
Refer to the Rapplaw News Page for information and news about personal injury stories and issues in New York and across the United States. Come here to find valuable articles and resources on the Web that focus on the rights of those injured in car accidents, truck accidents, product liability, medical malpractice, nursing homes and other cases decided under state tort laws. Also, fnd out what the insurance industry has cooking in its ongoing efforts to minimize the rights of policyholders to fair and prompt compensation after an injury occurs. Read how many politicians on the local, state and federal levels are helping insurance industry and big business agendas, at the direct expense of American taxpayers and consumers.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A construction worker was critically injured Tuesday after falling 25 feet while trying to secure a steel beam at an office tower being built near the East River, officials said.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Construction Workers Critical after Separate Incidents...
Facing pressure from City Hall and growing criticism for a spike in fatal construction accidents, Buildings Commissioner Patricia J. Lancaster resigned on Tuesday, becoming the first commissioner to leave the Bloomberg administration under a cloud of public controversy.
Read More About City’s Buildings Chief Resigns as Outcry on Accidents Grows...
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NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Six people have been injured in an ambulance crash in Lower Manhattan. Police say the accident happened around 11:00 a.m. Tuesday near East Houston Street and Avenue C. The ambulance driver and one other person were listed in serious condition and rushed to Bellevue Hospital. |
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Read More About Ambulance Crash Injures Six People...
NEW YORK -- One person was injured after a car collided with a tractor-trailer on the New England Thruway in the Bronx on Tuesday.
The accident happened around 10:51 a.m. on the northbound side at exit 13. The car got wedged under the tanker, caught fire and was extinguished.The driver of the car was taken to Jacobi Hospital with a minor injury.
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Read More About 1 Injured After Car Collides With Tractor-Trailer...
MELVILLE, N.Y. - Doctors are keeping a 7-year-old Long Island boy in a medically induced coma after he was struck by a car passing an ice cream truck where he bought a treat.
Javier (Ha-VEE'-yehr) Reyes (RAY'-es) remains in critical condition at Stony Brook University Medical Center.
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Read More About LI boy struck by car after buying ice cream in coma...
A car thief who blew past a stop sign Sunday morning took Jersey City cops to Secaucus and back before crashing the stolen van on Tonnelle Avenue, police reports said.
Steven Montgomery, 24, of Franklin Street in Newark, was charged with receiving stolen property, eluding a police officer and resisting arrest, reports said.
Read More About Car Thief Leads Police on Chase, Crashes...
NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP) -- Two pedestrians are slightly injured after a car jumped the curb and hit some scaffolding on East 27th Street in Manhattan.
A fire department spokesman says the accident occurred near Madison Avenue at 8:11 a.m. Tuesday.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Two People Injured After Car Jumps Curb in Manhattan...
NEW YORK - Hours after a car hurtled up the courthouse stairs made famous by "Law & Order," injuring six people, a pedestrian was hit by a taxi across the street just yards away.
The taxi slammed into the pedestrian just before 3:30 p.m. at the intersection of Pearl and Centre streets _ about 60 feet from the first accident.
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Read More About Car jumps NYC courthouse steps, pinning man...
The boom of debris landing in metal trash bins echoed down the street, startling pedestrians in a neighborhood still scarred by the crane accident that killed seven -- including Staten Islander Anthony Mazza -- and upended life in this stretch of midtown Manhattan.
Workers are clearing the site where the 20-story crane crushed one town house and damaged at least seven other buildings. But the sound of things getting back to normal is an unwelcome reminder for some.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About A slow return to normalcy in Manhattan area scarred by crane accident...
A Staten Island teen-ager was killed in a freak accident on a New Jersey road Saturday night, after he and his girlfriend's cars simultaneously lost control on a tricky bend, then crashed into each other and a tree.
The crash happened at about 10:15 p.m. in Tabernacle, N.J. -- about 65 miles south of Staten Island.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Staten Island teen killed in car crash...
A car crashed through a chain-link fence, plunged roughly 30 feet onto subway tracks and burst into flames in Brooklyn early Saturday, disrupting service on the N line for several hours, authorities said.
The accident occurred just before 5 a.m. at 63rd Street and 15th Avenue at the New Utrecht Avenue station, where the D and M lines connect with the N.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Car Crash Stops Subway Service...
WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Catholic dioceses
nationwide will promote Child Abuse Awareness Month in April. Plans call
for raising awareness through special prayers during Sunday Masses,
diocesan and parish lectures, and other educational activities.
Child Abuse Awareness is a major initiative of the Catholic Church in
the United States. As a result, an estimated 1.6 millions persons have
undergone background checks; 1.8 million priests, deacons, candidates for
ordination, educators, employees and volunteers have gone through safe
environment programs and approximately 6 million children in parish school
and religious education programs have received age-appropriate instruction
in this area.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Catholic Dioceses Promoting Child Abuse Awareness Month...
Every year, about 42,000 people die in automobile-related accidents in the U.S. In 1930, when there were about a tenth of the number of autos on the road, more than 31,000 people in the U.S. were killed by cars. "The automobile is here to slay," said one newspaper, its typo speaking volumes.
