(914) 220-1086Alma Murdough, whose 56-year-old mentally ill son died while in custody at Rikers Island, filed a $25 million lawsuit in April 2014 against New York City. The suit claims that employees at Rikers Island were careless and negligent after they failed to check up on Murdough’s son, whose cell reached a temperature of 101 degrees. According to […]
Miscellaneous
Elderly Residents of Brooklyn Assisted-Living Facility File Lawsuit to Prevent Closure
Seven elderly residents of the Prospect Park Residence, a 120-bed assisted-living facility in Brooklyn, New York, filed a lawsuit in May 2014 to prevent the facility from shutting its doors in June 2014. The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, is seeking a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order to delay the […]
Syracuse Nursing home with Long History of Substandard Care to be Converted into Apartments
Rosewood Heights, a Syracuse nursing home that houses 242 beds in a six story building, is slated to be shut down and converted into an apartment building in 2014. In March 2012, the nursing home was placed on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s (CMS) Special Focus Facility (SFF) list for providing poor care […]
NJ Jury Awards Man $8 Million for Elevator Accident
A New Jersey jury awarded a Sussex County man in February 2014 $8 million for an elevator accident that occurred in Morristown in 2005. According to court documents, Richard Tufaro of Branchville, who was 48 at the time of the accident, was working as a carpenter on a remodeling project in the lobby of Headquarters […]
Four Workers from Long Island Group Home Arrested for Forcing Developmentally Disabled Residents to Fight Each Other
Four workers from the Independent Group Home Living facility in Hampton Bays, New York were arrested in February 2014 for allegedly forcing and encouraging two developmentally disabled adults to fight each other. One of the workers recorded the incident with a cellphone, which shows the two disabled men fighting as workers encourage them and laugh […]
Former Nurse Aide of Rochester Nursing Home Accused of Posting Video of Patient Being Abused on Facebook
A former nurse aid at the St. Anne’s Home in Rochester, New York was arrested and charged in July 2013 for allegedly posting a video on Facebook of a resident being harassed. If convicted, the former aide, Ericha Brown, 23, faces up to one year in prison. According to Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, Brown […]
First Department Reverses Summary Judgment in Medical Malpractice Action
In April, the Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department reversed the lower court’s ruling of summary judgment in favor of the defendant in a medical malpractice action. Originally, the Bronx Supreme Court granted summary judgment for doctor and hospital, finding that the defendants’ failure to diagnose cancer was not a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s […]
N.Y. Slip & Fall Attorney Report: Second Department Upholds Summary Judgment for Plaintiff in Slip and Fall Case
An April order by the Appellate Division, Second Department upheld a Suffolk County Supreme Court’s finding of summary judgment for the plaintiffs in a Long Island personal injury case. In February of 2007, the plaintiff, a Nassau County police officer, was responding to an alarm at the defendant’s summer house. At the time that the […]
Summary Judgment Affirmed for NYC Transit in Personal Injury Action
On May 1st, the Second Department affirmed a summary judgment ruling in favor of a defendant NYC bus in a personal injury case involving a fall. The plaintiff had sued for personal injury after falling inside the bus when the driver stopped short. The defendant, New York City Transit Authority, was granted summary judgment by […]
Second Department Affirms Plaintiff’s Summary Judgment in Nassau County Car Accident Action
On November 14, 2012, the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed the Supreme Court’s finding of summary judgment for the plaintiff in an automobile collision action from Nassau County. The facts surrounding the case are simple. The plaintiff’s vehicle was stopped when it was struck from behind by the defendant’s vehicle. Quoting Volpe v. […]
New York Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Report: Recent MCFU Enforcement Actions Involving Nursing Home Abuse
Below please find a brief summary of various enforcement actions taken against New York nursing home personnel from 12/15/11 to 3/15/12 by the NYS Office of the Medicaid Inspector General. Last December two Registered Nurses at Glen Island Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in New Rochelle, NY were indicted by the Medicaid Fraud Unit. Marlon […]
Bronx Nursing Home Fined More Than $55,000
The Department of Health has fined Mosholu Parkway Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the Bronx, NY over $55,000 for numerous violations, the most disturbing of which relates to an issue that has been discussed previously on this blog, the failure to keep the facility free of accident hazards. In this particular instance, a resident who […]
Government Report Documents Under-Reporting of Hospital Errors
