Personal Injury Lawyers in New York

The family of a man killed in a 2003 drunken driving accident recently was awarded more than $8.3 million. On Oct. 31, 2007, a Wetzel County, West Virginia jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning the verdict, according to a press release from the Wheeling firm of Bordas & Bordas, which represented the family of Charles "Chick" Clegg, who was killed in the accident.

The verdict included $7.51 million in wrongful death damages and $850,000 in punitive damages.

Clegg, 53, was killed when a car driven by Robert Gaiser crossed the centerline on W.Va. 2 and struck his Dodge pickup truck near New Martinsville, the release states. The truck rolled over and the roof caved in, killing Clegg.

Gaiser had multiple prior DUIs and went to prison for the accident that killed Clegg, the release states. Gaiser since has been released. Despite the previous DUIs, the release says Gaiser, 46, was sold a car insurance policy by Prudential, which refused to pay its $50,000 policy limit to the Clegg family.

Insurance companies can't be sued directly for damages caused by a client. But the Clegg family has a case pending against Prudential -- which later was bought out by Liberty Mutual -- for failing to settle with them in a timely manner.

Clegg is survived by his wife, son, daughter and sister. Clegg's wife, Gayle, was awarded $3 million for pain and suffering. His children got $1 million each, and his sister got a million. The jury also awarded $10,867 for funeral bills in addition to the punitive damages.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an automobile accident in New York, please contact the automobile accident attorneys at Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your initial consultation.

The California attorney general and the Los Angeles city attorney filed a lawsuit yesterday against Mattel Inc., Toys R Us Inc. and 18 other companies, accusing them of making or selling products that contain "unlawful quantities of lead."

The move follows major recalls of toys, lunch boxes, children's jewelry and other goods during the past year by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington.

The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court under California's Proposition 65 law, would force manufacturers and retailers to adopt procedures for inspecting
products to make sure they are safe. Barring that, they would be required to warn
consumers that the items contain chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects.
Mattel, the lead defendant in the lawsuit, said it welcomes the attorney general's involvement and added that it would be helpful for the entire toy industry.

"Mattel expected this development and believes that the attorney general's assumption of this case will be beneficial to all parties," the toy maker said in a statement. "The company has been in continuous communication with the California attorney general's office since the initiation of the recalls this summer and has cooperated fully."

Proposition 65 enables the state to collect civil penalties of up to $2,500 for each of the millions of contaminated items.

"Obviously, they do not want to put on warnings. They are going to eliminate the lead or eliminate the product," said California Attorney General Jerry Brown. "But, going forward, we want to prevent these kinds of things from happening."

Lead paint has been barred in the United States since 1978 because of lead's link to brain and neurological problems, particularly in children. Toys are recalled every year for containing lead levels that exceed the legal standard of 600 parts per million. But this year's recalls hit consumers particularly hard, in part because they involved a series of well-known toys.

Last summer, many retailers announced a series of procedures designed to reassure the public about the safety of their products. Mattel, the country's biggest toy company, announced its most stringent testing ever, including batch-testing every toy it produces.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Toys R Us and Walt Disney Co. announced expanded oversight, including, in some cases, independent third-party product safety reviews.

If you or a loved one has been made sick by lead poisoning in New York City or Long Island, New York, please contact the lead poisoning attorneys at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos today to schedule your initial consultation.

Expect to hear more about MRSA ever since the government’s first assessment of the potentially deadly staphylococcus infection finds its growth is out of control. No one knows why it is mutating into strains with unique properties that make it a more virulent form of infection.
Many people would rather not worry. MRSA has been identified in hospital settings for the past two decades. What has changed is that the drug-resistant bacteria is increasingly found outside of hospital settings and affecting more than the weak and vulnerable.

In the latest reports - four siblings attending public school in Far Rockaway, New York have been diagnosed with the bacterial infection. The school is being cleaned.
The mother of a boy who died from the so-called “superbug” is filing a $25 million lawsuit against New York City alleging negligence in the death of 12-year-old Omar, her only child.

Aileen Rivera says Kings County Hospital showed recklessness and carelessness when an emergency room attending physician failed to diagnose Omar with MRSA. Instead, they prescribed an antihistamine and sent him home. Omar died two days later.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical negligence in New York City or Long Island, please contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your initial consultation.

A wrongful death case has been filed against drug store giant Walgreen Co. after an allegedly incorrect prescription caused a woman to have a miscarriage. The incident occurred outside St. Louis where Chanda Givens tried to fill a prescription for Materna, a prenatal vitamin, and was allegedly given Matulane, a strong chemotherapy drug, instead. The lawsuit claims that Givens became ill soon after beginning the medication but wrote it off to morning sickness. Her doctor then warned her that the baby was not developing properly and within a few weeks she miscarried.

The lawsuit claims that the defendants failed to adequately supervise those dispensing medication to ensure patient safety, in addition to failure to follow protocol and verify the prescription with Givens doctor. Givens and Walgreen's only realized the mistake when she tried to refill the prescription, believing that it would help if she were to conceive another child. Walgreen's asserts that they have a multi-step process for filling prescriptions to ensure that these kinds of mistakes do not happen. Walgreen's has not formally admitted any mistake but has offered their condolences for Givens' loss.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to someone else’s medical negligence in New York City or Long Island, please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your initial consultation.

