Recovering from Accidents in the Work Place

Work place injuries are quite common. They may result in serious injuries and even death. In the event you receive injuries related the your employment, you maybe entitled to compensation for your injuries. If your employer is responsible, workers compensation could provide you with financial remuneration for your injuries. In the event there are other individuals, companies, or circumstances involved you may be able to bring a personal injury lawsuit.

In addition to physical injuries you may suffer psychological and/or emotional injuries for which you may be entitled recovery. In the event an injury leads to your death, your family could be entitled to recovery.

Some injuries can cause permanent disability. Other types of injuries only cause what are known as partial disabilities. A partial disability or impairment may result in your having difficulty performing some aspects of your job. If you receive an injury related to your employment it is very important that you contact experienced knowledgeable attorneys to protect your rights. The New York and Long Island accident attorneys at the Law Office at Elliot Schlissel are here to help you 24/7. Contact us for a free consultation at 1-800-344-6431 or email us.

Police Officer Becomes Intoxicated and Crashes – Wrongful Death Suit Settled

Police officer Christine L. Miller was off duty. She drove some friends to O’Leary’s Bar and Restaurant. Christine was an officer in the Sunset Hills Police Department.

Christine was served numerous drinks at O’Leary’s Bar. After consuming “a high quantity” of alcohol Christine got in her car to drive home. Christine drove her Mitsubishi east in the west bound lane of Darity Ferry Road which caused an accident with another vehicle. Four young people were killed and one was injured in the traffic accident. Christine has been charged with four counts of first degree involuntary manslaughter plus one count of second degree assault. She is currently on an unpaid suspension from the Sunset Hills Police Department.

The civil lawsuit which was filed shortly after the criminal charges were brought against Christine was settled for $2.25 million. At the time of the crash Christine’s blood alcohol level was 0.169. The threshold for driving while intoxicated was .08%.

The parents of the victims sued both Christine and O’Leary’s Bar and Restaurant.

They claimed that the employees of the restaurant knew that Christine was intoxicated and did not prevent her from driving home or assist her in calling a taxi cab. The civil lawsuit also claimed the bar workers served Miller alcoholic beverages even though her speech was slurred and her gaze was unsteady.

Wrongful death lawsuits often result in large settlement or awards from juries. Should either you, a friend, or a loved one have the misfortune of being involved in a tragic accident call the law office of Elliot S. Schlissel at 1-800-344-6431 or email us.

Picture of Ms’ Miller’s car after the accident courtesy of pulledover.

Five Million Dollars for Drowning Victims’ Families

In 1997, Eugenie Poleyeff, went swimming on 29^th Street and Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. Eugenie ran into trouble and screamed for help. Zachery Breaux, a jazz guitarist, jumped into the water. Zachery’s wife and children ran up and down the beach looking for a life guard.

Zachery eventually reached Eugenie in the water. However, he was not able to rescue her. In fact, they both drowned. Both Frederica Breaux and Israel Poleyeff, a rabbi, brought lawsuits. These lawsuits claim that the City of Miami was negligent in failing to have life guards. They also claimed that there should have been riptides warnings at the beach on the date of the incident. The lawsuits indicated that Miami Beach had parking facilities, shower facilities and concession stands for beach goers but had no life guards or notifications to beach goers concerning riptides.

The courts in Florida found there was no liability. In a decision in 2009, the Florida Supreme Court eventually ruled that cities had a responsibility to warn beach goers of dangerous conditions that they were aware of.

After a decade long battle, the family of Zachery Breaux, received a court award of $5,000,000. Unusual situations and unusual injuries may involve liability. Should you, a friend or family member be injured, you should consult the Law Office of Elliot S. Schlissel for a consultation as to whether the injuries are actionable. So e-mail us or give us a call anytime at 800-344-6431.

-Elliot Schlissel, Esq.

Picture courtesy of sky.com.

Hospital Killing to Harvest Organs? Wrongful Death Suit Filed

Because of all of the personal injury and tort cases I see going through our office, I find this case very interesting.

On March 4th, Michael Jacobs filed suit in the District Court of Western Pennsylvania (click here for the Complaint, HT Erie Blogs) against the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (“CORE”) for wrongfully causing the death of their son in order to harvest his organs.  Michael and Teresa Jacobs’ 18 year old son Gregory sustained an injury to the head in a snowboarding accident in New York  in March of 2007, according to ABC News. He was airlifted to a hospital in Pennsylvania where he died and his parents agreed to donate his organs to others.

Because Mr. Jacobs is suing CORE in Federal court based on diversity jurisdiction, the court will have to decide which state’s laws to apply. Here, Gregory sustained his injuries in New York (the family is from Ohio), but the hospital where the alleged wrongful death took place was in Pennsylvania, because the boy was airlifted to that hospital from the site of the accident.  I would think that since the majority of the alleged wrongful conduct took place in Pennsylvania and I would assume that the majority of the witnesses, parties and evidence that relates to the alleged conduct is in Pennsylvania, the District Court will probably apply Pennsylvania law.

According to the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes § 8301(a), “[a]n action may be brought…to recover damages for the death of an individual caused by the wrongful act or negligent or unlawful violence or negligence of another if no recovery… was obtained by the injured individual during his lifetime… to avoid a duplicate recovery.”

According to Mr. Jacobs, the hospital negligently informed him that Gregory was brain dead before he had actually been brain dead, and that he agreed to have Gregory’s organs donated on that basis. The hospital officials state that Gregory was definitely brain dead when they removed his respiration and began to remove the organs.

It will be interesting to see whether the hospital, in fact, did not follow procedure and whether they were negligent such that the Jacobs will be able to prove, by at least a preponderance of the evidence, that the hospital was indeed negligent in taking Gregory off of life support and beginning to remove his organs before he was actually brain dead.

I think that many people find this story particularly fascinating because they harbor a quiet, morbid fear of having their own organs removed while they are still alive.  The facts of this case may not fully come out until a full trial, but it is indeed possible that the family of the deceased are merely grasping at straws and seizing upon what could be an innocuous discrepancy in the hospital’s records to build a case that may actually be baseless. Only time will tell but I am sure that many of us will be watching it with great interest.

Picture of Gregory Jacobs courtesy of ABC News.