New York Personal Injury Laws

Seeking Legal Help

You’ve been diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma; you and your family are very stressed out, you’re not feeling well, and you want to wait a while before you take on perhaps the stresses of a legal case even though you know you were exposed to asbestos. Let me explain to you why that’s not a good idea.

Some Medical Information

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to talk to you about mesothelioma and why it’s important to get help right away in seeking justice for your mesothelioma diagnosis. I have next to me an anatomical drawing of a right-sided mesothelioma, and in this diagram we see a lung. The lung parenchyma here is represented by this tissue, and we can see it’s scarred and fibrotic, that’s called asbestosis, an indicator of a lot of asbestos exposure over a long period of time. And this area here, this yellowish-white area, is a malignant mesothelioma tumor.

This tumor grows in a diffuse pattern, and it’s been described as growing sort of like the rind on a grapefruit, and it grows and encases the lungs and causes shortness of breath, and as it grows and gets bigger and thicker a patient has more difficulty breathing; more difficulty expanding their lungs, because their lung are being collapsed by this tumor, which pushes against both the bony ribs, but the bony ribs don’t move, so it pushes against the spongy lung tissue and causes the lungs to contract and causes the patient to not be able to get a full breath, causes the patient to be short of breath.

As mesothelioma progresses, and unfortunately it progresses very, very quickly, over the course of months the mesothelioma tumor can grow outside of the lung and go from a stage 1 tumor to a stage 2, 3, or 4 tumor based upon the spread of the tumor to local and distant sites. And it’s important that mesothelioma is a malignancy that grows quite quickly, so it’s important that even though a person who’s a victim of mesothelioma is feeling quite lousy and is very upset it’s important at the onset, to seek out whatever legal help you’re going to seek.

So that that way qualified, confident people can get to work for you to help you seek justice while you’re strong, while you’re able to memorialize all your exposures to asbestos, while you’re able to discuss all the ways that you think that you were exposed to asbestos.

You have questions about mesothelioma. I’m Joe Williams. At our office, we represent mesothelioma victims every day. I invite you to give a call to our office, we’ll answer your questions. Thank you very much.

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

Dangers of Distracted Driving

You’re driving down the road, and you see that guy, the one holding-up traffic because his attention is one his cellphone. You shout at him, “Really?” You think to your self, “That idiot is going to hurt somebody.” Some people just don’t mixed their phone and driving as well as you do. Well, at least you think you mixed them well.

Let’s consider this thing called: distracted driving. Let’s call it any activity that can divert a person’s attention from the primary task of driving, such distraction include: grooming, texting, eating, changing the radio station, talking on a cellphone and so forth.

Humans have long claimed the ability to multitask, and with our current culture, technology saturation at an all time high, people believe more than ever that they are good multitaskers. While it’s possible to do more than one thing at a time, the human brain is incapable of devoting sufficient attention across multiple tasks, when just one of them require much attention.

Earl Miller Distracted Driving Research

MIT, neuroscientist, Earl Miller, puts it bluntly. You’re not paying attention to one or two things simultaneously. He says, “You’re actually switching between them very rapidly.” Even the things we do very well, with little conscious thought, can be a big bite out of the mental capacity which has strict limits by nature. Talking on the phone is easy, but it uses up mental capacity, and depending on the conversation, it can eat up most or all of our attention.

Dr. Miller says, “We’re mistaken when we believe we’re paying attention to everything around us when we multitask.” Psychologist say we’re also prone to inattentional blindness, that’s the failure to notice something even when we’re looking right at it. One of the most famous study to show this phenomenon involved an invisible gorilla. Participants watched a video of six people passing basketballs, and counted how many times the players wearing white passed the ball. In the middle of the video, a woman in a gorilla suit walks into the middle of the screen, thump her chest, and then leaves. About 50% of the participants didn’t even notice the gorilla – they were demonstrating inattentional blindness.

Consider the Following Factors that Can Affect Inattentional Blindness.

One: Obviousness

This has to do with the object’s ability to catch our attention. For example, especially on a rainy day, a gray car pulling out in front of your car would not be as conspicuous as a bright red car.

Two: Expectation

When we expect certain things to happen, we might overlook or blackout to what actually is happening. For example, if we expect the car up the road to be moving, when it’s really stalled, we may not realize we’re approaching the stalled vehicle at high speed. Three: capacity. As stated earlier, we can spread our attention around only so far. Even when we are expert at something, the activity consumes a certain amount of attention. Talking on the phone, texting, dialing: each demands part of our mental capacity, and can easily compete for the same resources we need for staying aware of our surroundings.