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Read More About Unsafe at Any Speed, With any Driver...
NEW YORK -- An 84-year-old woman was struck and killed by a hit and run driver in Queens late Friday, police say.
The woman was crossing Union Turnpike in Glen Oaks when the crash occurred, police said. The driver of the car fled. Police said the vehicle was a late model, two-door sedan in a gold or tan color.Read More About Woman, 84, Killed In Queens Hit-And-Run Crash, Police Say...
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- New York City's buildings commissioner called for laws to require registration of concrete contractors and hiring of safety managers after a surge in construction worker deaths and injuries during a record building boom.
Fatalities on high rises -- projects of 15 stories or more -- rose to five last year from one in 2006 and injuries increased 63 percent, to 52, according to the New York City Buildings Department. More than 60 percent involved materials falling during concrete pouring.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About New York City to Consider New Laws After Skyscraper Deaths Rise...
Read More About Schumer wants elder abuse law...
NEW YORK - Police say one person was killed and four others were injured in an accident involving a stolen vehicle on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn.
Police said Thursday they came across the accident after losing sight of the stolen vehicle, a 1997 Nissan Infiniti, which they had been following.
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Read More About One Dead, Four Injured in Stolen Car Chase...
NEW YORK - Police say one person was killed and four others were injured in an accident involving a stolen vehicle on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn.
Police said Thursday they came across the accident after losing sight of the stolen vehicle, a 1997 Nissan Infiniti, which they had been following.
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Read More About 1 killed, 4 injured in Brooklyn stolen vehicle accident...
BINGHAMTON -- Ten passengers on a Greyhound bus were taken to local hospitals Monday after a driver-in-training went off the road and crashed into a tree off Route 17 west/Interstate 81 north at exit 4S in Binghamton.
The injuries consisted mostly of facial and back injuries and none were deemed serious, but almost all of the 31 passengers on board complained about headaches, according to Binghamton police
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Bus Accident Injures Ten...
A construction worker fell 12 stories to his death in Brooklyn on Wednesday when the scaffold he was standing on collapsed, apparently because of high winds, according to city officials and witnesses.
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Read More About Scaffold Falls, Killing Worker in Brooklyn...
Eight people were injured on Thursday in a crash in Laurelton involving a United States Postal Service tractor-trailer, a taxicab and a fire engine responding to an emergency, the Fire Department said. The injured, five firefighters and three civilians, were taken to area hospitals. The Fire Department said the accident, which occurred about 3:15 p.m. at 225th Street and Conduit Avenue, was under investigation. The truck driver, who was not identified, was in critical condition Thursday evening, the police said. The injuries to the firefighters and the other civilians were said not to be life-threatening.
Read More About Queens: Eight Injured in Fire Truck Crash...
A pre-dawn two-car accident closed down the eastbound Long Island Expressway Wednesday, causing a massive traffic jam that stretched miles in both directions before the crash scene was finally cleared at about 6:45 a.m.
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Read More About LIE reopens after two-car crash...
AUBURNDALE-WABC -- Two people were hurt in a spectacular car accident in Auburndale, Queens, Thursday.
Police say an out-of-control car overturned near a house at 144-24 20th Avenue, near Parsons Boulevard, around 3:30 p.m.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About At least one injured in spectacular crash...
TAMPA - Behind the fight between Florida's insurance commissioner and Allstate Insurance Co. is a mystery that could have come from a John Grisham novel.
Secret Allstate documents - known as the McKinsey documents - allegedly show how the insurance giant intentionally has made low-ball claims offers to its customers for years, netting Allstate billions of dollars in the process.
But the McKinsey documents have never seen the light of day.
Trial lawyers who have sued Allstate in recent years have eagerly sought them, and Allstate reluctantly has turned them over to lawyers under subpoena. However, each time a judge has prohibited lawyers from distributing them to the media and the public under a protective order.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Secretive Allstate File Could Show 'Bad Faith'...
There are worries that a proposed $50,000 surcharge on all MD's in the state could do irreparable harm to New York's health care community. The state's medical malpractice liability fund is underfunded, and state insurance superintendent Eric Dinallo is looking for ideas.
Doctors unable to obtain liability insurance from commercial carriers are required to get insurance from a pool for high-risk doctors called the Medical Malpractice Insurance Plan, which charges doctors at least 290% the going rate of insurance for their profession. The pool is in the red right now, however, and it falls upon commercial carriers to cover any deficits.
Read More About New York Docs Feeling Ill Over Proposed Insurance Surcharge...
EAST RUTHERFORD -- Authorities on Monday took a cursory inspection of the Giants Stadium escalator that malfunctioned and injured seven people this weekend after the Giants’ loss to the New England Patriots.
“We took a very cursory look and we’re planning to get everybody together…to determine what may have failed on that escalator,” said James Minish, vice president of facilities for the state Sports and Exposition Authority.
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Read More About Escalator accident likely mechanical...
NEW YORK - Bystanders to a deadly car accident in Brooklyn leaped into action Friday when the driver tried to escape.
A group of witnesses to the hit-and-run crash said they chased the motorist on foot and in vehicles, grabbed him and stuffed him into a cab, which returned him to the scene of the crime.
