Central New York Injury Lawyer Blog

Cicero, NY Car Accident — Could The Roadway Design Have Been Partially At Fault?

November 19, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

Today a driver was seriously injured when she careened over an embankment at a sharp curve on Lakeshore Road, near Ontario Ave, in Cicero, near the edge of Oneida Lake. Some witnesses say the car was going too fast, but a neighbor was quoted in the paper saying the curve has a history of bad crashes.

The “history of bad crashes” caught my eye. By force of habit, my NY car accident lawyer thinking cap went on. Get under that cap with me for a moment.

Here’s my stream of thought: “Could this unfortunate driver, even if she was going a bit too fast, bring a claim against the State, County, Town or whoever designed the roadway? Did the design of the roadway contribute to her car accident? Was the posted speed limit too fast? Were there adequate signs announcing the curve? Should they have installed flashing yellow lights or other hazard warnings for the curve?”

Central NY Trip-And-Fall Lawyer Takes Advantage Of Poorly Drafted Village Law

November 16, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

Life is full of surprises. I got one yesterday.

A client suffered a very bad injury from tripping on a sidewalk defect in a village near Geneva, New York (I won’t name names!). Normally, trip-and-fall on sidewalk cases are nearly impossible to win because of a special law that protects villages (as well as cities, towns, etc.). That law — General Municipal Law section 50-e(4) — says that, under most circumstances, you can’t sue a village, town, city, etc., for injuries caused by defects in a “sidewalk, crosswalk, street, highway, bridge or culvert” as long as the village (or town, city, etc.), has enacted a “prior written notice” local law. Such a local law must in turn say, “hey, folks, you can’t sue us for injuries caused by defects on our sidewalks, crosswalks, streets, highways, bridges or culverts unless, before you were injured, we already had written notice of the defect.”

This is an extremely unfair law. No one, at least in upstate New York, ever writes to a village or town or city to tell them, “hey, you have a defect in your sidewalk at such-and-such a location and you’d better fix it before someone gets hurt”. If people complain at all about a defect or hazard they see, they are more likely just to call and complain. But that’s not enough under New York Law. It has to be in writing to be valid.

The Good Die Young; Construction Accident Takes Heroe’s Life.

November 11, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

I read in Syracuse.com yesterday that a 37-year old man, Lateef Haskins, died Friday in a construction accident when he fell from the scaffold he was working from. He was working for a subcontractor on a job renovating the State University College of Oswego.

The article went on to say that Mr. Haskins had shown heroism when, several years ago, he helped rescue a family of four from their house fire. Using a ladder, he had gotten people out of the top floor before the fire department got there. This was not without risk to his own life; flames were shooting out of the roof as he rescued his trapped neighbors.

Mr. Haskins’ family will likely be entitled not only to workers’ compensation benefits, but to much more compensation should they file a claim under New York’s Labor law 240, also known as “The Scaffold Law”. I have blogged about this special Statute often before. Under most circumstances, when a construction worker falls from a scaffold, the general contractor and the owner of the construction project (here, New York State) are automatically liable for all damages suffered by the worker and his family. In this case, that would include all future lost wages and compensation to any children Mr. Haskins’ has for “loss of parental guidance”.

Personal Injury Lawyer Trial Tips By The Greatest New York (and other) Trial Lawyers

November 10, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

One great thing about being a personal injury trial lawyer, whether in New York or elsewhere, is that you can keep improving, keep getting better, keep honing your skills, forever.

Recently I have been listening to lectures by some of the best New York trial lawyers, as well as great trial lawyers from other States, about how they try personal injury cases. The most recent one I listened to is Jim Perdue’s “The Art of Story Telling”. Jim is a well-respected Texas trial lawyer. I had read some of his stuff years ago, so this was kind of a refresher course. Jim’s basic premise is that a jury trial is all about story-telling, and the side that tells the best, most credible story, wins. Here are some notes I talked into my smart phone as I listened:

(1) Tell the jury the safety rule the defendant violated, then tell them why the rule is important, then show how defendant broke the rule, then show them the harm defendant’s breaking the rule did to plaintiff.

What’s The Scariest Thing About Halloween? Central NY Injury Lawyer Explains.

October 29, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

Hey mom and dad: Halloween’s here. Boo! Not really scary, huh? Figured. Hey, I’m a parent, too, and also a Central and Syracuse New York personal injury lawyer. (Scared yet?).

From my experience representing injured people, including injured kids, let me tell you what does not scare me about Halloween: tainted candy, candle fires and child abductions. If you read the newspaper headlines the day after Halloween, you are unlikely to see reports about any of that. That’s because that stuff hardly ever happens.

