Central New York Injury Lawyer Blog

Syracuse New York Car Accident Lawyer Explains Why Tracking Down All Liability Insurance Coverage Is So Important in Upstate New York.

December 14, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

Sadly, seriously injured victims of motor vehicle crashes in upstate New York are often surprised to learn that neither the negligent driver nor the owner of the at-fault car had purchased sufficient “liability” insurance to fully compensate them for their pain and suffering and other losses.

Why? In the Syracuse area and in all of central New York, including Geneva, Auburn, many people are of limited means (in case you haven’t noticed, good jobs are hard to come by around here!) and thus purchase only this cheapest insurance. This minimal automobile liability insurance in New York State pays out a maximum of only $25,000 per injured person and $50,000 per accident.

So what do you do if you are seriously injured by a minimally insured car? Well, you have the option of refusing to accept the insurance policy limits. You can instead sue the negligent driver (and the car owner) and hope to get at their personal assets. But what personal assets? We just said that Upstate New Yorkers with small insurance policies generally have limited income. As a corollary, they also have no assets worth pursuing.

Auburn, New York Product Defect Lawyer Warns of Dangerous Toys

December 13, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

This holiday season, hundreds of central New Yorkers will unknowingly purchase dangerous defective toys in malls and stores in Syracuse, Rochester, Auburn, Geneva, Waterloo and other upstate cities. Dangerous Toys Lead to Injury, Death and, eventually, to defective product Lawsuits.

According to the most recent U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission data, last year, 2008, defective toys caused the deaths of 19 children and resulted in more than 82,000 emergency room visits by children under age 5. Many of these injuries and deaths lead to product liability lawsuits in which the injured or killed children’s parents alleged that the toys were defective or overly dangerous.

Despite all the bad publicity dangerous toys bring to their manufacturers, toy makers continue to make some toys that are unreasonably dangerous for children, especially small children.

Syracuse New York Auto Accident Attorney Gives Pedestrian Safety Tips

December 11, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

In my last blog, I wrote about a real car-on-pedestrian accident in Cicero, New York. That got me thinking about pedestrian safety. Car accident lawyers in New York, and everywhere, see a lot of cases involving cars striking pedestrians. It’s too common. And it’s not a fair match; the car always wins!

Automobile drivers are largely at fault when their vehicle strikes a pedestrian. Usually the driver fails to observe the pedestrian, drives too fast in an area of pedestrian traffic, or ignores pedestrian crosswalks..

Pedestrians, however, can take some simple steps (pun intended!) to protect themselves from inattentive, careless or speeding drivers. Here’s my list of top safety tips for pedestrians:

Driver Strikes and Kills Pedestian in Cicero, Onondaga County, New York.

December 8, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

Today I read news reports that, on Friday evening, December 5, a woman drove her car into a pedestrian in Cicero, Onondaga County, New York. Twenty-nine-year-old Leann Doyle of Canastota struck 51-year-old Joanne Schoenfelder of Bridgeport while she was standing in front of a residential mailbox on Route 298. The car accident happened at about 7:30 p.m. The Ciceroauto accident victim was taken by ambulance to SUNY (University Hospital) in Syracuse where she was pronounced dead. It is not clear whether the pedestrian killed by the car was standing in the roadway or on the shoulder.

I didn’t read these news reports like a NORMAL person. Instead, by force of habit, my personal-injury-lawyer brain began dissecting and analyzing them as I read. Let me share with you my legal thoughts as I read of this tragic accident.

First, without knowing more about this case, it is hard to determine whether the driver, pedestrian, or both were at fault. If the pedestrian’s family files a claim for wrongful death and conscious pain and suffering against the driver, the jury will be allowed to tag each side for its percentage of fault. This directly affects the verdict. For example, if the jury determines the case is worth $1,000,000, and that the driver was 70% at fault, but the pedestrian was 30% at fault, the plaintiff (pedestrian’s family) would end up with only 70% of the $1,000,000, which is $700,000. The verdict is “discounted” to the tune of the victim’s percentage of fault.

Central New York Injury Lawyer Says, “Don’t Be Careless at Christmas – Be Safe with Holiday Lighting and Christmas Trees”

December 6, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

Central New York is anything but white so far this holiday season. In fact, it’s down-right green and balmy here in the Syracuse, Auburn and Geneva, New York regions! Many of us upstate New Yorkers are hoping for some snow right about now- at least to take us through the holiday season. (Careful what you wish for — it might stay through March!)

While we upstaters are “dreaming of a white Christmas”, the United States Fire Administration (USFA) is dreaming of a . . . SAFE Christmas.

And justifiably so: Every holiday season needless house fires kill about 400 people and injure about 1,650 in the U.S.

New York Jury Awards Pedestrian $8.75 Million for Amputated Leg Caused by Defectively Designed Car

December 5, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

In a New York product liability case, the jury recently awarded $8.75 Million to a pedestrian whose leg was crushed, and later amputated, when he was hit by a 1987 Volvo 740 wagon. The car did not have a “clutch starter safety switch”, which requires the clutch to be pressed all the way down before the standard transmission car can be started. This safety device prevents a driver from accidentally starting the vehicle while in gear, thus causing the car to lurch forward, which is exactly what happened in this case. Volvo did not start installing these devices in its vehicles until the year 2000. One of the representatives for Volvo admitted, under oath, that the safety switch was available back in 1987, but that the company had declined to install it on cars sold in the U.S. In finding Volvo liable for this decision, the jury considered the fact that the safety device would have cost Volvo only $5 to install. This large New York defective product award includes compensation for medical expenses, lost earnings, and past and future pain and suffering.

