Category: Premises Liability

Girl gets $15 million after foot mangled by escalator

The Everly Brothers, Elvis and Perry Como topped the charts back when the escalator was installed in a shopping mall just 25 miles from Queens. The escalator was one of the oldest in the country by the time of an accident three years ago in which a 10-year-old girl’s foot was caught and mangled.

Twenty-two surgeries were required to save the foot from amputation, the girl’s family’s attorney said in a statement announcing a settlement with Macy’s. The lawyer said Macy’s has agreed to pay $15 million to the New Jersey family.

The nearly two dozen operations involved a variety of surgical procedures, including grafts of muscle and skin to the girl’s foot from other parts of her body. She also fought through kidney and lung failure as part of her ordeal.

Following the accident, she was hospitalized for three months and then spent more than two years in physical therapy.

The family filed its lawsuit against Macy’s, as well as the company responsible for escalator maintenance, Thyssen Krupp Elevator Corporation. Though escalators have a life expectancy of 20 to 25 years, the escalator that caught the girl’s foot was in its 55th year of operation at the time of the incident.

For those who have been injured by escalator or elevator malfunction, you should know that a conversation with a skilled attorney can be the first step toward full and fair compensation for damages you have suffered, including medical bills, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, disability and pain and suffering.

Late-night dangers associated with job duties

There are certain occupations that are commonly associated with occupational risks and dangers. Law enforcement, for example, and firefighting are two lines of work that have obvious dangers inherent in the job duties.

Other jobs are also dangerous, though perhaps less obviously so: roofer, logger, pilot and truck driver are typically listed whenever people index the riskiest occupations. Another dangerous job: working in late-night retail.

The risks of robbery, assault, injuries and fatalities are an ever-present part of working at a convenience store, eatery, gas station or other retail outlet open late at night. The problem is a significant one: the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that in 2007, assaults and other acts of violence took 864 lives, which was more than 15 percent of the workplace fatalities that year in the entire country.

The dangers are not just to the workers, of course, but also to innocent customers who happen to be in the store when the violence occurs. Far too often, owners of the establishments fail to implement safety measures that would protect employees and customers.

These safety measures can include:

• Installation and maintenance of security systems
• Training for employees in robbery prevention
• Keeping windows clear of posters, signs and other clutter
• Establishing cash-drop systems and routines to deter robberies

When an employee or customer is injured due to a lack of security measures, they can face enormous medical bills, lost wages, disabilities and extended periods of emotional anguish and physical pain. A conversation with an attorney experienced in premises liability litigation can explain your legal options and help you pursue compensation for damages.

A lack of training and knowledge leads to tragedy

It’s a four hour drive northwest of New York City to arrive in the town of Onondaga. The modestly sized Syracuse suburb was the site almost a year ago to the day of a tragic accident.

A 53 year old man was doing maintenance work on an elevator in a nursing home when a second elevator began to descend from above.

The mechanic was pinned between a stationary steel ladder and a support beam by the second elevator. He died there in the elevator shaft.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed a $35,000 fine for the man’s employer. The Otis Elevator Company is contesting the fine and the accompanying citation which claims the man didn’t have the training needed for the job he tried to perform, and that the company failed to observe safety procedures.

The company didn’t properly evaluate the elevator to see if the maintenance work would require a permit for confined spaces. Worse, the mechanic didn’t have the training or knowledge to enter a permit-required confined space such as the one he died in.

When he was killed, the mechanic was beneath the elevator doing work that required him to first lock the elevator in place and shut off power to it. OSHA says the company has practices allowing its workers to get into elevator pits for up to 15 minutes without carrying out those safety procedures.

The man left behind his wife and two sons. In similar circumstances, family members will speak to attorneys experienced in fighting for full and fair compensation.

The world can change in a moment

It can happen in an instant. Trip and fall accidents often result in serious injuries precisely because they happen before the victim realizes what is happening.

