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.

News Category: All CategoriesWrongful DeathCar AccidentsConstruction AccidentsSlip and FallTruck AccidentsProducts LiabilityMedical MalpracticeInjured Workers LawGeneral

Wrongful Death

• Autistic Queens Man Dies In Car Under Care Of Assisted Living Facility
  Aug 05, 2010

  A 20-year-old autistic man has died after being left locked in a car for five hours on one of the hottest days of the year. The man, Brian Nevins of New York was living in an adult care facilities due to his disabilities and was under the care of the facility staff at the time of the fatal accident. As the details of the deadly accident unfold, many wonder if the company, Woods Services, will face a wrongful death lawsuit because of their negligent care of the young man.
  
  Police say that Nevins, whose parents live in Oceanside, New York, probably died within 90 minutes of being locked in the van, as temperatures inside the vehicle probably quickly rose to 130 degrees. The cause of death is expected to be ruled as accidental hyperthermia. A counselor who was driving Nevins along with four other residents from a trip to Sesame Place on Saturday dropped off everyone but Nevins, who was forgotten in the car. Nevins was reported missing when a nurse found him missing from his room when it was time for his medication.
  
  Nevins’ parents removed the young man’s twin, who also suffers from autism, from the facility on Saturday night. They said that their son was not verbal and that it was not clear if the car was locked from the inside.
  
  The counselor responsible for the accident had received 40 hours of training and had a background check completed before he began work at Woods Services. The facility can house up to 700 residents, all of which suffer from behavioral problems and mental health issues. In 2009, a man eloped from the facility and fell or jumped from a nearby overpass to his death, but the care facilities was not found negligent in that case.
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• A Year After NY Wrong Way Crash, Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit
  Aug 04, 2010

  This week, the eight victims of a New York wrong way interstate crash are being remembered in services throughout the state. Although the fatal car accident that took place on Taconic State Parkway last July is still shrouded in mystery, the three families torn apart in the tragic accident continue to mourn their losses.
  
  The crash took place on July 26, 2009, in the early afternoon in Westchester County. Minivan driver Diane Schuler was carrying five children in her vehicle when she slammed into an oncoming SUV head-on. Four children and Schuler were killed in the tragic car accident while all three people in the SUV were also killed.
  
  An investigation revealed that Schuler was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the fatal NY car accident and that her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. A broken vodka bottle was found at the scene of the crash. However, Shuler’s husband adamantly denies that his wife drank or did drugs and that she must have suffered from a medical emergency, such as a heart attack, stroke, or diabetic attack. In recent months, the husband has admitted that his wife sometimes smoked marijuana and that the couple had been drinking during their camping trip that weekend.
  
  The family of two of the men killed in the SUV have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Schuler’s husband, though the Schuler family has not responded to the charges. To date, no criminal charges have been filed as Schuler died in the NY car accident. 
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• Falling Branch Kills Baby In NYC’s Central Park Zoo
  Jul 12, 2010

  The father of a six-month-old baby killed by a falling tree limb in New York’s Central Park Zoo is planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit against New York City.
  
  Last weekend, Michael Ricciutti, his wife Karla, and his infant daughter Gianna were walking in Manhattan’s Central Park and stopped to take a picture when a large tree branch fell on mother and daughter. The baby was killed in the tree limb accident while Karla was rushed to the hospital with facial injuries and brain damage, where she still remains in critical but stable condition.
  
  New York City authorities are trying to determine who was responsible for caring for the Central Park trees. Most of the over 25,000 trees in the giant park are the responsibility of the nonprofit group Central Park Conservatory, which has been deferring questions about their involvement in the matter to others. Some believe the care of the tree may have been the responsibility of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the park’s zoo where the fatal tree limb accident took place, but that group, too, has not claimed responsibility. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes that the incident was no more than a tragic accident, but two other serious and similar accidents involving tree branches has many wondering if this problem can’t be stopped or minimized.
  
  Currently, the Central Park Conservatory spends over half a million dollars on tree maintenance each year.
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Car Accidents

• Fatal New York Car Crash Caused By Fatigued Driver
  Jun 30, 2010

  New York State Police believe that a deadly head-on crash that took place last week was probably caused by fatigue or even by falling asleep at the wheel.
  
  According to the Times-Union, a man who was driving from JFK International airport to Vermont crashed in Pittstown, New York, at approximately five in the morning. The driver was killed in the NY car accident along with the front seat passenger and two of the woman’s three children who were in the car.
  
  NY Police say that 42-year-old Robin C. Martine was driving on Route 7 in Pittstown when his car swerved across the double yellow line and into oncoming traffic. Martine was killed when the car slammed into a tractor-trailer. Also killed in the car accident were 40-year-old Juana Jimenez, 13-year-old Jasmil Jimenez, and 10-year-old Cesar Jimenez. The lone survivor from the SUV was 15-year-old Jennifer Jimenez who was extracted from the car by Pittstown Fire Department members. Juana and Jasmil Jiminez died by the time EMS arrived while Cesar died by the roadside. Martine died en route to an Albany hospital.
  