Distracted Driving Risk

Distractions can blind the mind the things around us, and driving is one of the most dangerous activity the average american engages in, with approximately 33,000 traffic fatalities annually. So we have a choice, will I pretend to be an expert at multitasking while driving, and put my mind at greater risk for inattentional blindness, increasing the possibility that I will harm other, and myself too, or will I choose to drive cell free with myself off as many distractions as possible and devote my mind to safer driving?

Take the pledge to drive cell free at www.drivecellfree.net. You can also download our free eBook: Distracted Driving, The Multitasking Myth. It will tell you more about the psychology behind inattentional blindness, bust the myth that talking on the phone is the same as talking to someone in the car, give you interesting and practical facts and statistics surrounding distracted driving, and explain some of the legal ramifications of distracted driving – go to www.drivecellfree.net. Finally, to help make our street safer, we invite you to share this video with your friends and family.

By: Steven Gacovino

No-Fault Law Public Service Tip

I’m Ira Maurer with a public service law tip on the No-Fault Law in New York.

What is the No-Fault Law and why does it exist? Several decades back, our court systems were overwhelmed with too many claims, and the only way they could free up the logjam was to limit which cases could be brought in our court system. You must have a serious injury as defined by the No-Fault Law in order to pursue a lawsuit in New York, or your case will in fact be dismissed before trial on motion by the defendant.

Secondly, what benefits are you entitled to under No-Fault? Regardless of who is to blame, you’re entitled to receive wage benefits and have your medical treatment paid for. In New York, every insurance policy must have $50,000 first-party benefit available, payable over a period of 36 months. You are entitled to receive wage benefits not exceeding $2000 a month. You can get 80% of your wage loss, but it won’t exceed $2000 a month.

Second of all, your medical treatment has to be paid for. You don’t have to obtain preauthorization from your own No-Fault insurance company. They must pay reasonable and customary charges for your treatment. If they think you don’t need the treatment, they’ll send you for an independent medical exam to have a doctor cut off your benefits. But initially, they don’t have a right to decide whether or not you’re entitled to the care, and they don’t get to preauthorize anything.

That’s different from your own healthcare insurance, which may require pre-certification for an MRI, for example. So, No-Fault means your own insurance pays those benefits for wage loss and medical treatment. It doesn’t matter who is to blame. Your own insurance pays for it. And, you can purchase additional insurance beyond the $50,000 in first-party benefits when you purchase your policy. That’s something you should speak to your insurance agent about.

For more information about pursuing a claim under the No-Fault Law for personal injury from a car accident, visit the Maurer Law webpage at maurerlaw.net.

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.

How Do Trucking Accidents Happen

Trucking accidents are typically a result of negligent driving, manufacturing defects, or improper maintenance of a truck. Injury form truck accidents can be catastrophic and sometimes deadly. You need an attorney that knows the rules and manufacturing standards when it comes to the trucking industry to ensure that you collect the damages you’re entitled to.

Being seriously injured in a trucking accident can be a very overwhelming process. Contact me

Representing Railroad Employees And Passengers

I handle serious personal injury cases for both employees and passengers. The railroad industry is a very dangerous place and the laws are quite complex that apply to those cases. It’s important that  you’re represented by an attorney

Personal Injury Medical Process

It’s quite common in my experience for people to come into my office who think they have a soft tissue injury and they don’t realize the serious nature of the injury that they’ve sustained. A herniated disk is a good example of that. Sometimes people have herniated disk and they have pain in their back going down their legs to their feet, yet diagnostic tests don’t show the herniation and they can be wandering from doctor to doctor. At the Maurer Law Firm, we have a lot of experience with these types of injuries, and we have the resources so that we can assist you in obtaining a proper diagnosis and care.

No-Fault Law

If you’ve been injured in an auto accident in New York, you need to know that under the no-fault law, there are reporting requirements that are essential to your claim being paid. First, you should know under the no-fault law, your own insurance company is going to be paying the bills for your treatment and your wage loss, not the other car’s insurance company. You need to report the accident promptly and your doctors who treat you have to submit their bills in a timely manner; otherwise, those bills won’t be paid. I can help you with your insurance questions when you’re involved in a car accident.