New York Yankee recovering from fall down stairs
In baseball, as in life, one wrong move can change the game. A slip-and-fall accident, a bus accident, or any other premises liability incident can leave one incapacitated and unable to fulfill their obligations. This could result in missed work, lost wages, and mounting medical bills.
For New York Yankees pitcher David Robertson, a recent fall down a flight of stairs at his home will keep him from the pitcher’s mound for an undetermined amount of time. Robertson was carrying two empty boxes to the recycling bin when he fell down the stairs, resulting in a mid-foot sprain. This simple misstep will keep him off the field until a full recovery has been made. Foot injuries are difficult for anyone, but for a pitcher they are particularly serious because they have the potential to alter a throwing motion, which could cause arm and shoulder damage.
Although Robertson’s injury took place at home, many common injuries happen while people are walking in grocery stores, restaurants and malls. People often feel responsible for their own injuries, but it’s important to remember that property managers and employees have a responsibility to address potential hazards that could result in accidents for those walking through.
Most of us mere mortals don’t have the pressure of performing for the New York Yankees weighing on us, but we also may not have the kind of resources, medical care, and support that Robertson has as the Yankees team physician and others work to get him back on the field. That’s why it’s so important to recognize that even a “simple” accident may warrant a lawsuit.
Receiving compensation for injuries may be necessary to cover lost wages due to missed work, and to receiving the necessary medical care for a full recovery. You may not be needed on the pitcher’s mound, but chances are you’re a valuable player who is needed in some area of the game of life.
Source: New York Post, “Clumsy accident offers little relief for New York Yankees,” Kevin Kernan, March 9, 2012
New training rule may increase New York construction accidents
In the coming weeks, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will make a decision that could potentially increase the occurrence of construction accidents in New York City. Under a proposed new rule, construction workers could become licensed to operate giant tower cranes without any prior experience in New York City.
Under the current regulations, tower crane operators must operate cranes in the city as an apprentice for at least three years prior to being approved for a license. The proposed new rule eliminates that requirement, and simply states that crane operators must have two years of prior apprenticeship experience in any “urban area of comparable density.” Continue reading
Minor Injuries After Brooklyn Bus Accident
A city bus and a meals-on-wheels van made for a big mess when they collided in Brooklyn early this week. According to the Daily News, the van registered to the Jewish Association Servicing the Aging, ran a red light and hit a passenger car, forcing the bus to swerve and subsequently hit a building.
The accident happened on the corner of Avenue J and Ocean Ave. in Midwood just before 10 a.m. Monday morning. The bus was eastbound on Avenue J when it was forced to swerve to miss the van and collided with an apartment building. The van ended up on its side in the middle of the intersection.
Fortunately, no pedestrians were struck at the intersection and no residents of the apartment building were injured.
Twelve people, from the multiple vehicles, were transported to Kings County Hospital, Maimonides Hospital and Lutheran Medical Center with minor injuries according to police at the scene. Continue reading
Fatal Construction Accident Leads to Criminal Convictions
A 2009 construction accident killed a Long Island man and is just now coming to resolution in court. Two contractors on the accident site were charged criminally with the worker’s death, and the family of the victim also has a lawsuit pending against the reportedly culpable companies.
Robert McGee, 59, a construction foreman from Bohemia L.I. was working at the site on Staten Island during heavy wind advisories. As he knelt on the second story floor, a wind gust brought down a 60 foot tall wall on him, crushing him.
The wall was said to be a known problem, as workers on the site had watched it sway in the wind for days prior. Knowing about the wind advisory, a colleague had called McGee before the collapse, warning him that it may be in his best interest to leave the site.
Anthony Malfi, owner of Well Built Development Corp. who erected the wall, and Michael Fazio of Woodrow Builders, LLC, both faced criminal charges in McGee’s death, something rare but not unheard of. Both pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and will serve no jail time.
The family of McGee also has a lawsuit pending in state Supreme Court, claiming that Well Built did not follow the guidelines set for constructing a commercial office building and that Woodrow Builders did not have an inspector on site to ensure the construction was built according to regulations. Both companies are named in the lawsuit. Continue reading
FedEx Truck “Slams” Amish Buggy, Kids Hurt
Near the Canadian border, in the far northern region of the state, it’s not unusual to see Amish buggies. It appears one FedEx driver wasn’t aware of this, however, striking a buggy from behind and seriously injuring the passengers.
According to the Washington Post, the accident happened in the town of Massena on Route 37. Two women and four children were riding in the buggy at the time. As you might expect, a few of them were serious injured simply because such buggies don’t provide the safety of modern automobiles.
One of the mothers is being treated for a possible spinal injury, and two 3-year old children remain in critical condition. The other passengers were treated and released. The driver of the FedEx truck and his coworker passenger were not injured.
At the time of the Washington Post article, the accident was still under investigation. Nearly all rear-end accidents are deemed to be the fault of the accident that was in the rear, however, and it seems there are no indications that the buggy passengers played a role in causing the accident.
Despite how cut and dry an auto accident might seem, the police and insurance companies will each have to do their own investigations. Sometimes their findings don’t jibe with one another, creating a conflict often sorted out by attorneys in a personal injury claim. Continue reading
New York City elevator accident update: five workers fired
Transel Elevator, Inc., the company responsible for maintaining the elevators in the Manhattan office building where a young advertising executive was killed last December, has fired five of its elevator mechanics in connection with the accident. Transel announced the dismissals only two days after New York City investigators reported their finding that a crucial safety system (which could have prevented the elevator accident) had been disabled.
