* Contact our firm immediately.
* SAVE THE DEFECTIVE PRODUCT! Also, do not alter or tamper with the product because this could make it difficult to prove your case.
* Save everything related to the defective product, including the sales receipt, instructions, warnings, and accessories.
* Photograph or videotape the product at the scene of the injury or as soon after as possible.
It is a common occurrence for merchandise to fall off of shelves in retail stores. Poor stocking methods, removing and replacing items, and relocating product displays can all lead to falling merchandise. What is a nuisance for workers who have to replace the fallen merchandise can be a hazard for unwary shoppers who have items fall on them.
A woman shopping in a Costco warehouse store suffered permanent injuries to her spine and shoulders when two sets of bedding box springs fell onto her. The box springs, which were in a display located next to a wall, fell forward and knocked the woman into a rack of shelving across the aisle. The woman argued that the store was negligent because there was nothing to prevent the box springs from falling forward out of the display. In addition, the store had no written policies or standard procedures for the safe display of merchandise. A jury awarded her over $1 million for her injuries.
There is no question that airbags have saved thousands of lives. In fact, the government estimates that almost 14,000 people have been saved by airbag-equipped cars. However, the government also estimates that almost 150 people have been killed by their airbags, and it is important to know the risks.
A car's airbags fully deploy in 1/25th of a second, or approximately 200 miles per hour. Any object moving this fast can be dangerous, and many cars are still equipped with "first generation" airbags, which deploy only at one speed. Several simple tips can help insure that the airbag does its job properly and doesn't create more injuries than it prevents.
* Children (who are the most vulnerable to airbag-related injuries) should always ride in the back seat of a car. Young children and infants should be buckled up in an age- and size-appropriate child safety seat.
* Drivers and front-seat passengers should always wear both their lap belts and shoulder belts to keep them from being thrown into the airbag while it is being deployed.
Continue reading "Airbags--Know the Risks! So Call A New York Personal Injury Lawyer" »
Although many of us enjoy being handy around the house, there is one time when it does not pay to "do it yourself" -- when you or a loved one has been injured. Rather than trying to handle a personal injury claim yourself, you should seek the assistance of a personal injury lawyer for several reasons:
EXPERIENCE: By hiring a personal injury lawyer, you can take advantage of the lawyer's experience. This experience helps evaluate your case and helps determine what you are legally entitled to recover.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD: You can be sure that the wrongdoer's insurance company is going to have experienced adjustors and lawyers working against you. Often, an insurance company will delay settling claims and even deny valid claims altogether. Even when it does offer to settle the case, the settlement offer may be unfairly low. It pays to have a New York Injury lawyer on your side to prevent the wrongdoer from paying you less than you deserve.
PAY ONLY IF YOU WIN: Most personal injury lawyers work for what is called a "contingent fee," which does not require money up front. Contingent fees allow injured persons with valid claims but little money to get good legal representation. Also, most contingent fee agreements provide that you only have to pay the lawyer's fee if you win.
Continue reading "Why You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer to Represent You in New York " »
Common symptoms of lead poisoning in children are decreased appetite, stomachaches, sleeplessness, learning problems, constipation, vomiting, diarrhea, tiredness, lowered IQ, and anemia.
If you live or work in a home or building constructed prior to 1978 or if you feel you may have been exposed to lead, you should have a simple blood test performed by a medical doctor. If it turns out that you have been exposed to lead, the main treatment for lead poisoning is to stop the exposure, but there are also medications available that will lower the lead levels in the blood.
Hardly a day seems to pass without the introduction of some new product designed to make life easier or more convenient. However, as we well know, products do not always live up to such promises. In addition to ease and convenience, some products endanger the people who use them. A lawsuit based on the claim that a product is dangerous or defective is known as a "products liability" case.
Companies that manufacture or sell products generally have a legal duty to make sure that the products they make or sell are free from defects that present an unreasonable risk of harm to consumers. If a certain product turns out to be dangerous or defective, an injured consumer may have a products liability claim. There are as many different kinds of products liability claims as there are different kinds of products: The sale of contaminated food, the manufacture of improperly wired electronics, and the marketing of disintegrating tires can all support a products liability claim.
In order to win a products liability lawsuit, an injured consumer must prove that the product was defective. In general, there are three types of product defects:
1. A manufacturing defect occurs when a product is well designed but poorly made, such as the new TV that catches fire when plugged in because the wires were installed improperly;
If you are injured in an accident, photograph or videotape your injuries as soon as possible. A graphic picture can be very helpful when talking to an insurance adjustor or a jury.
The picture can clarify many of the details that words or even diagrams fail to bring out to an insurance adjustor, judge or jury. It's one thing to say you are hurt in a car accident and have a serious injury. It's another to show pictures of you sitting in a hospital bed with IV tubes connected to you and a car that is totaled. The impact on the viewers can be dramatic.
As roads become more congested and people's lives become more hectic, aggressive driving and the dangers associated with it increase. Aggressive driving is the combination of unsafe and unlawful driving actions that show a disregard for safety. An aggressive driver is one who operates his or her vehicle in a selfish, bold, or pushy manner, without regard for the rights or safety of others.
Aggressive driving causes car or truck accidents which can cause injury to pedestrians or other drivers.
Most of us carry insurance--on our homes, our cars, our lives. The insurance company that sold you the policy probably tried to tell you that it was selling peace of mind. You make your payments every month, and then when you finally do have a claim--surprise--it is denied. Sometimes, the denial is proper because the claim truly is not covered. Sometimes, however, the denial is improper, and the claim you have made really should be covered by the insurer. What then? If the denial stems form a car accident a New York Injury lawyer can help
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.
Continue reading "How Safe are the Toys Your Kids Play With? Ask a New York Injury Attorney" »
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.
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.
