Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

As winter sets in, there is a dramatic increase in roadway car and truck accidents due to “black ice." Recently a case was settled for $705,000 when an individual driving a pickup truck slid on an approximately 300 foot stretch of black ice resulting in a head on collision with a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. The catastrophic injuries included blunt trauma to the face, chest, and arms, broken nose, fractured left clavicle, fractured right humerus, fractured left femur, and a fracture of the right patella requiring multiple surgeries. The plaintiff sued the municipality alleging that negligent design of the road permitted the formation of black ice, posing a known hazard to motorists. Plaintiffs contended that the improper design of the roadway and the adjacent culverts caused water from a large paved area to drain into a depression in the road resulting in a pooling of water which was tracked and sprayed across the roadway by passing traffic until it froze to form black ice.

At the experienced Philadelphia car accident law firm of Reiff & Bily, we find that many multi-vehicle accident and single vehicle accidents take place on state and local roads as the result of roadway design defects. Approximately 20% of all vehicle accidents are caused by a roadway defect. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other local Pennsylvania entities can be held liable for car and truck accidents or injuries that occur as a result of improperly designed or maintained roadways.

The Philadelphia defective roadway design law firm of Reiff & Bily has extensive experience investigating defective roadway cases and have available to them the best team of roadway and highway design experts, engineers, surveyors, illumination, and warning experts, and accident investigators necessary to expose negligence on the part of the responsible bodies or entities for roadway design defects. If you are involved in a collision due to black ice on a highway where water accumulates, an experienced car accident attorney should investigate the roadway for negligent design which permitted the formation of black ice.

Last year a client of ours, a registered nurse, was leaving work from her employer’s leased property at approximately 7:00 p.m. in February when it was dark and temperatures were below freezing. The slip and fall occurred on an icy handicapped ramp several days after two major February snow storms. Our investigation and slip and fall expert analysis indicated that during the day the sun was shining on the roof and the roof’s gutters, causing icicles to melt and water to accumulate on a handicapped ramp.

The ice buildup was a chronic problem putting the landlord on notice of a potential for hazard and resulting injury. It also appeared that the rooftop drainage system was not properly maintained as required by Pennsylvania and County maintenance code which stated that the roof water shall not be discharged in a manner creating a health or safety hazard and that all walkways shall be maintained free from hazardous conditions, particularly a ramp or walkway to be utilized by handicapped individuals. It is also important to note that this slip and fall took place in the dark on a cold February evening several days after two major February snow storms. During the day, the sun would shine on the ice accumulation on the roof and icicles that are formed along the roof line above the handicapped exit ramp and would melt the water which would drip below onto the ramp and freeze when temperatures dipped at night creating an extraordinarily hazardous condition. The lessor was put on notice multiple times regarding the hazardous site condition and failed to use reasonable and appropriate care to rectify the dangerous condition in a timely manner.

The experienced Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers at Reiff & Bily pled in the case that the property owner and management agents were obligated by code to repair the defect. The plaintiff sustained permanently catastrophic injuries requiring a cervical fusion and extensive hospitalization; the plaintiff was unable to work.

If you or a loved one has sustained a serious and permanent injury as a result of a premise liability case or slip and fall on ice or snow, please contact one of our experienced Philadelphia slip and fall and premise liability lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation. Of course, we always offer a no recovery, zero fee guarantee which means if we do not make a recovery on your behalf, you don’t owe us a dime. We have a track record of over 30 years of successful results in handling Pennsylvania slip and fall and premise liability cases. Please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

A confidential settlement has been made between the Marriott Hotel and a woman identified as Jane Doe who was sexually assaulted in the Stamford Marriott parking lot in front of her children at gunpoint. The assailant was a native of Danbury, CT and a transient carpenter and had evidently roamed the Marriott parking garage looking for victims before targeting a then 40-year-old mother. A report was made indicating that another woman called the police reporting that a man matching the assailant’s description had been following her around the garage approximately an hour before the attack. Another woman reported that her ATM card was stolen from the garage that afternoon. The complaint filed alleged that the assailant had been in the hotel garage acting suspiciously for days leading up to the sexual assault and further that hotel security staff failed to notice him or make him leave. According to a deposition in the case, the hotel had no security director or internal security police at the time of the assault. Lawyers hired by Marriott attempted to claim that the victim was careless and negligent and failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children. Safety and privacy of hotel and motel guests should be the top priority for owners and operators of hotels, particularly Marriott.

As an experienced inadequate and negligent security lawyer who has handled a number of inadequate security cases involving assaults and attacks at hotels and apartment houses, I am all too familiar with situations involving poorly lit corridors, tunnels, nooks, crannies, parking lots, and other areas where crimes can easily be committed. In the case at hand, the prior behavior of the assailant, which was reported to the hotel staff, should have led them to take action to investigate and remove him from the premises. The fact that the hotel had no security director or internal security police is a significant factor in determining liability. Of course, each case is unique. If you or a loved one has sustained an injury or assault while in a hotel or apartment house, it is important to contact an experienced inadequate security and hotel attack lawyer who has the resources and investigators to carefully analyze the circumstances of the injury and work with the appropriate law enforcement officials. It is important to examine past incidents of criminal abuse at the location and surrounding areas that should have put the property owner on actual or constructive notice that the facility was potentially dangerous to customers and visitors.

