Bronx Personal Injury & Real Estate Blog

Q: How do I know if I need a personal injury attorney?

People get hurt every day in accidents that are not their fault on the roads, at work, while shopping, at school, or anywhere at all. If you’ve been injured as a result of the negligent, reckless or intentional actions of another person, you may be entitled to recover compensation for your damages. Depending on your particular situation, you could be entitled to compensation for things like medical bills, property damage, lost income, future medical bills related to your injuries, pain and suffering and more.

Q: How much force by police is considered “excessive”?

Headlines remind us almost daily that the relationship between the police and the public has deteriorated. Images on the news are reminiscent of volatile scenes from the civil rights era. Minorities and others repeatedly make accusations of police brutality and misconduct, racial profiling, and civil rights violations--especially in cases where victims die in police custody or during arrests.

What is being done to protect motorists from truck accidents?

In August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal  Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed a rule that would require commercial trucking companies to install speed-capping technology in all vehicles in their fleets. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, in the midst of his reelection campaign, recently called on the Department of Transportation to approve the rule.
Read more . . .

Q: What happens if a politician or celebrity causes an accident that results in a personal injury to someone else?

Politicians and celebrities are people just like you and me. They put their pants on one leg at a time. They just happen to be well-known or famous and are often more wealthy than the rest of society. So while it may be a bit intimidating to be involved in an accident with one of them, they are not above the law; they may be sued and held accountable for damages resulting from the injuries they caused.

The former mayor of New York City, David Dinkins, is the subject of a recent

Q: Are the laws regarding tractor trailer accidents different from automobile accidents?

If you’ve ever driven in New York City and the Tri-State area, you’ve likely lived through the white-knuckle experience of sharing the poorly maintained, very congested roadways and bridges with big bulky tractor trailers. Who knows what these road- hogging, line-crossing big rigs are even hauling? It’s enough to make you trade in your car for a Metro card.

The latest available statistics show that tractor trailer accidents are up 17% nationwide, and it’s even worse in the Tri-State area due to the much higher percentage of freight being hauled here by tractor trailers instead of by rail. Whereas most cities get half of their freight by rail, the Tri-State area gets only 5% by rail, with the remaining 95% of freight coming via tractor trailers. It’s no wonder traffic, pollution, and accidents are on the rise and people are intimidated while driving beside the big rigs.

 Personal injury laws are designed to protect us from unreasonably dangerous conduct by others. Sometimes, injuries occur due to another person’s negligent behavior (e.g., driving while intoxicated). Other times, injuries occur due to unreasonably dangerous items or consumer goods – an area of the law known as “products liability.

Are there more hit-and-run accidents with cyclists or does it just seem that way?

Throughout the country, the number of bicyclists involved in hit-and-run accidents has been increasing at an alarming rate. Just during one week in mid-August the following occurred: a 54-year-old cyclist in Baltimore was killed by a truck driver who fled the scene, an 11-year-old boy was struck and seriously injured by a young man who left the child lying in the street, a Chicago man was killed as a result of being hit by a cargo van, and a woman in Minnesota was struck by a pick-up truck which took off after causing her to fly over its hood and land in the roadway. All of these crashes are presently under investigation, although in most the driver has been identified. As those of us in the New York area know, there are an increasing number of such horrific accidents here as well.

If you or a loved one has suffered injuries as a result of a hit-and-run accident in the Bronx, you should contact a

The residential home loan fallout may be nearly a decade in the rearview mirror, however the legal and financial impact of the economic meltdown remain at the forefront of federal dockets across the United States. In a recent article published by the Economist, the author described the current residential mortgage situation as “a menace to the world’s biggest economy” as well as “ vast, nationalized, unprofitable and undercapitalized.”

In other words, the mortgage debt crisis is not quite American history just yet – especially considering the lingering litigation concerning several home loan-related issues. One such issue, involving the use of Marketing Services Agreements, has been on the radar of the Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau for years – with many cases still left unresolved. These agreements, known as MSA’s, permit lenders to offer incentives (i.

NYC Plans on Getting Sued For $710 Million This Year

Did you know that over the past year, New York City paid out $585.9 million to people or property owners who suffered an injury that the City caused? These injuries were caused by everything from “slip, trip and fall” incidents, to medical malpractice, to bad interactions with the police or fire departments, to tree limbs falling on people, buildings, and cars (Seriously, 207 tree-limb related claims were filed last year!).

It turns out that the borough whose citizens got the most payouts is my home area, the Bronx. New data from the City Comptroller shows that citizens in the Bronx filed 7,442 lawsuits against the City and got $176 million in return last year.

On a per capita basis, there were 417

 Over Memorial Day weekend, there was a horrendous semi-truck crash on the Cross Bronx Expressway just a couple of miles from my office. A semi crashed into a couple of cars, ran through a guardrail, and ended up dangling over the side of an overpass. Fortunately, nobody died, but several people involved in the crash were seriously injured. 

Speaking with ABC 7, the driver in this crash emphasized his years of experience and the fact that he was sober and alert. He also said the crash was caused by a black car that hit is front wheel, causing him to lose control of the semi.

A ‘Right of First Refusal’ (ROFR) is a somewhat common real estate contract provision that places certain duties on a property owner with regard to selling or transferring ownership rights. Most often, a ROFR clause is included in an agreement between individuals in a joint venture, as it insulates the group from one member selling his or her interest to any third-party who happens to make an offer. More specifically, if a joint owner is looking to sell his or her property interest, that individual must offer the interest to the remaining owners first, before offering the interest for sale in the marketplace.