Accident Law Recapfor January 2015

The first two weeks of January proved to be a hazardous beginning of the new year, especially on Westchester;s Saw Mill Parkway. First, last Friday, a Westchester County police officer was struck by a car on the Yonkers section of the Saw Mill River Parkway while rescuing a teenager who was walking on the parkway’s shoulder. While the officer was attempting to get the kid off of the parkway, when a truck lost control and hit the officer.

Again this week in Mount Kisco, there was a serious car accident on the Saw Mill Parkway which resulted in a seventeen car pile up and several personal injuries. The accident occurred when an SUV lost control on the parkway and hit an embankment and caused a multi- vehicle pile up which shut down the Saw Mill Parkway for hours. With the sudden cold temperatures our White Plains car accident lawyers are seeing alot of cases which are related to snow and ice, especially black ice. Typically, since the law imposes an obligation on all drivers to make appropriate adjustments in speed to account for adverse weather conditions.

Also this week, there was a fatal elevator accident on Manhattan’s West Side, where an elevator moved down suddenly several floors and crushed the elevator mechanic who was performing a repair. Our New York wrongful death lawyers have handled numerous industrial accidents. Although the details are still unclear, is sounds like a strong Labor Law 240 or negligence case. If sounds like the mechanic was performing and the elevator was no properly stayed or hoisted. At a minimum, the elevator should have been shut down and taken out of service while the mechanic worked.

There was also a large fire in a Bronx apartment building in which several people were treated for smoke inhalation. Our New York City fire lawyers have handled several fire cases and there are many avenues where a building owner can be liable for a fire. First, our attorneys often work with cause and origin experts to determine exactly how the fire happened and if it was because of negligence in maintenance or bad repair work. Even if the owner wasn’t at fault for the fire, they can still be held labile for code violations which played a role in the tenant being injured, such as up to date smoke detectors, self closing doors to keep fire and smoke from spreading and fire suppression.