New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog

Published on: October 2, 2014

Top New York Personal Injury Law Firm Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman, Mackauf, Bloom and Rubinowitz selected as one of the top 50 America’s Elite Trial Lawyers by the National Law Journal and Law.com

Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, a top New York Personal Injury law firm is proud to announce that it has been selected by the National Law Journal and Law.com this year to be part of the Top 50 list of America’s Elite Trial Lawyers.

The 50 personal injury firms selected for this list have been doing the most creative and substantial work on the plaintiff side.

To qualify for inclusion, firms had to have scored at least one significant plaintiffs win between Jan. 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014, and possess an impressive track record of wins within the past three to five years. A “significant win” meant prevailing in a bench or jury trial or in a major settlement where the stakes were high-for example, a substantial amount of money was at stake or the outcome could have affected litigation strategy or results in similar cases nationally. Also, firms had to devote at least 50 percent of their litigation resources to plaintiffs work and derive half or more of their revenue from plaintiffs-side activities. Firms with higher percentages of plaintiffs-side work were considered.

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Published on: October 2, 2014

New York State Senator Adriano Espaillat says ER conditions at NY-Presbyterian/Columbia are like a “third-world country level of healthcare

By GGCRBHS&M

After visiting a friend at the Emergency Room of the New York Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center Hospital in Washington Heights in Manhattan, Senator Adriano Espaillat University said he was outraged by the horrendous conditions patients and staff had to deal with. People are lying on stretchers in the hallways, there is no privacy, the staff is overwhelmed, patients are waiting 85 minutes to see a doctor on average and 717 minutes to get a room.

Senator Espaillat is planning to meet with hospital management this week to discuss the problems.

Man dies in Brooklyn fire accident

By GGCRBHS&M

A 61 year old man died early this morning after a fire engulfed his apartment on Herkimer St. in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY. The fireman tried to ressucitate the man after they pulled him out of the fire but he died at the hospital. The cause of the fire is being investigated by the fire marshals.

Tracy Morgan can’t believe Wal-Mart is blaming him for the personal injury he suffered in June when one of the retailer’s truck crashed into Tracy’s vehicle

By GGCRBHS&M

Wal-Mart is blaming Tracy Morgan for the injuries he suffered in the June truck accident. In court filings last Monday Wal-Mart said injuries “if any, were caused in whole or in part, by plaintiff’s failure to properly wear an appropriate available seat belt device”. Tracy Morgan can’t believe Wal-Mart is blaming him for an accident that they caused. Read more in the New York Daily News

Published on: September 24, 2014

27 year old worker dies in Midtown Manhattan Construction Accident

By GGCRBHS&M

A New York City construction worker was crushed to death by a concrete slab that fell off a building adjacent to a construction site in Midtown Manhattan. 27 year old Rodalfo Vasquez-Galian was working on securing the foundations of a future hotel located at 326 West 37th street when the piece of concrete weighing thousands of pounds came loose. According to Rick Chandler, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings the excavation digging “compromised the foundation of the neighboring building”. In May a complaint that the construction was causing dangerous vibrations in neighboring properties was dismissed after a city inspection. The construction site was also closed in August for one day because of safety violations. Tritel, the construction company owned by hotel developer Sam Chang, has received more than 200 building violations since 2006.
Read more in the New York Times

Published on: September 24, 2014

Another pedestrian was hit by a car this morning on the Upper West Side of Manhattan causing severe personal injury

By GGCRBHS&M

Early this morning a female pedestrian was rushed to the hospital after she was struck by a car at the intersection of west 79th street and Broadway (read more in the New York Daily News). Since the beginning of this year numerous pedestrians have suffered personal injury or lost their life after being struck by vehicles on some of the larger streets on the Upper West Side. West 79th Street is one of the most dangerous streets on the Upper West Side because motorists exiting and entering the Henry Hudson Parkway use this large street. In February 2014, residents of Community Board 7 made a list of the 4 most dangerous intersections on the Upper West Side one of which was Riverside Drive and 79th street. According to NYC Crashmapper, there is an average 3.23 collisions per month at this intersection. This morning’s accident happened two blocks away on the same street at another dangerous intersection. Crashmapper calculated a rate of 2.42 collisions per month at the intersection of Broadway and 79th street. According to the same source between August 2011 and February 2014 there were 75 collisions at this location. 5 pedestrians, 1 bicyclist, 5 passengers and 4 drivers suffered personal injury as a result of these accidents.

79th%20street%20Heatmap.jpg
NYC Crashmapper heatmap shows that every intersection on 79th street has a high rate of collisions

Published on: September 24, 2014

In a campaign to prevent bicycle accidents, Right of Way installs “20 is plenty” speed signals in Central Park

By GGCRBHS&M

Four days after Jill Tarlov was struck by a reckless cyclist and died in Central Park (see our previous post), activists from “Right of Way” took action last night by installing “20 is Plenty” signs along the Central Park Drives. (Read more about the Central Park Campaign here)

The actual speed limit in New York parks is 25 MPH but activists believe it should be reduced. Mark Levine, the City Council’s park committee chairman also shares this point of view. Yesterday he called for a reduction of the speed limit in all New York Parks for both motor vehicles and bicycles. Mr. Levine also believes that Central Park and Prospect Park should be completely car free as cars are a much bigger threat to pedestrians than bicycles. (Read more here)

Published on: September 23, 2014

One man died and another suffered personal injury in two separate NYC motorcycle accidents during which both motorcyclists were struck by a car

By GGCRBHS&M

A 22 year old motorcyclist suffered severe personal injury after he was struck by a car while trying to take care of his disabled bike on the Henry Hudson Parkway in the southbound middle lane at West 70th Street. The driver remained at the scene while the victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Less than 12 hours later, 24 year old David Duran was heading West on 73rd Avenue near the Clearview Expressway when the driver of a Mazda tried to make a U turn and fatally struck the young motorcyclist.

The average 125 minute emergency room wait at Brooklyn’s Interfaith Hospital puts patients at risk of death from life-threatening illnesses such as stroke or heart attacks

By GGCRBHS&M

A diagnosis delayed by a too long wait time in an emergency room can be medical malpractice and can be deadly. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, patients checking in at the ER of the Brooklyn Interfaith Hospital wait an average of 125 minutes before they can be seen by a doctor. The hospital recently added more staff but it has financial struggles. Most of its ER patients are uninsured.

The Brooklyn Hospital has the worst ER waiting time in New York State and 4 times the national average according to an article in the New York Daily News.

Published on: September 23, 2014

A man drove the wrong way on a New York highway exit ramp and died after his car hit a garbage truck

By GGCRBHS&M

Major%20Deegan.jpg For reasons that are unknown so far, a 63 year old man drove the wrong way on the exit ramp of the Major Deegan Expressway at W. 233rd Street in the Bronx, NYC and was killed after he crashed into a NY Department of Sanitation truck. The man died at the scene of the accident and the truck driver who suffered from back pain was transported to a close-by hospital.