Westchester County

Published on: March 31, 2012

Court Hears Premises Liabilty Case

by Stephen Bilkis

The plaintiff in the case is William Stout. In action number 1, the third party defendants are East 66th Street Corporation and the plaintiffs and respondents in the third party action is Tishman Construction Corporation. In the second action the defendant and respondent is Interstate Fire and Casualty Company and the appellants and defendants is the Zurich American Insurance Company.

The case is being heard in the New York State Supreme Court in the Appellate Division. The judges in the case are Mark C. Dillon, J.P., Ariel E. Belen, JJ, Ruth C. Balkin, and John M. Leventhal.

Case Facts

Published on: March 22, 2012

New York Appellate Court Hears Medical Malpractice Case for Abortion Proceedure

by Stephen Bilkis

An unmarried woman got pregnant. She discussed the pregnancy with her boyfriend and they determined that they were unable to care for and rear a child at this time. The woman decided to have an abortion. She went to an advertised abortion clinic. She was asked to fill up forms and wait until a doctor can see her. In the meantime, a nurse took her blood pressure and her medical history. She was also asked to pay in cash for the abortion procedure.

When the doctor was available, the unmarried woman was brought to an examining room and was examined by the doctor. The doctor explained how the abortion procedure would be performed and informed her that she would experience cramping. She was told to take Tylenol for the pain and to come in for a follow-up after two weeks. The doctor then performed the procedure on her. After the procedure, the nurse injected her with RhoGAM because she was Rh-negative. She was charged $25 dollars for the injection. The unmarried lady went home and took Tylenol for her cramps. A New York Injury Lawyer said the cramps continued and she just continued taking Tylenol. She decided to return for a follow-up check-up at the abortion clinic but there was a snow storm on the day of her appointment and so she was unable to go to the clinic.

The abortion clinic received a pathology report which suggested that the unmarried woman was still pregnant and the abortion procedure was unsuccessful. They did not call or inform the unmarried lady. They did not tell her to come in for another abortion as the first one was unsuccessful.

Published on: March 19, 2012

New York Appellate Court Decides Liability in Car Accident Case

by Stephen Bilkis

On 16 June 2004, a motor vehicle accident occurred where serious injuries were allegedly sustained by plaintiffs. The accident allegedly happened when the vehicle owned and operated by the defendant struck the vehicle operated by one of the plaintiffs, the other plaintiffs riding as passengers.

The complaint contains causes of action which allege that plaintiffs each sustained a “serious injury” as defined in Insurance Law; an action to recover damages.

Insurance Law defines “serious injury” as “a personal injury which results in death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture (broken bone); loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; significant limitation of use of a body function or system; or a medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.”

Published on: March 13, 2012

Victim Suffering Brain Injury Requests Guardian, NY Appellate Court Agrees

by Stephen Bilkis

A 32-year old resident of New York was involved in an accident on Hudson Street in New York County on 12 April 2000 while he was working and fell off (slip & fall or trip & fall) a scaffold (scaffold accident or construction accident). He hit his head when he fell and suffered a brain injury. The person has a lawsuit currently pending in Bronx County. He stated that he wants a guardian to help him because he has memory problems and he needs someone to make decisions for him. The person further stated that he has attention and concentration problems, anger issues, depression and suicidal thoughts. He takes medication for his various ailments.

As a result of his limitations, the person wishes to have a guardian appointed for his property. A self-petition has been filed for the appointment of a guardian of the property of an alleged incapacitated person (hereinafter known as “the person”) where he nominated someone whom he met at his personal injury attorney’s office.

The issue is whether or not the guardianship appointment was proper and that the person appointed is acceptable.

Published on: March 10, 2012

Insurance Companies Seek Dismissal in NY Appellate Court for Industrial Waste Allegations

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman in Puerto Rico sued a Delaware corporation that manufactures blood analyzing machines. The complaint alleged that the Delaware Corporation had a manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico. The complaint alleged that the manufacturing plant continually discharged toxins from 1971 until 1981 into a creek that flowed into another creek that caused pollution and contamination of the soil, water and air in the neighborhood where the Puerto Rican woman lived and caused her sickness.

A New York Injury Lawyer said in its Answer, the Delaware Corporation admitted that it had intentionally discharged industrial wastes which flowed into the creek in 1979 but that after that, it began transporting its industrial wastes for disposal at a waste treatment facility. It also forwarded the defense that its intentional discharge of its industrial waste was not prohibited by its existing permits at that time.

In that personal injury case filed in the US territory of Puerto Rico, the Delaware Corporation asked the Superior Court to include as third party defendants around fifteen insurance corporations which had issued general and comprehensive insurance to the Delaware Corporation. The Delaware Corporation demanded that these fifteen insurance corporations indemnify it under the terms of its insurance policies and also provide the Delaware Corporation with defenses to protect itself against the personal injury suit filed by the Puerto Rican woman.

Published on: March 3, 2012

New York Appellate Court Rules on Trip and Fall in Manhattan Building

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman claims she sustained personal Injuries including a fracture, when she tripped and fell in a building in Manhattan where she lived. The woman retained a law firm to commence a law suit against the woman’s landlord, the property owner. The law firm commenced the action by filing the summons and complaint, which were shortly thereafter served on the property owner. The personal injury action was eventually dismissed for failure to prosecute. A subsequent motion to restore the action was filed by the second law firm and was denied.

