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Month: June 2016

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Critical Elevator & Escalator Maintenance: Safety and Legal Factors

Maintaining elevators and escalators is crucial for safety

Elevators and escalators are convenient ways to get from one floor to another. In many cases, such as in high rise buildings and hospitals, these elevators are crucial because people who need to get up to upper floors or down from them might not be able to do so easily without the elevators and escalators. As convenient as they are, escalators and elevators also come with some risks.

We understand the importance of proper maintenance and inspection of escalators and elevators. When they aren’t maintained and inspected, improperly working components can fail and lead to accidents. Those accidents can lead to serious injuries that can dramatically change a person’s life.

When you are injured in an accident like this, you will often need to seek out medical care. You might suffer from injuries like broken bones, a head injury or a spinal cord injury. In some instances, these accidents can lead to death.

Once you have received stabilizing medical care, you might start to think about the accident. Those thoughts might lead you to decide that you are going to seek compensation to help cover the financial losses that you suffered because of the accident.

We can help you investigate the accident so that we can determine the cause of the accident, as well as the parties who need to be held liable for the damages you suffered. These two facts are very important when you are seeking compensation because you must be able to show that negligence or recklessness was the root cause of the accident that injured you.

2 lawyers reviewing medical malpractice case for NY client

Lack of Security and Injury: Crowd Control Safety

Can lack of security lead to injuries?

At any public event or place, keeping people who are there safe should be a top priority. When the organizers of an event or the owners of a business don’t make security a priorty, it is possible that people who are there could be injured. People who are injured because of lax security can opt to seek compensation for those injuries.

What are some ways that businesses and events can keep people safe?

Crowd control is a huge issue at some events and businesses. Think about sporting events, concerts and Black Friday sales. In each of these cases, people are trying to get into the venue or business quickly. The massive crowds mean that it is easy for people to get trampled or bumped into. Having security guards to help keep the crowds under control is one option that can be used. Another option that can be used is a system of locks, doors and similar methods that provide controlled access to keep the crowds contained in specific areas. In some cases, those options can keep crowds divided into groups for better crowd control.

Why is crowd control an important security factor?

Crowd control is important because people can get hurt when large crowds converge without any order. The security that is provided at events must be flexible and scalable to meet the needs of the current crowds. The security personnel must be focused and able to use tools and methods that will keep things in order. When those elements aren’t present, people might be injured. If you are injured because of negligent or lax security, you might choose to seek compensation for those injuries.

Source: Security Magazine, “Big Crowds, Big Security Challenges,” Bill Zalud, accessed June 22, 2016

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Dream Trip to Nightmare: Gator Attack Raises Liability Questions

Family vacations are supposed to be adventures. These trips are where memories are made. From the flat tire that had to be fixed in the middle of nowhere to the time little Jimmy got car sick all over his sister. These moments may seem miserable at the time, but they are the fodder for stories around holiday tables for years to come.

Generally, these stories have happy ending, but this was not the case for a family that recently took a Florida vacation to a Disney resort. Families across the country watched the story unfold, from a little boy playing in the shores of a lagoon to a father’s desperate attempt to free the child from an alligator’s grasp.

The tragic story brings hard questions, the most pressing: When is a hotel or resort liable for an accident on its property?

Hotels, resorts and other areas that request payment for patrons to enter their grounds have a duty to provide a safe environment for guests. Similar responsibilities also extend to places that offer long term living accommodations, such as hotels and condominium communities.

Whether or not a hotel, resort, condominium community or apartment complex is liable for injuries that occur on their property depend on the details of the accident.

Some questions that help determine liability include:

Was the owner aware of a danger?

If the danger is known, the owner is generally required to take certain steps to protect guests. This can include putting up barriers like a fence or removing the danger.

Was the guest aware of the danger?

Additional precautions may be required if the danger is not something that would be obvious to the guest. When it comes to exotic locations designed to attract tourists, like a tropical lagoon at a Florida resort, signs explaining the danger may be appropriate. Similar precautions may be necessary when it comes to a slippery surface that may not be readily apparent at a retail or grocery store.

Was the danger natural?

Another consideration is whether the danger was natural or manmade. Additional precautions are generally required when a danger is manmade. This can fall into a legal realm known as attractive nuisances, particularly when children are involved. An example could involve a pile of dirt or debris from a construction project.

These are just a few of the many questions that are asked when a premises liability issue is present. The answers that go along with these questions may support moving forward with a lawsuit against the owner.

vehicle accident insurance claim form

Must-Know & Best-Kept Secrets: Car Insurance Coverage

Car insurance coverage… what insurance companies don’t want you to know

.. and everyone should know

If you are like most people, you did not read the declaration pages of your car insurance policy, and therefore, there is a good likelihood that you are not carrying a sufficient amount of insurance. Well, you should read it!

Let us go through the different coverages:

Bodily Injury Liability (each person/each occurrence)

This is the coverage limit if you cause damage to someone else. In NY the minimum limits required are $25,000 ($25K) per person and $50,000 ($50K) per occurrence or accident. That means if you injure only 1 person, the most they can get is $25K, if you injure 2 people they can each get a maximum of $25K and if you injure 3 or more people, they would have to share a maximum of $50K.

