In Effort to Reduce Pedestrian Accidents, NYC to Install Countdown Clocks

Long Island, New York pedestrian and car accident attorney Jonathan Cooper discusses a new initiative by NYC to reduce pedestrian fatalities. For additional information on how pedestrian and car accident cases are handled under New York law, please go to www.TheNewYorkAccidentBook.com, or contact Jonathan Cooper directly at 516-791-5700.

Finding EMS Was Not Reckless, Jury Dismisses EMT's Injury Claim Against NYC

Long Island, New York car accident lawyer Jonathan Cooper discusses a recent case where a New York County jury dismissed the personal injury claim by an EMT who was injured when responding to a call. For additional information on New York auto accident cases, please visit http://www.jonathancooperlaw.com/practice_areas/long-island-car-accident-lawyerqueens-brooklyn-auto-accident-attorney.cfm, or contact Jonathan Cooper directly at 516-791-5700.

Driver Runs School Bus Stop Signal, Then Explains "I Didn't Know What It Meant"

Long Island, New York school bus and auto accident attorney Jonathan Cooper discusses a recent case where a driver ran through a school bus's stop signal because she apparently didn't understand what the sign meant. For additional information on how auto and bus accident cases are handled under New York law, please download Jonathan Cooper's free book on New York accident cases at http://www.jonathancooperlaw.com/reports/free-new-york-personal-injury-book-why-most-accident-victims-do-not-recover-the-full-value-of-t.cfm, or contact Jonathan Cooper directly at 516-791-5700.

Appeals Court Limits Adverse Impact of Attorney's Admission in Opening Statement

In deciding the defendants' motion to dismiss in a construction site accident case that was handed down on January 19, New York's Appellate Division, Second Department clarified what the effects are of a plaintiff's attorneys admissions that he made during his opening statement to the trial jury. For additional information on this and other topics pertaining to small business litigation, personal injury and defective products under New York law, please visit www.JonathanCooperLaw.com.

Insurer's Lawyer: Plaintiff's Lawyer Had No Right To Believe/Rely On What We Said

In yet another example of the lengths some insurers and their attorneys will go to, a recent decision rendered by a Brooklyn trial court judge vacated a settlement agreement that was based on wrong information that the insurer had provided, and was relied upon by both parties before effectuating the settlement. For more articles and videos on this topic, please visit Long Island, New York accident attorney Jonathan Cooper's website at www.JonathanCooperLaw.com.

Don't Drink ... and Walk, Study Says

Discussing a study that recently appeared in the New York Times, Long Island, New York personal injury attorney Jonathan Cooper notes that intoxication is not a hazard that is limited to driving and auto accidents; in certain circumstances it is also applicable to pedestrians. For additional information on accident cases generally, and the mistakes to avoid in order to protect your claim, please download a copy of Jonathan Cooper's Free eBook entitled "Why Most Accident Victims Do Not Recover the Full Value of Their Claims" from www.JonathanCooperLaw.com. or www.TheNewYorkAccidentBook.com.

Police Must Still Drive Responsibly, Even When Responding To Emergency, NY High Court Holds

Long Island, New York author of The New York Accident Book, Jonathan Cooper discusses a recent and important decision from New York's Court of Appeals that placed strict limits on a police officer's rights to rely upon certain provisions of the Vehicle and Traffic Law that give them greater latitude in the care they must show while driving.

Computer/Cell Phone User Beware: Your Records May Be Discoverable In A NY Car Accident Case

In an opinion published on the front page of today's New York Law Journal, an appellate court held that a driver's computer and cell phone records must be disclosed in order to verify whether he was - or wasn't - using them at the time of the car crash. For additional information on car accident cases generally, and how to avoid common mistakes that will reduce the value of your accident claim, please download Long Island, New York accident attorney Jonathan Cooper's Free e-Book at www.TheNewYorkAccidentBook.com.

How Unfamiliarity With Your New York Auto Insurance Can Cost You - Big Time

This blog post discusses a recent decision from New York's highest court that precluded an accident victim from recovering the full value of her claim because she (or her attorney) was unfamiliar with certain important aspects of the insurance law and the insurance policies. For additional information on mistakes that will reduce the value of your accident claim, please visit www.TheNewYorkAccidentBook.com.

Can A Bar Be Held Responsible For Serving Liquor To A Drunk Under New York Law?

