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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Hudson and LaighA bicyclist was critically injured after he collided with a truck in New York last Thursday. The accident happened at the intersection of Hudson Street and Laight Street in Tribeca around 6:40 pm. The 50 year old bike-rider was pedaling North on Hudson Street when he collided with a crane truck driving West on Laight Street. The crane truck is owned by the company “Service Sign Erectors”. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. According to the NY Daily News the bicyclist ran the red light. The accident is being investigated by the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad.

Picture of the intersection: Google Map

 

 

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Kids_at_daycareIn New York City, too many kids are seriously injured or even die every year because their day caregivers ignore safety regulations and break laws according to a special investigation that is being published Today in the New York Daily News. The newspaper investigated the 11,513 licensed day care centers in the city and found that “The New York City day care system is plagued with terrifying overcrowding and lack of oversight, putting the lives of children across the city in danger.” Over the last 3 years, five children died, 8 suffered serious personal injury in New York day care centers. Additionally 9 kids were reported lost while under the supervision of day care staff.  Adding to the danger are  also the increasing number of illegal day care centers which are operating out of apartments and houses without any license.

According to New York State Law a caregiver can not take care more than 6 children. However because care givers are paid by child most of them ignore this rule and put money ahead of child safety.  Hundreds of complaints related to overcrowding are being filed every year.  Kids don’t have enough space to sleep. They are getting injured because they are not proprely supervised or get lost in parks and play grounds.

According to the investigation, even though the number of negligent day care centers that are being shut down by the city nearly tripled between 2011 and 2015, some day care centers that previously committed gross negligence are still in operation. For example Kathy’s Day Care in Elmhurst, Queens had a special needs child leave the facility without being noticed. The child was found wandering in the middle of Junction Boulevard by a car driver who luckily was able to break in time to avoid hitting him. Kathy received a citation but still continues to operate. Would you feel comfortable leaving your child there?

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rubinowitz_torganIn their Trial Advocacy column in the New York Law Journal, New York Personal Injury Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Evan Torgan write: “In crafting the cross of a witness, the trial lawyer must look beyond the obvious. Instead of just focusing on what was said, the trial lawyer should explore that which was not said, but should have been said. These omissions and failures often lead to the most compelling arguments on summation. The problem is that most lawyers are fearful of the unknown.”

Download a pdf of the article

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A NYC bus crashed in a snowstorm injuring more than 30 yesterday. The bus which had left New York in the morning was driving 55 passengers to the Mohegan Sun Casino.  Around half past noon, the bus was driving through a snowstorm on  Interstate 95 in Connecticut when it flipped over just beyond Exit 61. Ambulances were immediately dispatched to the scene and passengers injured were transported to several hospitals in the region. Among the injured passengers, 6 were listed in critical condition.

So far it is difficult to know if only the bad weather triggered the bus to flip on its side. The police are still investigating the cause of the accident. The highway was closed to the traffic for many hours.

The bus belongs to Dahlia Travel and Tour, a New York City based bus operator. Yeserday’s accident happened 13 years after a Dahlia bus on its way to Atlantic City crashed on the highway, killing two people and injuring many.

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deblasioAs the investigation continues into the causes of Friday’s fatal crane accident in Lower Manhattan, De Blasio announced new safety measures that took place yesterday.  The measures are temporary while a task force will draft long term safety measures over the next 90 days. One of the measures requires crawler cranes to stop operating and to go into safety mode when the wind forecast are for steady winds speeds of 20 miles per hour or higher or gusts of at least 30 mph. Before the rule was respectively 30 mph for steady winds and 40 mph for gusts of wind. Additionally cranes will have to be brought to safety the day before winds are forecasted  to be above the security level.  Pedestrian security will be enforced with the help of the Department of Buildings, Department of Transportation, NYPD, and FDNY anytime there will be a securing of a crane. Before that only construction workers were responsible to secure the site. Nearby residents will not only be informed about when a crane is installed but also when it is moved.

