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Construction Accidents

8/19/2008
Larry
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Things Falling off of Skyscrapers

A falling pane of glass is dangerous from any height, but at several stories the consequences are magnified.

New Yorkers figured this out when a pane of glass fell several stories on August 17th and hit the sidewalk.

It is a minor miracle that only six pedestrians were slightly injured.

Since we believe that accidents don't happen as much as they are caused, we think there needs to be some investigation as to the safety of the rest of the glass in that building. We also think that anyone who washes those windows need to be interviewed, and the people responsible for the installation and maintenance (no matter how long ago it took place) need to be interviewed as well.

It could be that the whole thing truly was a freak accident, but in our experience as New York injury lawyers, those "out of the blue" accidents are exceedingly rare.

Labels: New York Accident Attorney, new york accident lawyer, New york attorneys, New York construction accident, New York injury plate glass crash, Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine,

Defective Products

5/1/2008
Larry
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Safety Information Available Through Text or E-mail

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has started a service where subscribers can receive instant notification through e-mail or text messaging whenever there is a safety recall involving tires or child safety seats.

For those of you with small children, we think signing up for this service would be a good idea.

Just go to the NHTSA website at NHTSA.DOT.GOV.

Labels: car safety child seat recall New York Accident Attorney new york accident lawyer rapplaw Tire recall

Medical Malpractice

10/2/2008
Andrew
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Hospital-Acquired Illness Creates 12% Of Liability: Study

A new study from http://www.businessinsurance.com came out recently with startling numbers. More than 12 % of hospital liability costs arose from hospital-acquired infections, hospital-acquired injuries, objects left in the body after surgery and pressure ulcers. As a result, Baltimore-based Centers for Medicare and Medicaid will no longer reimburse providers for certain categories of hospital-acquired conditions and medical errors.

There is concern by risk managers that the lack of a rebursement by these social programs will trigger an increase in hospital professional liability claims. Several insurers have announced they will cease reimbursing such errors, including Chicago-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.

The study was conducted to give health care managers a clearer understanding of their cost of risk compared to an industry benchmark. This was the first year the study included data on hospital-acquired illnesses. The hope is to use the new data to establish a benchmark against which future liability costs for such ailments could be compared.

Labels: AIG, AMA grades insurers, bad insurance,, Medical malpractice insurers, New York Accident Attorney, New York Medical Malpractice, Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine, rapplaw, Worst insurance

8/20/2008
Andrew
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Highway Construction Worker Gets $4.77-Million Settlement After Being Hit and Permanently Injured by Out-of-Control Car

A spate of accidents in New York City this past summer demonstrated something that we all know intuitively to be true: Construction work is dangerous.

And within this sphere, highway construction is among the most dangerous type, with workers having to contend not only with the hazards of machines and heavy equipment, but also with drivers speeding through the construction zone.

Recently, RGG&L partner Michael Glass represented a highway construction worker who sustained permanent injuries on the job, securing a $4.77-million settlement for the man just as jury selection was about to begin. This worker had been replacing the center median of Sunrise Highway on Long Island when a teenage driver lost control of her car and fishtailed over several lanes of traffic, skidding into the construction zone and into the worker. He was thrown 40 feet, suffering multiple fractures and serious, permanently disabling head injuries. The suit was against the driver for driving carelessly and against the general contractor for failing to provide appropriate safeguards from the speeding traffic for the workers at the site.

The money from the settlement will be used to fund the injured worker's substantial ongoing medical bills and to compensate his devoted wife, who has become his primary caretaker. "The lesson for us all," said Glass, "is to slow down and stay alert when driving through a construction zone. It is possible to come upon work being done just a few feet, or even inches, from the moving lane of traffic."

Labels: Medical malpractice insurers, New york attorneys, New York Medical Malpractice, Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine, rapplaw

7/31/2008
Andrew
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Re-inventing the Malpractice "Crisis"

From a recent issue of The New York Sun:

"A cash-strapped Brooklyn hospital will stop delivering babies, aiming to regain its financial footing and reduce its escalating medical malpractice costs.

Long Island College Hospital, in the Cobble Hill neighborhood, plans to shutter its obstetrics department pending approval from the state's Department of Health, hospital officials said yesterday. Last year, the hospital delivered 2,800 babies, and it is on track to deliver about 2,200 this year."

The premise here is that mean old lawyers are keeping people from even being born because all they do is sue people.

In the first place, it has been our experience that the only thing that causes insurance rates to rise are the insurance companies themselves. And considering that so few medical malpractice cases even make it to trial, it seems absurd that lawsuits are the cause of rising insurance rates. We reccomend a good solid look at the profit margins of the insurance companies lately. They have taken a beating just like everyone else. The last time they lost money was in 2003 when the bond market tanked, and within two weeks they jacked their rates and blamed the lawyers.

Don't be fooled.

