New York Injury Lawyer Blog

Although Christmas is still months away, it is never too early for parents to be thinking about toy safety. Given the number of toys the average child has, concerns regarding toy safety should never be far from mind.

* Before allowing your children to purchase a toy or giving a toy as a gift, you should read any warning labels. These labels usually carry recommendations about the minimum appropriate age for a given toy. The labels also tell what precautions should be taken when using the toy. Make sure to follow these recommendations.

* Use your own good sense. For example, bicycles are associated with 300 deaths and 400,000 injuries to children under the age of 15 every year. However, the danger of injury can be greatly lessened if parents simply require their children to wear a helmet. If an injury still results then hire a New York Personal Injury Lawyer

Continue reading " How Safe are the Toys Your Kids Play With? " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Product Liability

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You may have noticed that when a big lawsuit makes the news, the jury in the case is often asked to figure out if one of the parties was "negligent." But just what does it mean to say someone is negligent, in a legal sense?

The answer is that it means pretty much the same as in everyday conversation -- that someone was careless. A basic statement of legal negligence is that a person "did not act as a reasonably prudent person would under the same circumstances." However, a finding that a person has been legally negligent involves several different elements.

Continue reading " What is Legal Negligence? " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury

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Revenge of the Condiments

As further proof that an injury can happen any time and in any number of different ways, an injured woman recovered $75,000 in damages caused by slipping on a jalapeño pepper. She was at her local Wal-Mart and slipped on the jalapeño after leaving the counter at the snack bar.

She testified that the area around the snack bar was dirty and that the jalapeño she slipped on was "wrinkled" and "not fresh," as if it had been there for some time. Based on this, the jury decided that Wal-Mart should have known that the pepper was on the floor, and it awarded the woman $75,000 for her medical bills, past and future pain and suffering, and mental anguish.

Airbag Danger

In another case, a jury gave an injured driver an award of almost $1 million for injuries the driver suffered when the airbag in her car delayed in opening. Airbags are designed to fully deploy in 50 milliseconds, but the evidence showed that this airbag did not completely open for 120 milliseconds. Because of the delay, the driver's face was within the "knock-out zone" as the bag was deploying, and the deploying bag struck her full in the face. She lost one of her eyes and her eye socket was permanently deformed.

Continue reading " Looking at New York Lawsuits, Case by Case with a New York City Accident Attorney " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury

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If you are bitten by someone else's dog, it is important to find out certain things as soon as possible in order to strengthen your case.

* The most important information is the identity of the dog that bit you. If you cannot identify the dog, it is difficult to find the owner.

Next, you need an accurate description of the biting incident. Where were you? Where was the dog? What happened? Why did the dog attack? If there were witnesses to the attack, be sure to get their names and addresses.

* Keep a good record of your injuries. Particularly helpful are photographs showing the extent of your injuries before they heal and pictures of the scene at the time of the attack.

Continue reading " If you are injured by a dog in New York...call a NewYork City Injury Attorney " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury

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Construction is one of the largest industries in the United States, employing over six million people nationwide, and is a vital part of our economy. However, being a construction worker is also one of the most dangerous occupations, with over 8,000 people killed on jobsites every year and thousands more injured.

The reason construction is such a dangerous occupation is obvious: Sites where buildings are under construction can be very dangerous. Although state and federal regulators have passed rules intended to make construction sites safer, there are any number of ways for construction workers to be killed or injured:
* Excavations can cave in;

* Workers can fall off scaffolding and ladders;

* Tools can be used improperly or can fail;

* Cranes can drop loads on workers' heads; and

* Exposure to loud machinery can result in hearing loss.

