New York Personal Injury Laws

Tip On Insurance Policies

I’m Ira Maurer, with a public service law tip. If you’re a driver in New York, you’re insurance policy must have coverage for underinsured uninsured drivers. That means if you get in an accident with someone who doesn’t have an insurance policy as required by law, your own insurance still will provide a benefit of at least $25,000 for each individual who’s injured, maximum coverage, and a maximum of $50,000 for all injuries from one single accident.

That’s not very much money, and if you get seriously injured it won’t go anywhere near what’s necessary to compensate you for your injuries and help you deal with the financial losses. You can purchase more insurance if you call up your insurance agent, for a relatively minor sum – hundreds of dollars – you can get hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional coverage. This is a no-brainer. So if you’re a driver in New York, you should purchase additional uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

For more information, contact the Maurer Law Firm by going to maurerlaw.net

Slip and Fall Claim Process

Today on You Be The Judge. If you slip and fall, can you really sue and easily win? Go inside a real life slip and fall claim and see what a judge looks for when determining who is at fault. We’ll show you the facts and let you be the judge. While the idea of slipping, falling, suing and winning is often joked about, if you were the one left with the medical bills, you may want to know if the property owner played a role in the accident.

1. Who Do You Sue

First, who do you sue? The defendant will most likely be the property owner or manager. The defendant has the duty to keep their premises reasonably safe from hazard.

2. Determine Breach of Duty

Number two, did the defendant breach their duty and/or damages caused as a result? In other words, was the property owner, manager or an employee somehow neglectful by causing or creating the dangerous situation? Knowing about it but not doing anything to prevent it? Or if they didn’t know about the danger, should they have known? Not only must you prove that the defendant breached their duty, you must also prove what is called proximate cause, which says that the injuries were the result of that specific accident.

3. Reasonable Defendants

Three, did the defendant act reasonably? If someone trips over an object left on the floor, was there good reason for the object’s position or could it have been easily and reasonably moved before anyone could trip on it? Did the property owner take precautions to minimize the danger? How long was the danger present prior to the accident?

4. Injured Person Acting Careless

Number four, was the injured person acting carelessly? Everyone has the duty to protect themselves and to be careful. Would another reasonable person in the same situation notice and avoid the danger? Was there a legitimate reason that the person was on the property? Had the owner placed a barrier or warning sign for the danger? Was the injured person engaged in activities that could increase the chance of slipping and falling?

Contributory Negligence

For example, texting while walking. In a slip and fall lawsuit, both sides will attempt to prove that the other was at least partially at fault. In some states there is contributory negligence. This is where the plaintiff is in any way at fault, they cannot recover damages.

Comparative Negligence

Other states have comparative. If the plaintiff is partially at fault, that percentage is subtracted from any award. Finally, some states will offer compensation if you are less than 50% at fault, but none if you are more than 50% at fault. Ultimately, the injured person bares the greatest burden of proof.

Slip & Fall Litigation Example

Now we’ll go inside an abbreviated real life claim, present the facts, and ask you to make a ruling. A woman we’ll call Helen went with her husband to visit their son at a correctional facility. Helen entered and noticed someone nearby with a mop in hand, a bucket on the floor and a caution sign. As she walked, she tried to stay on the carpet runner and eventually stepped off to get to where she was going. At that point, she did not see any mops, buckets or signs. As Helen stepped off, she slipped and fell to the floor. Helen’s husband’s foot slipped too, but he was able to avoid falling. The facility’s standard policy was to put caution signs in a square around wet areas. Consider the previously mentioned criteria of slip and fall lawsuits.

Number one, did the facility breached their duty to keep their premises reasonably safe from hazard? Two, did the facility act reasonably? And three, was Helen careless? Now it’s time for you to be the judge. Should the defendant be held responsible for all part or none of the accident?

By: Edward Lake

Brick Layer Exposed to Asbestos

You’re a bricklayer. You’ve now been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you’re wondering how did you get this disease?

 Mesothelioma Trial Attorney

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I am a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to talk to you a bit about the types of exposures to asbestos that bricklayers faced from their work on the job. In order to do that, I want to talk to you about a prior client I had, and his work is a good example of how bricklayers are exposed to asbestos.

How Do Brick Layers Become Exposed

He worked at very large commercial sites, sites like the World Trade Center, and he also worked at smaller commercial sites. He was a union bricklayer, so he did all commercial work. And the smaller sites for him were six-story apartment buildings, and whether it was a big building or a small building, his work was kind of always the same. He did brick and masonry work, Brick and masonry walls, and from time to time, especially back in the 1950s, some of the actual brick that he used contained asbestos.

But mostly, most of his exposures to asbestos came from the work of other tradesmen. Now when he was doing his work, other tradesmen could be shoulder to shoulder with him or maybe within ten feet working with products that contained asbestos. If he was building walls in a boiler room, plumbers or steamfitters could be working on the boiler systems working with steam pipes and working with the equipment in the boiler room, all of which was insulated with asbestos.