A study recently released by the Department of Health and Human Services reports that as few as one out of seven Medicare patients harmed by medical errors and accidents during hospitalizations are reported. The study, performed by HHS inspector general Daniel R. Levinson, claims that the primary cause of the under-reporting is that many hospital […]
Jury Awards Woman $20M+ in Damages after Queens Bus Accident
In August, a Queens jury awarded damages in excess of 20 million dollars to a woman struck by an MTA bus in Long Island City. The plaintiff, a housekeeper, was awarded summary judgment after a surveillance video established that the pedestrian had the right of way. The bus did not yield and struck the plaintiff. […]
Despite Regulations, Abuse Still Rampant in State-Run Group Homes
An investigation conducted over the past year by The New York Times highlights disturbing trends of abuse in group homes run for the mentally challenged and developmentally disabled. The emphasis of the survey, the lack of discipline imposed upon delinquent employees of such homes, underscores the importance of diligent oversight by not only authorities, but […]
Defendant Precluded After Improperly Obtaining Information From Treating Physician Without Authorization
Defense counsel in Muzio v. Napolitano, a recent medical malpractice case, conducted an interview of the plaintiff’s treating physician, a nonparty, without obtaining a Arons authorization. The Arons case requires that plaintiffs provide defendants with written authorizations allowing counsel for the defense to interview plaintiff’s treating physicians. However, this interview cannot take place without such […]
Jury Award Reduced In NYC Loss of Sepulcher Case
The City of New York improperly released the body of a 51 year-old male to a funeral home in Pennsylvania, where he was ultimately buried. The plaintiff-decedent’s mother had been informed that her son had died, and two of the plaintiff-decedent’s siblings had already identified the body at the medical examiner’s office before the body […]
Summary Judgment In Favor Of Plaintiff Affirmed in New York Labor Law Construction Accident
The Supreme Court of New York, Third Department (appellate court), recently upheld a summary judgment decision for the plaintiff, Joseph Miranda III, in a construction accident lawsuit. Miranda sustained a traumatic brain injury in a fall of approximately 30 feet at an Albany construction site. Commonly referred to as “The Scaffold Act,” Labor Law section […]
Bronx Man Files Suit Against City After Being Shot By Accident By NYPD
Jose Colon has filed a notice of claim after being shot by a New York City police officer in the early morning hours of January 22. The shooting, which left a bullet lodged near the pelvis of the 76 year old resident of the Soundview section of the Bronx, occurred as officers raided Colon’s home […]
Settlement Approved in Brighton, New York Fall Case
New York Supreme Court trial judge David M. Barry approved a settlement last week for the late Getrude Kash at the Jewish Home in Brighton, NY. The suit alleged negligence, medical malpractice, and violation of the Public Health Law. Shortly after Gertrude Kash, seen above, was admitted to the Jewish Home, she suffered a succession […]
Grandell Rehabilitation Fined For Failing To Provide Adequate Supervision To Resident Known To Have Suicidal Ideations
Grandell Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Long Beach, NY was recently fined $32,207.50 by the Federal government stemming from a January 26, 2010 NYS Department of Health Complaint Survey. Surveyors found that the facility failed to provide medically related social services to attain the highest practicable, physical, mental and psychosocial well-being of each resident. Tragically, […]
New York Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Report: CA Jury Awards $12.5 Million To Resident Attacked By Cook
In a recent nursing home abuse lawsuit, a California jury awarded a dementia resident $12.5 million after being attacked by a cook who worked at the facility. In 2007, Sophie Schwartz, a 92 year-old dementia patient, was asleep in her bed at Oakdale Heights of Santa Clarita when she was awakened by a man on […]
New York Car Accident Attorney Report: $10 Million Verdict For 80 Year-Old Female
A Brooklyn (NYC) jury returned a $10 million verdict in favor of an 80 year-old female, Josephine Pantano, who sustained a fractured neck and a fractured leg in a motor vehicle accident in May 2007. Both plaintiff and defendant motorist contended that the other ran a red light causing the collision. The jury sided with […]
Bedsore Verdict Includes Punitive Damages
A Philadelphia jury awarded $5 million in punitive damages to the widow of a man who died of bedsores (pressure sores, decubitis ulcers) in 2008. The damages are divided between Jeanes Hospital and a Wyncote nursing home. The lawsuit had accused both the hospital and the nursing home of failing to provide adequate care for […]
NYC Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Report: $19 Million Verdict After Brooklyn Nursing Home Allows 20 Bedsores to Develop And Falsifies Records
A Kings (Brooklyn) County jury recently returned a $19 million verdict in favor of the family of 76 year-old nursing home resident, John Danzy, who developed more than 20 bedsores (pressure sores/decubiti) at Brooklyn-Queens Nursing Home. The award included $3.75 million for pain and suffering and $15 million in punitive damages. Mr. Danzy died from […]