A jury recently awarded $12.5 million in damages to the family of a dentist killed in an accident while riding his bicycle last year. Glenn Garvin, 49, an avid cyclist, was struck by a vehicle and killed on Sept. 16, 2006, while riding on a California road. The Thousand Oaks, CA resident was a member of the city's traffic advisory board and a bicycle safety volunteer.

His family filed a wrongful death suit against the driver, Norma Seigel, 82, of Thousand Oaks. The president of the Ventura County Bar Association said he believes the award of damages is one of the highest ever involving a personal injury or wrongful death suit in Ventura County.

The Garvin family's lawyer, Mark Hiepler, praised the jury's decision. "I am pleased a jury of conservative Ventura County people saw the value of the life of a father and husband and the value he brought to the community," said Hiepler.

In a prepared statement, wife Pamela Garvin, 50, said, "My husband, Glenn, was a volunteer traffic safety commissioner for the city of Thousand Oaks who taught and lived bicycle safety. His death…was preventable and teaches us that we must individually take responsibility for those we love, whether elderly or young, who should not be driving."

In the Garvin case, Seigel admitted she was responsible for the death, so the accident's cause wasn't an issue in the case. Instead, the trial focused on monetary damages.

Seigel's ophthalmologist told her eight days before the accident that she had cataracts in both eyes, according to Hiepler. The day before the accident and during another visit to her ophthalmologist, she was told she had "dense cataracts" in both eyes. Seigel's lawyer, Robert Hanger, couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Attorney Light said he believes the jury's award was large partly because Garvin had a large annual income — future earnings the family will no longer receive. Garvin was an endodontist who earned about $746,633 in 2006, according to the lawsuit.

Hiepler said Seigel has insurance and assets, and another court hearing will determine whether it will be enough to satisfy the judgment.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a vehicle accident in Long Island or New York City, please contact the experienced vehicle accident attorneys at Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your initial consultation.

A dentist who was dancing while drilling a patient’s tooth is being sued because the drill bit snapped off while he was dancing, and the drill lodged near her eye. Brandy Fanning, 31, had to undergo emergency surgery and spent three days in the hospital due to the dental dancing mishap. The lawsuit, filed in New York last month against Dr. George Trusty, seeks $600,000 for her medical expenses, pain, and suffering.

Ms. Fanning went to the Syracuse Community Health Center emergency dental clinic after pain in a left molar started getting worse. With a root canal ruled out as an option, Dr. Trusty gave her some Novocain and began drilling to break up the tooth before extracting it. As he drilled, the song “Car Wash” came on the office radio, and he began dancing to it. Then a loud snap was heard. Trusty tried to use a metal hook to pull the bit out, but that only pushed it farther up, driving it through the sinus and bone near her eye socket.

Fanning said the dentist told her she should go to an ER immediately even though she may eventually “sneeze the drill bit out,” but doctors told her that if she really had sneezed, the drill bit could have blinded her left eye!

Fanning still suffers facial swelling, nerve damage, and chronic infections since the October 2004 incident.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Long Island, New York City or anywhere in New York, please contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your initial consultation.

A blown tire caused a tractor-trailer full of trash to roll over and dump its cargo along the side of Interstate 86 in New York. State police state the truck, driven by James Atkins, 42, of Niagara Falls, was traveling west on the interstate when the driver experienced a front-right tire failure approximately one mile from the Almond exit. He lost control of the rig and swerved off the roadway along the shoulder, damaging several sections of guide wire. The truck traveled up a steep embankment, lost speed and rolled over on its side eventually.

The driver was transported to a local hospital for minor injuries. The truck was hauling a full load of household garbage from New York City to the Hyland Facilities Associates landfill in Angelica, according to the police.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a truck accident in New York City, Long Island or anywhere in New York, please contact the truck accident lawyers at Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your initial consultation.

The U.S. government banned lead paint in 1978, and U.S. oil companies began phasing out leaded gasoline in 1975. Since then, the percentage of children with high levels of lead in their blood has plummeted from 88% in the 1970s to 1.6% in 2005.

It's "one of the great triumphs in public health in this country over the last 20 to 25 years," says Philip Landrigan of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Joel Schwartz of the Harvard School of Public Health calculated that average IQ levels nationwide have risen four to five points as a result of lower lead levels in the environment.

But Landrigan and others warn that the effort hasn't wiped out lead poisoning. They consider that goal feasible: There's a broad public health effort to eliminate lead poisoning by 2010, but current estimates indicate it won't happen that soon.
Nearly three decades after the paint ban, hundreds of thousands of children — most of them under age 6 — show signs of lead exposure. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that one in four children live in housing with deteriorated lead paint, part of a toxic legacy from generations past when less was known about the dangers of such substances.

Now, an economist and a housing researcher say they have come up with a plan that could virtually wipe out lead poisoning in a few years: Find every home in America built before 1960 and replace the old, original, lead-painted windows. It's an odd but compelling idea that a few housing advocates say is not as crazy as it sounds.

If you or someone you love has suffered from lead poisoning in New York, please contact the experienced lead poisoning attorneys at Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your consultation.