Posted on November 17, 2017 in Personal Injury

Winter in New York means snow and ice, which can result in slip and fall accidents. These type of accidents occur at a higher rate during the winter season, but it can somewhat difficult to determine liability in these type of cases.

New York premises liability laws state that property owners and manager are legally obligated to uphold a reasonable duty of care to keep their property safe by reducing the risk of slip and fall accidents on their property. If a person suffers an injury on the property due to a preventable hazardous condition, such as failure to remove snow and ice from walkways,the property owner can be deemed negligent and be held liable for damages.

Keep in mind, winter slip and fall accidents can occur in various places. Location matter when determining liability.

The following are the most common places to experience a winter slip and fall accident:

• Single-family homes - Homeowners are not required to warn others of hazardous conditions,or remove accumulating snow and ice. So in the majority of cases, residential property owners are not liable for slip and fall injuries caused by natural snow and ice. However, if the homeowner makes conditions worse and increases the risk of a fall, they may be held liable.

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 Posted on November 10, 2017 in Personal Injury

Falls constitute a large portion of workplace accidents and often result in lost productivity, lost wages, and lasting physical harm to the employees involved. They can result from wet floors, unkempt walkways, inadequate flooring, or any other inadequate structuring, cleanliness, or maintenance of areas intended for foot traffic. While they are common in the construction industry, they can happen in any place of work if conditions are not held to a high standard of cleanliness, organization, and overall safety.

Best Practices for Avoiding Workplace Injuries

While the possibility of a serious, life-changing workplace injury maybe daunting, such accidents are entirely avoidable. Workers in any industry can participate in keeping their environment safe by making an active commitment to good housekeeping in the workplace. Establishing the importance of deliberate maintenance often begins with those in leadership, but keeping the workplace safe requires the participation of employees at every level and can virtually eliminate the possibility of serious injury.

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 Posted on November 01, 2017 in Personal Injury

Many occupations require employees to be on the road. From travelling salesmen to truck drivers, millions of people are required by their employers to travel and be accessible. When accessibility interferes with driving,accidents can happen and, when they do, it can create questions of who is at fault. Is it the employee or the employer?

In most cases, if a person is driving for work, becomes distracted, and causes an accident, the employer can be held liable. This includes circumstances in which accidents are caused when an employee is:

• Texting, video chatting, or otherwise talking on the phone (Employers can be held liable even if the driver’s text or phone conversation was not work-related.)
• Eating
• Grooming or putting on makeup
• Driving at especially late or early hours or drove for a significant amount of time after work

It may seem odd that an employer could be held liable for such behaviors,but the law requires all businesses and business owners to provide propersafety training and make sure their employees follow all laws and regulations,to which traffic laws are no exception. In any of the above circumstances,an employer could be held liable for counts of negligent supervision.However, an employer could also be charged with vicarious liability, whichoccurs when an employee is involved in a car accident as a result of work-related distractions. Negligent supervision and vicarious liability are the two primary legal pathways to holding an employer liable in a car accident caused by an employee.

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 Posted on October 25, 2017 in Personal Injury

Doctors often prescribe opioid pain medications to alleviate patients’discomfort after an injury, surgery, or procedure. These medications are highly addictive and many patients have difficulty weaning themselves off these powerful drugs without outside assistance. For many patients who struggle with continued opioid use, it begins with a prescription,develops into a life-altering drug problem, and ultimately leads to death.In such cases the prescribing doctor(s) could be held liable for medical malpractice and wrongful death.

Building a Case for Negligence and Medical Malpractice

In order to successfully sue for the wrongful death of a loved one, you will have to prove that the opioid addiction and corresponding death resultedfrom medical malpractice. In other words, the court will require evidence that the prescribing doctor failed to demonstrate appropriate care for the patient, provided inappropriate or inadequate treatment, and that their negligence caused your loved one’s death.

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 Posted on October 18, 2017 in Personal Injury

With the cold, winter months approaching, the days are getting shorter.When the sun comes up later and sets earlier, normal driving hours are growing progressively darker and more dangerous. According to the National Safety Council research, drivers’ risk of being involved in a deadly car crash triples when driving at night. That increased risk isn’tjust a matter of your own decreased capacity to safely operate a vehicle in dimly lit conditions, it’s a matter of getting on the road with other drivers who will be as impaired as you are, if not more. The top reasons for driver impairment at night include:

• Fatigue: Lack on sunlight causes the body’s melatonin levels to rise, there by signaling the brain that it is time to sleep. Regardless of a driver’susual bedtime, darkness still creates a level of lethargy and tiredness that slows reaction time and puts drivers at risk of nodding off at the wheel.

