New York Personal Injury News & NYC Legal Current Events

Unfortunately, accidents and injuries happen every day in New York City and the surrounding area. Keep up to date with the latest news and information regarding accidents, injuries, and injury lawsuits in New York by reading our regularly updated NYC legal news items.

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Car Accidents

• Famed Documentary Film Editor Killed In NYC Hit-And-Run
  Feb 25, 2010

  A woman was killed while crossing the street while carrying groceries to her home on the Upper West Side this week. The NYPD says that the 39-year-old woman was plowed down by a robber who was fleeing police.
  
  Karen Schmerr, an acclaimed documentary film editor who worked on such files as “The Fog of War,” “Fast, Cheap and Out of Control,” “Sketches of Frank Gehry,” and “Sergio,” was struck while crossing Broadway St. near West 90th Ave. in Manhattan.
  
  Police say that they have arrested 25-year-old David McKie of Brooklyn, who was driving a Dodge away from a drugstore when he and friends had stolen roughly $1000 worth of prescription drugs. He drove through several red lights without his lights on and while weaving dangerously in and out of traffic before striking and killing the woman.
  
  Police say that after hitting and killing the woman, two men abandoned their vehicle and ran on foot. NYC police captured McKie, who they say got out of the drivers’ side door of the SUV. Another man who exited from the passenger’s side door is still being pursued. A third man who ran from the drugstore on foot is also being sought by police. Police officer Michael Monteverde first noticed the get away.
  
  McKie has been charged with murder, though his accomplices remain on the run. He could face 25 years in prison to life in prison for his deadly New York City hit-and-run pedestrian accident. - 1 - 10

• New York City Toyota Dealers Hit By Worldwide Gas Pedal Recall
  Feb 22, 2010

  Toyota dealerships in New York City and the surrounding area are struggling with 2010 model sales after the behemoth car company announced a series of recalls over the past two months regarding faulty gas pedals, unexpected acceleration, and defective floor mats. While some New Yorkers say that they are now unable to sell their used Toyotas, others are suing the company for past car accidents and car accident injuries.
  
  The most recent recall involves the popular Prius model, an environmentally-friendly hybrid gas-electric car that is the car company’s best seller after the traditional sedans, the Camry and Corolla. Almost half a million Prius models were recalled worldwide after a number of car owner reported problems with the floor mats and gas pedals. The company believes that the issue occurs when the car’s antilock brake system is triggered.
  
  Not only are dealers suffering – Toyota is already facing 30 different lawsuits regarding car accidents and the faulty gas pedal issue. Experts believe that these product liability lawsuits for defective auto part could cost the company $2 billion, counting the other costs of the international recall.
  
  Toyota has a fix for the defective gas pedals and has already started repairs in the United Kingdom. The company plans on fixing 6,000 cars per day until the problem is solved. In the meantime, they will begin facing class action lawsuits from product liability law firms across the country as those who have been in car accidents seek damages for their injuries.
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• Grand Island Mother And Daughter Killed On Slick NY Road
  Jan 23, 2010

  Buffalo Police say that weather was the main factor in a deadly New York crash that killed a young mother and her baby daughter on January 6. The police and fire department reported that 22-year-old Stephanie Ali and her 9-month-old daughter were driving along Grand Island Boulevard when Ali lost control of her Toyota Prius and slid out of her lane and into oncoming traffic. She was traveling northbound at around 6:30 pm at the time of the fatal car accident.
  
  Her car was struck on the passenger’s side by 43-year-old Michael Szmanski and his son 17-year-old Mark Szmanski. They were towing a trailer with snowmobiles when the cars collided. Neither father or son were injured seriously in the NY car accident, which took place east of Bedell Road in Grand Island. Mother and baby, who were both from Grand Island, were pronounced dead at Kenmore Mercy Hospital in Tonawanda, New York.
  
  Rescue workers, police, and local meteorologists agree that the roads were dangerous at the time of the accident. The weather was below freezing and the snow falling from the sky was granular and slick – akin to an icy drizzle covering the roads. Police say that no charges will be filed in this weather-related car accident.
  
  Grand Island Boulevard was closed for several hours as workers cleaned up the accident and as investigators examined the scene of the car crash.
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• Former NBA Player Jayson Williams Crashes Car In NYC DUI Accident
  Jan 22, 2010

  Former Nets basketball star Jayson Williams added to his legal woes this month when he was involved in a car accident in New York City. NYC Police say that the often-troubled former NBA player crashed his black Mercedes after leaving FDR Drive and crossing four lanes of traffic just after 3 am on Tuesday morning. The vehicle hit a tree and Williams suffered a broken neck and cervical. Emergency responders transferred the car accident victim to Bellevue Hospital Center.
  