But I can almost guaranty you will read a headline like this: “Trick-or-Treater struck by car”.

Lawyers Who Handle Buffalo NY Sidewalk Trip-And-Fall Cases, Take Note!

October 28, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

This blog post is directed to my fellow New York personal injury lawyers who might have trip and fall cases from Buffalo, New York, but also it is worth reading if you have been injured by a defective sidewalk in the City of Buffalo, NY.

As my regular readers know, every year I cull through all the new cases involving “municipal liability” in New York State. I read all the reported decisions regarding lawsuits brought against cities, towns, counties, school districts, the State of New York and other governmental entities in New York. I then summarized the important new cases and travel around the State lecturing other New York personal injury lawyers about the new developments.

This year I noticed a new case from the Appellate Division, Fourth Department dealing with sidewalk defect cases in Buffalo, New York. Before I explain the case, you first have to understand that, in most cities in New York, trip-and-fall-on-sidewalk cases are very difficult because you have to sue the city and you also usually have to show that the city had “prior written notice” of the defect that made you trip and fall. And as a practical matter, there is almost never prior written notice of such defects because nobody goes around writing the City about sidewalk defects. At most, they might make a telephone call, but that is not enough to trigger liability for future falls; it must be prior written notice.

Central NY Personal Injury Lawyer Becomes A Teetotaler

October 25, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

I have blogged about the Tea Party before, and here I go again. While many of the positions of the Tea Party are not my cup of tea, I strongly align with the Party on one particular issue: The right to a civil jury trial. It’s in our Bill of Rights, and it’s one of the most important rights we have.

I know what you’re thinking: Of course you’re for it because, as a New York personal injury lawyer, it’s your bread and butter. Yes, I am biased. But I’m also right!

Don’t take it from me. Take it from the Tea Party founding father, Judson Philips. In his most recent blog on the subject, he points out that the hallmark of American democracy is our “classless society”. Everyone is treated equal under the law. We are unique on this planet in that our court doors open wide enough to allow even the poorest citizen to sue the richest corporation for injuries and other wrongs they inflict on us.

“Greedy Corporations Make Me Sick”, Says Syracuse NY Personal Injury Lawyer

October 23, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

Sometimes when I read the newspaper and see what greedy corporations are capable of, well, it makes me sick. This blog post is about a greedy corporation that literally made people sick.

The recent Meningitis outbreak you’ve been reading about is caused by contaminated spinal steroid injections. Many of my clients have had this type of steroid injection for back pain. A batch of steroid contaminated with a type of black mold called Exserohilum is causing the Meningitis. The manufacturer, “New England Compounding Center” in Framingham, Massachusetts caused the contamination by allowing dirty, sloppy conditions to prevail in the steroid production process

Cutting safety corners, in this case simple rules of hygiene, is always unacceptable, but when the product you are selling is getting injected into your customers’ spines?! Come on!!

“Do I Really Have To Wear A Helmet When I Bike, Dad?” Maybe not, says Central NY Bike Accident Lawyer

October 19, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

As a Central Syracuse NY bike accident lawyer, I have seen first hand some nasty head injuries from fallen bicyclists. So I was not very understanding last April when my 13 year-old son informed me that it was so totally uncool to wear a helmet on a bike that he would rather not ride at all than put one on. Didn’t I know that only nerds wear helmets? And didn’t I know that if his buddies in our city (Geneva, NY) ever caught him riding with a helmet on he would be a laughing stock? Was I trying to ruin his life or something?!

I said, “nice rant, now put your helmet on..” And he said, “no helmet, no way”.

I figured he would eventually cave. But he didn’t. For a full month he did not ride his bike at all. When I finally realized that he meant what he said, that he would not “get caught dead with a helmet on”, I capitulated. I let him ride his bike without a helmet.

Epidural Steroid Injections — Lots Of Risk For Little Benefit

October 12, 2012 | by Michael Bersani

When I recently read about the wave of fungal Meningitis afflicting steroid spinal injection recipients, I thought, “I hope our clients are safe”! The rash of Meningitis from steroid injections has so far killed 14 and made another 156 ill. But others who have recently received the injections are holding their breath — they too could get sick and die.

Many of our back and neck-injury clients have taken, or are taking, steroid epidural injections hoping for some relief from unremitting back or neck pain.

Unfortunately, most get only temporary, minor relief. And for this very insignificant relief they subject themselves to very significant risks, including nerve damage, strokes and paralysis, and now Meningitis.