  Rescue workers told reporters that extracting the family from the car was extremely difficult. The family is survived by a 19-year-old sibling who was not in the car at the time of the crash.
  
  The driver of the big rig, 54-year-old John Miller, suffered minor injuries in the NY truck accident.
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• Nun Killed in Harlem Getaway Car Accident, Four Others Injured
  Jun 26, 2010

  An arrest after a mugging by the NYPD went terribly wrong on Tuesday, June 22, when two of the robbers being questions sped off in a getaway car, quickly crashing into a minivan and a crowd of pedestrians in Harlem. An elderly nun was killed in the New York City car accident while four other people were injured. Three people remain in the hospital, two of which suffered life threatening injures.
  
  According to CBS News, Columbia laws student 21-year-old Krishan Thakker was robbed at gunpoint of his backpack earlier in the day by suspects 20-year-old Dyson Williams and18-year-old William Robbins. When the New York Police saw the men later in the day, they attempted to stop them and arrest them. However, while authorities were arresting the driver, the two other men in the car took the wheel and attempted to escape.
  
  The car managed to drive a few blocks, hit a minivan, spin, and strike four pedestrians. Harlem nun, 84-year-old Sister Mary Celine Graham was among the pedestrians struck by the car. She died of her car accident injuries.
  
  Williams has been charged with second-degree murder and robbery, while Robbins, who was arrested before the NY car accident, has been charged with armed robbery.
  
  Both Thakker and the police involved are wondering what they could have done differently in order to stop this tragic pedestrian accident – perhaps the perpetrators are also wondering about the choices they made on Tuesday.
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• Lever & Solzenberg Links Suicide to Car Accident
  May 23, 2010

  Just recently, Terrence James Cortelli and Howard Stolzenberg of the boutique personal injury law firm Lever & Stolzenberg successfully settled a lawsuit comemenced by a widow whose husband committed suicide two months after being involved in a car accident in Rockalnd County. 
  
  In that case, in August 2009, the husband was rear-ended by an intoxicated driver on Route 59.  The driver then struck a police cruiser and was arrested for driving under the influence.  The husband was driving a new Ford Explorer and it was totaled in the accident.  The husband was a self-employed house cleaner.  Because of the accident, he injured his back and could not work.  His bills began to mount and he was not making any money to pay them. 
  
  Two months later, he tragically took his own life by jumping in front of a train. 
  
  Lever & Stolzenberg commenced a personal injury action against the driver, seeking damages not only for the back injury but also for the suicide. 
  
  State Farm, who insured the drunk driver, initially laughed at the firm's claims, arguing that there was no way the firm would be able to link the suicide to the accident. 
  
  But, in Court, we were able to convince State Farm that there was a link -- we noted that a sucide note was found that explicitly stated that the suicide was a direct result of the husband's inability to work.  The Firm also contacted a psychiatrist who was willing to testify on the subject.  
  
  The firm also stressed that the driver's actions -- being drunk during the middle of the day on a school day -- would not go over well with a Rockland County jury and that we would ask for punitive damages.  Through extensive investigation, the Firm was able to uncover numerous incidents of the driver's past prior bad acts involving alcohol.  In fact, one of the depositions had to be cancelled because the defendant driver had been arrested yet again.  
  
  Based upon the firm's ruthlessness, State Farm finally agreed to pay the full amount of its insurance policy.     - 6 - 10

• Bad tires a factor in Pearl River crash that killed teen
  May 23, 2010

  The following is a tragic story from the Journal News:
  
  PEARL RIVER — Bad tires combined with pouring rain and a steep hill caused the crash that claimed the life of 15-year-old Justin Rogers earlier this month, Orangetown police said Thursday.

  The driver of the car, 17-year-old Steven Gerard Lowney of Nanuet, has been issued a ticket citing inadequate tires, police Sgt. Sean Russo said.

  Lowney was driving his father's 2002 Honda Accord the afternoon of May 3 when the car struck a guardrail on Veterans Highway, went off the road and rolled down a 35-foot embankment before coming to rest in a streambed.

  Rogers was his only passenger. The Pearl River teen's leg was severed in the crash and he died in a New York City hospital three days later. Both boys were students at Pearl River High School.

  "A combination of factors led to this horrible, horrible tragedy," Russo said.

  Investigators examining the car found that the rear tires did not meet state standards. According to those standards, the grooves on the treads have to be four thirty-seconds of an inch deep, Russo said.

  He would not say what the depth of the tire treads on Lowney's car were, other than that they did not meet the state standards.