"I was glad we got the bastard," Chris Blake, 41, of Bay Ridge, told the Daily News. "He killed a guy. He was meant to get caught. He deserves to go to jail."
Read More About Hit and Run Driver Caught by Civilians...
NEW YORK - Prosecutors have dropped charges against the driver of a van that was carrying seven children who were hurt when it collided with a New York City bus.
Queens District Attorney spokesman Kevin Ryan says charges against the 60-year-old driver would not be pursued because of a lack of evidence to sustain criminal charges.
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Read More About Charges dropped in NYC bus crash that left children hurt...
His nickname was "Lights" because he always put bike safety first.
But Wednesday morning, cyclist David Smith fell victim to the very accident he always warned friends about.
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Read More About Bicyclist killed when car door opens, sending him into truck's path...
NEW YORK - The son of one of the founders of the Brooklyn Brewery died in a freak bike accident when he fell off the upper level of the Manhattan Bridge to the lower level and into oncoming traffic.
Sam Hindy, 27, and a friend had been drinking at bars in lower Manhattan and were headed to Brooklyn shortly before midnight Friday when they mistakenly entered the upper roadway, which is reserved for car traffic.
Read More About Son of Brooklyn Brewery owner dies in accident...
ALBANY–Shortsighted policy decisions by New York’s government in the 1990s are responsible for the purported medical malpractice “crisis” in the state according to a report released by Public Citizen, New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and the Center for Medical Consumers.
The report urges Gov. Eliot Spitzer and a task force studying malpractice to focus on ways to improve patient safety and to resist pleas from the insurance industry and the state’s doctors to pare back patients’ legal rights. It has been sent to Spitzer, the task force and New York state lawmakers. The report, A Self-Inflicted “Crisis:” New York’s Medical Malpractice Insurance Troubles Caused By Flawed State Rate Setting and Raid on Rainy Day Fund, was written by Public Citizen researchers. NYPIRG and the Center for Medical Consumers assisted. http://www.citizen.org/documents/NYFinal.pdf
Read More About Report: New York’s Med Mal Crisis Self-Inflicted...
Eight people were injured on Oct. 17, when a New York City construction crane bucket fell 53 floors, crashing into a street level scaffolding structure.
The incident occurred at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Forty-Second Street.
Read More About Eight Injured in NYC Construction Accident...
New York radio jock Angie Martinez was involved in a nasty car crash late last week in advance of her first annual Angie Martinez Hair Show and Beauty Expo over the weekend at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.
Read More About ANGIE MARTINEZ SURVIVES CAR CRASH...
NEW YORK - A girl was run over by a cement truck Saturday at a street corner where a woman had been knocked down by a car earlier in the afternoon, police said.
The first victim was a 24-year-old woman who was crossing under a walk light at the Brooklyn intersection, which has a two-way road that cuts through another two-way road and leads into a one-way road. She was hit by a car around 12:30 p.m. but wasn't seriously hurt and escaped with just some bad bruises, friends said.
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Read More About 2 people run over in accidents at confusing Brooklyn intersection...
NEW YORK (AP) — Sucha Ram was getting ready to tar the roof of a building in the Bronx last year when he fell over the side, plunging 15 feet to his death. He was not wearing any fall-protection gear and had never received formal training in fall hazards, a report said.
Ram was a 52-year-old immigrant from India, the sole breadwinner of the family — and part of a long line of casualties of New York City's roaring construction industry in 2006.
Forty-three people died while working construction in New York in 2006, the deadliest year in at least a decade in the city, according to recently released data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The death toll was up 87 percent from 2005, when 23 people died. Nationally, construction deaths in 2006 rose just 3 percent.
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Read More About NYC Construction Becomes More Deadly...
Lead can be found in far many more products than toys, and many of those items have not come up for recall, according to a study to be published in the December issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
A four-month investigation found detectable levels of lead in the caps on glue sticks, children's vinyl backpacks, dishware, jewelry, toys and many other items, Consumer Reports said. The investigation examined both products found in stores in the New York metropolitan area and items in the homes of employees of Consumers Union, the nonprofit that publishes Consumer Reports.
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Read More About Recalls Don't Catch All Products with Lead...
The accident was reported after 9 a.m. at Park Hill Lane and Vanderbilt Avenue in the Fox Hills section.
Apparently, the school bus collided with a car and flipped on its side.
EMS officials said all patients were transported to Staten Island University Medical Center with minor injuries.
Read More About 6 Children, 2 Adults Injured in S.I. Bus Crash...
KRIPPLEBUSH - A New York City man died Sunday morning after his motorcycle crashed into a vehicle on County Route 2 in the Town of Marbletown.
Larry Eng was pronounced dead at the scene about 11:30 a.m., according to state police in Ellenville.
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Read More About NYC man dies in Ulster motorcycle accident...
A New Jersey man who ran down an off-duty police officer driving a motorcycle pleaded guilty yesterday to drunken driving and felony vehicular assault.
Charlie Lin, 29, rammed Brian Rickli's Kawasaki from behind while driving his 2005 Nissan Altima on Route 59 in West Nyack on May 24.
