Bronx

Published on: March 14, 2012

New York Appellate Court Decides if Statute of Limitations Has Run on Malpractice Case

by Stephen Bilkis

The defendants represented the plaintiff in a personal injury action (hereinafter the personal injury action) arising from injuries (broken boneor back injury and the like) allegedly sustained by the plaintiff on 21 September 2001. In August 2002 the plaintiff obtained a default judgment against one of the defendants in the personal injury action (hereinafter the personal injury defendant). In August 2004, following an inquest on the issue of damages, the Supreme Court entered a judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against the personal injury defendant in the principal sum of $1,400,000 (hereinafter the money judgment).

In May 2005 the plaintiff retained another law firm, to collect on the money judgment. The defendants in this case subsequently signed a “consent to change attorney” form dated 21 March 2006.

A New York Injury Lawyer said that in November 2006 the personal injury defendant moved, inter alia, to vacate the money judgment entered against him on the ground that he had not been properly served with process in the personal injury action. In an order dated 6 June 2007, the Supreme Court, among other things, granted the motion, vacated the money judgment, and dismissed the personal injury action insofar as asserted against the personal injury defendant, with prejudice.

Published on: March 9, 2012

Motion for a New Trial Denied in New York Appellate Court Regarding Roll Over Accident

by Stephen Bilkis

On June 9, 1986 a woman was driving a small and compact sports utility vehicle on the highway. She slammed on her brakes to avoid a deer that had walked directly on the path of her small SUV. After she slammed on the brakes, her car rolled over and she suffered severe personal injury. She and her husband sued the car manufacturer who produced and marketed the compact sports utility vehicle. Her complaint asserted negligence, strict products liability and breach of implied warranty of merchantability.

The woman introduced evidence to show that a SUV rollover accidentis not uncommon because its wheel base and track width was narrow. They claim that the small SUV was unstable as it was manufactured by the car company. They also introduced evidence that the car company marketed the small compact SUV as suitable and fashionable for suburban and city driving which was why they bought it.

After the presentation of evidence the trial judge instructed jury that the strict products liability claim and the breach of implied warranty claim should be treated separately. The trial court also instructed the jury that if they found the car as a defective product, then the car manufacturer should be found liable for injury which results from the use of the defective product for the purpose for which it was intended.

Published on: February 23, 2012

Plaintiff Sues for Trip and Fall on a Defective Sidewalk, New York Appellate Court Rejects Summary Judgment Motion

by Stephen Bilkis

The plaintiff filed a complaint against the defendant for sustaining personal injury due to a trip and fall accident. The plaintiff experinced a trip and fallwhile walking on the sidewalk near the premises of the defendant. According to the complaint, plaintiff accuses the defendant of negligence for allowing the defect to remain on the sidewalk. The plaintiff alleges that the sidewalk has an uneven portion thus making it unsafe for anyone who passes by.

The plaintiff was a taxi driver who tripped on the alleged defective sidewalk and fractured his arm. The defendants were the owners of the building. Therefore, they also own the sidewalk within the building premises.

According to the statement of the plaintiff, he was just walking along the sidewalk near the building when he tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk and fell on the ground. The plaintiff cited the tenants of the building as the negligent parties since they did not do anything to the sidewalk even though it had a defect.

Published on: February 21, 2012

New York Appellate Court Decides Trip and Fall that Occurred in front of Fast Food Restaurant

by Stephen Bilkis

The defendants of this case had filed for a summary judgment requesting dismissal for the personal injury complaint of the plaintiffs. The defendants have further claimed that the plaintiffs had failed in establishing that the alleged cause of their trip and fallwas a defect on the premises. The defendants also contested that the reason for the plaintiffs’ fall was a trivial matter.

According to the plaintiff, she sustained personal injuries because she tripped and fell on the sidewalk just outside of the popular fast food chain. The restaurant and the physical property were owned by the defendant.

According to a New York Injury Lawyer, the plaintiff said in her testimony that the weather conditions on the day of the accident were cold. She went on to say that there was no snowfall or ice on the ground. The plaintiff is a regular user of the sidewalk in question since she used that route when getting to and back from her job. According to the plaintiff, there was not much room to move around on the sidewalk. She couldn’t have avoided the accident that day. She allegedly tripped on the uneven part of the sidewalk fronting the defendant’s premises. She also added the sidewalk was not crowded during that time.

Published on: February 19, 2012

Woman Injured in Trip and Fall on Stairs, Defendant Denied Summary Judgment by NY Appellate Court

by Stephen Bilkis

A lady was going down the stairs from the second floor of a building to the first floor lobby in a building located at 33-02 Skillman Avenue, Long Island City, New York. When she got to the last step, her left foot landed in a crack on the last step. Her foot got twisted in the crack; she lost her balance and fell. She brought this case for damages for the injuries she sustained as a result of her slip or trip and fall. She sued the owner of the building as well as the corporation that manages the building for the owner.

