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 Premises Liability

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A famous Broadway actor died this week-end after falling from the fire escape of an apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, NYC. Kyle Jean-Baptiste was the youngest and the first African-American actor to play the role of Jean Valjean in the Broadway Musical “Les Miserables”. According to the New York Times, Kyle was sitting on the fourth floor fire escape with a 23 year old female friend when he stood up, slipped and fell backwards to the street below.

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86 cases of Legionnaire’s disease have been confirmed in the South Bronx during the last three weeks. This is the largest and deadliest outbreak of Legionnaires’disease in New York City. The disease which is a severe form of pneumonia is spread through a bacteria that grows in the water. This bacteria has been plaguing New York City cooling towers  for years and there are between 200 and 300 cases reported every year in New York City. New York City residents contract the disease when they inhale the mist of cooling water contaminated with the bacteria. According to the CDC, the number of Legionnaire’s disease cases in NYC increased by 230% between 2002 and 2009. The city’s rate of Legionnaire’s disease is twice the National average. The outbreaks have been happening all around the city for decades especially in poor neighborhoods but so far the city has been neglecting the deadly problem and has no regulations in regards to cooling tower safety.

It took seven people’s deaths in the last three weeks for the City to finally take action and propose legislation to identify, regulate and inspect all  New York City buildings using a cooling tower.  Mayor de Blasio held a press conference yesterday at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. He provided an update on the recent outbreak of the disease and said the new laws will be introduced to the City Council this week.

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3 people were injured after a building collapsed at 1438 Fulton St. near Brooklyn Ave in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NYC yesterday afternoon. The building was set to be demolished and was vacant except for a beauty supply store at the bottom floor. Thankfully no one was inside at the time of the accident. 55 year old Terry Charles who was riding his bike near the building at the time of the collapse was injured after he fell off his bike. Two other pedestrians were also injured.  Read more and see Surveillance video obtained exclusively by NBC 4 New York

 

 

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CO55 year old Nilda Sing was found dead in her apartment after she was apparently poisoned by  carbon monoxide fumes coming from a defective boiler. The woman was living in a basement apartment of a four-story building on Fort Hamilton Parkway near 55th St. in Borough Park, Brooklyn in New York City. She was discovered dead by her brother early Saturday morning. When the police and the firefighters arrived they detected a high level of CO in the basement and the 16 apartments of the building were temporarily evacuated. Nilda Sing’s sister who was also in the apartment but in another room with AC survived and only suffered personal injury. The origin of the deadly gas leak seemed to come from the boiler that was located just below the appartment of the victim. The boiler was not working proprely and a repair crew had been working on fixing it for the last two weeks. One of the workers didn’t comply with safety guidelines and secured the exhaust pipe with tape. The pipe burst on Friday.

Read more in the NY Daily News  and see video on New York CBS Local

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Greta GreeneA 2 year old girl who suffered severe personal injury yesterday after being hit by falling debris, died Today at the hospital. Greta Greene (facebook picture on the left) was sitting outside with her grand mother when they were both struck by terra-cotta bricks from a window ledge that fell from the 8th floor of  the Esplanade Manhattan nursing home at 305 West End Ave in Manhattan.

The toddler lost consciousness and nurses from the nursing home tried to resuscitate her. Her grandmother, 60 year old Susan Frierson, suffered severe leg injuries. They were both transported to the hospital where Greta passed away Today.

A protective scaffolding was erected last night on orders on the Department Of Buildings. The DOB is investigating what caused the ledge to fall. It also issued a violation to the Esplanade Manhattan nursing home for failure to maintain a property in a safe and compliant manner.

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window blindsSince 1981, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has identified window blind cords as a cause of strangulation deaths among children under five but not much has been done by the industry to develop safety measures to mitigate this risk.

Recently Parents for Window Blind Safety, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Kids in Danger, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG, Independent Safety Consulting, Safety Behavior Analysis, Inc. and Onder, Shelton, O’Leary & Peterson joined together to petition the CPSC to create a rule that would ban new blinds with cords if the cords can’t be kept away from children.

Read more in FairWarning

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Carbon monoxide is suspected to have caused the death of 4 elderly people in a house in Queens, NYC on Friday.  83 year old Jerry Hugel and his 80 year old wife Marie as well as their tenant 70 year old Gloria Greco and Walter Von Thadden a 70 year old friend were all found dead in their house on 86th street Avenue in Floral Park. According to the authorities the house filled with gas after a car was left running in the basement. The house didn’t have any carbon monoxide detectors even though it is required by Amanda’s law in New York since 2009.

Amanda’s Law  is named after a 16 year old girl who died of carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping over at a friend’s house. This law requires that  every one or two-family dwelling, condominium, cooperative and each unit of a multiple dwelling shall have an operable carbon monoxide (CO) detector.  The use of a battery operated detector is allowed for homes built before 2008. All homes built after this date must have the alarm hard-wired in the building.  Amanda’s Law also requires contractors to install a CO alarm when replacing a hot water tank or furnace if the home is not equipped with an alarm. CO detectors are required only if the dwelling unit has appliances, devices or systems that may emit carbon monoxide or there is an attached garage.

Read more in the New York Times

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In New York, poorly maintained cellar doors leading to death or injury can result in premises liability against the owner of a building. It’s the nightmare of every New Yorker. Yesterday a man in his 30’ies fell 12 feet and died after walking on a metal cellar door on Bedford Ave in Brooklyn, NYC. The doors were leading to the basement of an abandoned building.

Red more in the New York Daily News

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Co-Op%20City.jpgAfter 12 cases of Legionnaires’s disease were diagnosed in the Bronx, the NYC Department of Health started an investigation to find the source of the disease.

Preliminary tests found Legionella Bacteria in Co-Op City Cooling Towers. The Health Department has instructed River Bay Corporation, the manager of the cooling towers, to decontaminate the towers to mitigate the risk of further contamination.

The health department also stated that only the water used to cool the heating and electrical system is contaminated. This water is self self-contained and is separate from the water used by Co-Op City residents for drinking, cooking and bathing. The water at Co-Op City is safe to drink, bathe and cook with.

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A woman was struck and killed by a hit and run driver in the Bronx, New York, yesterday night after a a club bouncer asked everybody to exit the club because someone had a gun. Over a hundred patrons started to run out of the club and poured across the street in a panic. As she was running away, a young woman was struck and killed by a car who sped away without even slowing down.

Nightclub owners are responsible for providing adequate safety for their patrons. This includes the responsibility to hire an adequate number of properly trained security employees who can monitor the crowd in any type of situation and are able to act effectively when problems arise. In this particular case, the security staff seems to have been completely overwhelmed by the situation. Therefore the club owner may be liable for negligent security.