Labels: brooklyn attorneys manhattan attorneys New york attorneys New York Medical Malpractice Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine

7/18/2008
Andrew
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RGG&L secures $1.2 million settlement for woman whose breast cancer diagnosis was delayed due to misread mammograms

Breast cancer could well be considered an epidemic in America: One out of nine woman is diagnosed with the disease during her lifetime. And although many women now know more about-and do more about-detecting breast cancer early, sometimes that is not always enough.

RGG&L partner Michael Glass recently secured a $1.2 million settlement for a 46-year old woman who took every reasonable step to monitor for breast cancer, including self-exams and annual mammograms. Unfortunately, for two years in a row, her radiologist completely missed a suspicious breast lesion when he interpreted her mammograms, permitting that cancer to grow and invade several of her lymph nodes. Fortunately, with aggressive treatment, the woman has beeen cancer-free for a number of years, but the mistake placed her at a significantly increased risk of recurrence and the need for highly invasive measures to arrest the further development of the cancer.

Labels: rapplaw

6/30/2008
Larry
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What Grade Did Your Medical Insurance Company Get?

The American Medical Association has released a report card which rates medical insurance companies based on their efficiency in paying what they owe to doctors.

You can bet that if your insurance company isn't regularly paying their doctors for what they owe you, then they probably wont be very much help when you need them.

For more information, follow the link below.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PracticeManagement/tb/9876

Labels: AMA grades insurers Bad faith insurance New York Accident Attorney new york accident lawyer

New York Car Accidents

8/20/2008
Andrew
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Truck Driver Hit and Injured During Snowstorm Receives $1.9-Million Settlement

RGG&L partner Michael Glass

Glass’s client was driving a pickup truck on a Suffolk County, Long Island road during the storm. The driver of the tractor trailer, which was traveling in the opposite direction, lost control of his rig on the ice. The trailer portion jackknifed over the center line of the road, demolishing the pickup truck.

The driver of the pickup truck suffered a brain bleed as well as very serious, multiple fractures throughout his body. One of the very serious fractures (to the tibia/fibula) required surgery and the implantation of hardware. RGG&L conducted an early, exhaustive investigation and retained an accident reconstruction expert to reconstruct the events leading up to the disastrous crash as well as an economist to evaluate the economic damages. Glass said he was particularly gratified by the early resolution of this case because it was accomplished before depositions, and for virtually the full amount of insurance proceeds available.

The injured man has been unable to return to work since the accident. He plans to use the settlement money to repay debts he has incurred, and to resurrect several small business he had previously owned and managed.

Labels: New York Accident Attorney, new york accident lawyer, New york attorneys, New York injury, Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine, rapplaw

6/1/2008
Larry
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Tell Your Teens To Buckle Up

A recent study by the NHTSA shows that teenagers aren't wearing their seatbelts when their parents aren't with them.

The end result is that over half of the teens that died in car accidents at night weren't wearing their seatbelts.

Tell your kids that seatbelt use is not optional but mandatory.

Labels: New York Accident Attorney new york accident lawyer Teen crash rate Teen seatbelt use

Premises Liability

8/19/2008
Larry
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There Is Nothing "Freak" About This Accident

It isn't a secret that the New York Post is a somewhat right of center publication, so it isn't really a surprise that their slant on this story in Queens doesn't ask a pretty simple question.

What was a dead tree doing on the property adjacent to the street fair?

This dead tree that all of a sudden snapped and struck a woman, critically injuring her, should not have been left to sit there for as long as it did. Dead trees decompose and fall, and it was simply a matter of before this occurred.

The story in the Post quotes a store owner who calls it a freak accident, but we think there were quite a few other bystanders who asked "Why was a dead tree allowed to just sit on this property?"

It's a question that the accident victim's attorneys should be asking the owners of the property, who happen to be the New York and Atlantic Freight Railway.

Labels: New York Accident Attorney, new york accident lawyer, Queens accident attorneys, Queens tree fall Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine, rapplaw,

Slips and Falls, Dog Bites, Stairway Accidents

7/31/2008
Andrew
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Construction Prices Going Up?

According to a report by the New York Building Congress, the cost of construction in New York is going up about 1% a month.

The report blames the rising price of materials, high demand for labor, poor project planning and extensive regulations.

We can certainly believe that. At least the part about the poor project planning. The recent crane collapses have been a tragic illustration of the lack of oversight and proper inspections.

Labels: brooklyn attorneys, New York construction accident, Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine, rapplaw

6/1/2008
Larry
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Crane Collapses Seem To Be An Epidemic

Could someone please explain why so many crane collapses have been plauging New York City this year?

The collapse that destroyed that townhouse and injured ten was only the latest in a series of crane malfunctions.

Either the cranes are faulty or the construction companies are hiring completely unqualified people to do the work.

Labels: Crane collapse New York New York Accident Attorney new york accident lawyer New York construction accident

General

10/2/2008
Larry
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Worst Insurance Companies of 2008

The American Association of Justice has put together a list of the 10 worst insurance companies in America.

They base their rankings on which companies practice the "deny, delay and defend" doctrine, which basically means that they do whatever it takes to avoid paying out claims.