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Read More About New Jersey man admits driving drunk and running down off-duty cop...
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Critics say ConAgra Foods Inc.'s delay in recalling pot pies linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak increased the chance that more people would become sick, opened up the company to greater liability, and exposed a key weakness in the nation's food safety system: voluntary recalls.
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Read More About Critics: ConAgra Mishandled Recall...
NEW YORK - A man in a wheelchair has been critically injured by two vehicles while trying to cross a Harlem street.
The NYPD says the 44-year-old man was hit around 6 a.m. Wednesday by a white van traveling west on 125th Street.
Read More About Man in wheelchair critically injured by by 2 vehicles...
NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Five states said on Monday they will sue the federal government to block new rules governing a children's health insurance program that they fear will force them to drop some children.
New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois and Washington will file suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York later this week, a spokeswoman for New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said.
Read More About Five states to sue U.S. over child health plan...
She was late for a plane. She started yelling. She was taken into police custody.
She was handcuffed. She was put in a cell.
And then she was dead.
Yes, there is an explanation for what happened, but it’s a shocker given the fact that she was the mother of three young children, from a prominent New York City family, and she’s said to have died in a way that will raise some eyebrows until the autopsy is done — or perhaps if the matter winds up in court as part of a lawsuit:
Read More About Woman Late For Plane Dies In Police Custody At Phoenix Airport...
Bail was set at $75,000 today for a Baruch College student accused of mowing down a young Scottish woman in a drunken driving accident and then fleeing the scene.
Tenzing Bhutia, 21, of Queens, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident involving a death, and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
Read More About Bail set at $75,000 for alleged driver in fatal DUI hit-and-run...
NEW YORK (AP) _ A baby girl and her grandmother were nearly crushed when a tractor-trailer fell from an elevated highway and smashed down in front of their car, striking its hood.
"I can't believe I'm alive," said Jenetta Christopherson, 61, in Wednesday editions of the Daily News.
She said she was driving her 1-year-old granddaughter, Kayle McGrath, westbound on the Staten Island Expressway on Tuesday afternoon when the truck flew off the highway above them.
Read More About Baby, grandma escape death as semitrailor falls from NYC highway...
NEW YORK -- One person was killed and four others were injured in a car crash in Queens on Wednesday.
Emergency services responded to a one-car on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway just before 6 a.m. on Wednesday.
One person was killed and four people were injured. Two people were treated for serious injuries and another was in critical condition.
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Read More About One Dead, Four Injured In Queens Crash...
NEW YORK — The city comptroller issued a report this month showing downward trends in the number of claims filed against the city and in the city’s costs for legal settlements and judgments.
Brooklyn had the highest number of new claims for personal injury and property damage, according to the report, but Manhattan had the highest settlement costs for such claims, among the five boroughs. Brooklyn attorney John Bonina, president of New York’s Academy of Trial Lawyers, attributed the higher number of Brooklyn claims (5,843, compared to 5,646 in Manhattan) to the borough’s larger population and the fact that two of the city’s most troubled hospitals are located here.
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It's tough enough surviving the streets of north Brooklyn. It's even tougher when the police break the law, then try to cover it up.
That's the argument made by the family of Bobby Roman, a young motorcyclist killed in July 2006 by a hit-and-run driver in Bedford-Stuyvesant. His family says a patrol car struck Roman, then sped off.
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Read More About NYPD cover-up alleged in fatal Brooklyn hit-run...
The superintendent who investigators said was partly responsible for the death of a subway track worker has been demoted and will be assigned to a job as a cleaner, a person with knowledge of the disciplinary action said yesterday.
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Read More About Subway Supervisor Is Demoted for His Role in Fatal Acccident...
NEW YORK -- The absence of a working sprinkler system in the former Deutsche Bank Building where two firefighters died Aug. 18 was not an accident, city and state officials said Thursday.
Shutting off the system was a deliberate decision made by regulators well before workers started taking apart the toxic, flammable building.
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Read More About Sprinklers were shut off at site of fatal New York fire...
NEW YORK (AP) — A tow-truck driver and his passenger who were burned when a huge steam-pipe explosion blew a crater in a Manhattan street last month have sued the city's utility provider, accusing it of misconduct.
Passenger Judith Bailey and a guardian for driver Gregory McCullough seek unspecified damages from Consolidated Edison in the lawsuits filed Tuesday in State Supreme Court.
The victims accused Con Edison of failing to "properly operate and maintain its steam system," thereby creating a "ticking time bomb." More than 12 such pipes have exploded since 1987, including one that killed three people in 1989 and released 200 pounds of asbestos, the plaintiffs claim.
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Read More About Burn Victims Sue Over Steam Pipe Blast...
Wal-Mart, Target, and other "big box" retailers are importing faulty and dangerous products into the US faster than our regulatory agencies can keep up with them.
Follow the link below for more details.
Read More About The Hidden Cost of Foreign Goods...
You may have seen the screaming New York headlines: Doctors hit with 14% increase in medical malpractice rates! Doctors in high risk specialties paying 6-figure insurance premiums! Insurance reserves so low carriers may become insolvent! Blame the lawyers! came the cry from the doctor’s, for surely it must be due to medical malpractice cases. A little protectionism called tort “reform” would go a long way to curing the problem. Right?
