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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A young man broke both his legs after he fell through a skylight at a rooftop party in Brooklyn, NYC. The man was hanging out with friends on the rooftop when  he stood on a skylight. The skylight made of  glass broke under the weight of the 25-year-old man. He fell 5 stories down on to the concrete. He was  rescued by the EMS with two broken legs.  According to residents, party goes may have walked from  one rooftop to another however being on the rooftop wasn’t allowed because of safety concerns. The building has no prior violations according to the DOB website.

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Three construction workers were injured, two critically and one seriously after 1200 pounds of laminated beams fell on them at a construction site in Queens. The accident occurred wednesday afternoon at a site located on 28th Road near 31st Street in Astoria where workers were converting  a 2 story building into a 3 story one. As they were working inside, the roof collapsed  after a heavy load of  construction material had been previously placed on it. Beams and bags of cement fell from the top floor to the basement. 3 workers were pinned under the debris. One of the workers, a 37 year old man was seriously injured but he was able to free himself before the firefighters arrived. Another 40 year old worker was rescued from the debris in critical condition. The third worker, a 28 year old man, was trapped under thousands pounds of construction material. Firefighters were able to administer medication through an IV to keep the young man stable while they were frenetically digging through the debris to try to free him. Firefighters had to use a hydraulic jack to be able to rescue him. After an hour of intense work, they  finally were able to save him and to hoist him into the ambulance in critical condition. (see here a detailed description of the amazing job the FDNY did to save the workers)

Neighbors said the heavy construction material was previoulsy delivered  onto the roof by a crane. The New York City Department of Buildings is now investigating the accident.

On New York construction sites, heavy equipment is supposed to be delivered at ground level. For any heavy equipment delivery at higher levels, contractors are supposed to obtain proper permission. It was not clear yesterday if a proper authorization was obtain for the Astoria construction site previous to the crane delivery.

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An 88-year-old woman died and her husband were critically injured in a fire that erupted in their apartment in Harlem.  Firefighters rushed to a fire alert at their apartment located at 70 LaSalle Street near Amsterdam Avenue in Morningside Heights, NYC. They found the couple inside and rushed them to the hospital. Unfortunately the wife didn’t survive. The husband is still in critical condition. The couple’s apartment was located at the 15th floor of the building. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. Read more in the NY Daily News

In New York City, seniors have a higher risk of dying in home fires than the rest of the population. According to statistics from the New York City Fire Department , smoking is the leading cause of fire deaths in the homes of adults who are 65-years-old and older. Heating equipment is the second cause of  fatal fires at seniors apartments followed by cooking equipment and electrical.

Leading Causes of fire Death for elderly in NYC
Elderly people who are smoking have a much higher risk to be the victim of a residential fire than those who are not smoking. The FDNY recommends elderly people who are smoking:

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accident sceneA man was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in New York City.  The motorcyclist was riding his bike South on Lefferts Boulevard near 115th Ave in Queens, NYC, Saturday around 1:00 pm when a Dodge Ram pick up truck slammed into him. The driver of the pick up truck was driving North and swerved to avoid hitting a car. The police also suspect that the motorcyclist may have been driving over the speed limit. Investigation is still ongoing. The collision was so violent that a witness who was driving several cars behind them said he saw the motorcyclist flying high into the air. The 27-year-old rider suffered trauma all over his body as well as a broken leg. Read more in the NY Daily News

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child in carLast week a bill that would help prevent kids dying from heat stroke in hot cars was introduced in Congress. Backed by several safety, health and consumer advocates, HOT CARS Act of 2017, H.R. 2801 is a bi-partisan proposal introduced by U.S. Representatives Tim Ryan (D-13th OH), Peter King (R-2nd NY) and Jan Schakowsky (D-9th IL). The  bill was launched at the same time as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) kicked  off  The National Vehicular Heatstroke Prevention Campaign. More than 700 children died in hot cars over the last 18 years. Every summer distracted parents unintentionally leave their children unattended in their car. This situation occurs mostly when the children fall asleep in the back seat and parents temporarily forget about them.

The bill that was just introduced proposes to require car manufacturers to install an alert system to remind parents that a child may still be seated in the back. A similar bill stalled in committee last year. If this bill was passed it would still take several years for changes to be implemented.

