Former New York Client of Leav & Steinberg does right by his Community in Queens

March 15, 2021April 14, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

Too often, lawyers representing clients forget that they should continue to maintain a relationship and contact with their clients long after they have closed the case. At Leav & Steinberg, LLP we always like to hear about client’s progress after their case has resolved. Very often we receive letters from clients who have used the … Read more Former New York Client of Leav & Steinberg does right by his Community in Queens

GEICO INSURANCE IN NEW YORK DOESNT CARE ABOUT ITS POLICYHOLDERS

October 5, 2020March 18, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

Imagine this horrible scenario: You are operating your own car in New York and are hit by a car that runs a red light or disregards a stop sign. You have severe permanent injuries including a fracture to your leg which requires surgical intervention. The car that hits you carries, the New York minimum, $25,000 … Read more GEICO INSURANCE IN NEW YORK DOESNT CARE ABOUT ITS POLICYHOLDERS

Cuomo’s Proposed Budget Will Punish Injured Children and Their Families

March 15, 2021March 10, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

Governor Cuomo has submitted as part of the proposed budget for New York State a cap on compensation for victims of medical malpractice for their pain and suffering of $250,000. This mandatory cap will kick-in only after a doctor or hospital has been found guilty of malpractice that caused an injury to the patient. Therefore, it will punish only those patients who have meritorious cases. Those who are most seriously injured will be forever barred from seeking reasonable compensation from the wrong-doer and their insurance company..

Cuomo also is attempting to force the State Legislature to pass the budget, on an up or down vote, which also includes a fund, paid for by taxpayers but administered by the insurance-industry, that will decide the amount and extent that brain-injured children can receive medical treatment. Essentially he is gutting New York’s civil justice system and forcing brain-injured children and their families to become perpetual litigants against a fund that will control all aspects of their financial lives. This is being done in the name of “budget cutting” and “Medicare reform.” In reality, the cap will have the result of forcing more brain-injured victims of malpractice into the Medicare system. Meanwhile private insurance carriers, who insure hospitals and doctors, will no longer bear any real burden in compensating victims of their clients’ malpractice.

The following is an excerpt that appeared on March 7th, 2011, in CounterPunch and articulates why Cuomo’s cap must not become the law of New York:

“Many in the health care and insurance industry seem to regard the civil justice system as a nuisance that threatens to destroy our economy and way of life. In reality, America’s civil justice system plays an indispensable role. When the rights of injured consumers are vindicated in court, our society benefits in countless ways: compensating victims and their families for shattering losses (with the cost borne by the wrongdoers rather than taxpayers); preventing future injuries by deterring dangerous health care and other practices, spurring safety innovation; and educating the public to risks associated with certain products and services. These legal rights provide society with its moral and ethical fiber by defining appropriate norms of conduct.

Our Manhattan New York Office is Moving to 140 Broadway

October 5, 2020March 3, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

Please note that, as of Monday, March 7, 2011, our Manhattan office will no longer be located at 120 Broadway, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10271. It will be located across the street at 140 Broadway, 36th Floor, New York, New York 10005 (image at right). We enjoyed our time at 120 but have outgrown … Read more Our Manhattan New York Office is Moving to 140 Broadway

Medical Malpractice Debate in New York: Limit Injured Parties’ Ability to Recover or Fix the System?

March 15, 2021March 2, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

As of late there has been a colossal debate over medical malpractice law. Gov. Andrew M. Cumo and his Medicaid Redesign Team came up with Proposal Number 131 to impose a cap of $250,000 on noneconomic damages for victims of medical malpractice and create an indemnity fund for neurologically damaged infants, among other things. But are injured people the ones who should be penalized?

What about fixing the medical system so the possibility of injury from malpractice is decreased in the first place? Seemingly, this would make all sides better off. One Columbia-Presbyterian study by three medical doctors was done with the goal of finding a comprehensive obstetric patient safety program to reduce compensation payments and sentinel adverse events. Data was gathered from 2003 through 2009 and the results are simply astounding. “Average yearly compensation payments decreased from $27,591,610 between 2003-2006 to $2,550,135 between 2007-2009, sentinel events decreased from 5 in 2000 to none in 2008 and 2009. Instituting a comprehensive obstetric patient safety program decreased compensation payments and sentinel events resulting in immediate and significant savings.” Yes, that is about $25 million. Here is the report:

Columbia-Presbyterian Patient Safety Study

The issues that this study covers are very real. Bronx-Lebanon Obstetricians in the South Bronx recently received a warning from their insurance company that their practice may be cut off from insurance coverage, due to their subpar “method of practice” and “practice environment”.

Loss of Enjoyment of Life, Conscious Pain and Suffering: Personal Injuries in New York

June 2, 2021February 25, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

In New York, injured people can recover for the conscious pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life that they suffer as a result of injuries they sustained in an accident. Conscious pain and suffering, according to the Pattern Jury Instructions (PJI) 2:280, is “pain and suffering of which there was some level of awareness by the plaintiff”. Loss of enjoyment of life, according to the PJI, includes the “loss of the ability to perform daily tasks, to participate in the activities which were a part of the person’s life before the injury, and to experience the pleasures of life”. The threshold of “some level of awareness” in order to recover under the law had to be set by the Court of Appeals for purposes of simplicity.