  Although witnesses say Williams was behind the wheel when the vehicle crashed, he was sitting in the passenger seat when police arrived and told police that the driver of the car had fled the scene of the accident. Witnesses also say that the Mercedes SUV was driving recklessly and erratically. The NYPD charged him with a misdemeanor DUI and noted that the arresting officer smelled alcohol on his breath immediately following the NYC car accident.
  
  The basketball start played in the NBA from 1989 to 1999. Since then, he has been charged with manslaughter for allegedly shooting his limo driver in 2002. He has also faced charges in relation to a bar fight and a New York Hotel. All three events involved alcohol. He will have a retrial regarding the limo driver murder in New Jersey later this year.
  
  Williams was arraigned on Jan 7 – he attended his court date through video conferencing since he was still hospitalized. He was wearing a neck brace and had a laceration over his eye at the time of the hearing.
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• Efforts Lag at Making Highway Work Zones Safer
  Dec 22, 2009

  Accidents involving dangerous drop-offs kill about 160 people and injure 11,000 each year. Numerous studies have shown that the steeper the drop-off, the greater the danger.

  In Texas in 2002, seven people were killed when a car slipped off a sharp edge of roadway and onto the shoulder, causing the driver to overcorrect into the path of a minivan. Four years before, six people died in a succession of accidents in another Texas work zone, where contractors had failed to smooth out the edge of a newly paved lane.

  Yet when the contractors repaving Highway 51 west of Fort Worth discovered that they lacked sufficient equipment, they decided to pave only part of the roadway and finish the rest days later, leaving a sharp drop-off that ran for miles within the travel lane. A state inspector warned that it was dangerous, but no one — not his superiors, not the contractor — listened.

  Two days after that warning, Mr. Lee, a 26-year-old oil field worker with a wife and two young sons, rounded a curve in the early-morning darkness, and the wheels of his Suzuki motorcycle slid off the asphalt edge. He tumbled from the bike and was run over by a pickup truck.

  The deadly accident was one of thousands in highway work zones across the country that have killed at least 4,700 people — more than two a day — and injured 200,000 in the last five years alone. Ubiquitous annoyances of on-the-go American life, work zones are sometimes death traps, too.

  Behind this human toll is a litany of mundane hazards: concrete barriers in the wrong position, obsolete lane markings left in place, warning signs never deployed.

  Yet there are virtually no laws or regulations mandating safety measures in work zones. There are standards, but they are loosely enforced and differ from state to state. As a result, there are few penalties levied against contractors when, because of ignorance, carelessness or a desire to save money, guidelines are violated. Problem contractors often just keep on getting hired, and dangerous practices remain uncorrected, sometimes for years.

  Ultimately, the hazards persist through a kind of collective indifference, a presumption that, given the crush of traffic and the vagaries of driver behavior, accidents happen.

  But interviews and internal government documents, along with a review of more than 100 legal cases involving work zone crashes around the country, illuminate a more complex calculus of blame — one that often encompasses the actions of the construction industry and its regulators as well.

  “A lot of work-zone crashes are entirely preventable,” said David Holstein, Ohio’s chief traffic engineer. “It’s not explainable by just driver error or inattention. We can intervene to keep them from happening.”

  After transportation officials in Ohio created a system to monitor work-zone crashes in real time, they were startled to discover that the presence of construction caused accident rates to jump as much as 70 percent, Mr. Holstein said.

  “We were seeing that crashes were happening day after day after day, and nothing was being done about it,” he said. “Sometimes there were hundreds of crashes over the life of a project.”

  Now the stakes are increasing, as $27 billion from President Obama’s economic stimulus package is prompting a nationwide boom in highway construction. Federal transportation officials are concerned that work-zone fatalities, after declining in recent years along with traffic deaths in general, could rise again.

  “The number of people killed as a result of crashes in work zones remains significant,” the Federal Highway Administration says on its Web site. “Safety and mobility impacts from work zones will likely be magnified with the infusion of a large number of new projects.”

