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Detectives arrested 16-year-old Marcell Dockery for allegedly starting a fire in an 18-story apartment building in Coney Island in April 2014. The fire severely injured NYPD officer Rosa Rodriguez, 36, and killed Dennis Guerra, 38, also an NYPD officer. Both officers were responding to 911 calls that a fire had started in a Coney Island […]
Personal Injury Law
Former NYC Employee Sentenced to Probation for Falsifying Crane Inspection Records
Justice Thomas Farber of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan sentenced former city employee Edward J. Marquette, 51, to five years probation in February 2013 for falsifying crane inspection records. In July 2012, Farber found Marquette guilty of filing a false instrument, falsifying business records and official misconduct. However, Marquette was found not guilty of […]
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 […]
MTA Driver Killed, Three Injured, after Stolen Truck Collides with Bus in the City
William Pena, 49, a 17-year veteran of the MTA and a father of a 14-year-old daughter, was killed in February 2014 after a stolen box truck driven by Domonic Whilby, 22, crashed into the bus he was driving in Greenwich Village. According to police, Pena was thrown from the driver’s seat and landed under the […]
Investigators: New Hartford House Fire that Claimed Three Young Lives Caused by Failed Electrical Appliance
According to the New Hartford Fire Department and the New Hartford Police Department, a February 2014 house fire in upstate New York that claimed the lives of two brothers, ages three and seven, and a 21-year-old woman was caused by an electrical appliance that appears to have failed. The failed appliance was along the outside […]
Brooklyn Fire Kills Teen in House that Lacked Smoke Detectors
An early morning house fire in Brooklyn, New York in December 2013 claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl and critically injured her two older sisters. Jasmine Guillaume, 16, was killed after a fire engulfed the second and third floors of her three story home at 293 East Eighth Street in Kensington. Her sisters, Jaima […]
Suffolk County Police Sergeant Arrested for Stealing from Latino Drivers During Traffic Stops
A 25-year veteran of the Suffolk County Police Department in Long Island, New York was arrested in January 2014 for stealing $100 from an undercover Latino police officer pulled over during a traffic stop. Suffolk County Police Sergeant Scott Greene, 50, was caught on a hidden surveillance camera planted in the undercover car stealing the […]
Tourist’s Foot Severed in Midtown Manhattan Car Accident
The NY Daily News reports that a cab struck a female tourist in midtown Tuesday, severing her foot in the process. A cyclist and another pedestrian were injured in the New York City car accident, which occurred near Rockefeller Center. The cyclist was flipped onto the hood of the taxi and carried for several yards. […]
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 […]
Brooklyn Senior Citizen Dies after Receiving Incorrect Blood Type
An investigation into the death of a Brooklyn woman at Coney Island Hospital in early June has revealed that hospital error led to the fatal consequences. Hospital staff reportedly misidentified the elderly patient’s blood type, leading to a fatal transfusion of the incorrect type of blood. For the immediate future, the Department of Health has […]
Chappaqua Teen Found to Have Been Texting During Fatal Crash
A New Windsor, NY judge has ruled that a teen was texting while driving, leading to a fatal accident that killed his nineteen year old friend, reports USA Today. The driver, also nineteen from Chappaqua, NY, claimed that he had fallen asleep at the wheel. The decedent’s family subpoenaed phone records from the driver during […]
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. […]
Brooklyn Judge Arrested for DWI
A Brooklyn Supreme Court justice was arrested last week in upstate New York on suspicion of drunk driving. According to the NY Post, the judge failed a roadside sobriety test and also refused to agree to a blood test. The judge has a court date set for later this month. The Post did not provide […]
Mother Sues after 7 Year Old Almost Dies from Medication Mix-Up
A mother in the Bronx is suing her local pharmacy after it mistakenly provided her seven year old son with Methadone instead of his prescribed Ritalin. The Post reports that the two drugs have been confused before by pharmacies, because they look alike and have somewhat similar names (Ritalin is also known as methylphenidate). Medication […]
Driver Acquitted in Death of Bicyclist
Earlier today, a US postal worker was acquitted of leaving the scene of an accident. His truck struck and killed a bicyclist last summer. The postal worker, Ian Clement, claims to have felt something under his tire. He pulled over to wait for someone to approach his vehicle; when no one did he drove off. […]
Homicide Charges Dismissed in Long Island DWI Case
A Suffolk County judge has dismissed all charges that had been pending against a teenager in Long Island following a crash that led to the death of a passenger in his car. The accident occurred in the Hamptons last year, and was at first suspected to be a DWI. The DWI charge was dropped when […]
Limits on Prescription Painkillers?
The New York Times is reporting that a group of approximately thirty-five doctors have signed a petition to the Food and Drug Administration, asking that more stringent regulations be placed on the prescription of pain-killers. The doctors’ impetus for the petition is to curb abuse of the drugs. In the petition, the physicians ask that […]
Notice of Claim Against New York City in Bronx Zoo Crash
In April of this year, a minivan carrying a family jumped a barrier on the Bronx River Parkway and plummeted over the side, into the Bronx Zoo. Seven family members were killed in the crash, leaving behind mourning loved ones. The husband of one of the victims of this crash has filed a notice of […]
Brooklyn Hospital Faces Staggering Number of Medical Malpractice Suits
Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center currently faces more than one hundred open lawsuits based upon medical malpractice, the Daily News reports. Ranging from infections to medication errors to infant brain damage, the hospital has been targeted by patients and their families for allegedly negligent care. The financially troubled facility operated at a $42 Million […]
Westchester, NY Criminal Defense Attorney Report: Charges Dismissed In Assault Case
Recently, in a Westchester County, NY criminal matter handled by the Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC, our client, a 20 year-old male, was arrested and originally charged with Assault in the second degree, a Felony, after a fight with his mother’s boyfriend. The boyfriend was a 46 year-old with a criminal history of […]
Supreme Court, Appellate Division Upholds Depraved Indifference Murder Conviction Stemming From Car Accident
Earlier this month, a Brooklyn appellate panel upheld the murder conviction of Franklin McPherson. McPherson was convicted of second degree murder after driving the wrong way for approximately five miles on the Southern State Parkway in October of 2007, eventually striking another car and killing its driver. Defense counsel argued that because McPherson had been […]
Court Rules Bronx District Attorney Failed to Meet Speedy Trial Requirements
A Bronx judge ruled on October 7th that the Bronx DA failed to meet the requirements of “exceptional circumstances” in failing to produce police witnesses in the criminal trial of a man accused of felony assault and marijuana possession, among other charges. The DA had argued that the witnesses, two police officers, were unable to […]
Brooklyn Jury Awards $36M to Boy Hit by Speeding Motorist
In May, a Brooklyn jury awarded over $36,000,000.00 in damages in a case involving a 12 year old boy on a bicycle struck by a speeding motorist. The victim sustained fractures of the skull and ankle, as well as brain damage after being struck by the defendant, who, according to investigators, was driving 24 mph […]
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. […]
White Plains, NY Criminal Defense Attorney Report: Charge Dismissed in Upstate New York Assault Case
A court in upstate New York (Niagara County) recently dismissed a misdemeanor charge of assault in the third degree due to a fatal defect in the factual assertions of the case included in the accusatory instrument. As a brief background, the defendant was accused of punching his brother-in-law in the face, and subsequently striking him […]
