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During a freak accident on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, Munther Abu-Hamea, who drives for Uber and a Brooklyn limo company, had the shock of his life. A pole came crashing through the windshield of his limo and hit his shoulder.
The New York Post reported that between 70 to 100 poles fell off a truck that was traveling in the opposite direction on the upper level of the expressway. Some of the poles landed on the lower freeway and struck cars. Abu-Hamea said it was like an explosion when the pole hurled through his window.
Limo driver, Abu-Hamea, age 45, said he felt like he was in a movie when the pole shot through the window, hit his shoulder and lodged between him and his passenger-side door. Several other poles hit and damaged the limo’s roof and shattered the dashboard.
The accident left him in a state of fear about driving. He thought he was going to die and never see his children again. However, emergency response personnel treated him at the scene, and he safely returned home to his three sons and three daughters. Even so, this type of trauma can have lingering effects, which makes it particularly difficult for someone who drives for a living.
He wasn’t the only driver affected. Poles hit another driver’s car as well. Medical Assistant, Emil Dura, 57, drove directly behind Abu-Hamea but suffered no injury.
In this accident, the truck driver and his trucking company would be liable for damages if damages met the legal standards of serious injury.
Under the New York serious injury threshold as covered by Article 51 of the Insurance Law, to recover compensation you must prove that you incurred a basic economic loss exceeding $50,000 or that you suffered serious injury. Serious injury is a personal injury, which results in one of the following:
Medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less than 90 days during the 180 days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.
A personal injury lawyer can protect your rights if you suffer serious injury due to a car accident. Sackstein Sackstein & Lee, LLP has successfully handled countless personal injury cases on behalf of our clients.
Texting while driving in New York is against the law. In fact, 46 states ban texting while driving and two more states have a partial ban on it. The reason for the ban is that distracted driving can result in serious accidents and tragic deaths.
National Public Radio (npr.com) reported about texting and driving in a 2016 article called “New York Wants to Know: Have You Been Texting and Driving?”. A bill in the NY legislature, referred to as Evan’s Law, proposed that police officers should be allowed to check drivers’ cell phones at accident scenes.
Ben Lieberman’s 19 year-old son Evan died from serious injuries a month after a serious car accident that occurred in Hudson Valley, north of New York City. He was a passenger wearing a seat belt and sitting in the backseat of the car. The driver claimed he had fallen asleep at the wheel, which resulted in a head-on collision with an oncoming car. When the police failed to investigate the driver’s cell phone, six months later, Ben Lieberman requested a subpoena as part of a civil lawsuit. Phone records revealed the driver had been texting throughout the time driving, including near where the accident occurred.
Lieberman wants to build an electronic device that a police officer could plug into a cellphone to see whether the phone was in use at the time of a crash. The device would not reveal personal communications but instead would be a textalyzer, used to help determine whether a driver was texting.
Law enforcement has the right to subpoena records from a phone company or request a search warrant from a judge to search a phone. However, it takes time and money to do so.
The Director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute believes the percentage of distracted drivers is much higher than seen in police accident reports. Researchers put cameras in cars for a study at Virginia Tech and discovered that distracted driving caused about 70 percent of vehicle accidents. The reported statistic is only 20 percent.
If you or a loved one has been involved in a serious car accident, get legal help to discuss your rights and whether you can seek compensation.
Today, if you live or work in New York City or the metro area, you hear alot about diversity in the workplace and how it is good for businesses. At Sackstein Sackstein & Lee, LLP, we take pride in our diversity. We offer legal services in a variety of languages, including English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Greek, Bengali, Urdu, Bangladeshi and Hindi. As our diverse staff members work side-by-side, you’ll see various ethnic groups and races, including African American, Asian, Hispanic and Caucasian.
Companies with diverse staff members are more innovative, productive, better at solving issues and can reach a wider client base. All of these factors are good for businesses.
According to The New York Times, studies showed that when a diverse group of people interacted with each other, their answers to analytical questions were more accurate than homogenous groups. In fact, diverse groups had a 58 percent greater accuracy.
Another study put people of different races in a group and had them solve murder mysteries. Again, the diverse group performed significantly better.
“I believe our firm’s diversity is a great asset for clients who choose us to represent them in personal injury claims. They have a notable advantage when we seek to obtain fair and just case awards on their behalves.” Mark H. Sackstein
“Our firm has helped many people in the Korean community and other ethnic groups to overcome the challenges they face when litigating for deserved compensation. Our abilities to overcome language barriers and work together are invaluable for getting results.” Eric B.
Researchers compared banks with and without racial diversity. Studies showed that 177 U.S. banks with diversity had greater financial performance. Bank presidents emphasized innovation when the company was diverse.
In another study, Stanford University researchers had groups discuss social issues, such as child labor and the death penalty. The researchers wrote dissenting opinions and had both African American and Caucasian students deliver the opinion to the groups. Even though students delivered the same dissenting perspective, when an African American presented the perspective to a group of Caucasians, the opinion seemed more novel and led to broader consideration of alternatives.
Various studies concluded that people work harder in diverse environments both socially and cognitively. While they may feel challenged when working through barriers, their hard work leads to better outcomes.
Because our staff at Sackstein Sackstein & Lee, LLP speaks a variety of languages, we can reach a broader client base than firms where language is limited to English.
