York Mutual Insurance, to name a few, have for years, added insult to the injury of our clients' car accident injuries by seeking to cut off benefits as soon as possible...

Putnam County Bar Owner Convicted in Fatal DWI Case

Posted on February 04, 2008
In an update to our December 21, 2007 blog "Drunk Driver Had 12-14 Drinks Before Fatal Accident", Raymond Knox, Jr., the owner of the Paddock Restaurant & Tavern, in Patterson, New York was convicted of violating New York's alcoholic beverage law , in which a bartender or a server can be held criminally responsible for serving an alcohol impaired patron...

Woman who survived 9/11 is killed by New York City driver

Posted on January 28, 2008
Florence Cioffi, a woman who survived 9/11 and was just days from her 60th birthday, was killed in a New York City car accident on January 24 when she was run over by a vehicle driven by computer software executive George Anderson just before 11:00 PM on Water Street in Manhattan...

New York car accidents caused by GPS devices

Posted on January 24, 2008
Global positoning devices (GPS), although a lifesaver to some, have been blamed for numerous New York car accidents over the last few years. Most recently, earlier this month, a driver from California caused a fiery car accident when he turned on to railroad tracks in Bedford Hills and his vehicle was struck by an oncoming train when the car became stuck on the tracks...

Drunk Driver Had 12-14 Drinks Before Fatal Accident

Posted on December 21, 2007
An expert witness in the Patterson, New York DWI trial of Raymond Knox testified this week that Knox's employee, Sandra Longchamps, was served with 12-14 drinks while she was at The Paddock Tavern on Super Bowl Sunday last February 4th. Southeast, New York prosecutors charge that as a result of Ms...

New York Roads in 2007--Aggressive And Inattentive Drivers Prevalent

Posted on December 17, 2007
2007 continued a trend of numerous New York car accidents on suburban New York roadways dominated by aggressive, inattentive drivers causing numerous car accidents and fatalities. According to Captain John Hodges of the Westchester County Police, the main causes of these New York car crashes and auto deaths are: speeding, driving while intoxicated, following too closely, taking curves too fast and weaving in and out of traffic...

New York Accidents At "Big Box" Stores

Posted on December 13, 2007
Everyone in New York, and around the country, has shopped at the "big box stores"--Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, BJ's, Lowe's, and Home Depot, to name a few. Heavy merchandise is stacked high up on the shelves, as much as twenty to thirty feet in the air, and the question is: "Are these stores safe?" The answer for many of our personal injury clients in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, White Plains, and the entire lower Hudson Valley is a resounding "No!" Every day around the country, customers at these establishments are being seriously injured by falling merchandise, which has been improperly stacked, carelessly arranged, or placed without the necessary safety cables or other devices to prevent accidents...

New York DWI Update

Posted on December 10, 2007
There were two significant events involving drunk drivers in New York this week. First, this past Wednesday, continuing a troubling trend which we discussed on April 8, 2007 in a post entitled "Mothers Drunk Driving In New York--An Epidemic?", 44 year old Yorktown resident Almudena Paulstich lost control of her car, struck a stone pillar, and landed in a ditch with her three children ages 3, 10 and 12 in the vehicle...

New York Trials

Posted on December 07, 2007
New York Trials are structured differently in Manhattan and Bronx personal injury cases than they are in the remainder of the lower Hudson Valley and other boroughs of New York City. In a New York County construction accident, or a Bronx slip and fall case, for example, there are "full trials", meaning that all issues are litigated before a jury in the same trial: issues as to the fault of the parties, as well as the injuries suffered by the plaintiff, the treatment performed by the doctors involved and the all damages issues involving the permanency of the injuries...

New York Immigrants Bolster Economy According to Study

Posted on December 05, 2007
In a joint study by the Fiscal Policy Institute and the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) , there were some interesting and surprising results which may give politicians who are demanding more border control and higher fences some hesitation in making those demands...

Immigration Backlog Delays Applications For Citizenship and Green Cards

Posted on December 03, 2007
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that there will be substantial delays, of at least one year in some cases, in processing citizenship and green card applications. These delays were brought on by two significant events: First, early in 2007, the USCIS announced that fees for all applications would be increased on July 30, 2007...

Another Fatal Accident on the New York Bronx River Parkway

Posted on November 29, 2007
November 2007 has been a treacherous month on the Bronx River Parkway in New York. On November 13, 2007, we did a report "Fatal Accident on the Bronx River Parkway..." describing the New York fatal car crash in which a Yonkers couple, Bernard and Phyllis Cecere, was killed when their vehicle was struck by an apparently speeding car driven by 19 year old Justin Martinez near Oak Street in Yonkers...

New York Subpoenas

Posted on November 28, 2007
A subpoena is a command for the person receiving this document to appear in Court or at a deposition, either to give testimony or to bring documents. A failure to comply with the subpoena can result in a financial penalty to the person subpoenaed, or in extremely rare instances, to a short jail stint for contempt...

New York Depositions

Posted on November 26, 2007
In New York personal injury cases, such as a Brooklyn slip and fall accident, Bronx motor vehicle accident, or a Westchester construction accident, probably the most important legal procedure in the case before trial is the deposition. In a deposition, also known as an Examination Before Trial (EBT), the parties to a lawsuit, or witnesses to an accident, are placed under oath and asked questions about the accident, the injuries suffered by the Plaintiff, and generally everything they observed on the date of the car accident, trip and fall accident, or fall from a scaffold or ladder, to use a few examples...

"21" DWI Law Continues To Save Lives in New York

Posted on November 22, 2007
Since states began setting the minimum drinking age to 21 in July of 1984, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA estimates that approximately 25,000 lives have been saved. According to Glynn Birch, the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, (MADD) "The earlier a youth begins drinking alcohol, the more likely they are to become alcohol dependent, binge drink, and to drive drunk later in life...

New York Law--What is Negligence?

Posted on November 19, 2007
Negligence is a very common term in New York law, but clients are frequently unsure what this term means. Negligence means a lack of reasonable care which one person owes to another person. It is failing to foresee or anticipate that the wrongdoer's risky conduct will cause injury to another...

New York Governor Spitzer Abandons Driver's License Plan

Posted on November 18, 2007
Faced with vigorous opposition by Republicans and Democrats alike, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has abandoned his plan to provide driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants a scant two months after his initial proposal. Governor Spitzer's original idea was to abandon New York's policy of requiring a social security number as a component of obtaining a driver's license, in order to encourage illegal immigrants to become better trained drivers and obtain car insurance to protect the public...

New York Statute Of Limitations Overview

Posted on November 15, 2007
The Statute Of Limitations In New York is a legal term which means the time in which a lawsuit must be started to be legally sufficient. In New York State, there are numerous statutes of limitations for various different types of cases. For example, in New York motor vehicle accident cases, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of the accident...

Britney Spears Latest Example of Dangerous Driving Throughout United States

Posted on November 15, 2007
Britney Spears latest run in with the law in which she went through a red light and made an illegal left turn with her children in the car highlights two significant safety issues, one of which we wrote about in our April 8, 2007 blog. Namely, New York mothers driving while intoxicated with their children in the car...