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 Posted in Personal Injury

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New York Personal Injury lawyer Anthony GairA bill that makes it a felony for drivers to kill or injure others while driving without a license was passed yesterday by the New York State Senate. The bill was introduced by state Senator Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) following the death of Noshat Nahian, an 8 year old pedestrian who was on his way to school when he was fatally struck  by a tractor-trailer driven by an unlicensed driver. Our partner, personal injury lawyer Anthony Gair (picture) who is in charge of the case commented: “This is a very important bill and long over due. In this tragic case, all charges against the driver were dismissed except for driving without a licence for which he paid an $85 fine. This is outrageous in a case in which Noshat was in the crosswalk with the right of way and easily visible at the time the tractor trailer turned left striking him. Hopefully the law will also discourage commercial carriers from hiring unlicensed truck drivers.” Read more in the Times Ledger

 

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A motorist who was speeding lost control of his car and crashed into a SUV , spun around ran into other parked cars, injuring himself and 3 other people including a a woman who was four months pregnant. What will it take to prevent these needless accidents caused by drivers who are so irresponsible they never consider the dire consequence of their behavior. Long term suspension of their licences would be a good start. When death or catastrophic injuries result jail would not be a bad idea. Too few accidents caused by reckless driving result in criminal prosecutions. See our post above.  The car accident happened last Friday around 7:00 pm on Boston Road near East Gunhill Road in the Bronx, NYC. Read more in the NY Daily News 

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5 pedestrians died and 696 suffered personal injury in April in New York City compared to respectively 8 and 854 in April 2014 and 12 and 904 in April 2013.  Pedestrian fatalities have been declining since the beginning of this year and reached their lowest in April. The total number of pedestrian fatalities since the beginning of the year was 28 compared to 39 for the same period of 2014 and 55 for the same period of 2013.  Since the beginning of the year there was also a decrease in the number of pedestrians who suffered personal injury in a traffic accident in NYC.Pedestrian deaths and injuries NYC April 2015

2 people died and 300 were injured in a total of 300 bicycle accidents in New York City in April compared to respectively 1, 306 and 382 in April 2014 and 0, 288 and 358 in April 2013.  The number of cyclists fatalities and injuries remains elevated in the City.

Bicycle accidents injuries deaths NYC April 2015
Even though there was an unusually high number of 10 motorist deaths last April the total number of traffic fatalities in New York City since the beginning of the year is down compared to the same periods of 2014 and 2013.

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i - bus driverIn New York every year several pedestrians and cyclists die and many others suffer personal injury after being struck by an MTA Bus. In many of these accidents investigation shows that drivers were negligent and failed to yield or failed to exercise due care.  Since the beginning of the year a few bus drivers were arrested after a new Vision Zero Law made it a misdemeanor for drivers to strike pedestrians or cyclists who have the right of way.  TWU Local 100, the bus drivers Union is against this new law and would like bus drivers to be exempted from it.  This morning TWU local 100 launched a work slow down on 181st Street in Washington Heights between 7:00 am and 9:00 am to protest the law.

The flyers handed out to bus drivers by the Union (see picture) said “DO NOT TURN UNLESS THE INTERSECTION IS CLEAR!”. Isn’t that what bus drivers are supposed to do to keep NYC streets safe?

Read more in the New York Post and on Streetblog

 

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New York Personal Injury Lawyer Richard M. Steigman
, a partner at Gair Gair Conason Steigman Mackauf Bloom & Rubinowitz will be chairing the CPLR 2015 Update. Also on the faculty is Honorable Ariel E. Belen (Ret.), JAMS Mediator & Arbitrator, Justice, Appellate Division, Second Department. This Seminar will be presented by NYTSLA on Wednesday July 15 at 132 Nassau Street, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10038.

One of the key requirements of successfully managing a civil caseload is staying abreast of legislative changes and court decisions in the field of New York Civil Practice. This seminar will provide an in-depth review of these new developments, including practice tips and pitfall warnings that are invaluable for the civil litigator.

Topics will include:

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BeforeAndAfterMINICooperSHalf a million people suffered personal injury and 1,700 died in more than 1.7 million rear-end vehicle accidents in 2012 in the US. Many of these accidents could have been avoided or at least mitigated if vehicles were equipped with collision warning systems paired with active braking systems according to a new Special Investigation Report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) entitled “The Use of Forward Collision Avoidance Systems to Prevent and Mitigate Rear-End Crashes“.  In the report the NTSB demonstrates the efficiency of such systems and criticizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for not doing enough and being to slow in implementing performance standards for these technologies. The  report also notes that manufacturers have too little incentive to add these technologies to their new vehicles.

Picture: before and after a rear-end crash courtesy of Wikipedia

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As part of its investigation into the Amtrak train accident that killed 8 and injured more than 200 people, the National Transportation Safety Board thoroughly analysed the engineer’s cell phone calls, texts, data and cell phone tower transmission activity records from the phone carrier; and records from Amtrak’s on-board Wi-Fi system. This analysis indicates that the engineer was not using his cell phone while operating the train.  Read the NTSB press release

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East_Harlem_apartment_explosion_aerial_viewCon Ed says the city’s negligence caused the gas explosion that destroyed two buildings last year in Harlem. In a law suit filed yesterday, Con Ed indicates that,  over the years, the NYC Department of Transportation received multiple complaints of huge depressions in the street pavement on Park Avenue near 116th street where the two buildings exploded.”As a result of these defects in the city’s infrastructure in the vicinity of the incident, the gas facilities were exposed to and affected by leaking water, rocks, debris, sand, soil, roadway pavement and other foreign objects,” the filing says.

Read  more in the NY Daily News  

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rubinowitz_torganIn their Trial Advocacy column in the New York Law Journal, Personal Injury Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz, and Evan Torgan write:  There is an old adage that every trial lawyer should accept as gospel: “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.” Keeping this maxim in mind, attorneys must strive to make a winning impression early on in the trial so they can use that impression to set the tone for each phase of the remainder of the trial.  Read more in the New York Law Journal .
Download a PDF document of the complete article

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Right of WayLowering the speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph on Prospect Park West may have saved the life of 5 year old Roark Bennett who was hit by a car at the exact same spot where 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein was fatally struck by a car two years earlier.  After the death of her son, Amy Cohen became a Vision Zero activist and successfully campaigned to lower the speed limit on Prospect Park West from 30 mph to 25 mph.  Yesterday when Roark Bennett escaped from his parents and ran out in the street against the light, the driver who hit him was travelling at the speed limit and thankfully Roark suffered only minor injuries.  Read more in the NY Daily News