Our attorneys have closely followed this story since it occurred (see previous posts created in January and February) and are not surprised by these latest developments. Employers often fire employees after a serious or fatal accident for various reasons, sometimes justifiably and sometimes not. What Transel’s decision to fire these mechanics will not do, however, is relieve the company of legal responsibility for employee actions occurring within the scope of employment. Continue reading
City Finds Fault With Maintenance Company in Deadly Elevator Accident
The blame for the elevator accident death of advertising executive Suzanne Hart rests with the maintenance company who had worked on the elevator just minutes before the tragic accident, according to the city’s Department of Buildings and the Department of Investigations. As a result, the city has suspended the license of that company, Transel Elevator, and is seeking to have it revoked.
On the morning of December 14, 2011, repair workers finished their work on elevator nine at 285 Madison Avenue. They left the building at 9:55 a.m. At 9:56 a.m. Ms. Hart began to enter elevator nine and was pinned between floors when the elevator lurched upwards. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the NY Times, the elevator repair workers made three mistakes, mistakes which ultimately caused the elevator accident and Hart’s death:
- They failed to re-enable a safety circuit after they had completed their work. This circuit had been bypassed for their maintenance work to be completed.
- They did not call the Buildings Department for an inspection before putting the elevator back in service.
- They failed to post notice that the elevator was being worked on.
Had the safety circuit been re-enabled, there is a good chance Ms. Hart wouldn’t have lost her life in an elevator accident that morning. Continue reading
New developments in New York City bus accident that left 15 dead
On the one-year anniversary of the New York City bus crash that left 15 people dead and injured 18 others, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced that it will meet on June 5 to determine the probable cause of the crash. Although the NTSB investigation into the bus accident is still in its final stages, early speculation about alcohol or drug use by the bus driver as a possible cause for the tragedy appears to have been without merit.
In addition to the driver’s negative toxicology test results for drugs and alcohol, NTSB investigators have also found no mechanical problems that would have prevented the driver from safely operating the tour bus prior to or during the crash sequence. The list of potential causes board members will be evaluating at the June 5 meeting includes driver error, highway surface or design defects, non-mechanical vehicle factors and motor carrier oversight failures. Continue reading
Brooklyn Ring Faked Accidents, Collected Thousands
Sixteen people are facing charges after bilking the insurance industry out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their crime? Faking auto accidents to collect money for injuries. The group is facing a multitude of crimes and several years in prison for their alleged frauds.
The fraudulent activity is said to have begun in 2009, according to the Insurance Journal. It was then that the group of 16 began causing accidents or faking accidents to get paid. They would hit unsuspecting drivers or get in accidents with each other to take advantage of the No-Fault insurance coverage.
No-Fault insurance allows people involved in accidents to collect up to $50,000 for injuries. In addition, following an accident, injured parties can file lawsuits, something the suspected fraudsters did as well.
In some of the cases, the suspects rented U-Haul trucks and crashed them into livery cabs. They would have one of their codefendants hail the cab and the other crash into them as they slowed. Another scheme they used was walking into vehicles or slapping the vehicle, claiming they were hit.
The sixteen are facing charges like insurance fraud, falsifying business records, grand larceny, and misdemeanor conspiracy. In all, they made off with over $400,000. Continue reading
Glaucoma May Increase Likelihood of Car Accidents
“There may be a segment of the glaucoma population, but certainly not all, that has an elevated MVC (motor vehicle crash) rate because of their disease.” This according to Cynthia Owsley, PhD, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Opthamology. Dr. Owsley reporting the findings of a recently released study on the increased chance of glaucoma sufferers to be involved in an auto accident.
In addition to stating that patients with moderate to severe glaucoma are more at risk for accidents, the study also states they are more likely to incur accident-related injuries than drivers with healthy vision.
The researchers didn’t only compile research from the Department of Motor Vehicle’s crash data, but actually analyzed the on-road driving performance of patients by conducting driving exams.
Recruiting participants for the study was difficult, according to the researchers, not only because the standards were very particular—they were required to be at least 55, have visual acuity of 20/70 in at least one eye, be a licensed driver, and not have undergone any procedures that could affect their driving—but because many potential participants were concerned they could lose their license if their driving was subpar during research examinations. As such, of 86 people who were eligible, 64 of them declined to participate. Continue reading
FDA loophole leads to approval of defective products
If you are like most New York consumers, you probably assume that a Food and Drug Administration-approved product has been properly tested and is now considered safe. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. For example, about 90 percent of the medical products and devices that are on the market have been approved by the FDA through the agency’s 510(k) process.
But under a loophole in that process, a product that is ‘substantially equivalent’ to one that has previously been approved by the FDA must also be approved, automatically, no questions asked. Because this is the case even when that earlier product has been recalled or has otherwise been shown to be harmful, the loophole results in many defective products making their way to the market. To remedy this dangerous situation, a number of federal lawmakers are currently working to pass a law which would effectively close that loophole. Continue reading
Bronx Home Scene of Frequent Car Accidents
A home located on a busy corner in the Bronx was hit by a taxi a few weeks ago. But according to the NY Times, such car accidents are par for the course for the home owner, and he doesn’t plan on moving.
Steven Campbell bought the 1915 two-story home in 1989, and since then it has been twice hit by vehicles. “You could go anywhere and get hit by a car,” he says in justifying his decision to remain in the car-accident-prone home.
The home is located on Taylor Avenue at the corner of Wood Avenue. It’s a five corner intersection, shared with East 174th street, a four-lane road with a median. In short, there’s no shortage of traffic.
In the taxi accident that most recently occurred, the cab swerved to avoid another vehicle and sped through the Taylor-Wood intersection before jumping the curb in front of Mr. Campbell’s home. It hit a parked van and post and then mowed down Campbell’s white metal fence before smashing through the empty garage door. Fortunately, no one was injured. Mr. Campbell was not home at the time. Continue reading