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Read More About Why New York Medical Malpractice Insurance Jumped 14%...
There is more than mild shock among trial lawyers — especially those who practice in the medical malpractice area — at the news that Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his Insurance Commissioner Eric Dinallo managed to sneak through a 14 percent increase in med mal insurance premiums for which they, as usual, blame the lawyers!
Doctors, of course, were outraged but, in general, were buying into the disturbing explanation voiced by Dinallo, who incorrectly stated that “The cause [for the 14 percent boost] is high medical liability costs.”
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Read More About Bonina: Don’t Blame Lawyers For Med-Mal Insurance Crisis...
OKLAHOMA CITY – Americans are much more concerned about corporate misdeeds than tort reform, according to a national poll conducted for the American Association for Justice, formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
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Read More About Poll: Americans dislike corporate misdeeds over frivolous lawsuits...
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Read More About Steam Pipe Explosion Triggers Lawsuits...
Six people killed in a fiery car crash in Virginia on Tuesday are believed to be members of an extended New York City family of Trinidadian immigrants, the police in Virginia said last night.
The police said they had been unable to identify the victims, four males and two females, because of the severity of their burns, and were planning to use dental and medical records.
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Read More About 6 in New York Family Are Believed Dead in Crash in Virginia...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rejected U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork sued an exclusive New York social club on Thursday for at least $1 million over injuries he suffered in a fall last year while trying to climb onto a dais.
Bork, 80, said the Yale Club in midtown Manhattan failed to provide a handrail or stairs leading to an unreasonably high dais and that he fell as he tried to mount it, hitting his leg on the side of the dais and his head on a heat register.
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Read More About Judge Bork sues New York social club over fall...
(CBS) WASHINGTON CBS 2 HD has learned former New York Giants linebacker Lavar Arrington was involved in a motorcycle accident in Maryland. He was immediately rushed priority one to Prince George's Hospital Center with unknown injuries, according to CBS affiliate WUSA-TV in Washington.
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Read More About LaVar Arrington In Serious Motorcycle Accident...
Cynthia Kline knew exactly what was happening to her when she suffered a heart attack at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She took the time to call an ambulance, popped some nitroglycerin tablets she had been prescribed in anticipation of just such an emergency, and waited for help to arrive.
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Read More About Sicko? The truth about the US healthcare system...
A federal judge in Alabama wants a prominent lawyer involved in a Hurricane Katrina insurance case charged with criminal contempt for what he said was circumventing his order to give up documents secretly copied by two whistleblowers.
U.S. District Judge William M. Acker Jr. asked the federal prosecutor in Birmingham last week to prosecute Mississippi attorney Richard F. Scruggs and his firm. If the request is denied, Acker said he will appoint another attorney to handle the prosecution.
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Read More About Ala. Judge Asks Criminal Contempt Prosecution of Katrina Lawyer...
Medical Malpractice Insurers made lots of money during 2006, despite the so-called "medical malpractice crisis."
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Read More About Medical Malpractice Insurers Have a Very Profitable 2006...
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A woman who lay bleeding on the emergency room floor of a troubled inner-city hospital died after 911 dispatchers refused to contact paramedics or an ambulance to take her to another facility, newly released tapes of the emergency calls reveal.
Edith Isabel Rodriguez, 43, died of a perforated bowel on May 9 at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. Her death was ruled accidental by the Los Angeles County coroner's office.
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Read More About Tape: 911 operators did little to help dying woman in ER...
(CBS/AP) A woman who died of lung disease five months after Sept. 11 was added on Wednesday to the medical examiner's list of attack victims, marking the first time the city has officially linked a death to the toxic dust caused by the World Trade Center's collapse.
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Read More About NYC Adds WTC Dust Death To 9/11 List...
In the space of less than a week, two New York City subway workers lost their lives in on-the-job accidents and a third was seriously injured.
Daniel Boggs, 42, a veteran track worker, was killed on Tuesday, April 24, at about 11:20 p.m. Boggs, who was married and a father of three young children, was setting up lanterns (to warn trains to slow down due to work in the area) near the 59th Street-Columbus station in Manhattan, when he was fatally struck by a No. 3 downtown express train. He and his crewmates apparently believed that the last No. 3 train had passed after seeing a work train go through, and that it was now safe to resume work on the track.
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Read More About Two New York City transit workers killed in less than a week...
On April 1, Options for Independence took on a new program through the New York State Long Term Care Ombudsmen Program (LTCOP). LTCOP advocates for residents of nursing homes, board and care homes, assisted living facilities and adult care facilities. Options has been designated to operate the LTCOP for Cayuga County. We are taking this program over from the Cayuga County Chapter of the American Red Cross, which has operated the program for the last five years, but is now redefining its mission.
Most residents receive great care in their long-term care facility but then there are those who do not receive the care they need or deserve. Too many residents are the victims of neglect and mental and physical abuse.
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Read More About Protecting Nursing Home Residents...
The Food and Drug Administration has let another dangerous drug onto the market, despite being aware of reports that warned them.