Read the transcript of the Press Conference

 

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A construction worker suffered critical personal injury after being hit by a block of concrete that fell on his head. The accident happened at a building demolition site located at 317 Madison Ave between 42nd and 43rd street in Midtown Manhattan. The worker was on the 20th floor of the building when he was hit by falling debris.  The worker lost consciousness during the accident. He was transported to the hospital where he was listed in critical condition. It is not the first time that an accident happened on this specific demolition site. Last July two construction workers were injured in a ceiling collapse.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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A recent accident at the New York Nuclear power plant Indian Point has nearby residents worried about their health and the safety of their water.  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered an investigation after a tritium-tainted water leak from the plant resulted in an increase of 65,000% of radioactivity in the ground. The New York nuclear plant is located in Buchanan, Westchester, 45 miles away from Manhattan in a densely populated area.  According to Entergy, the plant owner, the radiation hasn’t migrated off-site and doesn’t pose a safety threat.  However Governor Cuomo said in a statement that this last incident was unacceptable and that “This failure continues to demonstrate that Indian Point cannot continue to operate in a manner that is not protective of public health and the environment.”

Read more in the New York Times

Indian_Point

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crane collapse picA man died and four other people were injured in a crane collapse in New York around 8:30 this morning. The accident took place on Worth Street near Church Street. The accident occurred when a  massive construction  crane whose boom extended 565 feet high collapsed on a row of park cars.  The accident was caught on video by Glenn Zito, a construction worker  who was on the upper floors in a building across the street. Glenn and two of his colleagues had just been ordered to stop to work on the upper floors because the wind was too strong. He was on his way down when he capture the below video.

According to FDNY, 38 year old David Wichs had just exited from his car when the crane crashed on him and killed him. Mr. Wichs was an outstanding young man who immigrated from Czechoslovakia as a teenager, graduated from Harvard and worked in the financial industry. He lived with his wife in Manhattan on the upper west side. He was said by friends to be an extremely decent man.   Still in the car was 73 year old Thomas O’Brien who suffered head laceration but survived.  Another victim, 45 year old Dawn Kojima suffered leg injury and another person suffered minor injury after being hit by debris.

This morning the wind was blowing at more than 20 mph and it was snowing. The crew had suspended work and a decision was made to lower the crane to a more secure level. The accident happened as construction workers were lowering the crane’s boom in order to move it into a safe and secure position .

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Falls are the number one cause of fatal construction accidents. Every year in America, more than 10,000 hard hats suffer serious personal injury  and more than 200 died because they fell while working on a construction site.  In 2012 a coalition of government, labor and management representatives launched a yearly campaign to raise awareness about this issue. This year, the campaign which consists in a National Stand Down will take place from May 2nd to May 6th.  On that day, OSHA is asking employers that hire construction workers to take the time to stand down and conduct a fall prevention workshop or other activity related to fall prevention with their employees. OSHA is providing interested employers with toolboxes to help them discuss specific fall prevention subjects such as ladder safety, scaffold safety or fall protection equipment.

The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) recently released a detailed report about the Safety Stand Downs conducted in 2014 and 2015. The reports shows that the campaign reached around 2 million workers over the last two years. Stand-downs were mostly organized by commercial construction companies but also by highway, governmental and residential companies. Most common activities conducted on stand-down last year included training, equipment inspection and audit as well as toolbox talks. The year before meetings and handing out materials to employees as well as training were the most common activities.

Even though the participation was lower last year, the organizers are hopping to see greater participation this year and to reach out to more construction workers. On February 16th the CPWR will organize a webinar related to this campaign . Leaders from CPWR, NIOSH and OSHA will be discussing last year’s Stand-Down and highlighting the plans for 2016. People interested in attending this webinar can register here.

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A pedestrian died and another one suffered personal injury after they were struck by a drunk driver in Washington Heights, New York City, early Saturday. The two pedestrians, a man and a woman in their 40ies  were walking on West 181st Street near Amsterdam Avenue when a car crashed into them. The driver, identified as 34 year old Jonathan Segura, was drunk. He had just exited the George Washington Bridge when he lost control of his vehicle and slammed into the pedestrians. He sped off in the night but returned later to the police station to surrender. He was charged with drunk driving, leaving the scene of an accident, vehicular manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Read more in the NY Daily News