Posted on January 15, 2019 in Personal Injury

As anyone suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) already knows, going back to your everyday routine after a major trauma can be incredibly painful and disorienting. However, although most people are familiar with the basic concept of PTSD, few really understand how it can transform your entire life after an accident.

At Ivey, Barnum & O'Mara, LLC, our Greenwich personal injury lawyers are committed to helping victims of PTSD get the recovery they need to heal, particularly when their PTSD was directly caused by another party’s negligence. While it can sometimes be a challenge to convince a jury about your PTSD damages, the right attorney will be able to communicate the true scope of your condition, and secure maximum recovery for your case.

Who Is Affected by PTSD?

Contrary to popular perception, post-traumatic stress disorder affects children and adults from all walks of life, and it’s not just limited to war veterans. Last year, the National Institute of Mental Health found that 3.6% of all U.S. adults had a diagnosed case of PTSD, with a lifetime prevalence rate of 6.8%. Experts also believe that many people are living with untreated PTSD, due to the fact that 70% of adults will deal with a traumatic event at least once in their life (although not all will go on to develop PTSD.)

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 Posted on November 20, 2018 in Personal Injury

The New York construction industry has seen a significant increase in building projects over the last few years, and while this has mostly been a positive for the city as a whole, there has also been a substantial increase in serious accidents involving construction workers. According to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, construction-related deaths hit a record 14-year high back in 2016, and during the first half of 2018, the numbers only continued to increase.

At Ivey, Barnum & O'Mara, LLC, our Greenwich construction accident lawyers can provide aggressive representation for workers who become seriously injured during a construction accident. In this post, we’ll discuss the increased risks of injury for construction workers - and what you can do if you become injured due to a coworker or property owner’s negligence on your work site.

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 Posted on November 20, 2018 in Personal Injury

Regardless of the degree, a Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI is a serious matter. Ranging from mild symptoms like headaches and confusion, to more serious symptoms like full-body paralysis, coordination loss, and chronic seizures, a TBI can negatively impact the course of your life, and require near-constant medical assistance.

When you’ve sustained a TBI, our White Plains personal injury lawyers can help you seek the financial recovery you need. We’ve won many successful case outcomes for this type of injury, and we can work with skilled medical and after-care experts to create a strong legal strategy for your injury claim.

What Is the Cost of a Traumatic Brain Injury?

TBIs are sustained after a blow to the head disrupts your brain’s normal functions. The intensity of the brain injury will vary dependingon the nature of your accident, with the most severe cases tending to show up on construction sites and in car accidents. However, the reality is that a TBI can be caused by virtually anythingthat hits your head with significant blunt force, from sports activities gone wrong to slipping and falling on a wet floor.

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 Posted on December 12, 2017 in Personal Injury

When we think about accidents involving cars and pedestrians, we initially assume that the driver of the vehicle is most likely at fault. Although the pedestrian typically has the right of way, the pedestrian can actually be to blame in a pedestrian-car accident.

Pedestrian-car accident cases often hinge on the duty of care owed by those involved. Both motorists and pedestrians need to follow the rules of the road and exercise a reasonable duty of care. The care required for pedestrians needs to be proportionate to the danger to be avoided and reasonably anticipated consequences.

Several common factors contributing to pedestrian negligence include:

• Ignore the “walk” signal at an intersection
• Failure to use marked crosswalks
• Enter traffic and disrupt the flow
• Dart in front of a vehicle

Keep in mind, when a pedestrian is to blame for causing a crash, the driver of the vehicle is also partially at fault in most pedestrian-car accidents.For instance, a pedestrian may be jaywalking, but the driver may have been driving a few miles over the posted speed limit.

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 Posted on December 05, 2017 in Personal Injury

Rides haring services, including Uber and Lyft, increase in popularity around the holidays, especially after parties or celebrations where alcohol was consumed. Riders may not be thinking about the safety of the vehicle the yare getting into, but they should be. Recent recalls have affected millions of vehicles in the U.S., but studies show that only about a quarter of the affected cars actually receive the necessary repairs. This means that your chances of getting into a recalled vehicle may be high.

Uber claims that they advise drivers to stay up-to-date on any recalls for their particular vehicle, but some drivers say they have never received any specific recall-related information from Uber. There also isn’t enough follow up, which can allow drivers to avoid turning their car in for repairs, and losing a source of income while they wait to get thei rvehicle back.

Except for the owner of the vehicle, it can be impossible to tell if the car has been maintained and had any necessary repairs made to ensure the safety of its passengers. There are other companies that are pushing to ensure that ride share vehicles are kept safe. Recall Masters is a San Francisco based company that helps fleet owners keep their cars up-to-dateon mandated repairs. According to Recall Masters President Chris Miller,the responsibility for fixing cars should fall on the drivers, as well as the ride share service company as well. Chris Miller also runs MotorSafety.org,which allows users to scan or enter the VIN number of a car to receive information about recalls. While it may be awkward to ask for this information or scan the VIN on the door frame of the car, doing so can allow you to make an informed decision.

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 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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