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

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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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Last April, 22 year old Carlos Moncayo died in a construction accident in New York because two construction managers put profit over safety.  According to the NY Daily News, on April 6th, Christian Ofusu, an independent engineer assigned to oversee the work on a Ninth Ave site in the Meatpacking district warned Alfonso Prestia, the construction site superintendent, that the site was too dangerous and that it should be shut down. Prestia ignored the engineer’s warning so Ofusu went to voice his concerns to foreman Wilmer Cueva who also refused to stop the work. Moments later, as Ofusu was trying to convince the project manager, Mohamad Sharif to shut down the site, a wall collapsed and crushed Carlos Moncaya to death. Cuevas who works for Sky Materials Corp and Prestia who works for Hartco Consultants Corp have both been indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

Yesterday another wall collapsed on a construction site in Nolita, downtown Manhattan, injuring two construction workers (see NY Daily News) and the day before a construction worker was seriously injured after falling two-stories at a construction site in Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan (see previous blog).

 

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A 54 year old woman died in a bus accident yesterday night. The bus was traveling from New York City to North Carolina when the bus driver, 23 year old Eric Jimmerson from New York, fell asleep near Benson North Carolina on Interstate 95. The bus crossed the median heading towards a car coming in the opposite direction. The driver of the car swerved, trying to avoid the bus and crashed into a tree. He was seriously injured and his wife who was in the passenger seat died in the accident. Their 12 and 13 year old children who were sitting in the back were also injured. The New York bus driver was in critical condition after he was ejected from the bus. He may face charges. Four other passengers on the bus suffered personal injury. Read more here 

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Aron Aranbayev and Chloe KardashianIn a previous blog we described how a driver in an act of road rage ran over a pedestrian in Queens and killed him.  The driver has been identified as 46 year old Charles Jordan of Valley Stream, NY, a MTA train operator.  Jordan is facing murder and leaving the scene of an accident charges after the July 19th road rage incident that led to the death of jeweler to the stars Aron Aranbayev (picture here with Khloe Kardashian). The police also indicated that Jordan may have been involved in another road rage incident involving a gun. Read more in the NY Daily News

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A man died after he jumped out of a building on fire yesterday in East Harlem, New York.  The fire started Sunday morning around 5:50 am at 245 E. 124th St. near Second Ave (see picture). In an attempt to flee the blaze, the 58 year old man who was living on the seventh floor jumped out of his window.  He was found outside the building in critical condition and was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries. Four other people, including a firefighter suffered personal injury and were also transported to the hospital. It took firefighters an hour to stop the fire.  Read more in the NY Daily News

245 East 124th Street

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A pedestrian died in the hospital after being struck by a hit and run driver with whom he just had an argument in Queens, NYC. 40 year old Aron Aranbayev, a well known jeweler, was getting dropped off on 71st Ave near 110th street in Forest Hills Sunday night around 11:00 pm when the driver who was stopped just behind him apparently got angry because he had to wait for him to clear the street and got out of his car to yell at Aranbayev. The driver got back in the car, backed up and then in an act of rage intentionally ran down the pedestrian and fled the scene. Aranbanyev suffered serious head trauma and died one day later in the hospital. Read more in The New York Daily News.

Queens intersection

The intersection where the pedestrian was struck by the hit and run driver, source: Google map

 

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Since 1990, 185  New Yorkers died in traffic accidents on Queens Boulevard, mostly pedestrians but also many bicyclists.  Yesterday New York Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press conference in Queens to announce that the “Boulevard of Death” would now become the Boulevard of life and that a $100 million redesign will be implemented to make this dangerous road safer for Queens residents.  The project will include additional crosswalks and safer crossing for pedestrians, protected bike lanes, expanded medians with green plants and intersections redesigned to decrease speed and deter reckless driving. The first phase started yesterday and will target a dangerous 1.3 mile stretch of the boulevard located between Roosevelt Ave and 73rd Street in Woodside. 6 people died, 36 suffered severe personal injury and 591 others suffered minor injuries in crashes in this specific area between 2009 and 2013. Read more on ABC New York

Queens Blvd redesign

 

Queens Boulevard Redesign Project, Source: New York City Department of Transportation

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A 17 year old driver crashed his car into a SUV last night in New York City. The front passenger of the car died while the back passenger suffered personal injury . Both drivers were also injured. The teen was driving north on 231 St with two other teen passengers when he crashed into a SUV driven by a 20 year old man at 119th Av in Cambria Heights, Queens, NYC. Read more in the NY Daily News

In New York State, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of unintentional deaths for teens. Every day an average of 12 people are killed or are hospitalized because of a collision caused by a teen driver. Newly licensed male teen drivers as well as their teen passengers are the most at risk of being killed or injured in a car accident with unsafe speed being the leading cause of teen crashes. See graph below of most recent New York State statistics.

NY car accidents stats

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4 women are dead and 4 others are still in the hospital after being injured in a collision during which a pick up truck collided with their limo. The 8 friends were having a bachelorette party and had hired a limo to visit distilleries and vineyards from the North Folk Region. The limo was leaving Vineyard 48 winery in Cutchogue, Long Island, NY and was making a U turn when a pick up truck crashed into it. The collision was so violent that that the limo was almost sliced in half. Brittney Schulman, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, both of Smithtown; Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park, and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack all died in the accident. Joelle Dimonte, 25, of Elwood, L.I.; Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale, Westchester County; Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket, L.I., and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn, were all treated at local hospitals and survived. Both drivers were also injured and hospitalized. Steve Romeo, the driver of the pick up truck was charged with misdemeanor DWI. He pleaded not guilty. Read more in the NY Daily News

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35 year old Alejandro Moran Marin died in a bicycle accident that happened two days ago at a dangerous intersection located near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Yesterday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams held a press conference at the site of the accident. To illustrate the dangers of the intersection, Adams started the press conference by taking journalists on a bike ride around the area. During the ride he was almost hit by a truck. Adams said that 3 bicyclists died in the area in the last three years. He urged the DOT  to fast track the plans to redesign the areaRead more in the Mean Streets Section of the Brooklyn Paper