Some manufacturers however have already started to offer to options to prevent them from leaving their child in the back seat.   The company evenflo now has car seats equipped with sensors that will remind the driver that a child is in the car seat when the car engine is turned off (see video below). Many cases of children dying in hot cars have been reported after children entered a car and locked themselves in it. The new line of General Motors Acadia SUV is equipped with an alert that will go on if a back door is open before the vehicle is started.

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NYC construction workersOver the last few years, the number of construction workers dying or suffering severe injuries on the job increased dramatically in New York  City. According to the most recent statistics from the New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health, 25 hard hats lost their life on NYC construction sites in 2015 compared to 17 in 2011. The majority of the fatal construction accidents in the city occurred on non unionized construction sites. Undocumented immigrant workers are often the most at risk of suffering catastrophic injuries or of dying in construction accidents.  One of the fundamental reasons why such a significant number of workers are dying on non unionized sites is the lack of training. Construction workers on non unionized sites are often not trained as well as unionized workers or not trained at all in some cases.

Mayor Bill de Blasio also believes that many construction accidents could be avoided if construction workers were better trained.  According to Politico, the mayor is working on a proposal to increase training for all construction workers in New York City. In the new proposal, all workers will be required to attend minimum training  of 54 to 71 hours. Supervisors will have to train an extra 30 hours on the top of the minimum requirements. Workers who are doing more dangerous tasks such as those working in confined space or workers doing work related to rigging safety, scaffolding, excavation, demolition and perimeter protection will have to attend additional training specific to their activity.

The new training rules are expected to be introduced to the City Council  in the next few weeks.

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location opf the construction accident at 688 Broadway3 construction workers were injured after a steel beam fell 12 stories on a Manhattan construction site last week. The 3 workers were working on a high-end condo development at 688 Broadway in Noho (see picture). The  condo is also marketed as “1 Great Jones Alley”. The 3 workers were hoisting a beam when it suddenly fell. The beam first hit the sidewalk shed and then fell to the ground where the workers were located.  One of them was hit in the head by the beam and was transported by ambulance to the hospital. The two others suffered minor injuries.  The NYC Department of Buildings put a stop work order on the property and issued five violations including failure to safeguard the site. The developer of the site is Madison Realty Capital.

Read more in DNA Info
Picture: courtesy of Google Map

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Daniel-Pollack-1Failing to call an expert witness in criminal child maltreatment cases can be legal malpractice that can result in a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice. In  a recent article Daniel Pollack, a professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work in New York City analyzes when a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel may be supported in the child welfare legal arena.  To do so, Pollack uses the example of People of the State of Michigan v. Ackley (2015). In this specific case Leo Ackley was convicted by a jury of first-degree felony murder and first-degree child abuse following the death of his girlfriend’s young daughter. During the trial five medical experts testified the daughter died as the result of injuries that were caused intentionally. Ackley’s attorney didn’t call any expert to refute the prosecution expert testimony or to support the defendant’s theory of the case. Ackley’s attorney’s decision not to retain an expert witness for his client was considered by the Michigan Supreme Court  “ineffective assistance of counsel”.

Download the article here

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A NYPD officer suffered critical injury after being dragged by a car in New York City. The officer and five of his colleagues were responding to several 911 calls of shots fired in East Flatbush. The shots turned out to be fireworks going off at a private party. Officer Dalsh Veve was questioning the occupants of a black Honda Civic when the driver hit the gas and dragged the NYPD officer over two blocks. As he was dragged down the street the officer shot twice at the driver. It appeared that the car had been stolen and that the driver was a 15 year old boy. The teenage boy who was shot in the face was arrested after checking in at a nearby hospital. Officer Veve is still fighting for his life.

Read more in the NY Daily News 

 

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accident sceneTwo pedestrians suffered personal injury in two separate car accidents Sunday night in New York City.

A college student from Columbia University who was crossing Riverside Drive at the intersection of 115th Street in Manhattan was struck by a hit and run driver. The accident occurred around 12:25 am. The student who is believed to be in his twenties suffered critical head injury. He was transported to the hospital where he is still fighting for his life. Approximately 90 minutes earlier a 53-year-old male pedestrian was hit by a dark-colored sedan at the corner of E. Tremont Ave and Purdy St. in the Bronx. The pedestrian suffered two broken legs and head trauma. He was transported to the hospital. As of Today he was in stable condition. So far nobody was arrested in relation to the two crashes.

Read more in the NY Daily News 

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