  Transportation officials are responding pretty much as they always have: by focusing primarily on drivers. States have raised fines for speeding in work zones, cracked down on drunken or distracted drivers and stiffened penalties for killing or injuring highway workers, even though roughly 85 percent of those killed in work zones are motorists.
  
  
  If you have been involved in a car accident near a construction area, please call us today.  We can help.  1.877.288.9191

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• Things to Do In the New Year: Getting Automobile Insurnace in Order
  Dec 18, 2009

  "As we look to start a new year, not only should we look to ensure our cars are in proper working order, but we also need to understand that one's automolibe liability policy is in proper working order too," says Terrence James Cortelli, a New York accident lawyer known for his experience in personal injury law. "Drivers should understand their coverage, liability, and their auto insurance policy as a whole."

  According to Mr. Cortelli, the best way to ensure that a driver’s auto insurance will protect them in the event of a motor vehicle accident is for the policyholder to take the time to talk to their insurance agent or a representative from their insurance company so that they can better understand their policy. 

  Even a quick call to your personal injury attorney can be a major help in understanding your policy.  Mr. Cortelli explains that he is always looking to help people understand their policies and even offers his email address (tcortelli@lsinjurylaw.com) to anyone who needs help, free of charge.

  “We find it is generally not in one's best interest to talk to the defendant’s insurance representative without first consulting an attorney because it often jeopardizes the monetary award that victim is entitled to.”  "Having auto insurance coverage is not only the law, but it is essential in the event that a driver is in an accident," says Mr. Cortelli. "Ninety-nine percent of the money that is awarded to our clients comes from the defendant’s insurance company."

  Mr. Cortelli says that, depending on the nature of an auto accident, victims may be eligible for compensation from the other driver’s insurance company.  However, when a person is seriously injured in a car accident, he stresses that it is important for victims to consult an auto accident attorney before talking to an insurance company representative.

  "If a person or their loved one has been injured in an automobile accident, they must consult a personal injury lawyer before talking to the insurance company that represents the individual that caused the accident," says Cortelli.

  According to Cortelli, unrepresented victims of auto accidents that offer statements to a defendant’s insurance company, are examined by an insurance company doctor, or sign a release, often give information to the insurance compnay that they do not even realize will destroy their case even in those situations where they are truly hurt and not at fault for the accident.  That is why, he says, it is important to consult a personal injury lawyer first. Personal injury attorneys are experts at dealing with insurance companies and getting right and just results.  "Insurance companies never take advanage of me or my clients because I know the law," Cortelli adds.  

  "The victim has nothing to lose," says Cortelli, "because a quality accident attorney will offer a free consultation."

  If you or a loved one have been in a car accident, or just have a simple question about your insurnace policy, Mr. Cortelli says that his firm is always looking to help.

  Terrence James Cortelli works for the firm Lever & Stolzenberg, LLP, a personaly injury firm that helps those involved in serious automobile accidents.  For a free consultation, do not hestiate to call at 1-877-288-9191

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• Tom Brokaw And Wife Involved In Fatal NYC Car Accident In The Bronx
  Dec 17, 2009

  The Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx was the scene of a deadly NYC highway accident last Friday afternoon – and accident that involved two cars, a mail truck, and former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife, Meredith. The New York City Police Department said that their initial investigation revealed the fatal car accident was caused by a loose spool of cable on the highway.
  
  The Bronx car accident occurred around one in the afternoon, when the Brokaws were driving in the left lane and spotted the cable in the roadway in the right lane. When an SUV merged left to avoid the cable, it forced a mail truck into the far left lane, where it collided with the car owned by the 69-year-old newscaster. The mail truck jumped the highway median, with the US Postal Service worker suffering some injuries. The Brokaw’s Volvo attempted to stop, but slid across the median as well and slid into the mail truck.
  
  The SUV also crashed due to the spool, and the driver, Suejas Estrada, 30, from the Bronx was thrown from the vehicle. It is not know whether Estrada was wearing a seat belt at the time of the car accident.
  
  The Brokaws told reporters that they were “deeply saddened by the loss of life” that took place at the accident scene. Neither were injured in the accident.
  
  The NYC car accident caused backups for several hours where the Bruckner Expressway merges with the Sheridan Expressway. - 7 - 10

• Long Island Dad Dies In Hit-And-Run Motorcycle Accident
  Dec 16, 2009

  Have you seen a damaged early-to-mid-90s Buick Century in the Nassau area in the last week? Police are searching for the perpetrator of a deadly hit-and-run accident in Long Island on Sunday, in which a local motorcycle rider was left for dead.
  