Mixing asbestos, applying it as a insulation material to high heat and to steam equipment while my client, the bricklayer, is putting up a masonry wall not far away. They’re all breathing the same dust, and all of the tradesmen in the room are susceptible to getting mesothelioma. In addition, when he was doing his work in different parts of apartment buildings, other trades were putting up internal walls and putting in floors using building materials that contained asbestos.

These exposures to asbestos, caused by other trades working near my bricklayer client, caused him to get mesothelioma. Now why am I telling you all this? It’s because you have questions about mesothelioma, and about the types of exposures that bricklayers would have to asbestos.

I’m Joe Williams, and at our office we handle cases from mesothelioma victims every day, and we deal with these issues every single day. Call us at our office, we’ll answer your questions. Thanks.

Increase in Children with Autism

Today on You Be The Judge. The percentage of children with autism has skyrocketed during the past 30 years. Some people blame vaccinations, others say it only seems like autism has increased because we’re more aware of it.

Are Common Drugs Causing Autism

Imagine that you were taking drug X, then imagine that scientist have become curious about the effects of drug X on human health and behavior. They conduct extensive testing on lab animals, and conclude that there seems to be a direct link between the drug and harmful conditions found in a specific segment of the animal population. For instance, pregnant rates.

Next, imagine that you fit into that specific human population segment, and are possibly susceptible to the highly increased risk of the negative effects seen in animals caused by drug X.

Then imagine that there are known alternatives to drug X such as exercise, that have been found to be beneficial and possibly even more beneficial than the drug.

Finally, imagine that studies have shown that a placebo is just as effective as the drug X that you have been taking. How does all of this make you feel about drug X?

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSIRs) Effect on Pregnancy

Now let’s take a look at a real life scenario that goes on today. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSIRs, are often found in antidepressants. These antidepressants are believed to affect serotonin.

Now, in a developing embryo, serotonin plays a critical role in the brain’s development, and many believe that autism is characterized by changes in the serotonin system. Therefore it seemed reasonable that taking these antidepressants during pregnancy might affect developing baby’s brain formation. Regarding these antidepressants, Doctor said, “It really shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, given that numerous animals studies have shown that exposure during development leads to changes in the brain and changes in behavior. Changes that often mimic autism.”

Studies Connecting Autism to Antidepressants

Authors of the mentioned animal studies warned that their findings of harmful effects should concern us when using these drugs on humans. Only two studies have been completed on the links between autism and antidepressants in humans.

The first study, a smaller one, published in 2011, found that children whose mothers took antidepressants are twice as likely to have autism. A study recently published in the British Medical Journal surveyed a much larger group, and it found that the use of antidepressants was associated with a risk of autism three times that of women not taking those drugs. The authors of these studies were cautious with their words as no one has conducted a Randomized Controlled Trial, RCT.

An RCT can most accurately assess causation. Now to conduct an RCT, pregnant would be required to take antidepressants in order for researchers to evaluate the effects on their babies. However, ethical issues have discouraged studying the negative effects of antidepressants during pregnancy. It’s fair to note that an RCT is not always necessary to presume that a problem exist.

For example, no Randomized Controlled Trial was conducted on cigarettes, yet nearly everyone acknowledges that they cause harm. Regarding pregnant women taking antidepressants, the latest studies suggest that non-drug approaches such as psychotherapy or exercise may serve the mother just as well, or perhaps even better than the antidepressant.

Finally, after years of research, there is little evidence that suggest that the antidepressants are clinically more effective than a placebo. Do you think there is something to be concerned about here? Should doctors recommend other treatments instead of antidepressants for pregnant women suffering from depression?

By: Edward Lake

Injured At Work

If you’ve been injured as a result of falling from a location at work or having something fall and strike you at work, you may have the right to bring a lawsuit under the New York State Labor Law. In order to determine whether or not you have a proper claim under that law, it’s necessary to access all the circumstances of your accident. For more information about a possible claim under the New York Labor Law, call the Maurer Law Firm or visit our website for more information on what you may be entitled.

Types of Mesothelioma

What are the different types of mesothelioma?

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City, and I’m going to talk to you about the different types of mesothelioma that form in the human body, all of which can be caused by exposure to asbestos.

 Pleural Mesothelioma

The first type of mesothelioma I want to talk to you about is called pleural mesothelioma. And looking at this diagram here, this drawing, we see that the lungs are represented, this pinkish tissue here, and the area outside the lungs in this grayish off-white coloring on both lungs, that is a sac-like membrane that surrounds the outside of the lung and there’s two of these membranes, they’re called the pleura. There’s the visceral pleura, which is almost adhering to lung, and the parietal pleura, which is almost adherent to the inside of the ribcage. And in pleural mesothelioma, the malignant mesothelioma tumor forms in this pleural space, it’s actually a tumor of the pleura.