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Read More About The FDA Lets Another Dangerous Drug Slip Through...
A small school bus carrying 14 people collided with a dump truck Wednesday, seriously injuring a high school student and two other people, state police said.
The bus was carrying 10 high school students, three staff members and the driver from the Le Roy Central School District when it rear-ended the truck, which was waiting to make a left turn, state police Sgt. Daniel Dedo said.
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Read More About New York Police Investigate Bus Crash...
NEW YORK - A task force has concluded there’s no need to stop passengers from drinking on Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trains, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman said Thursday.
The group found there was no safety risk in letting riders buy and drink alcohol on board, spokesman Jeremy Soffin said. He said the task force decided unanimously to recommend no changes to the railroads’ decades-old policy of allowing alcohol.
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Read More About Task force won’t recommend booze ban on LIRR, Metro-North...
By lying about the potential addictive properties of OxyContin, Purdue Pharmaceuticals drastically affected the lives of thousands of people.
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Read More About OxyContin: Marketing Addiction...
Each year in the United States, there are between 44,000 and 98,000 hospital deaths and another 300,000 injuries attributed to preventable medical errors. New York's hospitals are no exception. In fact, a 2006 study of medical errors by the private research group HealthGrades rated New York State's hospitals the second worst in the country.
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Read More About Time to Reduce Medical Errors with Full Disclosure...
One transit worker was killed and another injured yesterday afternoon when they were hit by a G train at a Brooklyn station, city officials said. It was the second fatal accident involving track workers in less than a week.
The northbound G train hit the workers in the Hoyt Street-Schermerhorn Street station just after 4 p.m. One of them, Marvin Franklin, 55, of St. Albans, Queens, a transit employee for more than 20 years, was apparently dragged half the length of the station and was found dead under the train. The second worker, Jeff Hill, 41, a track worker since 2005, was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was in stable condition last night, the police said.
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Read More About Worker Is Killed by a G Train in Brooklyn...
Eighteen people were injured, one of them critically, after a car ran a red light and was hit by a city bus at a Queens intersection early yesterday, the police said.
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Read More About Crash Injures 18, and a Driver Is Charged...
A New York Supreme Court Justice has ruled that the asbestos exposure lawsuit of a former Elizabeth, New Jersey resident will move to trial in New York City. Leonard Shafer died at the age of 73 from mesothelioma, a rare and incurable asbestos-related cancer. Mr. Shafer's wife Evelyn, now a Manhattan resident, is continuing the lawsuit which is based upon Mr. Shafer's exposure to asbestos at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the 1950s. Mr. Shafer is represented by mesothelioma trial attorneys from the New York and New Jersey offices of Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP in the case, 03/108297, filed in New York County.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About New York Supreme Court Permits Asbestos Exposure Lawsuit to Go to Trial...
A Brighton Beach woman is suing the City University of New York (CUNY) system for injuries she sustained while learning the layout of Kingsborough Community College.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Injured woman sues CUNY...
Some of the most agressive tort reform advocates in the country have filed a few lawsuits themselves.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Tort Reform Hypocrisy...
WASHINGTON - The majority of medical malpractice claims in a study of seven states were closed without any compensation paid to those claiming a medical injury, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today.
For more information, follow the link below.
_ A lawyer is filing suit on behalf of a Plymouth woman who fed her cats some of the now-recalled pet food. The woman says one cat died from kidney failure and two others are gravely ill.
Five Connecticut pet owners have signed on to the suit and more are expected as the number of cats and dogs potentially poisoned by the food rises.
Follow the link below for more details.
Read More About Lawsuit filed over pet's death, recalled food...
Merck is attempting to make their new vaccine mandatory for every girl in America.
For more details, follow the link below.
Read More About Merck: Making Profits Mandatory...
Brooklyn, NY (LifeNews.com) -- In a landmark ruling, a New York state appeals court has ruled that a seven year-old girl can file suit against the city of Brooklyn for injuries she sustained while she was an unborn child.
When Sarah Elizabeth Leighton was 14 weeks into the pregnancy, her teacher mother was injured when a public toilet collapsed at the school where she worked.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About New York Court Rules Girl Can Sue Over Injuries Sustained Before Birth...
Among the 12-largest metropolitan areas in the United States, the New York-northern New Jersey-Long Island area had the largest number of work fatalities in 2005, but it was also the largest area in terms of employment, the Department of Labor said.
In the New York metro area, 52 construction workers died in 2005, according to the federal statistics. Most of those deaths resulted from falls, but they included incidents in which workers were struck by objects or hit by vehicles. No other occupational group recorded more than 15 deaths.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About 2005 Deadly Year for New York Construction Workers...
The driver of a Fung Wah bus that crashed yesterday near the Allston-Brighton tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike was cited by State Police for speeding, negligent operation, maintaining false driving records , and an equipment violation related to the bus's brakes, adding another black spot to the discount carrier's safety record.
None of the 35 passengers on board the New York-bound bus was injured. The accident occurred in a westbound lane.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About "Chinatown Bus" Driver Cited with Multiple Violations...
Why has State Farm stopped writing homeowner policies in the Gulf Coast?
