Brooklyn

Published on: February 20, 2012

Plaintiff Seeks to Amend Complaint, New York Appellate Court Denies

by Stephen Bilkis

A student at the City University of New York was leaving the Performing Arts Center of Queens College at 11:30 p.m. when she stepped on a broken and raised part of the stairs which caused her to trip and fall. As it turned out, the student made a mistake when she mentioned in her complaint that she tripped and fell on the dangerous defect on the third set of stairs instead of the second set of stairs. She claimed that the stairs in front of the Performing Arts Center was poorly maintained and poorly lighted. She then asks for leave of court to amend her original complaint to reflect that she tripped and fell on the third set of stairs.

The City University of New York vigorously opposed the motion claiming that her mistake in the complaint is a defective flaw which fails to comply with the requirement of the statute. Under the Court of Claims Act, claims for personal injury must state the time and the place where the claim arose, specifically stating the nature of the claim and the injuries sustained.

According to a New York Injury Lawyer, the Claims Court is now tasked to determine whether the allegations contained in the student’s complaint is sufficient to comply with the requirements of the statute.

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 17, 2012

One Year Later: Oil Companies Remain Shielded by Offshore Liability Limits

by Stephen Bilkis

The worst oil spill in U.S. history was set off last year by the Deepwater Horizon disaster which claimed 11 men at sea. The tragedy exposed several weaknesses, including severely outdated limited liability laws that have protected the very players who should be claiming responsibility, according to a Brooklyn Personal Injury Lawyer.

Because the wrongful death of the 11 men occurred offshore, the corporations and its contractors were shielded by maritime laws of limited liability. According to these laws, the companies can only be sued for future wages, minus taxes and expected living expenses – not for pain and suffering and other damages commonly sued for in the case of fatal onshore activities.

Congress has been called upon to raise or completely lift the limit; it wasn’t long before Congressmen and women were being chastised for their inactivity in the affair. One champion of the victims’ families stated, “It hasn’t been changed in 20 years. It really shows you how inadequate it is. You’re in a situation where either taxpayers end up footing the bill, or injured parties do, which seems fundamentally unfair.”

Published on: January 13, 2012

3 Injured when Six-Year-Old Brings Gun to School

by Stephen Bilkis

During lunch at a Texas elementary school last week, a loaded pistol dropped from the pants of a six-year-old male pupil and discharged, injuring him and two other students in the lower extremities. It is thought that one bullet or fragments of the same bullet caused all the injuries. All three children were reportedly in stable condition and were smiling and playing video games by that afternoon, according to a Brooklyn Personal Injury Lawyer.

At this time, investigators are trying to determine how the boy came into possession of a gun in order to bring it to campus without anyone knowing and stopping him. The boy’s parents have so far been unavailable for comment. Texas Child Protective Service officials planned to speak with the family within 24 hours.

The punishment for having a gun is expulsion for one year. It is unclear if that punishment is carried out in each case.

Published on: January 12, 2012

Driver Sentenced to Prison for Fleeing the Scene of Accidental Run Over

by Stephen Bilkis

A high school youth was struck and killed on a rainy night by a 20-year-old woman about a year ago. That woman plead guilty to a car accident involving wrongful death and was sentenced to one to five years in prison, the minimum mandatory sentence for a felony charge.

The defendant is eligible for the work release program offered at the Montgomery County Prison where she is to serve. She also agreed to pay $500 to the scholarship fund set up in the victim’s name. The judge did point out that such a pledge was not legally binding.

The 17-year-old victim walked in front of the woman’s car and died because of injuries sustained at impact, according to a witness. The defendant was not impaired by either drugs or alcohol, but she ‘panicked’ after hitting the girl and kept driving. Her car was stopped less than three miles away where she admitted her involvement.

Published on: January 10, 2012

Young Singer Attacked by Five Teenagers

by Stephen Bilkis

To keep a rival out of a talent show, five high school girls assaulted another girl, one of them beating her with a padlock inside a sock, a New York Injury Lawyer reported. “Yo, b***h. I got a lock,” allegedly the first attacker, before the assault began, according to a police source.

The 16-year-old girl with the lock and four of her friends are accused of attacking a 17-year-old student a Brooklyn High School, known for being a gifted singer. She was outside the home of her voice coach when the attack occurred. After it was all over, the victim was left with a head injuryconsisting of six stitches near her left ear, a cut on her face, and a bruised jaw.

“I wasn’t able to open my jaw. I wasn’t able to talk. I wasn’t able to sing,” the victim reported. She also said one of the girls attacked her “because I sang better than her… it was jealousy. It was all due to the talent show.”

Published on: December 17, 2011

Issue too complicated to sue

by Stephen Bilkis

The National Commission of deepwater Horizon reported to a commission that BP was to be blamed for its mismanagement that resulted in the oil spill and blow out. Some industry leaders think that this will be very hard to prove and BP might get away without having to pay any liabilities. In fact, the day after the report came out, BP stocks went up instead of going down as some would normally think could happen.

Other officials told the source that there were also some regulatory issues in the government that also caused this problem to take place. There were many mistakes made causing personal injury, risks factors that were not taken into account beforehand as well as oversights that occurred.

“BP’s drilling process was not in line with the appropriate regulations and the company did not wait for the results to a very important test before putting cement in the well,” said one government official to a colleague.

Published on: December 3, 2011

Crib recalls and defects on the rise this past year

by Stephen Bilkis

A study points out that in the past year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has had a slue of recalls for cribs that are both drop-sided and non-drop sided and they have been manufactured all over the world, including the United States.

Investigators in The Bronx and Brooklyn are questioning why products for such a vulnerable group aren’t tested properly. “Why should children’s lives be at risk,” One salesman asks and adds, “Where is product testing when it comes to infants’ and children’s furniture? Why is it taking so long for companies to define, adopt and implement standards of excellence that prevent dangerous children’s furniture from reaching the marketplace at all?”

He sights examples from several manufacturers including Graco in April of 2010, who recalled 217,000 drop-side cribs. The company had received nearly 100 reports of the cribs hardware coming undone and six reports of children falling out of the crib when it came undone. The cribs were manufactured in China and VietNam cost families between $140 and $200.

Published on: November 23, 2011

Bus Passenger Sues

by Stephen Bilkis

Passengers are questioning a bus driver’s statement that he was well-rested and alert the morning his tour bus crashed into a pole in New York, killing 15 people on board.

The expert reports that in a lawsuit, a passenger claims the driver fell asleep while driving when the bus wrecked on March 12 while coming home from the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn.

The passenger was sitting in the back and saw the bus veer onto the rumble strip three times in a 20-minute period before the crash on Interstate 95 according to his lawyer. He said his client did not see a tractor-trailer careen toward the bus, as the driver claims.

Published on: November 20, 2011

Deceased died due to a lap belt being installed instead of lap and shoulder belt

by Stephen Bilkis

Product liability cases are often long and complex. This case was no exception to that rule. A dead woman’s estate brought a wrongful death action, stating that the woman had died in an accident due to the fact that the rear aisle seat of her SUV has only lap belts instead of lap-and-shoulder belts.

The case was dismissed at the state trial court level and on appeal it was affirmed. The court found material that specifically required the installation of passive restraint devices (seatbelts) pre-empted a state tort suit against an auto maker who failed to install airbags.

In this particular case, the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard stated that auto makers are required to install seat belts on rear seats and the must install lap-and-shoulder belts on seats next to car doors or frames. However, they may put in either lap belts or lap-and-shoulder belts on rear inner seats – meaning in an aisle.