Car Accident News In The New York City Area With Personal Injury Analysis
Our Manhattan personal injury attorneys continue to monitor recent news and provide up-to-date legal analysis pertaining to claims and potential law suits arising from personal injuries.
One of New York’s most recognizable sightings are its yellow cabs, but a few recent accidents serve as a reminder that the legendary icons are as much a danger as any other vehicle on the road. On September 28 of this year a pedestrian was struck by a cab around 1 a.m., as the 26-year-old was trying to cross Pelham Parkway at White Plains Road in the Bronx. The cab driver stopped the car to help the victim and dialed 911. While they waited for the ambulance to arrive, another cab struck the pedestrian. The second driver did not stop, and it is unclear whether or not he was aware that his cab struck the victim. When the ambulance arrived, the victim was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he later died.
Just a week later, on October 6, 2014, a cab jumped a curb and injured a man on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is believed that the cab was trying to avoid hitting a bicycle when the driver lost control of the wheel. Luckily, the pedestrian’s injuries are not believed to be life threatening. New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission requires that all yellow cabs and licensed drivers carry a minimum of $100,000/$300,000 in liability insurance coverage. Thus, a single person has a maximum of $100,000 available to them whereas multiple injured persons have a maximum of $300,000 of insurance available. This applies to basic pain and suffering, whereas New York’s No-Fault Insurance system applies to basic economic loss.
An out of control box truck plowed through a crowded Queens bagel store on Wednesday, injuring six people and shattering glass and debris all over. Bagels for You, a popular store in Forest Hills, was filled with customers at 10 a.m. when the walls crashed in and a truck suddenly came crashing into the store. Amazingly, a woman in her 20s, who had been sitting with her mother and newborn child, was thrown to the back of the shop and pinned down. Officials report that the truck’s driver lost control as he was traveling down Queens Boulevard and clipped a parked car near at 73rd Road. He continued half a block, fully out of control, before plummeting into the crowded store.
More news came out this week about the tragic Metro-North derailment in the Bronx that killed four people last year. The National Transportation Safety Board reported that William Rockefeller, the conductor, sped in four out of six runs in the week before the crash. While the cause of the crash is still under investigation, Metro-North has begun implementing an aggressive speed compliance program for its drivers. As for the victims’ families likely to seek damages pursuant to wrongful death claims, the MTA has a wholly owned insurance subsidiary, a captive insurer called the First Mutual Transportation Assurance Company, which will cover part of the liability and losses stemming from the derailment. The MTA has a $50 million per-occurrence all-agency liability coverage through FMTAC, which exceeds Metro-North’s self-insured retention of $10 million per occurrence. On top of that, the MTA has $350 million in liability coverage through commercial markets.