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 Wrongful Death

Published on:

By

9 pedestrians were killed in NYC car accidents last year during the 8 days following the end of the Daylight Saving Time. All the victims were between 55 and 88 years old.  6 of the 9 accidents occurred after sunset. According to data collected between 2010 and 2014, the number of pedestrians dying or being severely injured in car accidents increased by 40% during the last 3 months of the year. Statistics also indicate that crashes involving turns are doubling during the colder and darker months of the year.

As Daylight Saving Time ends this week-end, a $1.5 million Vision Zero campaign will be launched this Friday by the mayor’s office to prevent pedestrian deaths during the most dangerous period of the year.

Yesterday Bill de Blasio was joined by Transportation Commissioner Trottenberg, Aging Commissioner Corrado, Commissioner and Chair of the Taxi and Limousine Commission Joshi and NYPD Chief Chan at One Police Plaza to present the new pedestrian safety campaign to the press.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

NYC MTA Subway logoOne MTA worker was seriously injured and another one died in a subway accident in NYC yesterday. The two men were working on the southbound G train track between the Fort Hamilton Parkway and Church Ave. stations in Kensington, Brooklyn. A little after midnight, a train running on the track struck them both. Emergency workers rushed to the location of the accident. One of the workers, a 53 year old man was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries. The other worker, a 49 year old man, was also transported to the hospital. He was seriously injured but in stable condition. It is not clear why the two men were working on the track when the  subway train was in service. Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on:

By

92-20 Astoria Boulevard view from Goggle mapAn infant died in a car accident last week in Queens. 8 month old Navraj Raju was in a stroller pushed by his mother last Thursday morning when he was struck by a van. The mother and the infant were on the sidewalk when the driver of the van backed out of a driveway and hit the stroller. The van driver was unlicensed. The car accident occurred at 92-20 Astoria Boulevard.  The picture above shows the location of the accident. It is an area particularly difficult to navigate for pedestrians, especially families. Cars parked in front of the building between the deli and the gas station have to back out onto the sidewalk when leaving their parking space. They have reduced visibility when backing out. Additionally vehicular traffic is constantly crossing the sidewalk to access the gas station.

Astoria Boulevard was identified in 2015 as a Vision Zero priority. The segment of Astoria Boulevard between 80th street and 110th street was identified as a pedestrian crash corridor. It is among the top 10% most dangerous corridors for pedestrians in this particular neighborhood.  It is supposed to be re-engineered in the future to make it safer for pedestrians. The proposal from the Department of Transportation to make some specifically dangerous segments of Astoria Boulevard safer can be downloaded here.  However despite fixes being identified for Astoria Boulevard in 2015, not enough is being done by the de Blasio administration to quickly implement these changes. Transportation Alternatives organized a stroller protest to ask the Mayor to fulfill his promise to reduce traffic deaths.

Read more about the accident on Streetblog

 

Published on:

By

A construction worker died after falling from a scaffolding in New York City. 31 year old Michael Buffamante was working on scaffolding at the Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Sheepsheadbay yesterday. He was installing dechlorination equipment.  A little after noon he fell from his scaffolding into a 35 foot-deep sewage tank filled with wastewater and chlorine.

FDNY divers ran to the rescue and found the young worker lying at the bottom of the tank. They brought him to the surface. The worker was in cardiac arrest after having been in the water approximately 8 minutes . The paramedic gave him CPR and transported him to the hospital in critical condition. Buffamante died at the hospital. The worker was employed by Welkin Mechanical, a construction company based in Queens. According to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the worker was wearing protective equipment.The DEP did not specify what type of protective eqipment. Further investigation will be necessary to determine the exact cause of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

fatal NYC fire accidentOne person died and 13 others were injured in a  fire accident in New York. Around 3:30 am yesterday morning a fire broke out in a residential building located on E. 93rd Street between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave. The building was a five-story building with 10 apartments. 250 firefighters were called to the rescue to battle the 6-alarm blaze. Most residents were able to get out using the fire escape. A resident living on the third floor wasn’t able to make it and died in the blaze. 3 other residents were injured as well as 8 firefighters. An elderly resident was saved by a courageous firefighter who used a dangerous technique known as roof-rope rescue.  Jim Lee was lowered on a rope off the roof of the building to save an elderly resident who was screaming for help from his third floor window. The courageous firefighter grabbed the man from his window and pulled him down to safety before the rope burned through. Residents said fire alarms woke them up in the middle of the night. They smelled smoke and quickly realized they had to evacuate the building. The fire erupted on one of the top floors of the building. Further investigation will be necessary to determine what caused the blaze.

Published on:

By

Northern Boulevard and Prince aerial viewA pedestrian was fatally struck by a car in New York City last night. The 79 year old man was crossing the street at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Prince Street in Flushing, Queens, when he was struck by a SUV.  The driver was a 56 year old woman. She stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged. The pedestrian was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries according to the NY Daily News.