 Pericardial Mesothelioma

The next type of mesothelioma that we should talk about is pericardial mesothelioma, and pericardial mesothelioma is actually a mesothelioma tumor of the pericardium. And the pericardium is a sac-like membrane that surrounds the heart, so just like we see in pleural mesothelioma, pericardial mesothelioma is a malignant tumor of the sac that surrounds the heart.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Peritoneal mesothelioma; well that’s a mesothelioma tumor of the peritoneum. And the peritoneum is a sac-like structure that encases the entire peritoneal cavity, and a peritoneal mesothelioma victim suffers mesothelioma to that sac-like structure, the peritoneum.

 Testicular Mesothelioma

Lastly, there’s something we’ll call testicular mesothelioma. The medical term is a very complicated sounding one, it’s tunica vaginalis, and I can tell you there’s really only been about 100 documented cases of this that are on record. It’s a tumor caused by asbestos, a mesothelioma tumor.

Those are the general types of mesothelioma. I’m sure you have many questions about mesothelioma, and we can answer those questions. I invite you to call the number below. I’m Joe Williams, at our office we handle cases from mesothelioma victims every day. Thank you.

The Risks of Hip Replacements

Today on You Be The Judge. Are hip implants putting toxic debris in people’s bloodstream? Could a major corporation have hidden its expectation that 37% of its hip replacements would fail? An estimated 500,000 Americans have received metal-on-metal hip replacements for Arthritis, fractures, and other conditions that cause everyday pain. This type of hip implant is called metal-on-metal because both the ball and socket are metal composed of Cobalt, Chromium alloys.

Metal on Metal Hip Replacements

Now let’s stop right there. Imagine two pieces of metal grinding against each other in your body. According to the FDA, this grinding from a metal-on-metal hip implant can release small metallic debris into the body. This lingering debris can raise the body’s toxicity levels, and for one 66-years-old man, this implant raised his body’s levels of Cobalt and Chromium seven times normal.     Testimony was heard in the Los Angeles Superior Court, and this first lawsuit to go to trial involving Johnson & Johnson’s all metal hip replacements.

Johnson & Johnson Hip Replacements

The manufacturer is alleged to have known about defects including the risk of Cobalt and Chromium poisoning due to the metal debris before they even started selling the implants in 2004, but there’s more. A Johnson & Johnson study presented at trial showed that the company itself had estimated the 37% of the devices would fail within five years of implant surgery. 37%, that’s almost 4 in 10.     Stop for a moment and imagine that you yourself needed a hip implant.

First of all, you would be dealing with a great deal of physical pain on a daily basis. You would have a hard time doing ordinary tasks like going to answer a knock at the front door or sweeping the back steps. Your doctor recommends a hip replacement, and after talking it over with your friends and family, you decide to undergo this intensive surgery. Afterward you go through a period of recovery, but it is well worth it because you can now go on with your life living like you are used to, at least for a while.

You begin having problems, and you are told that your hip implant is failing, and you need to be operated on again to remove the hip replacement. Then one day, you find out that the manufacturer had estimated that 37% of their products would fail within five years. Legally, Johnson & Johnson can withhold this kind of information from you, but should they? Should corporations release this kind of information to candidates for major surgeries?

By: Edward Lake

Experienced Mesothelioma Attorney

When handling Mesothelioma cases, a very important criteria the attorney just has to have when dealing with victims of Mesothelioma, is empathy for the plight of these victims. We represent people. We represent victims as they fight for justice against large entities, companies, corporations. There is no substitute for experience. Experience and seasoning is a very important factor in handling a Mesothelioma case.

 Caring About and For Our Clients

Our clients are brilliant people. They can see from day one the level of commitment that our firm has to their case. They know that to us, it’s not just a case, it’s a cause. It’s a cause that we take on, that we are all in, 100%, fighting for them.

Recovering Medical Bills

Can a victim of Mesothelioma recover the medical bills that they incurred through their legal case? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I Mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City, and I can tell you that the answer to this question is definitely, yes. In every case I’ve ever handled, in all the years I’ve been representing Mesothelioma victims, every victim and their family stresses to me the stress that they have over the large amount of medical bills that they are incurring.

 Making A Claim for Medical Bills

I can tell you, just like I tell every one of them, that in every Mesothelioma case we assert a claim in the case for the repayment of the medical bills. What that means is that we bring a lawsuit against the companies who exposed our clients to asbestos. As part of that lawsuit, one of the claims that we make is that our client has incurred significant medical bills, and that those companies should have to pay those bills, because they caused them to contract this unfortunate cancer.

Breaking Down The Medical Expenses

These bills can be extensive. A Mesothelioma victim’s treatment can include surgery or multiple surgeries. It can include chemotherapy, multiple rounds of chemotherapy. It can also include radiation, as well as well as numerous office visits.

All these things are obviously very expensive, and the bills can really add up, adding stress to an already stressful situation. I can tell you that as part of the legal case, we seek to recover payment of these bills from the companies we bring the case against.

 Further Questions and Concerns, Contact Us

Now, I’m sure you have many other questions about how medical bills are taken care of as part of a legal case. I can answer those questions. I’m Joe Williams, and in our firm we handle these cases every day. We represent Mesothelioma victims every day.

I encourage you to call the number on your screen below, that’s my office number, and we’ll answer your questions. Thanks so much for watching.