This case demonstrates an important principle of product liability law: Whether a product is deemed “defective” often depends on whether a safer design existed at the time of its manufacture. If the safer design would have been relatively cheap to implement, when balanced against the dangers of not implementing it, a jury will often find that the manufacturer’s product was defectively designed, which means that it was UNREASONABLY dangerous. Sure, all cars are SOMEWHAT dangerous; they are heavy machines designed for travel at fast speeds. But why make them more dangerous than they have to be? That is the whole purpose of product liability law; to hold manufacturers responsible for the harm they cause when they produce products that are more dangerous than they need to be. This jury, and juries like them, help make the world a safer place for all of us. Volvo and other manufacturers will think twice the next time they decide whether to omit a safety device that would cost them only $5 per car to install.

Pregnant Women and their Unborn Babies Are Especially Vulnerable during Car Accidents

December 4, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

A New York Times article today, entitled “Pregnant Women are Particularly Vulnerable during Car Accidents,” provides food for thought. The article says that 300 to 1,000 unborn children die in car accidents in the U.S. each year. An unborn child has a four times greater chance of dying in a car accident than a child up to age 4.

The biggest risk for an unborn child in a car crash is “placenta uterine attachment”. The placenta can detach easily in crashes, which in turn causes the baby to lose its oxygen supply. That accounts for about 80 percent of fetus losses in auto accidents.

What’s the main culprit in causing this detachment? The steering wheel. If you are a “very” pregnant woman, the steering wheel is probably only inches from your belly. The impact between your belly and the steering wheel in a crash, even a minor one, is what usually causes the placenta to detach.

Syracuse Injury Lawyer Explains: 9 Things To Do After You Are Injured in an Accident.

December 3, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

I feel a little uncomfortable telling people what to do if they are involved in an accident. Why? It seems odd to tell them that, just as they are stepping out of a wrecked car, or picking themselves up from the ground where they slipped and fell, they should start thinking about preserving their rights, and evidence, so that they can later make a personal injury claim. On the other hand, I can’t tell you the number of times my clients here in central New York were seriously injured and just didn’t think to do what they needed to do to secure the evidence and their rights for a personal injury claim. Sometimes I can fix it, but sometimes it’s too late. Then they live in constant regret because they really end up needing the money the personal injury claim could have provided them for their lost wages, medical bills, and other losses.

So, like it or not, here’s my “what-to-do-when-you-are-injured” list. Some of these are no-brainers, but I figured I would list them all anyway:

TAKING CARE OF YOUR INJURY FIRST:

Geneva, New York Car Crash Injuries Caused by Failure to Obey Stop Sign.

December 2, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

Stop signs only work, obviously, if people see them and obey them. This fact is demonstrated by a recent car accident near Geneva, Ontario County, New York. The Finger Lakes Times newspaper reports that two motorists were treated at Geneva General Hospital following a car collision in the town of Seneca, Ontario County, on December 1. Vincent Gleason was traveling south on County Road 20 when he failed to see the stop sign at the intersection with County Road 4. Gleason ran into a vehicle being driven by William Hart of Geneva as he was passing through the intersection. The police ticketed Gleason for failing to stop at a stop sign. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts. The car accident injuries do not appear to be serious (Seatbelts save lives — where them!)

In the U.S., more than 40,000 people die in automobile accidents each year. It is the leading cause of death for people under 40 years old. On average of 112 people die each day in car crashes in the U.S. Many of these deaths happen at intersections because a driver failed to observe a traffic control device (red light, stop sign, yield sign, etc.).

At Michaels Bersani Kalabanka, we have handled hundreds of car crash cases where the collisions were caused by drivers failing to stop at stop signs. Think these are easy cases? They should be, but believe it or not, even when a driver “blows” a stop sign, and we ask his insurance carrier to compensate our innocent client, insurance carriers often won’t pay without a fight. They often take the position that the innocent driver, our client, was not truly “innocent”. Incredibly, they claim that our client should have seen the other driver as he was approaching the stop sign, that he should have observed that the other driver was not going to stop, and that he should have reacted in time by braking or otherwise avoiding impact! These insurance adjusters, and their lawyers, argue that it was the fault of BOTH drivers, and therefore they should get a discount on paying for our client’s pain and suffering, medical expenses, lost wages, and other losses.

Why Upstate New York Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Verdicts Are Much Smaller than Downstate.

November 29, 2009 | by Michael Bersani

The New York Times recently reported that a Manhattan jury returned a $27.5 million verdict to a 45 year-old woman who had to have her leg amputated after a bus ran over her. While such a verdict for an amputated leg is considered high in New York City, such a personal injury damages verdict would be unthinkable in upstate New York cities such as Syracuse, Auburn, Geneva, Rochester or especially in the rural areas in between. Verdicts downstate are, by and large, much larger than upstate.

Why are verdicts in the New York City area so large compared to upstate verdicts? Good question. As far as I know, there are no studies regarding why juries downstate are so generous compared to their stingy upstate counterparts. But here’s my (unscientific) take on it:

Big city dwellers tend to be more accustomed to, and comfortable with, social safety nets. They have rent subsidies and controls. They live collectively. They expect the “system” to even the inequities of life out a little bit. Big city dwellers tend to see a personal injury verdict as a way to right a wrong, a way to balance the scales, a way to help the helpless, etc. In sum, they are SOCIALLY oriented.