It is a fascinating report, and we highly reccomend taking a look. At the very least you should see if your insuranc company made the list.

Labels: AIG allstate, AMA grades insurers, Bad faith insurance, bad insurance, brooklyn attorneys, Worst insurance,

9/24/2008
Andrew
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Bus Accident case settled for $4.5 Million

One of our recently settled cases for $4,500,000 involved a pedestrian and a bus. At the time of the incident, which occured on February 14, 2006 at around 3 pm, the plaintiff was walking eastbound on Crown Street in Brooklyn. Upon arriving at the intersection of Crown Street and Utica Avenue the light was red, so the plaintiff stopped, stood and waited. Eventually, the pedestrian crosswalk signal indicated that ti was safe to cross Utica Avenue, so the plaintiff proceeded to step off the curb and cross the avenue in the designated crosswalk. As she was doing so, she was struck by the defendents' school bus, which was making a left turn from Crown Street onto Utica Avenue.

According to Crash Statistics Online, there were 12, 498 non-fatal bus accidents just last year. 481 of those bus accidents, 3.85 %, occured in the State of New York. This number is significantly higher then the rest of the northeast and mid atlantic. However, just about any state in the rust belt region has higher bus accident rates then New York and another big state, California, nearly triples our bus accident total.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has recently conducted research on bus and passenger accident prevention. They have created five phases to help in accident prevention:

    1. Development and Implementation of an accident prevention program

    2. Selection, Training, Evaulation and, if necessary, termination of transit system employees

    3. Promotion of Patron Safety/Awareness

    4. Design options available in the vehicle procurement phase that will prevent accidents

    5. Development of Safety Policies and Procedures

Labels: Bus Accident, Bus Accidents New York Accident Attorney, new york accident lawyer, New york attorneys, New York injury, Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine, rapplaw,

9/17/2008
Larry
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Health effects from 9/11 still in the air

If you follow the link below, you will find an article in The New York Times that describes how the asthma rates are going up among adults who lived near the World Trade Center.

Please don't think of this as paranoia. If the rate had only gone up half a percentage point then The Times would not have even bothered to report it.

There are still people suffering from the effects of 9/11, and New York is not acting with enough speed when it comes to helping them.

Labels: 9/11 health asthma New York Accident Attorney, Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine,

8/20/2008
Andrew
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RGG&L Secures $1.33-Million Settlement for Estate of 38-Year-Old Man Crushed by Tree Limb

Next time you are walking down a tree-lined street on a blustery day, be aware of the possibility of falling tree limbs. RGG&L partners Michael Glass and Jim Forde recently obtained a settlement of $1.33 million for the family of a 38-year-old man who was crushed by a huge tree branch that broke and fell off a decaying tree in high winds. The case, which involved multiple defendants and is continuing to trial against several of them, involved a large dying tree on a community lot in a Queens, N.Y., enclave. The tree had a history of falling limbs and branches that had caused property damage to parked cars and near-misses with pedestrians, and there were documented resident complaints. The case was settled against the homeowners who had use of the lot, but is continuing against the owner of the lot and other parties.

Labels: New york attorneys,, New York injury, Rappaport Glass Greene and Levine, rapplaw

6/30/2008
Larry
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Great New Article on "Defensive Medicine"

There is a wonderful new article in The New York Times about a serious problem that doctors are having dealing with insurance companies. Turns out they have just as many problems with them as we do.

If you aren't registered with The New York Times, you should definitely do so. It's free, and they don't put your names on any lists. And the information in this article is completely worth it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/health/views/17essa.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1214861643-dkIuVRsWldrHWAkgc+9Ixg

Labels: Bad faith insurance Medical malpractice insurers New York Accident Attorney new york accident lawyer

4/19/2008
Larry
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State Farm: Sanction Whistleblowers

Is being a conscientious employee going to be a punishable offense?

State Farm would like to make sure of that. They want a federal judge to fine the two sisters who made copies of documents that detailed State Farm's behavior in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Follow the link for the whole story.

Labels: Hurricane Katrina New York Accident Attorney New York State Farm Attorney Rigsby sisters Whistleblowers

12/11/2007
Larry
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Even the Lizard can't help this kid

A Canadian teen with a terrible driving record just got a six figure insurance bill.

For more information, follow the link below.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=9d92d4fe-1c61-4364-ac54-b61e31a34e50&k=47030

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10/2/2007
Larry
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New York City May Be Held Liable In 9/11 Lawsuits

A Federal Court of Appeals recently held that the City of New York and the Port Authority are not immune to lawsuits from litigants claiming the city's and authority's failure to clean up debris in the 9/11 attacks caused them injuries.

There are currently 8,000 lawsuits pending of this sort. What do you think about this?

At first blush, it seems repugnant to sue the city for actions taken in the midst of the World Trade Center bombing or the 9/11 attacks. Many of the legal standards rely on the question of what is reasonable action for a city to do. Or, the question is what is reasonably foreseeable when conducting a specific action.

How can we determine what is a reasonable response to a catastrophic event like 9/11? Any thoughts out there?

Larry

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