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About State Farm: Taking Their Billions and Going Home...
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Long Island man is accused of driving drunk and killing a UPS worker heading home from a late shift.
Police say 23-year-old David Thai fell asleep at the wheel on the Long Island Expressway early yesterday, after going out drinking with friends.
Police say he slammed into UPS worker Asim Iqbal's car, which was pulled over on the shoulder of the highway in Dix Hills.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Father of Three Killed by Suspected Drunk Driver...
Do you want lower insurance rates? The fix is pretty simple. All you have to do is go back to school, earn a PhD, and quadruple your current salary.
For more details, follow the link below.
Read More About Looking For Lower Rates On Your Insurance? You Better Get Rich...
The world's largest and most valuable collection of American Art is owned by Progressive Insurance. It's estimated value is over $100 million.
You might want to think about that when they nickle and dime you over a claim.
For more details, click here.
Read More About Progressive Insurance: Art for Profit's Sake...
(New York - WABC, January 17, 2007) - The Eyewitness News Investigators have learned there were major communications problems during a dramatic rescue of some 4,000 subway passengers this past summer.
For several minutes, the transit system had problems talking to the crew on a train stranded after a fire on the Manhattan Bridge. There were also problems in communications between the transit system and firefighters that made the rescue even riskier.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Blistering report on summer subway fire...
If you are having a hard time contacting the claims department of an insurance company, we can help. We've compiled a list of every major insurance company working in the United States today.
Follow the link below for more information.
Read More About Having a hard time contacting an insurance company? Click here....
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., hit with a $2.7 million verdict last week for denying Hurricane Katrina claims to a Mississippi couple, settled another suit over storm damages, avoiding a Jan. 22 trial.
The plaintiff, Dr. Richard Tejedor of Long Beach, Mississippi, sought $5.5 million for the loss of his home in the 2005 hurricane and for punitive damages for State Farm's handling of his case. The accord, terms of which weren't disclosed, follows a Jan. 11 jury award to a Biloxi couple of $2.5 million in punitive damages. U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. in Gulfport, Mississippi, gave them $223,000 for their home.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About State Farm Settles Katrina Lawsuit, Avoids Trial...
BATON ROUGE, La. - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin often complains about how slowly his city gets federal hurricane recovery money, but a state official said Thursday that nearly $600 million is available - if only Nagin would request it.
New Orleans and the city’s agencies have received nearly $300 million of the recovery money promised by FEMA - 96 percent of the $311 million that the city has formally requested since Hurricane Katrina struck 16 months ago, according to data released by the state homeland security office, which distributes the money.
For more information, follow the link below.
Progressive Insurance is the proud owner of a collection of American Art that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. You should remember that the next time they nickle and dime you on a claim.
Read More About Progressive Insurance: Art for Profits Sake...
With the Holiday season fast approaching, RGGL thought it would be prudent to share some tips on safety for the holiday season.
Follow the link below for more details.
Read More About Safety Tips for the Holidays...
(New York - WABC, November 18, 2006) - An accident left a number of people trapped inside their vehicles on the Bronx.
Eyewitness News is told the problem involved live downed power lines. It happened in the Kingsbridge section.
Eyewitness News reporter Carolina Tarazona has the latest.
This accident really caused some major traffic problems in the section of Kings Bridge Saturday night. Live power lines were just down on the street. Eyewitness News was told there were 12 people trapped in their cars.
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Read More About 12 New Yorkers Left Trapped In Cars...
MANHATTAN — New York City filed a lawsuit in Manhattan’s federal court to prevent HIP and GHI, two New York health insurance giants, from merging, the city’s Law Dept. announced yesterday.
For more details, follow the link below.
Read More About City of New York Files Lawsuit to Prevent Health Insurance Merger...
The American Tort Reform Association has released its Annual List of "Judicial Hellholes." This "award" is given to cities, states, or any geographical area which makes it easy for citizens to file lawsuits.
But are these places "Hellholes," or do they simply respect the rights of Americans looking for redress through the courts?
For the whole story, please follow the link below.
Read More About ATRA Releases Annual "Judicial Hellhole" List...
Senator Trent Lott was a big proponent of tort reform, right up to the point that Hurricane Katrina destroyed his beach house.
Will his harsh treatment by State Farm help him change his position?
Read More About U.S. Senator Learns Harsh Lesson About Insurance...
Insurers have quite a few tricks of the trade that they use in order to minimize their financial responsibilities to their policyholders.
Follow the link below to find out what they are.
Read More About Insurance Company Tricks: What They Are and How to Avoid Them...
(PR-Inside) - Rapper HEAVY D is suing an insurance company for $1.5 million he insists it owes him after nine people were crushed to death in a stampede at a celebrity basketball game in 1991.
The 39-year-old, real name DWIGHT MYERS, says in court papers he purchased a $1 million policy from the National Union Fire Insurance Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the event that he helped organise. Approximately 5,000 people showed up at a City College of New York gymnasium, which had a capacity for only 2,700 people.
For the rest of the story, follow the link below.
Read More About New York Rapper Sues Insurance Company Over Basketball Deaths...