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 Posted on October 06, 2017 in Personal Injury

Motorcycle accidents, although not necessarily more frequent compared to other types of accidents, are more likely to result in serious injury or death. Unfortunately,collisions involving motorcycles and other vehicles account for 56 percent of motorcycle accident fatalities, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The most common types of motorcycle-vehicle crashes include head-on collisions,cars making left-hand turns, motorcycle lane splitting, and even driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Due to the alarming statistics,it is imperative for drivers of passenger vehicles to do whatever it takes to avoid these type of accidents.

Many of these solutions will be familiar since they involve the same type of safe driving techniques which should be used every time you operate your vehicle. However, the increased vulnerability of motorcyclists makes many of these preventative measures even more pertinent in order to help save lives.

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 Posted on September 20, 2017 in Personal Injury

Recent reforms to medical malpractice laws may be putting patients’safety at risk. H.R. 1215, or “Protecting Access to Health Care Act 2017,” was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in June2017. The bill affects those who receive federally subsidized health care,and prevents them from holding medical providers, nursing homes, and pharmaceutical companies accountable for any harm they have caused due to negligence.

Additionally, the bill caps non economic damages at $250,000, while forbidd ingjuries from being informed of this limitation. The bill further outlines that payouts for these cases must be made over a considerable amount of time, rather than as a lump-sum payment. This can affect the ability of patients to pay for their medical debt without accruing further debt.It also can decrease the time individuals have to discover injuries and file a claim.

H.R. 1215 obviously puts companies before patients. Patients who are harmed by negligent medical care may not be able to receive the full compensation they are entitled to for the injury they sustained. Many patient claims can be worth far more than $250,000.

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 Posted on September 13, 2017 in Personal Injury

Most states’ laws regarding dog attacks and bites operate under either the strict liability doctrine or the one-bite rule, which does not designate a dog as dangerous until after its first known bite/attack. New York,on the other hand, combines both these rules.

According to New York Agriculture & Markets Code section 123, the owner of a “dangerous dog” is liable if the dog causes injuries to someone else, to livestock, or to another person’s companion animal. A dangerous dog is one that attacks and either injures or kills a person, farm animal, or pet without justification, or behaves in a manner which causes a reasonable individual to believe that the dog poses a “serious and unjustified imminent threat of serious physical injury or death.”

Under this statute, a dog owner is “strictly liable” for all medical expenses resulting from injuries caused by a dangerous dog. So if the dog is found to be dangerous, the dog’s owner must pay theinjured party’s medical bills, even if the dog’s owner had taken reasonable precautions to control or restrain the canine.

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 Posted on August 16, 2017 in Personal Injury

Teens are often excited to get their driver’s licenses and learn to drive, despite their parents’ worries. Parents have every right to be worried, however, since young drivers are often at an increased risk for a car accident. Here are some of the top reasons teen drivers get into accidents.

Inexperience

Young drivers haven’t had the years and years of experience on the road that older drivers have had. Even after Driver’s Ed and several driving lessons, teen drivers still have much to learn. Additionally, their reflexes to hazardous situations may not be as practiced as an older driver. Teen drivers also are learning how to react to hazards safely and control their vehicles. Make sure your teen gets regular driving practice,and continue to drive with them after they have their driver’s license to continue building good driving habits.

Distractions

Teen drivers are still developing mentally and emotionally, and they are more prone to distractions. They’re still learning to manage all the information they are takingin while driving, and adding distractions, such as cell phones, the radio, personal grooming, eating, and passengers, can be a recipe for disaster.Encourage your teen to keep both hands on the wheel and wait for all other activities until after they are safely parked. Try to limit the number of people they can take in their car, and ask that they turn off their cell phone while behind the wheel.

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 Posted on August 11, 2017 in Personal Injury

Road rage has been a significant problem in New York and the rest of the country. Sometimes these incidents even lead to personal injury or property damage.

When you are a victim of road rage, you may be wondering, “Can I sue the other driver who assaulted me in a road rage incident?” If you are able to identify the individual who assaulted you, you may be able to sue the driver for any persona linjuries or property damage to your vehicle, in addition to possible criminal charges.

In New York, criminal law prohibits varying forms of assault. The most basic charge would be assault in the third degree, then it goes up to assault in the second degree, and finally first-degree assault. Third-degree assault is known as simple assault, which means causing harm to someone else with the intent to do so, no matter how the severity of the injury in question. Harmful or offensive physical contact with the individual or with something near the person would establish liability for assault.Any of these instances below may be considered sufficient grounds for the other diver to be liable for assault.

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