Let’s face it; those limits are absurd in today’s economic times. In my opinion, no one in NY should be driving with less than a $100K/300K limit or preferably a $300K single limit policy, so that although the maximum limit per occurrence is $300K, there is no maximum per person limit.

Property Damage Liability

This coverage is for property damage you may cause to another car and/or property. In my opinion $100K should be the minimum limit to carry.

Basic Personal Injury Protection

The minimum in NY which everyone gets is $50K in No Fault benefits (covers all medical expenses associated with your treatment as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident, regardless of who is at fault. The host vehicle’s policy covers those benefits. If you are injured as a pedestrian, then the insurance carrier of the car that struck you is the primary carrier for the N/F benefits. In addition, you get up to $2K in monthly lost wages (calculated at 80% of you monthly salary not to exceed $2K per month if you are unable to work as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident.)

Those are minimums, but in my opinion, if you earn more than $30K a year, you should get APIP. Additional Personal Injury Protection doubles all of the benefits you are entitled to under No Fault (up to $100K in medicals, up to $4K in monthly lost wages etc).

Supplementary Uninsured (UI)/Underinsured Motorist Insurance (SUM)

That offers you coverage in the event that you get injured in an accident involving a car without insurance or with limited insurance coverages. Insurance companies don’t like to talk about these coverages (because they lose money on those) and regardless of how much in liability insurance you carry, they give you, the insured, only the minimum $25K/50K limits.

What that means is that even if you carry for example a $300K single limit liability policy to insure others, if you are injured by an uninsured or underinsured car, the most you would be covered for yourself is $25K.

Therefore, your UI, SUM limits should equal what your Bodily injury Liability Limits are.

So for example, if you have a $300K UI and SUM limit and you are injured by a car that is not insured, you will be covered for bodily injury claims up to $300K. If you are injured by a car carrying for example the minimum $25K bodily injury limits, if they tender their full policy, you have the availability to go after the SUM limits for another $75K.

I know this sounds complicated. If you have any questions about your car insurance policy, call me to discuss.

Lawyer working on a client construction injury case

Stairway Legal Requirements: New York City Stairs Must Comply

Stairways must meet certain requirements

Stairways pose a unique hazard for people who traverse them because of the uneven surface. All stairways must meet certain requirements in order to meet the building codes. When any of the requirements aren’t present, it is possible for someone using the stairs to fall and suffer an injury.

Narrow stairways aren’t permissible according to building codes. Instead, stairways must be a minimum of 36 inches wide. Handrails must be present on the stairway. These mustn’t stand out more than 4.5 inches from the wall. The distance from the wall to outer edge of the handrail does affect the width of the stairway. If there is only one handrail, the stairway clearance from the edge of the handrail to the opposite wall must be at least 31.5 inches. From handrail to handrail must be at least 27 inches if there is a handrail in each side of the stairs.

Even the depth of the stair treads and the height of the risers must meet certain standards. The stair tread depth must be at least 10 inches. The tread depth must be fairly consistent throughout the flight of stairs. The widest tread depth mustn’t be more than 3/8 inch wider than the smallest thread depth.

The riser height for stairs mustn’t be greater than 7.75 inches. The variation of the riser heights must be no more than 3/8 inches from highest riser to shortest riser.

Other codes dictate landing structures and other stair design elements. If you were injured on a stairway, looking into the code compliance factors might unearth a violation that you can use in your claim for compensation.

Source: Stairway Manufacturers’ Association, “Visual Interpretation Of The International Residential Code,” accessed June 16, 2016

cyclist injuries from poor road conditions around New York

Legal Support: NYC Sidewalk Falls can Cause Serious Injuries

Falls on sidewalks can lead to very serious injuries

Walking on the sidewalk is something that most of us do without any thought. For some people, walking on the sidewalk turns into a huge mistake because they end up having an accident due to a hazardous condition. We know that you never expected to end up injured because you decide to walk somewhere. When that does happen, you need to be aware of your right to seek compensation.

There are many reasons why a trip and fall might occur on a sidewalk. The sidewalk might be broken or uneven. It might be slippery or cracked. The issue with these hazards comes when pedestrians aren’t warned of the hazards, especially if the hazard should have been plainly obvious to the owner of the sidewalk.

The severity and type of injuries that occur in these accidents can vary. You might suffer from a broken bone, a hit to the head, a twisted ankle or knee or several other injuries. In some cases, those injuries might necessitate that you seek medical care. Severe injuries might require hospitalization, surgery, time off of work or long-term medical care. All of that can affect your finances in a negative manner.

We have to determine who is liable for the accident so that we can determine who we need to seek compensation from. In some cases, the answer to that point might be an insurance company that holds the policy covering the portion of the sidewalk in question. If that is the case, we will represent your side of the case to seek the maximum settlement that we can.

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