After the plaintiff was deposed, the building owner and building manager both filed a motion for summary judgment asking that the court dismiss the complaint at against them.

The Court first stated that a motion for summary judgment may only be granted when there are no more issues of material fact that need to be tried. It is the party who moved for summary judgment who has the burden of showing that he is entitled to the summary judgment as a matter of law because there is enough evidence to show that there is an absence of material facts that still need to be tried.

Published on: January 30, 2012

Fatal Bus Crash on NJ Turnpike Has Officials Alert

by Stephen Bilkis

The driver of the bus that flipped over in the Bronx, last Saturday was interviewed by federal investigators Tuesday, a New York Injury Lawyer was told. It was the first chance that officials had since the crash that left 15 of its passengers dead and 17 others injured.

Federal investigators made use of the 3-hour interview with the bus driver, and were very anxious to learn just how much rest the driver had before the trip to Connecticut, as well as the six-hours that he was there as he waited on his passengers to gamble. They want to know just how much of a role, if any, that fatigue played in contributing to the accident. Investigators have been hearing reports from witnesses and survivors since the accident of the bus having drifted off the traveled portion of the roadway onto the shoulder multiple times.

The bus driver has been including in his statements since the auto accidentthat a passing tractor-trailer had clipped the bus, which caused him to lose control of the bus thereby causing the crash. Investigators have had the opportunity to investigate both the trailer of the truck and have interviewed the truck driver. The truck driver is being treated as a witness and not as a suspect.

Published on: January 21, 2012

Wrong-Way Driver in Fort Worth Apologizes for Crash

by Stephen Bilkis

According to a New York Personal Injury Lawyer, an accident on Interstate 30 in Fort Worth resulted in a fireball that killed a father. The suspect is now imprisoned and the highway is seriously damaged.

“Well, I’m really sorry,” said the 23-year-old suspect. The police received calls around 2:30 a.m. about a driver traveling in the wrong direction on the highway.

Only a few minutes later, a terrible car accidentoccurred, where a 45-year-old fuel tanker truck driver was killed when the suspected drunk driver collided with his vehicle.

Published on: January 18, 2012

Queens Man Pleads Not Guilty to Beating Up Petite Bronx Woman

by Stephen Bilkis

A Queens man who beat up a 4-foot-11 Bronx woman pleaded guilty even as the victim’s mother called him a coward, sources told New York Injury Lawyers. He is accused of beating the woman into a coma over a parking space in the East Village.

The 35-year-old Queens man had already apologized for the February 25 assault of the woman and even made a video-taped confession to the police, but he still pleaded not guilty.”So I punched her in the face and I saw her fall to the ground,” the Queens man said after his arrest. “I hit her because she hit me.”

The 25-year-old victim is still in the hospital, as if this writing. Her mother says she has emerged from her coma, however.

Published on: January 16, 2012

Tasered Grandmother Settles Suit in El Reno, Oklahoma

by Stephen Bilkis

A grandmother in El Reno, Oklahoma, has decided to settle a case she filed after local police shot her with a Taser in her own bed, a New York Injury Lawyer has learned. “I’m glad it’s over with,” said the 87-year-old woman.

“There’s one thing I told them, though. I wish that every person in law enforcement would have to take a full and complete course in paramedics. That way, maybe, they would think first before they shoot.”

The woman and her grandson sued the city of El Reno and the police officers after she was shot with the Taser in her own apartment. The grandson, 48 years old, explained that when he said “Don’t tase my granny!” to the officers, they threw him to the ground and handcuffed him.

Published on: January 16, 2012

DWI Causes Major Injuries

by Stephen Bilkis

Not many details are known in the case of a recent crash in Thousand Palms, California, where a vehicle was found 50 feet off the road. At least one person had major injuries resulting from the possible drunken driving, according to a New York Personal Injury Lawyer.

All 50 states and Puerto Rico apply two statutory offenses to driving under the influence of alcohol. The first offense is known as either driving under the influence (DWI), driving while intoxicated/impaired (DWI), or operating a vehicle while intoxicated/impaired (DWAI). This original charge is based solely upon a police officer’s observations at the scene. The second offense is called “illegal per se” and involves driving with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.08 g/dL or higher – which has been illegal in all states since 2002. BAC (blood alcohol concentration) is a percentage of alcohol per deciliter of blood.

An average sized individual will have an approximate BAC of 0.04 percent in just one hour after drinking just two alcoholic beverages on an empty stomach.