Sidewalk Laws in New York City New York City has about 13,000 miles of sidewalks, which are heavily travelled upon by pedestrians.  It is therefore important that the sidewalks are safe and free of defect or dangerous conditions that would cause fall and injury.  Sidewalks are subject to wear and tear and to the effects of the environment and climate.  Sidewalks crack, buckle, collapse; sidewalks slope with downward depressions or upward elevations; sidewalk cracks or holes accumulate moisture that cause deterioration and distortion; sidewalks are uplifted by tree roots; etc. The City of New York enacted a change to the law concerning property owner liability for injuries caused by unsafe sidewalk conditions. The law, Local Law 49 of [...]

Liability Physical Examination After the deposition in a personal injury action, the defense is entitled to have a physician or multiple physicians, depending on the nature of your injuries, Portrait of young doctor listening to patients symptoms sitting at desk in office, copy space examine you. While this may seem intrusive, the law is that when one claims personal injuries, their physical condition is relevant and the defense is entitled to have an expert or experts of their choosing assess your physical condition. Since the purpose of this examination is defending against a personal injury case and not medical treatment, there is no doctor-patient relationship and hence no doctor-patient confidentiality. The physician who examines is often [...]

Serious Injury Threshold in General There is a common misconception out there that being in a car accident and sustaining injuries as a result is all one needs to prevail on a claim or lawsuit for pain and suffering. This is not the case. In 1974 enacted the "New York Comprehensive Automobile Insurance Act" or, in layman's terms, "no-fault insurance" which aimed, amongst other things, to reduce the number of personal injury lawsuits in the court system, by weeding out cases where the injuries are not "serious". To that end, the legislature defined a "serious injury" and limited personal injury lawsuits to injuries which fall within that definition. Case books are filled with appellate decisions interpreting the meaning [...]

Gap In Treatment In motor vehicles, where only a "serious injury" can sustain a lawsuit for pain and suffering, a "gap in treatment" is frequently argued by defendants to mean that the plaintiff has fully recovered from any injuries sustained and courts will rely on this doctrine in dismissing cases, where they find that a "gap in treatment" is actually a cessation of treatment. It cannot be stressed enough that medical documentation is the necessary foundation of any personal injury case and the absence of documentation or insufficient documentation will be used against you. While it is preferable from a legal standpoint that an injured plaintiff treat consistently from the time of the accident all the way up [...]