The woman thought her case was active and ongoing. A New York Injury Lawyer said that she contends that none of the attorneys contacted her or told her otherwise. In May 2008, her daughter became concerned about her mother’s personal injury case and filed a disciplinary complaint against the first law firm on her mother’s behalf. The letter refers to the law firm and states that the daughter had called them numerous times. She indicates in her complaint that the file has been with the firm since 1998. The daughter states further that she appeared in court with her mother four years ago and the Judge ordered medical records and the case was adjourned to another date which never came. No one has been in touch since. She further states that the last time she called she was told that the case was old and no one could locate the file.

Although the disciplinary complaint was issued against the first law firm, by a letter by the second law firm states that the first law firm had been dissolved in 2002. The answer states that the woman was the client of a particular attorney while he was with the first law firm but that he left the firm to start the second firm in July 2008 and then another law firm later on.

Published on: February 21, 2012

Plaintiff Sues City for Defective Sidewalk, New York Appellate Court Grants Defendant’s Summary Judgement Motion

by Stephen Bilkis

The defendant in this case has moved for a summary judgment and filed a motion to dismiss the personal injury case of the plaintiff due a trip and fall accident. With regard to the defendant’s motion, the plaintiff has moved to change her claim notice.

According to the claim document, the plaintiff filed the injury complaint because she wants to seek damages for the accident that happened to her in front of a building which is within the jurisdiction of the defendant. The plaintiff has alleged that she sustained injuries due to a defective sidewalk. The defendant in this case is a city.

In the plaintiff’s notice of claim, the plaintiff indicated that the defendant is considered as the owner of the defective sidewalk. Therefore, the defendant has the responsibility to ensure that the sidewalk is free from defects that may endanger the safety of the public. The city should be held accountable since it has agents and employees that are paid to inspect, maintain and repair any defects found on public property.

Published on: February 20, 2012

New York Appellate Court Decides Trip and Fall Case that Occurred on City Sidewalk

by Stephen Bilkis

A taxi driver was walking alone a sidewalk in Woodside, New York at 6:00 a.m. He was on the sidewalk outside 60-01 31st Avenue when he stepped on a raised and elevated sidewalk flag. This caused him to trip and fall. He fractured his right arm as a result of the trip and fall and he sued the owner of the premises as well as the two tenants of the premises who had shops abutting the sidewalk. The taxi driver’s wife joined the suit. She claimed damages for personal losses she sustained as a wife who lost the usual financial support from her husband that she was accustomed to, and for personal losses because she was unable to have normal conjugal relations with her husband during the time of his confinement due to his fractured right arm.

According to the New York Injury Lawyer, the owner of the premises and the taxi driver were deposed during discovery. The tenants of the premises did not depose the taxi driver. But then later both of the tenants filed separate motions for summary judgment against the owner of the premises and against the taxi driver and his wife.

The tenants alleged that as mere tenants they are not obligated by the law to maintain the premises. It is the owner of the premises who is obligated under the Administrative Code of New York who is responsible for injuries resulting from the negligent maintenance of sidewalks outside the property owned by them.

Published on: February 3, 2012

Alabama Reminds Oil Spill Victims of Deadline to File Lawsuit

by Stephen Bilkis

The Governor of the State of Alabama as well as the Alabama Attorney General are both reminding and urging all of the victims of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill to submit their claims to the federal court before the April 20 deadline, sources revealed to a New York Injury Lawyer. That is the deadline that the federal court in New Orleans has set for people to file claims against the rig’s owner, Transocean.

The Alabama Attorney General has been especially vocal about the apparent lack of cooperation with the BP claim processing that has taken place since the company began processing and disbursing claim payments, a Westchester Personal Injury Lawyer was told. This is in contrast to the claims that the processing center has made about recently reaching a milestone and having processed about half of the claims against BP. He recently commented that, “Quit dragging your feet and stalling the large majority of claims to a point where victims are so desperate that they settle for anything.

Alabama’s governor and attorney general have reportedly taken a larger role than the previous administration and have vowed to fight for the area since they believe it was harder hit when the oil spill washed ashore after the oilrig exploded.

Published on: January 29, 2012

Alleged Drunk Driver Injures State Trooper

by Stephen Bilkis

A Massachusetts state trooper was struck by a vehicle at approximately 4:50 a.m. Sunday morning during a traffic stop on I-93, a New York Injury Lawyer has learned. The trooper was injured when a driver slammed into the trooper’s parked vehicle, which then slid into the trooper. The 40-year old man taken into custody and charged with “operating under the influence, operating to endanger, failure to move over for an emergency vehicle and a marked lanes violation,” according to a police spokesman.

Within minutes, emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene to assist the injured trooper. Once he had been stabilized, he was then taken to Boston Medical Center. He suffered from leg injuries which may have included a broken boneand was listed in stable condition.

This is not the first crash that has left a State Trooper injured due to a traffic accident. As recently as this past Wednesday, a 54-year old trooper was seriously injured by a vehicle that had crossed the median and struck his police cruiser head on. It is unknown at this time what charges were filed in that incident, or as to the condition of the officer.