When a person brings a personal injury case, he or she waives the physician-patient privilege as to mental or physical injuries or conditions, but only as to those that are affirmatively put in issue by him or her in the lawsuit. The party seeking the disclosure of mental or physical health information (defense counsel) bears the burden of making an evidentiary showing that the condition is in controversy and discovery may proceed under the statute. Defense counsel will ordinarily not be able to show entitlement to discovery of a medical file pertaining to treatment for an injury to the cervical spine in 2008 when the plaintiff is making a claim for a 2011 foot fracture.

What if a plaintiff claims that she suffers from anxiety as a result of a fractured foot that occurred in a 2011 accident? Does it render her complete file of psychiatric records discoverable? Or what if she claims that she lost the enjoyment of her life as a result of the fractured foot she sustained in the 2011 accident? Does this claim render her entire physical and mental medical file discoverable?

Individuals’ Right to Sue Again Under Attack by “Corporate America”

October 5, 2020February 18, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

The House Judiciary Committee voted 18-15 along party lines in the past week to send a Republican sponsored medical malpractice tort reform bill to the full house for approval. This bill is the latest in a long continuing assault by the minions of corporate america, i.e the Republican party, to limit or eliminate the individual’s … Read more Individuals’ Right to Sue Again Under Attack by “Corporate America”

National Football League and Sports in New York, Part 2

March 12, 2021February 10, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

This is the second part of a series of entries. The first part can be accessed here What if you are not NFL material but become injured while playing sports and want to recover money for your injuries? In most cases there will likely be no issue with fraudulent concealment, workers’ compensation, and collective bargaining. … Read more National Football League and Sports in New York, Part 2

National Football League and Sports in New York, Part 1

March 15, 2021February 7, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

Football season is winding down, but the National Football League should soon be winding up for two class action lawsuits that are purportedly being formulated against it. Continued and increasingly in depth research on football related brain injuries has spawned potential legal claims that have the ability to wreak havoc on the now over ninety year old organization.

Seventeen years ago, in 1994, the NFL medical committee on concussions was formed. In the last several years, report after report has surfaced detailing clinical research findings of severe and permanent cognitive harm associated with playing football. But these reports were not from the NFL. Rather, the NFL has put out conflicting statements on the subject and only recently reported similar findings to what reputable researchers have been warning about for years. In 2007 the NFL circulated a pamphlet to players stating, in essence, that a few concussions would not result in permanent brain injury, so long as proper medical treatment was received. Last summer, however, the NFL finally circulated a poster, meant to be hung in locker rooms, revealing that concussions may not be so benign after all (click the image to the right to make larger). Indeed, various studies have found that early dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, depression, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and memory problems, among other things, are all associated with head injury.

Some recent players of the league are expected to allege that the NFL was aware of the long term risks of playing football and chose to suppress them, or that the NFL reasonably should have known of the long term risks. The root of these claims is that the NFL’s failure to disclose what they knew made an already dangerous sport even more dangerous and that the NFL made no attempt to lessen the danger. Such claims could result in awards to injured players for economic loss, pain and suffering, and in the case of a fraudulent concealment claim, punitive damages. Wives, and in some states, children of the injured players, could also recover monetary damages if the injured player’s lawsuit is successful.

Mediation Increases the Success of Injured Clients in New York

March 12, 2021February 4, 2011 by nyaccidentlaw

Last week I attended the wake of one of New York’s foremost mediators, Michael McAllister. Having been a private mediator with JAMS for the last six years, he had developed a reputation among all litigators in the negligence field as fair, honest, hardworking and a true gentleman. As I watched attorney after attorney and even insurance adjusters pass through the funeral home, I was reminded of the first time I had ever heard of the concept of mediation.

Almost fifteen years ago, I was asked, as a law student working at a prominent New York personal injury firm, to prepare a case for mediation. Having just completed three years of law school, I was kind of surprised that I had not heard of mediation. Furthermore, having worked for over ten years at this firm as a high school student, college student and law student, the concept of trying to settle the case using a private mediation service was something unheard of. We were weeks away from trial and it seemed like everything had been going as planned.

I walked into the managing partner’s office and asked, what is this private mediation and why are we trying this since we are so close to trial? The answers I was given, though strange at first, are so on point and correct in today’s litigation trial strategy.

Private mediation is essentially a mutual agreement by all sides to retain the services of a retired judge or former court attorney so that each side can present the strengths and weaknesses of their case in a forum that allows for open communication and dialogue. The goal is to begin settlement discussions and resolve the matter to the benefit of all parties, more often than not.

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This firm is amazing! Ricardo Martinez was very professional, courteous and friendly. All of my questions were answered promptly and my case was handled very quickly!!!! I highly recommend this firm!!

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Excellent law firm exceeded all my expectations Couldn’t ask for better results with my case. highly recommend them

I had a great experience with this law firm for my personal injury case. I was referred to them by another attorney who did not handle the type of case I had and from the beginning I felt I was in good hands by Edward Averbach, Esq., Edward Steinberg, Esq. and the paralegals that worked my case.

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