April 2010 Archives

Not all New York personal injury lawyers win their cases. Just ask the lawyers representing Adele Sammarco.

Sammarco, 43, sued Time Warner, the parent company of NY1, where she worked as a reporter. She alleged sexual harassment at the hands of the station, after claiming that a colleague, Gary Anthony Ramsay, gave her an unwanted kiss.

Subsequently, she complained to management and was let go, back in 2000. Sammarco alleges that she was wrongfully terminated due to the fact that she complained to management.

Let's add a new area of fraud for New York injury lawyers. And let's call this one "asbestos fraud".

Perhaps that's slightly a misnomer and I may be stretching the concept a little too thin. But a New York safety inspector has been caught red-handed, so to say.

Saverio F. Todaro, 68, as admitted that he lied about his inspections for a period of over a decade. During that time, he was a licensed safety inspector and was required to make critical assessment of asbestos and lead content in buildings throughout the city of New York.

A sex offender managing a residential building? The thought is enough to send chills down the spine of New York injury lawyers.

Or down anyone's spine, for that matter.

A lawsuit has been filed by the U.S. attorney's office against a convicted child rapist, who has most recently been the superintendent at three Upper West Side buildings in Manhattan. The superintendent, William Barnason, 57, allegedly made unwelcome verbal and physical advances towards several women in the three buildings he managed.

The 9/11 lawsuits aren't fading from the news anytime soon. Nor are the New York personal injury lawyers involved in representing the 9/11 rescue workers.

Last week, the New York injury lawyers representing the city went to a federal appeals court in an attempt to challenge the validity of a judge's authority to block the settlement that was reached last month. The $657.5 million dollar settlement was to be divided among the litigants; based on the extent of their injuries and exposure to toxic substances.

It's Red Sox versus Yankees!

Well not technically. It's actually just Yankee's fan Jay Z versus Red Sox player David Ortiz.

On tax day, rap superstar and shrewd businessman Jay-Z sued Boston Red Sox baseball player David Ortiz for David Ortiz's use of the name "40/40 Clubs" in connection with a club that David Ortiz opened in the Dominican Republic.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Sean Carter, is suing Red Sox player David Ortiz for commercial misappropriation of the 40/40 name, which is the name of a sports bar owned by Jay-Z and his business partner, Juan Perez. The lawsuit was filed earlier last week in Mahattan Federal Court.

Bad buttocks augmentations are back in the news. While this is not the first time we have heard of bad plastic surgeries, this story is particularly shocking. This tale of spa negligence has once again gained notoriety for New York personal injury attorneys, because the spa owner is being charged with assault and unlawful practice of medicine after she nearly killed a woman while giving her a butt augmentation.

Barbara Nieto was charged on Friday after nearly killing a customer, Augusta Velez, subsequent to a butt augmentation that went terribly wrong.

This incident took place at Barbara Nieto's spa located in Corona, Queens. The spa, Barbara Nieto's Perfect Image Stethics offered butt augmentation by taking fat from the stomach and having it injected into the buttocks area.  

Tina Fey resumed her post as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live last Saturday. But comedy aside, there are many people, Sarah Palin supporters in particular, who beg to ask the question of New York personal injury lawyers: Why can't Sarah Palin sue Tina Fey or NBC for defamation? 

So, Sandra Bullock is getting a divorce from Jesse James.

Why are we not surprised? And what does this have to do with New York personal injury attorneys or tort law, for that matter?

The act of infidelity leads to tort claims in some states. The tort action is called "alienation of affection." Or course such a law, if it was still applicable in New York, would have wreaked havoc on New York injury lawyers.

Or it would have given them their bread and butter for life.

Let the smearing begin!

Although this case takes place in California, New York personal injury lawyers are certainly not strangers to celebrity lawsuits. Former Desperate Housewife, Nicollette Sheridan, is suing the show's creator/producer for battery and assault.

Nicollette Sheridan, who played the sultry and scandalous realtor Edie Britt on the ABC hit show Desperate Housewives, was let go last year when her character was killed off after her car hit an electric pole. Now, Nicollette Sheridan is alleging wrongful termination, in a complaint sprinkled with trifles of assault and battery. Nicollette Sheridan claims that the show's producer, Mark Cherry, hit her in the face when she questioned a script. He then allegedly kicked her off the show when she complained.

A "mystery man" jumped into the icy East River on Saturday and helped save a two year old girl from drowning. 

Then, he disappeared into the horizon; like Batman. Well not quite. Mystery Man didn't disappear in the Batmobile. Nor did he vanish into the night. He climbed out of the river, got in a cab, and drove off.

And in light of the heroism, New York injury lawyers can't help but ask: What are the "Good Samaritan" laws in New York?

Sell replica Tiffany's jewelry online, but don't pretend it's real. That's the wisdom handed out by the court in the Tiffany v. eBay lawsuit.

Although the Tiffany's lawsuit was not a personal injury lawsuit, New York personal injury attorneys might find the ruling on this case of great interest, given that the judge did allow Tiffany's to pursue their fraud claim.

The case was originally a trademark infringement case, whereby Tiffany's argued that eBay had violated the Tiffany's trademark by allowing online sellers to sell fake Tiffany's items. But the trademark argument didn't fly for the famed New York based jeweler. The judge in the case ruled that eBay was not responsible to monitor their site to prevent the sale of counterfeit Tiffany's jewelry. This was in direct conflict to a French court ruling last month, where eBay had to pay $61 million dollars to Louis Vuitton for allowing the sale of Louis Vuitton knockoffs on the online auction site.

New York injury lawyers scored a huge victory for five cyclists who were allegedly harassed by New York officers during a monthly cycling ride. 

The cyclists, who were detained and arrested during the 2007 Critical Mass ride will be receiving a total of $97,751, with their New York personal injury attorneys receiving a total of $35,000 of the settlement, in an apparent contingency fee arrangement. 

In a video clip from March 2007, a rider named Richard Vazquez, 55, is knocked off his bike by an NYPD police officer. The officer is then seen arresting Vazquez. Such actions were not uncommon. The NYPD has been quarrelling with the Critical Mass riders for several years. In other years, a man was knocked off his bicycle, resulting in assault charges and the eventual resignation of the police officer.