IAlthough the merits of the underlying personal injury lawsuit are highly questionable, in a fascinating and important decision that was handed down last week, and published in today's New York Law Journal, one of New York's Appellate courts reversed a Westchester County trial court's decision, and held that the driver of a car that hits a drunk can in turn seek contribution from the bar that served the plaintiff too much alcohol, in violation of New York's Dram Shop Act, to compel the bar to pay their fair share of the blame for the auto accident.

In this case, O'Gara v. Alacci, the driver of a car knocked down the plaintiff, who had wandered into the middle of a parkway after leaving a bar. The plaintiff sued to recover damages for her personal injuries, and contended that the driver of the car handled his car negligently, and therefore bore some resposibility for the accident. The defendant driver, in turn, sued the bar that served alcohol to the plaintiff, asserting that the bar was also somewhat responsible for the accident, because they served alcohol to the plaintiff even after she was obviously drunk.

New York's Dram Shop Act states that anyone who has been injured, whether personally, or even monetarily, due to the intoxication state of another is entitled to recover in contribution from the one who unlawfully caused or added to the intoxication, i.e., after the person was already clearly intoxicated.

In issuing this ruling, the Appellate court rejected the trial court's holding that the bar's duty to abstain from serving alcohol to an already-drunk person runs only to that person; instead, the Appellate court held that this duty also runs to the general public, including the driver of the car that was involved in this pedestrian knockdown.

CDC Announces Child Passenger Safety Week

If you ever thought that child safety seats were an unnecessary inconvenience, consider the following statistics that were published as part of the CDC and NHTSA's National Child Passenger Safety Week which just concluded on Friday, September 18:

• Last year, an average of four children under the age of 14 were killed in auto accidents per day;
• Studies have found that children's car seats reduce the risk of death in a car crash by over 50%, as compared to children who only used standard seat belts;
• In 2007, nearly 400 children's lives were saved by the use of child safety seats and devices.

Granted, as a father of 6 small children, I find these seats and devices terribly annoying. But these statistics simply cannot be ignored.

4 Steps to Protect Your New York Accident Claim Following a Hit and Run Accident

In this article, Long Island, NY auto accident lawyer Jonathan Cooper lays out 4 important steps you should take in the aftermath of a hit and run accident to assure that your claim is protected. For additional FREE information on the 10 mistakes that are guaranteed to reduce the value of your accident claim under New York law, please get a copy of Jonathan Cooper's Why Most Accident Victims Do Not Recover the Full Value of Their Claim from www.TheNewYorkAccidentBook.com.

NJ Appeals Court Reinstates Jury's $2 Million Award to Victim of Pedestrian Knockdown

In an unusual move, an appeals court reinstated a jury's award which had been reduced from $2 million to $600,000, to a pedestrian who was knocked down by a passing truck, causing him to sustain severe personal injuries, including traumatic brain injuries and several fractures that left him in a coma for over one month.

As anyone who has experience selecting juries for trial will tell you, what is not unusual or suprising is that this aspect of the story - the reinstatement of the 7-figure verdict made the news. Nor, for that matter, would it have surprised anyone had the news reported on the jury's verdict; what would have been surprising was if the news had covered the judge's reduction of the award by nearly 2/3 - a fact of trial life that often confronts personal injury lawyers, but rarely - if ever - makes the headlines.

Why Rushing to Sue For Your Personal Injuries May Be The Wrong Answer in NY (Or Anywhere Else)

In the May 20 edition of the New York Daily News, it was reported that one of Britney Spears's former bodyguards has sued her for personal injuries that he allegedly sustained due to her negligence. In reading the article's description of this man's background, I was amazed that my gut almost instinctively rejected the merits of this man's claims - even though very little detail about the actual claims is given. And you know what? I imagine that most people reading that article felt the same way.

So, you ask, what was so troubling about the man's past that it turned me, a Long Island, New York personal injury lawyer into a hardened skeptic? He is clearly a very litigious guy, with two other lawsuits that are still pending, and a third work injury-related claim that was resolved some time ago. While it is questionable to what degree an attorney would be permitted to introduce evidence of the other claims at trial, there is a serious risk that a jury will take this new claim - no matter how legitimate - with more than a few grains of salt.

In addition, if you sue over a relatively minor injury to one part of your body, and then subsequently injure that same part of your body more severly later on, you may have unwittingly provided an important defense to the latter claim: that your injury was caused by the first incident rather than the second one. To summarize: before rushing head-first into litigation, you should strongly consider whether this case is really worthwhile; if you don't, it could compromise a more meaningful claim down the road.