Earlier this summer, I decided to take a trip with my wife to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I purchased a ticket on Orbitz and also purchased separately on the same website travel insurance from “Access America" on behalf of my wife. At the time of the trip, my wife was medically unable to travel under doctor’s orders and after the trip, promptly submitted an insurance claim for the unused flight ticket in the amount of $300 to Access America supplying both the requested ticket value and written doctor verification stating inability to travel. Always giving one excuse after the other, Access America has repeatedly failed, refused, and neglected to pay the claim and denies payment on the basis of senseless objections.

Insurance policies are intended to protect one from life’s many mishaps and when you pay a premium, it is expected that you will get help when you need it from the insurance company. Pennsylvania law recognizes that the objective of an insurance company is to protect you rather than to avoid paying justified claims and improve their own profits. In a bit of curiosity, I went to the website www.travelinsurancereview.net/access-america-travel-insurance/ and noticed that I was not alone in my difficulty getting payment for my claims. Individuals had referred to this company as “bogus," “slimy," and in the approximately 175 reviews that I read, it appeared to me that there was an overwhelming number of negative reviews. Personally speaking as an attorney who has battled insurance companies for over 30 years, I have decided to file a lawsuit against this company on behalf of my wife in an attempt to prevent others from being taken advantage of in a similar fashion. Consumers need to be protected from companies like this who apparently seem to thrive on aggressive and abusive claim denial as evidenced by their actions of deny, delay, and defend.

During the Philadelphia Eagles/Chicago Bears game on Sunday, November 28, 2010, a young man fell 20 feet to his death from a ledge at Soldier’s Field. Just a week earlier a 2-year-old boy died when he fell from a luxury box at the Staples Center during a Los Angeles Lakers game. As an experienced premise liability and slip and fall lawyer since 1979, I have been asked by friends, who would be responsible in such a circumstance.

In my 31 year history as a slip and fall lawyer, I have represented several individuals who fell from balconies, from apartment houses and hotels. In Pennsylvania and most other states, persons who sustain a wrongful death or catastrophic injury due to an unsafe condition on another’s property may have a case to recover monetary compensation. The first step in each of these cases is for an experienced premise liability lawyer and his investigative team to inspect the premise for defects, namely: uneven surface areas, loose electrical cords, liquids, defective stairs, defective design, loose handrails, improper lighting, improper maintenance, or failure to warn of a dangerous condition.

Other factors that need to be considered are: was there a hazard and had it been complained about in the past? Was there something that the property owner should have known was dangerous, and did the property or premise owner use reasonable care to keep the property safe? Could a notice or warning have been created to warn of potential danger and did poor or broken lighting contribute to the accident? Often when I climb to the heights in stadiums sometimes I become very dizzy and disoriented. Often I am quite curious why many more people do not fall to their death or suffer a catastrophic injury.

Our hearts and prayers go out to those who were injured or killed as a result of these falls at recent sporting events. Their families would best be served by having their claim fully investigated with the assistance of an experienced slip and fall or premise liability lawyer in order to receive monetary compensation, as well as to possibly and hopefully prevent deaths or injuries to others who may fall under similar circumstances if there is a defect or unsafe condition.

As an experienced Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyer since 1979 who has witnessed almost everything that can go wrong in a hospital environment, I concur with many doctor and nurse friends of mine who simply state that hospitals are not the safest environments to be in. In fact, being hospitalized may actually contribute to a more serious ailment or death.

Recently a study published by the New York Times on November 24, 2010 found no real progress in hospital safety. The study concluded that efforts to make hospitals safer for patients are falling short. The study was conducted over a time period of 2000 to 2007 among 10 hospitals and found that harm to patients is common and that the number of incidents did not decrease over time. The most common problems noted were complications from procedures and drugs as well as hospital acquired infections. A landmark study in 1999 found that almost a 100,000 people die from medical mistakes in hospitals and more than 1 million sustain injuries while hospitalized in the United States. In a recent government study, 134,000 Medicare beneficiaries experienced “adverse events" during hospital stays. Recent statistics indicate that over 25% of people who enter a hospital will suffer an injury due to faulty medical care or mistakes. Although many of the problems may not be serious and are temporary and treatable, over 43% of them required extra time in the hospital for treatment or additional medical concern.

Recently I met with a woman whose young and perfectly healthy husband entered the hospital for a routine medical procedure and died a week later due to a botched simple procedure resulting in infection and equipment failure.

As a Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorney, I do believe that those who commit malpractice or commit medical errors that were easily preventable should be held accountable for their actions and there should be consequences. Although we have heard much about tort reform, medical malpractice lawyers are the unsung heroes of society in that they police the system with full attention to the wrongdoers. With enough attention, sanctions can be imposed to ultimately lead to more stringent and careful medical care.