RGGL's Fall Newsletter contains some of our latest positive verdicts, as well as some information that you might find valuable.
Follow the link below to have a look.
Read More About RGGL's Fall Newsletter...
Insurers have some very efficient methods of minimizing their financial liability. Find out what they are and how to avoid them.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Standard Tricks of The Insurance Trade...
The recent safety recall of lithium ion batteries used in computers made by Dell, Apple and Panasonic will essentially wipe out 25% of this years profit.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Laptop Computer Battery Recalls Will Cost Sony Millions...
BATON ROUGE, La. -- A state judge Wednesday ruled as constitutional two new state laws giving insurance policyholders more time to sue their insurers or file claims over damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
District Court Judge Kay Bates, who read her ruling from the bench, said the extension of the time periods doesn't expand citizens' rights under existing contracts but gives those who were displaced by the storms more time to enforce their rights.
For more information, please follow the link below.
Read More About Louisiana Ruling Gives Hurricane Victims More Options...
When TWA Flight 800 exploded in mid-air ten years ago, the cause was found to be a surge in the electrical wiring that sent a charge into the fuel tanks. After a decade, the FAA has done nothing to fix this design flaw.
Follow the link below for more information.
Read More About TWA Flight 800: Fatal Design Flaw Still In Place After Ten Years...
Rappaport, Glass, Green and Levine have represented quite a few families of injured children, and with summer here, the odds of your child suffering a serious injury have gone up considerably. Follow the link below for some tips on how you can help your children avoid injuries over the summer months.
Read More About Simple Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe During the Summer...
Initiating legal action is serious business, and a process that could take years. It is important to know when it is appropriate and necessary to seek legal counsel, and also to be properly informed as to what the lawsuit process entails. For a report on the personal injury lawsuit process, follow the link below.
Read More About There Isn't Anything "Frivolous" About It: A Look At The Personal Injury Process...
A taxi driver lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a building early Sunday, killing a passenger who was tossed into oncoming traffic, police said.
The wreck killed 20-year-old Danielle Ricco of Staten Island about 3 a.m. and injured four others, including the taxi driver, police said.
For the rest of the story, follow the link below.
Read More About New York Taxi Wreck Kills Passenger...
A recent study of the Food and Drug Administration's Independent Advisory Panels found that many of the Panelists are on the payrolls of pharmaceutical companies.
To see the whole story, follow the link below.
Read More About FDA's Independent Advisory Panels Have Severe Conflicts of Interest...
A 2003 Federal Law designed to protect the privacy and medical records of patients is rarely enforced, according to an article in the Washington Post.
Since its inception, 19,420 Grievances have been filed under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, yet no fines have been collected.
To read the rest of the story, follow the link below.
Read More About New Federal Privacy Law Poorly Enforced...
Pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb has quietly stopped manufacturing an antibiotic called Tequin due to several patient deaths. While this can be viewed as good news, the company has made no effort to recall the millions of doses of this drug that are still available at hospitals and pharmacies.
To get the whole story, follow the link below.
Read More About Bristol Myers Squibb Ceases Manufacture of Dangerous Antibiotic...
Read More About Read RGG&L's Spring 2006 Newsletter...
The NHTSA has released its annual projections for crashes and fatalities on our nation's highways.
Traffic fatalitites are expected to increase by 1%, while injuries caused by crashes are expected to decline by 4%.
To view the entire report, please follow the link below.
Fishers, IN -- April 3, 2006 -- Disetronic Medical Systems, Inc, (Disetronic) of Fishers, Ind. announced today a voluntary nationwide recall of all ACCU-CHEK™ Ultraflex Infusion Sets, because of a potential that tubing could fully or partially separate at the luer lock-tubing connection. In the event that a full or partial separation occurs, it is possible that insulin could leak from the infusion set tubing causing an interruption of insulin delivery, which can cause hyperglycemia.
Read More About Disetronic Medical Systems Announces Insulin Pump Recall...
A study released by Americans for Insurance Reform shows that malpractice rates have remained flat across all 50 states, including those that have not enacted caps on punitive damages.
Read More About Medical Malpractice "Crisis" Officially Over...
A leading healthcare advocacy group has released a study claiming that the United States has a higher rate of medical errors than several other developed countries.
Thirty-four percent of U.S. patients have received the wrong medication, delayed or incorrect test results, mistreatment or a misdiagnosis, according to The Commonwealth Fund. The U.S. rate is significantly higher than New Zealand, Canada, Australia and England. U.S. patients also paid dramatically higher costs than patients from any of the other surveyed countries.
Read More About New study shows U.S. healthcare is worst in prescription errors, health costs...
In what some legal experts are calling a watershed event in the war against terrorism, a federal jury in Chicago ordered three U.S.-based Islamic charities and an Illinois man accused of funneling money to terrorists to pay $156 million to the family of a teenager shot to death in Israel.
Read More About Suing Terrorists for Wrongful Death?...
In this case, the mother began to show signs and symptoms of placental abruption after she was admitted to the hospital. The nursing staff missed the signs, and several hours went by before doctors were notified that an emergency was in progress. As a result, the baby was born oxygen-deprived and neurologically impaired.