  New York Police say that 46-year-old John Deiker of Franklin Square was struck while riding northbound on Commonwealth Street near the intersection of Naple Avenue a few minutes before noon. While the driver of the car that struck him immediately fled the scene, Deiker was left in the middle of the intersection suffering from severe internal injuries. He died a short time after being found at Franklin General Hospital. Dieker, who was on his way home in order to attend the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show with his family and two children, was not wearing a helmet at the time of his accident. He was just yards away from his house at the time of the accident.
  
  Police have turned their efforts to finding the person who struck the motorcycle in Franklin Square, but only have some information, such as the make of the car, from witnesses. They are not willing to say that alcohol, speed, reckless driving, or weather was a factor in the deadly NYC motorcycle crash.
  
  Anyone who has information about this Long Island hit-and-run should immediately call the Nassau County Police Homicide Squad or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. - 8 - 10

• Victims' family say wrong-way lawsuit focuses on DWI
  Dec 10, 2009

   The family of two victims from Diane Schuler's wrong-way crash on the Taconic State Parkway said their lawsuit filed today isn't about money or revenge but about awareness to drunk driving.

  "This holiday season, remember the Taconic tragedy," said Roseann Guzzo, who lost her father, Michael Bastardi Sr., and brother, Guy Bastardi, in the crash. "If you have to go to a party, don't drink and drive. Be aware. We're all brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. You can have a good time, but don't drink and drive — especially with children in the car."

  The Bastardis held a news conference outside the Westchester County Courthouse today to discuss the lawsuit.
  
  The lawsuit, available here, was filed in state Supreme Court against the estate of Diane Schuler and her brother, Warren Hance, who owned the minivan Schuler drove on July 26 before she killed herself, her 2-year-old daughter, three young nieces, the Bastardis and their friend, Daniel Longo, 74. Schuler's 5-year-old son, Bryan, survived.

  Schuler and her husband, Daniel, had spent the weekend at a Sullivan County campground and headed home to West Babylon, L.I., in separate vehicles.

  The Bastardis are seeking unspecified damages from both parties in the suit. Irving Anolik, the Bastardi family attorney, emphasized the suit isn't centered on money. He said the family was filing it to bring attention to the dangers of drunk driving.

  Guzzo said the family intends to create a foundation focusing on the dangers of drunk driving.

  Tom Ruskin, president of CMP Investigative Group and a spokesman for the Schuler family, declined to comment. Represenatives for the Hances could not be reached for comment.

  The Westchester Medical Examiner's Office found Schuler was drunk and high before she crashed. According to the lawsuit, the Bastardis allege Schuler's behavior "imperiled the lives and well-being of all lawful users of the highway" that day.

  The lawsuit also implies that Michael Sr. and Guy Bastardi didn't die instantly from the crash. Brian Sichol, the attorney filing the lawsuit for the Bastardis, said his firm's investigation into the matter found that first responders to the scene saw the two alive. The significance of this information, he said, indicates the two underwent suffering and pain before their deaths.

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• Two Hit-And-Run Accidents Shock Long Island, Kill Two Youths
  Nov 29, 2009

  Two New York pedestrian accidents rocked Smithtown this week - occuring just miles from each other. In the first Long Island hit-and-run case, 11-year-old Courtney Sipes was struck and killed by a car on Main Street in Smithtown just after dark as she and her mother crossed the street. The young girl, who was in fifth grade, was thrown dozens of feet from the car and landed under a parked car. Many in the area said that crosswalk where the accident took place is a dangerous one, with a short crossing time and poor lighting.
  
  The New York pedestrian accident victim was taken to St. Catherine of Siena Hospital where she was pronounced dead. NY investigators say that the car that hit the girl likely sustained hood damage and was either a white pickup or a white SUV.
  
  In a second fatal Long Island pedestrian accident, a 15-year-old boy was struck while riding his bike in Smithtown on Terry Road and Route 347. In this case, the person driving stopped the car. Witnesses and the driver, 25-year-old Alex Helkin say that there was a green light at the time of the accident and that the bike rider must not have seen that the light had changed. The young man was riding bikes with three other teenagers at the time of the NYC car accident.
  
  The Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner pronounced the bike accident victim, Nicolas Svercel, dead at the scene of the accident. Suffolk County Police are continuing the investigation. As of yet, no charges have been filed.
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