Northern Boulevard is considered one of the most dangerous arterial roads in New York City. When mayor de Blasio signed 11 Vision Zero bills into law he held his press conference on Northern Boulevard and 61st Street.  This is where 8 year old Nashat Nahian (whose family is represented by our firm) was killed by a  truck driver on his way to school.

Northern Boulevard is a Vision Zero Priority Corridor. To reduce pedestrian deaths on the Northern Boulevard, the DOT recently presented several safety projects to local community boards such as Northern Blvd – Honeywell St to Broadway Corridor Safety Improvements and the Northern Boulevard – 105 St to 114 St Corridor Safety Improvements.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

3415 Neptune Ave street viewA baby girl died in an elevator accident in New York City on Thursday.  Her mother was also injured in the accident. She was expected to survive. Last  Thursday around 10:30 am, 21 year old Aber Al-Rabahi put her 6 month old daughter Areej Ali in her stroller and headed out of her apartment for a walk. Aber Al-Rabahi and her daughter called the elevator on the 23rd floor of of the Sea Rise, a residential building located at 3415 Neptune Avenue, in Coney Island, Brooklyn. As the elevator doors opened, the mother pushed the stroller inside and walked in without  realizing that the car was stuck 6 feet below. The mother landed on the top of her daughter on the roof of the elevator. The elevator fell down eight stories where the the mom and her daughter landed on the roof. A maintenance worker who heard the mother screaming ran to the rescue. The mother and the infant were both transported to the hospital. The infant was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The mother is expected to survive.

Neighbors told the NY Daily News that both elevators in the building were constantly having problems. On Wednesday night tenants complained that the elevator was not functioning proprely. A mechanic from Centennial Elevator Co. had arrived an hour before the accident. He was working on the elevator when the accident happened. Centennial Elevator has two open OSHA investigations . One of them is related to one of their employees who lost an arm  while repairing an elevator in New York City last May (see previous blog).

According to the Gothamist, this is the second time that someone was killed in an elevator accident at the Sea Rise Complex. In 1991, Chandler  Johnson bumped into the door of the same elevator. The door opened and Chandler fell to his death down the shaft. Since the young man died, there were 147 elevator violations in the building.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

NYCHA_Logo_480x480Two toddlers died in a fire last April in a Bronx apartment belonging to the New York City Housing Authority. The investigation found that the apartment was visited four hours earlier by Rene Rivera, a former NYCHA maintenance employee. When a NYCHA worker visits an apartment they have to execute several safety checks that include smoke detectors check. The employee signed on his report that the smoke detectors were working in the apartment he just visited. He later confessed to investigators that he actually never looked at them. The employee’s failure to check the smoke detectors resulted in the death of two toddlers in a fire a few hours after his visit.

In an article Today in the NY Daily News, Rivera complains that the work overload at the Butler Houses was such that he didn’t have much time for safety checks.  Rivera blames the faulty error on an understaffed crew and unrelenting pressure to keep things moving. The 27-year NYCHA veteran worker explained that he was overwhelmed by the 25 to 30 appointments he had to respond to every day.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on:

By

Daniel+Pollack-1When a vulnerable individual is injured or dies because of negligent supervision the term “line of sight” is often used. In a recent article, Daniel Pollack, a professor at the School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, in New York City, looks at the meaning of “line of sight”.

If an individual requires continuous line of sight supervision, what does it mean exactly? Does it mean that a supervisor must constantly have his or her eyes on the individual? Does it mean that a person must have an unobstructed  view of the room where the individual is? Daniel Pollack relied on his previous experience as an attorney for the Ohio Department of Youth Services to explain that the interpretation of “line of sight” varies depending on cases.

The complete article can be downloaded here

Published on:

By

25 people died and 5,383 were injured in motor vehicle accidents in New York City last August. During this month, the NYPD recorded a total number of 19,388 traffic accidents. Motor vehicle accidents have been on the rise in New York City over recent years. From 16,729 in August 2013 the number of accidents steadily increased to 17,000 in August 2014 and  18,862 in August 2015. A monthly record was reached last June with 20,362 accidents.

NYC traffic accidents August 2016
In an attempt to reduce the number of deaths related to these accidents, New York The de Blasio administration launched Vision Zero at the beginning of 2014. Since then, the number of fatal traffic accidents has been on a declining trend despite an increase in the total number of crashes.  After reaching a monthly record low of 11 in March 2016, fatal traffic accidents spiked again to 29 last June and 25 last August.

NYC traffic accident deaths August 2016
While Vision Zero may have helped in curbing the number of deaths on the road, the number of people injured in motor vehicle accidents in New York City continued to rise over in recent years. In August 2013, 4,846 people were injured in NYC traffic accidents. This number decreased slightly in 2014 to 4,445 before increasing again in August 2015 to 4,737 and reaching almost 6,000 in August 2016.

Continue reading →
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 69
  6. 70
  7. 71
  8. 72
  9. 73
  10. 74
  11. 75
  12. ...
  13. 122
Badges
Super Lawyers Best Lawyers Martindale-Hubbell
SEE NEW JERSEY DISCLAIMER PAGE- AWARD METHODOLOGY