Articles Posted in Negligence

Four employees of New York’s Rikers Island prison are suing the city for cancer-related illnesses they claim were caused by exposure to toxic substances on the job. Most of prison is built over a landfill.

The employees, along with the widow of another employee, say the city knew of the danger but neglected to warn its workers. A claim the city denies.

Correction Officer Vanessa Parks told The New York Daily News, “That island is toxic and it’s killing people.” She was diagnosed with uterine cancer two years ago.

More than 8,000 correction personnel work on Rikers Island.

Our partners, Christopher L. Sallay and Anthony H. Gair, successfully resolved a case involving a sheet metal worker whose pelvis was fractured when the unsecured arm of a sign became dislodged and struck him. The plaintiff received a $2,500,000 settlement following extensive negotiations at a private mediation.

On July 27, 2005, the 36-year old plaintiff had his pelvis fractured when a 1000 pound sign arm that was not secured fell off a sign being hoisted by the defendant. In this case, the Defendant was negligent for their failure to secure the arm post prior to hoisting the 30+ foot long sign. The defendant company claimed that they did not know that the arm post was not attached to the body of the sign. However, testimony established that they never checked or did anything to verify this prior to moving the sign. Notably, it took 4 men to lift the arm of the sign off of the injured plaintiff.

As a result of this accident, the plaintiff was taken via ambulance to a local Emergency Room and immediately underwent an open reduction and internal fixation of his pelvis.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008
In 2006, our partner, Rhonda E. Kay, authored her first book entitled LexisNexis AnswerGuide New York Negligence. Republished each year with updated information, this answerguide is a practical and concise guide focusing on the key legal and procedural issues that arise in six of the major classes of cases handled by the New York negligence practitioner: Motor Vehicle Accidents, Premises Liability, Construction Accidents, Products Liability, Governmental Liability and Medical Malpractice. In addition to providing a substantive overview of the law, this single volume publication offers valuable practical insights, task-oriented checklists and annually updated case citations. This answerguide is published by, and available through, LexisNexis Matthew Bender.