  
  Bald tires can be particularly dangerous when roads are wet, said Robert Sinclair Jr., spokesman for the Automobile Club of New York.

  
  "When you have minimal tread depth, it allows the film of water to build up under the tire," Sinclair said. "In essence , the tire is no longer in contact with the road — there's no traction."

  A study released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2001 indicated that more than one-fourth of passenger car tires and almost one-third of light truck tires may be underinflated, which can lead to wear.

  "You are more likely to get excessive tread wear when your tires are improperly inflated," Sinclair said.

  Typical tires on a Honda should last for about 50,000 miles, said Rich Slavis, a manager at Eastern State Tire Corp. in West Nyack.

  People are keeping their cars longer, likely because of the poor economy, Slavis noted.

  "We try to explain to people how important it is to make sure they have good tires," he said. "Some people have no idea."

  The police investigation into the fatal crash did not show any other factors that could have lead to the accident.

  There was no indication that either boy was talking on a cell phone or texting, Russo said.

  Speed did not appear to be a factor.

  "We are confident that was not the case," he said. "We are confident that the primary contributing factors were a combination of inadequate tires and the rainstorm."

  Both Lowney and Rogers were wearing their seat belts, the investigation concluded. Lowney suffered minor injuries and was treated at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern.
  
  *******
  Click here to see how our experts explain the right way to check the tread on your car 

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• Make Sure Tire Tread is Proper to Avoid Accidents
  May 23, 2010

  One of the best ways to avoid an accident (and a lawsuit), is to make sure your car tires have the proper tread.  Although it would appear to be obvious, a proper tire tread gives your car grip, especially in bad weather. 
  
  For an example of what can happen, just see this tragic story of a Pearl River resident (my hometown) and of these students from Suffern. 
  
  According to ur transportation experts, there are two popular ways to check for signs of tire tread wear.
  
  One easy way is the penny test. Simply insert a penny into your tire's tread groove with Lincoln's head upside down and facing you. If you can see all of Lincoln's head, it's time to replace your tires.
  
  Another way is to look at the tread wear indicator bar that's molded into your tires. The bars are at the bottoms of the tread grooves in several locations around the tire. When a tire is so worn that these bars become visibly flush with the adjacent tread ribs, it's time to replace the tire.
  
  Experts suggests you check your tire tread using either method every 3,000 miles.
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• NY State Trooper Fatal Car Crash Caused By Driver Inattention
  May 17, 2010

  New York State Police have concluded the investigation of the car accident death of NY police trooper Jill E. Mattice, the first women killed during duty in the history of the police force. While investigators are still not sure what specifically caused the fatal car accident, they have concluded that some form of driver inattention was a factor in the crash. At the same time, they have ruled out that cell phone use or a medical emergency took place when the car crash occurred.
  
  Mattice, a seven-year veteran of the New York State Police force, was driving back to her department in Otsego County after a day of work at a local school. During her drive, her police cruiser drifted over the center line of the highway and was struck by an oncoming tractor-trailer. Investigators determined that the accident, which took place on January 20, 2010 on Route 23 in the Town of Morris, was simply a matter of Mattice not paying attention while behind the wheel. The officer was not speeding at the time of the crash – she was going roughly the speed limit – nor was she actively using her cell phone. She was rounding a significant curve and going uphill at the time of the NY car accident.
  
  Mattice struck the trailer portion of the big rig and died at the scene of the New York truck accident. The driver of the truck survived with minor injuries. The fatal NY accident took place just before 3 PM as the officer returned from her job as a school resource officer at Unadilla Valley High School. - 9 - 10

• Texting While Driving Kills Eight In Western New York Since 2007
  May 13, 2010

  With the recent nationwide campaign to end texting while driving, many wonder just how well the message is coming through, especially for teens and young adults. Last month, 22-year-old Mary E. Kavanaugh because the eighth person to die in Western New York because of texting while driving in the last three years.
  
  Livingston County sheriff’s officials say that Kavanaugh was driving on Caledonia Road in the Town of Leicester when she lost control of her car and it rolled over, killing the only occupant. The police investigation that followed revealed that the young woman had sent a text only one minute before the New York car accident – and never opened the returning message.
  
  While New York authorities can’t be 100 percent sure that text messaging caused the one-vehicle accident, it is very likely that the crash was caused because Kavanaugh took her eyes of the road and her hand off of the wheel to text. Seven other young people have died because of texting since 2007.
  
  New York already bans texting while driving across the state, but many safety advocates point out that the law is a secondary offense – that a police officer cannot pull you over for texting while driving unless you are breaking another traffic law. If text messaging while driving were a primary offense, many argue, it would be easier to enforce and better discourage everyone to put down their phones and drive. Luckily, many counties and cities across New York are instating their own laws to make texting while driving a primary offense.
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