All Buffalo motorcycle enthusiasts are aware that New York State requires motorcyclists to wear helmets. Based on a recent study, doctors affiliated with the John Hopkins University School of Medicine are now advocating for federal regulation of motorcycles that would extend helmet requirements to all fifty states.
The ability of motorcycle helmets to prevent death or traumatic brain injury arising from a blow to the head has been well established. One argument presented against helmets, however, arises from a small, 25 year old study that found the weight of the helmet could cause significant torque on the neck during an accident, injuring the spine and potentially leading to paralysis. The new study conducted by the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, however, indicates that this is not the case.
The John Hopkins’ study reviewed information in the National Trauma Databank regarding more than 40,000 motorcycle collisions between 2002 and 2006. It found that in addition to decreasing the risk of traumatic brain injury by 65% and the risk of death by 37%, wearing a helmet during a motorcycle crash reduced the risk of cervical spine injury by 22%. The researchers attribute the discrepancy between their study and the earlier study to flawed statistical reasoning the earlier study. They also note that helmet technology has changes significantly in the past 25 years, with helmets becoming both lighter and sturdier.
While issues such as freedom of choice may still be argued by those opposing helmet regulation by the federal government, it is the opinion of the John Hopkins’ researchers that there is no issue regarding the ability of helmets to reduce the possibility of personal injury in a motorcycle accident. They strongly recommend that all motorcyclists wear helmets.
Buffalo personal injury accidents involving commercial motor vehicles are, in many ways, similar to any other personal injury lawsuit involving a motor vehicle collision. In some cases, however, the failure of the operator to comply with special regulations involving commercial motor vehicles may be helpful to the plaintiff’s case.
The regulations involving commercial motor vehicles are extensive and complex. Generally, commercial motor vehicles involved in interstate commerce are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. This agency has set forth rules and regulations establishing mandatory standards regarding such diverse areas as vehicle maintenance, driver rest periods, and drug testing. Many, but not all, of these federal regulations have been adopted by New York State to regulate the operation of commercial motor vehicles in the state that do not engage in interstate travel.
In some cases, failure to comply with these mandatory regulations may be helpful to the plaintiff’s case. For example, a showing that the driver was not complying with the standards for driver rest periods may help to establish that the commercial motor vehicle driver did not have adequate rest before driving. While this factor alone may not establish the driver’s negligence, it could be helpful in establishing negligence when taken within the context of the driver’s other actions.
Under New York State Law, property owners in Buffalo are not required to provide a warning to customers or visitors on their property if a hazardous condition is obvious. A landowner does have a duty to warn others about a latent or hidden danger.
In New York State, both business owners and homeowners are required to maintain their property in a manner that provides a safe environment for those who may be visiting that property. This duty is not negated because a dangerous condition is open and obvious. As a result, while there is no duty to warn of an obvious dangerous condition, the fact that a condition is obvious does not necessarily mean that the injured party cannot recover damages.
If the condition is not reasonably safe, then the fact that it was obvious goes to the comparative negligence of the injured party. A person injured by an obvious condition may be found to bear some amount of fault for his or her own injury, and the amount recovered may be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to him or her.
If you have been injured by a dangerous condition on someone’s property, we would be happy to answer your questions. Please feel free to call us at 716-542-5444.
When a Buffalo resident is involved in a car accident and wishes to pursue damages against another party, New York State Law requires that their injury fall within one of several categories deemed serious enough to warrant bringing a personal injury lawsuit. One of those categories is a “significant limitation of use of a body function or system.”
What actually falls within this category is a highly disputed area of personal injury law that is frequently refined by the courts. Generally, the New York State Court of Appeals has determined that proof a significant limitation requires (1) objective medical evidence and (2) a qualitative or quantitative assessment of the degree of limitation.
Objective medical evidence may include medical tests such as x-rays, MRI examinations, etc., that reveal some injury to the body part in question. This requirement is necessary to weed out cases based solely on the plaintiff’s claim of pain in a certain body area without additional proof of actual injury.
If there is objective medical evidence, the degree of limitation may be assessed in one of two ways: either qualitatively or quantitatively. Quantitative assessments consist of actual measurements taken by a medical provider which compare the current use of the body system to normal use – such as a determination that a person has lost 25% of the range of motion in his or her neck. Qualitative assessments consist of a comparison of the plaintiff’s condition to normal functioning, such as a decreased ability to lift heavy objects, sit for long periods of time, etc.
If you have suffered a personal injury in an auto accident and have any questions, we would be happy to help you. Please call us at 716-542-5444.
Buffalo parents concerned about the possibility of a toddler suffering a personal injury from an improperly designed crib of bed can rest a little easier. This month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the unanimous approval of a new set of standards designed to make toddler beds safer. These new standards are mandatory for toddler beds sold in the United States.
These new standards require that the following protections be included on all toddler beds in addition to the regulations previously in place:
· The top of the bed’s guardrail must be at least five inches above the mattress.
· Toddler beds must undergo spindle/slat strength testing consistent with the testing already required for spindles/slats on cribs.
· Separate warning labels addressing the possibility of entrapment and strangulation must be placed on toddler beds.
Cribs that can convert into toddler beds are also required to comply with these new standards. The new standards will take effect six months after publication in the Federal Register. They apply to toddler beds manufactured or imported into the United States.