Continue reading " Know Your Workers Rights in NYC Construction Site Injuries and hire an NewYork accident Lawyer " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury

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Lead is a highly toxic metal that can be found in many products and materials in our homes and businesses. The primary source of lead in the human environment is lead-based paint, but lead can also be found in the dust and soil where lead-based paints have peeled off or have been disturbed, as well as in some types of plumbing materials. Although Congress passed laws prohibiting the manufacture and use of lead-based paint in 1978, many buildings and homes built before this ban still contain significant amounts of lead-based paint.As a result of this many people are poisoned by lead.

Lead poisoning occurs when lead is absorbed by the body, primarily through breathing or swallowing airborne lead dust or lead paint chips. Children are particularly susceptible because they play on the floor or ground, and they are constantly putting their fingers or various objects into their mouths. Although lead poisoning occurs gradually, after repeated exposure young children will absorb about 50% of the lead that they ingest. Adults, because of physiological differences, will absorb only about 10%. Obviously, children are at much greater risk from lead poisoning than are adults.

If left untreated, lead poisoning has serious effects on the human body, depending on the length and level of exposure. Low levels of lead poisoning can cause developmental, learning, and behavioral problems, which are especially troublesome for children. High levels of lead poisoning can cause brain damage, mental retardation, anemia, liver and kidney damage, and hearing loss. The most severe cases of lead poisoning can result in brain swelling, convulsions, coma, and even death.

Continue reading " Beware of Lead Poisoning--a Problem in NYC and if you are exposed, hire an experienced New York Injury Lawyer " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury

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If you could pay $10 and, in return, get a guard who would warn your family if your house caught fire, would you? Of course you would. Despite this, most people do not have enough smoke detectors in their homes--detectors that will stand guard over your family's lives 24 hours a day.

The evidence shows that using even an inexpensive smoke detector increases your family's chance of surviving a house fire by 50%, making it one of the best investments you can make for your family's safety.

Experts recommend installing smoke detectors, the cheapest of which start at about $10, throughout your house. At a minimum, install one detector for every floor and one outside of each bedroom.

If you are a tenant make sure there is a smoke detector in your apartment serious injuries can result even if there is no fire. If there is an injury make sure you hire an experience injury attorney.

Continue reading " Smoke Alarms: Inexpensive Guardian Angels..Not only do they save lives they save New York Landlords Millions Avoiding Injury Claims " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury

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Angela invited Juan to her golf club for a round of golf and a sales pitch as to why he should come to work for her family business. Juan was new to golf and Angela did not fill him in about basic golf etiquette.

Juan teed off on the first hole when another golfer on the same hole was only about 70 yards down the fairway. Juan's tee shot hit the golfer in the eye, causing permanent partial loss of vision and a scar.

The injured golfer sued Angela for negligence for not controlling her guest, as required under the club's rules. She argued that Angela should have stopped Juan from teeing off before the fairway was clear.

Continue reading " Case by Case--an Expensive Tee Shot...So Have a good Accident Attorney on Call " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury

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As insurance prices continue to rise, many people are looking for more and better insurance coverage for less money, and "umbrella policies" are often a good option for increasing coverage.

Umbrella policies get their name from the coverage they offer: Like an umbrella, they provide expansive coverage for you and your assets. Umbrella policies act as a kind of backup for your primary insurance and can provide a cost-effective way of increasing your insurance coverage.

Most of us carry several kinds of liability insurance policies: car insurance, homeowner's insurance, renter's insurance, etc. All of these different policies do essentially the same thing. They cover you for the different careless acts you might commit. However, the coverage available under these different policies varies, and their cost is often very expensive compared with the coverage they provide.

Umbrella policies usually come into effect when there are accidents that involve serious injury to a someone involving permanent disability.

Umbrella policies begin where other insurance ends. They provide additional coverage--coverage that is only available after the underlying liability policy has been exhausted. Umbrella policies are often surprisingly inexpensive, given that they can provide additional coverage in amounts up to $1 million or more.

Continue reading " Injury Attorneys Recommend Umbrella Insurance Policies as a Good Idea for New York Clients " »

Posted by Stephen Bilkis | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury

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