How a Brooklyn Subway Accident Victim Won $7 Million - Even Though He Was Largely At Fault For His Own Accident

Recently, a Brooklyn jury awarded in excess of $7 million to a man who sustained serious personal injuries, including the loss of both one eye and a leg when he fell to the subway tracks, and was then hit by a passing New York City Transit Authority subway train. But that's not the surprising part. It's the jury's apportionment of fault for the accident that is puzzling.

In weighing the parties' relative degree of fault for the subway accident, the jury held the Transit Authority 70% responsible, notwithstanding the fact that the plaintiff was heavily intoxicated on alcohol and narcotics at the time of occurrence. While New York's courts have long held that the motorman of a subway train can be held liable in negligence for failing to avoid an accident provided that he had enough time and distance to do so, I am at a loss to understand how a man who found himself on the train tracks only because of his self-inflicted methadone and alcohol-induced haze can only be 30% responsible for his accident. Perhaps I'm alone in my feelings on this; but I highly doubt it.

Car and Driver Magazine's Six Critical Things That Every Driver Must Know

This informative - and amusing - article published by Car and Driver should be required reading for every teenager learning to drive (and isn't a bad refresher course for those of us who've been driving for longer than we care to admit).

The 10 Most Deadly Driving Mistakes That People Make

Click on the link to read a well-researched article that was published this morning at www.msn.com regarding the most common - and dangerous - mistakes that drivers make that can lead to serious car accidents that result in serious personal injuries or even death.

Why Employers' Safety Standards Should Not Be Accepted At Face Value

Congress' investigation into the facts underlying a head-on collision between two trains that resulted in hundreds of injured passengers and several fatalities has unearthed some extremely disturbing facts, particularly that one of the train's operators seems to have missed a critical signal because he was distracted by text messages he was either sending or receiving on his mobile phone at the time. For more on this topic, please read our article here.

Wal-Mart Sued in Negligence Over Snake Attack

Earlier today, it was reported that when shopping in a Florida Wal-Mart's gardening section, a customer was suddenly attacked by a rattlesnake, biting his hand. Although the customer was able to shake off the snake, and ultimately killed it, he was hospitalized due to his personal injuries, and later had to return to the hospital so they could drain fluid that had built up in his lungs.

This was not the first snake attack incident that occurred at that particular Wal-Mart; there were two prior incidents that occurred in 2006. According to the customer, despite these two incidents, the store had no warning signs, and apparently did not undertake any other safety precautions. Consequently, the customer has claimed in his lawsuit that Wal-Mart should be held liable in negligence.

Interestingly, although it certainly sounds like the plaintiff in that case has enough proof to support a negligence claim, a quick search failed to find any snake bite or attack lawsuits in New York. Strange as it may sound, there are apparently some cases that New York's trial lawyers have failed to sue for - so far (though they have sued over rat and other animal bites).

Are Hybrid and Electric Cars Too Quiet?

I just found a very interesting series of articles discussing how the new breed of cars that run on hybrid or electric technology are actually too quiet. Although, given the loud cacophany that usually bombards New Yorkers' senses, this contention would seem absurd, a recent scientific study confirmed complaints raised by the Federation for the Blind that unlike regular gasoline-consuming vehicles, these cars fail to adequately warn pedestrians or other oncoming vehicles of their speed and approach, and thereby pose a greater safety hazard and potential for bkie or car accidents or injury. To read our fuller discussion of this topic, please see our article here.

Dangerous Intersections and Roads - Why the States and Local Authorities Should Be Liable

In a case from Orange County in California that was reported yesterday, a jury held the local municipality liable for causing the collision between a car and the teenage boy’s bike, as a result of which the boy sustained serious personal injuries, including the loss of one leg below the knee.  From the news report, it seems fairly clear that the government intends to appeal the jury’s $8 million plus verdict, because from their vantage point, it is manifestly unfair to cast the lion’s share of liability on the municipality when they had no direct role in the bike and car crash; they did not own or operate either the car or the bike.  While, at first blush, the municipality’s argument seems meritorious, if you think a bit more critically, you will realize that their argument contravenes what we know from our everyday, real-world experience.

There are some intersections and streets that have had such a disproportionately high number of tragic car accidents and fatalities over the last several years (such as Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills and Rego Park in Queens County, New York, which the local papers have dubbed the “Boulevard of Death”) that it is clear to all that these roadways are defectively and dangerously designed.  Consequently, the better public policy is to hold the municipalities and states liable for these conditions; otherwise, these governmental entities will have far less incentive to assure the safety of their roads.

For additional information as to whether governmental or municipal authorities are liable for the dangerous conditions of intersections and roadways under New York law, you can read our article here.