Rescuers and workers who suffered an accident injury or illness from working at The World Trade Center after 9/11 are being offered a settlement. Thousands of workers have filed worker compensation and personal injury lawsuits with New York attorneys. The City of New York is offering them about $712.5 million in compensation. The sick and injured workers are now discussing their options with their families and workers comp lawyers. A previous offer to settle for $657 Million was rebuffed by a prominent Manhattan judge. We initially reported on that proposal here. If you feel that you or a friend need the personalized help of an attorney experienced in workers comp claims please contact us. Full story about the new Ground Zero settlement here.

Recent defective product recalls include everything from breakfast cereals to baby cribs to medicines. However, slow product recalls put consumers at risk for personal injury or wrongful death. In a rush to make a profit companies mass produce consumer products and leave quality control on the sidelines. Yet another dangerous baby crib recall by seven companies was just announced. One of these companies, New York City based Delta, is recalling  about 747,000 cribs due to entrapment, suffocation and fall hazards. This is a continuation of a series of defective crib recalls and some safety experts are asking why companies aren’t moving faster. At least one death and ten injuries were caused by one manufacturer negligence. Attorneys who are familiar with injury law and product liability also believe additional delays may lead to further unnecessary injuries and infant deaths. Many other products have been marketed to unsuspecting parents and caused wrongful infant deaths, including baby slings. The baby slings were also blamed for infant suffocation. See here for more information in protecting your baby from dangerous cribs.

Preventing product liability lawsuits is a major reason companies issue defective product recalls. However, who’s really watching out for consumers? Who’s making sure companies issue quick recalls before dangerous medicines or products cause personal injury or wrongful death? These are the questions being asked by New York Democrat, Representative Edolphus Towns. According to the New York Times, Mr. Towns, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is investigating Johnson and Johnson’s actions or inactions in a mass recall of medications. Johnson and Johnson expanded their recall of many of their most popular medicines for both adults and children. Among the recalled products are Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, PediaCare and Zyrtec. The recall now involves millions of bottles of medication, concerning both lawmakers and personal injury lawyers alike. Concern is mounting that the product recall was negligently delayed, putting the health of millions of consumers at risk. Tylenol’s recall comes along with other news-making product recalls that top New York injury lawyers have covered, including the Toyota product safety recall. Consumer advocates continue to monitor these recalls. More info on the Johnson and Johnson investigation.

Florida drivers are slamming their brakes at some West Palm Beach intersections now that City officials posted cameras on the traffic lights. The new cameras are stirring a controversy regarding personal injury prevention and injury promotion. Critics contend that the cameras are leading more drivers to stop abruptly, upon noticing the cameras, and then causing rear-end accidents. Data confirms this trend. According to New York personal injury lawyers, defendants of the cameras may argue the flip side, namely: A) Even if cameras do increase rear-end accidents for those slamming on brakes at the intersections, the cameras are preventing drivers from running Red lights. This type of New York car accident is associated with higher fatalities and greater personal injury. So in a sense, the cameras are preventing a more severe form of personal injury or car accident deaths. B) Even if drivers are slamming their brakes now, routine drivers will eventually learn to approach the intersections with greater caution, at slower speeds. This is the Learning Curve argument. Let’s see what Florida officials decide on the matter. Take a comprehensive look at the story here.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein takes clear stand with the New York City injury victims of 9/11. The case involved on the job injury claims by approximately 10,000 rescue workers at Ground Zero. In March, the New York judge rejected a $657 Million settlement, contending that it failed to sufficiently compensate the workers for their injury, pain and suffering. The City’s defense lawyers were taken off-guard by the Judge’s rejection of a deal that took two-years and millions of dollars to reach. Personal injury victims have mixed feelings. Some applaud the Judge’s sticking up for injury victim rights, while other would have rather the Judge let the settlement take effect. More info here.

Three and a half year old Elle Vandenberghe was run over and left brain damaged, due to a negligent New York driver looking for a parking spot. The victim’s parents are now pushing a new law to make it a crime of third-degree vehicular assault when a driver knowingly breaks traffic regulations and seriously injures a pedestrian. If the law passes, offenders would serve up to four years in jail, and lose their driver’s licenses for up to seven years. In Elle’s case, a driver reversed through an intersection crosswalk and recklessly ran over the toddler. In New York alone, in 2008, five thousand people were injured in pedestrian car accidents. Personal injury lawyers applaud the Vandenberghe’s efforts to reach beyond personal injury compensation – which Elle deserves – but expanding into injury prevention and law formulation, so that others will not suffer the same fate. Full story here. Illustration photo by Kathy Gardner/The Journal News.

Staten Island Assemblyman Michael Cusick says 50,000 New York accidents occur each year, due to drivers who negligently pass school buses whose red lights are flashing. Many car and truck drivers disregard the state law, and pass, creating dangerous conditions. New York State law requires that drivers from all directions, including those on the other side of a divider to come to a complete stop. The proposed bill targets repeat offenders, by doubling the fine to $2,000, and demanding a year term in jail for those who break the law and illegally pass three times within three years. Top New Personal injury lawyers commend Cusick for his efforts in preventing personal injuries, and making kids buses, sidewalks and intersections safer. Hat tip here.

According to IMT Research, 4.6 Million workers have serious personal injuries every year. This includes construction injury, on-the-job slip and fall, trip and fall, negligence and dangerous work conditions. The US Government’s Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) launched the Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which calls for stiffer punishments against companies that repeatedly disregard safety standards and create dangerous conditions. Penalties include increased fines and more frequent inspections. The current maximum allowed fine is $70,000 per a willful violation. If you or a loved one got hurt in a New York job injury, or suffered any work-related personal injury, contact New York’s leading personal injury lawyer firm.

NY Personal injury lawyers wrote about the dangers of rollover injury in car accidents, and showed you a video of one too. Consumer safety organizations are pressuring the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to demand safer rollover protection for larger vehicles. At present, the NHTSA requires that the roofs of vehicles under 6,000 pounds be strong enough to sustain a force triple the vehicle’s weight. But vehicles over 6,000 pounds need only support one-and-a-half times the vehicles weight. This means that heavy vehicles may legally have proportionately weaker roofs. This increases the likelihood of wrongful death and personal injury in a car accident. Details here.

Privacy violations are another type of personal injury damages. Philadelphia’s Lower Merion school district thought it was fighting crime by installing a centralized webcam applications on student laptops. In a personal injury lawsuit, students contend that the school did just the opposite. Intended to prevent laptop theft, the cameras kept rolling, and recorded and broadcast to the school 56,000 pictures of students, including photos of students sleeping at home, while partially undressed. Violation of privacy rights, claims the recent lawsuit. This type of violation can lead to emotional injuries according to experts. Write-up here.