These changes were instituted for the purpose of reducing the risk of personal injury to toddlers. If your child has suffered an injury from a defective product, we would be happy to help you. We can be reached at 716-542-5444.
When you hire a Buffalo personal injury lawyer to pursue damages in your case, that lawyer will usually request that you complete authorizations to obtain your medical records. These authorizations are required under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. This law bars your medical providers from releasing any information regarding your treatment without your consent.
When you put your health in dispute in a personal injury lawsuit, you waive several of your privacy rights regarding your medical treatment. Just as your attorney will want to be able to contact your treatment providers and obtain records related to your case, the defense also has a right to obtain your medical information so that they can conduct their own evaluation of your condition. As a result, as your case proceeds authorizations for the release of HIPAA protected information are likely to also be required by the defense.
Occasionally, the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit has unrelated medical information that they do not want released to the defense. If that plaintiff and his or her attorney determine that such information will not be released, the matter may ultimately end up in front of a judge. The judge may review the medical records, determine if they are relevant to the case, and then make a ruling as to whether they need to be released.
Buffalo premises liability lawsuits revolve around the concept that property owners are required to apply a certain standard of care to the maintenance of their property. Obviously, however, we would not want a system that required property owners to be perfect in correcting every possible problem that could arise.
New York State law requires that a landowner must act as a reasonably prudent person in maintaining his or her property in view of all the circumstances. The circumstances that may be considered when determining if the landowner acted in a reasonably prudent fashion are 1) the foreseeability of the plaintiff’s presence on the property, 2) the likelihood of the condition or defect causing injury to others, 3) the seriousness of the injury, and 4) the burden of avoiding the risk (i.e., the difficulty of correcting the condition in light of the likelihood of injury).
This standard of care applies in most premises liability cases. If a specific statute, ordinance or regulation mandates a particular safeguard under certain circumstances, however, the statutory mandate — not this general standard of care — applies.
If you have been injured because of a dangerous condition on someone’s property and have any questions, please feel free to call us at 716-542-5444.
Many Buffalo personal injury lawsuits involve one or more issues that are clear cut. As examples, when a car accident involves a rear end collision, it is very rare that the rearmost driver can offer a reasonable excuse for not stopping in time. Or the medical record may establish that an injury was definitely caused by the accident. When a personal injury attorney believes an issue cannot reasonably be disputed, he or she may bring a motion for summary judgment regarding that issue.
A motion for summary judgment puts the facts regarding the issue in question before the court. The party making the motion submits the relevant facts, law, and supporting documentation to the court. The other party is then allowed to respond with any evidence it may have that it believes refutes the claim that the matter is beyond reasonable dispute. Once the judge has heard both sides of the argument, he or she will decide if there is any possibility that reasonably people would differ regarding the conclusions to be drawn from the evidence. If the judge finds that reasonable people could not differ, he or she will grant summary judgment on that issue.
This can limit the issues that need to be addressed at trial. The judge may, for example, determine that the defendant was negligent in causing the accident as a matter of law. As a result, this issue would not have to be tried. Instead, the issues at a personal injury trial would be limited to whether the accident actually caused the plaintiff’s injuries and the degree of those injuries.
When a Buffalo driver is involved in an injury auto accident, his or her initial medical bills and lost wages will usually be paid by No-Fault Insurance. No-Fault Insurance is required for every vehicle registered in New York State. It covers the first $50,000 in medical expenses and lost wages, regardless of who was at fault for the accident.
In the past year, nine out of ten cases of suspected health care fraud in New York State reported to the Insurance Fraud Department involved No-Fault Insurance. A total of 12,807 suspected No-Fault fraud cases were reported in 2010, down slightly from the 13,433 reported in 2009. 159 individuals were arrested in related cases in 2010.
The Insurance Fraud Bureau has proposed several changes to the No-Fault Law to help close some of the loopholes that have led to fraud and streamline the insurance process. The Fraud Bureau’s proposals have undergone several revisions over the past year based on conversations with medical providers, attorneys and insurers. They include some provisions that should also help to protect the rights of those legitimately injured, such as limiting examinations of an injured person by insurance doctors to locations convenient to the injured person and not allowing more than one such examination to be scheduled on the same day.
If you have suffered a personal injury in an auto accident and have any questions, we would be happy to help you. Please call us at 716-542-5444.
Buffalo personal injury victims who have suffered a blow to the head or had their head rapidly jerked back and forth may develop long term or chronic difficulties involving dizziness and vertigo. In most cases, these symptoms involve vestibular dysfunction.
Vestibular dysfunction is the result of damage to that portion of the inner ear that plays an import role in our sense of balance. While it can be caused by degenerative changes, it may also occur as the result of a traumatic injury. It may lead to difficulty with balancing, vertigo, headaches, nausea, and motion sickness. Its severity can greatly vary.
Typically, vestibular dysfunction may be detected using the rotation test. When this test is conducted, the injured person is asked to move their head in specific directions. Normally, each head movement should be accompanied by an eye movement in the opposite direction. If this does not occur, then the inner ear and eye are not properly coordinated properly, and the subject has vestibular dysfunction.
Vestibular dysfunction cannot be repaired through, for example, surgery. As a result, treatment will typically consist of vestibular rehabilitation, which consists of retraining the person to balance by relying on visual input and cues provided by muscle and joint positioning.
If you have suffered a personal injury, we would be happy to answer your questions. Please call us at 716-542-5444.