The accidents can happen in a wide variety of ways. One type of trip and fall occurs when a person is walking on a sidewalk to enter a store. One edge of the sidewalk is raised above an adjoining edge, catching the toes of some pedestrians.

Most of those people will stay upright, adjusting quickly and walking on into the store without further problems. But all it takes is for one person to trip and fall on that unforgiving concrete surface. The result can be broken bones, shattered teeth, serious sprains, bruises, bleeding and more.

If the difference in heights between the two adjoining sidewalk surfaces is one-half inch or more, a trip hazard exists. It is then merely a matter of time before an unfortunate person is injured.

Store owners and managers should know about trip hazards on the properties and take steps to fix them. Those kinds of repairs are simply part of the cost of doing business safely in New York City.

It will matter little to the injury victim if the retailer or apartment owner or other business quickly addresses the problem after an accident has taken place. That quick fix won’t take away the victim’s pain and medical expenses.

Property owners have an obligation to keep their premises safe for customers and other members of the public. If they fail to meet their obligations, injury victims have legal options available that can result in compensation.

Banana Peel Challenge illustrates dangers of slip-and-fall accidents

It’s meant to be a joke. A new craze taking over the Internet involves teens testing out just how slippery a banana peel can be. The answer: pretty darn slippery. Law school students throughout the country can agree with this sentiment as almost every student learns about slip-and-fall cases through the study of a classic case involving a banana peel and an unsuspecting patron at a train station. Unfortunately, the banana peel incident in this case does not end in laughter – and if teens aren’t careful with this new craze the currently popular #bananapeelchallenge could become a not so fun #traumaticbraininjury.

What makes a slip-and-fall accident dangerous?

These accidents are dangerous as they generally involve unsuspecting individuals. This unsuspecting person steps on something that is supposed to be safe and secure, but is not. As a result, balance is lost and the person takes a fall, potentially suffering from serious injuries. This can happen on a slick spot within a retail store, on stairs that do not have proper treading or when someone steps on a slippery object…like a banana peel.

Who is responsible for these accidents?

In the case of #bananapeelchallenge the responsible party is generally a teenager that just doesn’t know any better. However, this challenge does provide an opportunity to discuss actual slip-and-fall cases, which are no laughing matter. In these instances, property owners may be liable for the accident.

Property owners, including store owners, retailers and other business owners, are required to provide their patrons with a safe environment. If this is not done and a guest is injured, that customer may have the right to hold the property owner responsible for the accident through a personal injury suit. This could lead to compensation to help cover the costs associated with the accident.

Courts set high bar for finding government negligence

There was a time when suing the government for injuries suffered due to slips, trips or falls in public areas was a non-starter. The theory of sovereign immunity made such claims nearly impossible to pursue. As we noted in a post last year, however, that changed with passage of the Federal Tort Claims Act.

That act makes it possible for government employees and agencies in New York and across the country to be held accountable for negligence that results in individuals being hurt. If the injury was due to a known hazard on a sidewalk or another public area, liability may attach. But not always, as a recent case out of New Jersey shows.

As reported by NJ1015.com, the case centers on a fall in 2011 in which a woman suffered injuries to a wrist and knee. The injuries were so severe that she required surgery and underwent six months of physical therapy.

According to court records, she was crossing a street from her parked car when she stumbled in a depression. The chasm ran the entire length of the block and was 28 inches long, 8 inches wide and at least 3 inches deep where the woman fell.

The record further shows that public works officials knew about the problem as far back as 2008. They also agreed at trial that it posed a threat to pedestrians. Still, the trial judge and an appeals court ruled against the woman in her quest for compensation.

Judges pointed to the fact that the woman had essentially jaywalked from her car as one reason for rejecting her claim. The implication was that she should have walked to a crosswalk before crossing the street.

Ultimately, the courts ruled that the road’s condition, while dangerous, didn’t rise to being “palpably unreasonable” because cars could drive on it safely.

It’s important to note that no two cases are alike and the outcome of one does not predict the outcome of another. A free consultation with experienced legal counsel is how to assess if you have a case.