If you or a loved one has sustained catastrophic injury or wrongful death as a result of medical or hospital malpractice, please contact one of our experienced Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation. As always, if we decide to take your case you do not have to pay us a fee unless we win. Contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

As 2010 comes to a close and the holidays are quickly approaching, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued loyalty, confidence, and trust, and wish you and your families a happy holiday season.

Christmas and the holiday season is generally about doing something extra for someone. At the Philadelphia catastrophic personal injury law firm of Reiff & Bily, we strive every day to make a difference in the lives of people who need our services. We have earned our reputation one case at a time. and we make a living by what we get for our clients but we really make and change lives by what we give.

May this holiday season wave a magic wand over your world and make everything softer and more beautiful.

Happy Holidays from Jeffrey Reiff, Raymond Bily, and our staff

Last Sunday morning in Manhattan at approximately 8:00 a.m., I was going to get a cup of Starbucks coffee when at approximately 72nd and Broadway I saw a cab traveling with a passenger go into a fast and violent skid and I heard a loud screech and saw sparks flying. Afterwards I looked across the street and saw a tire which flew off of the taxicab rolling across the street striking another moving vehicle. What was more frightening was that I just finished a case representing the driver of a car that had just been repaired at a well known tire manufacturer’s facility and the tire on that vehicle had also not been properly secured and also flew off at 65 mph causing a catastrophic accident on I-95.

As a Pennsylvania vehicle defect and tire defect lawyer who has handled thousands of catastrophic injury and death cases in Pennsylvania since 1979, this phenomenon is not as unique as one would think. If a tire is not installed properly and is not regularly inspected or maintained, it becomes a deadly weapon. Who is responsible for the injuries will depend on the history and circumstances surrounding why the tire came off the vehicle. In the case that I recently concluded, we were able to show by virtue of a receipt that the vehicle had just been repaired at a tire shop and sent on the highway less than 10 minutes before the accident. Many times a tire falls off due to a lug sheer caused by under-torque or over-torque or cross treading upon installation. Believe it or not, the repair facility denied liability and the case proceeded to court. Vehicle defects, detaching tires, and defective tires are serious business to innocent and unknowing victims.

If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury or wrongful death due to a tire defect, or improperly installed tire, please feel free to contact one of our experienced Pennsylvania vehicle defect and tire defect lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation. You can be sure that we will carefully evaluate and investigate your case and hold any of the wrongdoers responsible for monetary damages. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation and of course, we do not charge a fee unless we win your case. Contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently held that even a one inch high walkway defect may create liability when it spans multiple feet. As a practicing Pennsylvania slip and fall and premise liability attorney, I have seen my fair share of catastrophic injuries as the result of falls even on small deviations on surface areas. The Pennsylvania Superior Court decided in the case of Melchiorre v. Lord’s Valley Xtra Mart that although many property owners may not be responsible for extremely small irregularities on pedestrian surface and although no mathematical guideline for triviality exists, the Court will consider the length and general condition of the wider surface area. In this case, the plaintiff’s injuries arose from a concrete pad surrounding the pumps at a gas station. The plaintiff, Mario Melchiorre, brought a suit alleging negligence against the owners of the station after he tripped on the pad and suffered permanent injuries. At trial, the Court of Common Pleas in Pike County, Pennsylvania awarded summary judgment to the owners of the property based on the “trivial defect" doctrine. As an experienced Pennsylvania slip and fall and premise liability lawyer, I believe that this case will clear the paths to the courtroom for many plaintiffs as the Court takes a wider look at the entire situation where the slip and fall occurred and this case is a significant victory which encourages all property owners to keep every inch of their sidewalks safe.

If you have been involved in a slip and fall or premise liability accident, the experienced Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers of Reiff & Bily have been successfully representing claimants since 1979 with a successful track record. In fact, some of our most significant recoveries have involved slip and fall and premise liability accidents. For a free, no obligation consultation, please contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

According to a study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of accidental child death age 14 and under is car accidents. Approximately half of the children die in these accidents due to the fact that they are improperly restrained or unrestrained in the vehicle. The impact from an airbag is the leading cause of catastrophic injury and death to children.

As an experienced airbag defect lawyer, I am all too familiar with situations where children are placed too close to the airbag and not properly secured, causing a catastrophically dangerous situation when the airbag explodes. The force of the airbag deployment strikes the front seated passenger child with tragic consequences.

It is never a good idea to place your child in the front seat of a vehicle. Last year, more than 100 children were killed by inadvertent airbag deployment while sitting in the front seat of a vehicle. Medical experts suggest that no child should sit in the front seat of a vehicle until they are at least age 13. Some consumer safety organizations even recommend keeping the child in the back seat until he or she is ready to drive. Another major safety precaution if the child is seated in the back seat is to avoid the lap seat belt.

A lap seat belt is one that goes over the waist and is frequently found in older models. However, lap belts are often still found in newer vehicles in the rear middle seat. The problem with the lap belt is that in a sudden impact, the force of the belt on the child can cause massive and life threatening internal injuries by the child jackknifing over the belt. Jackknifing over a lap belt often results in fatal or severe abdominal injuries and spinal cord injuries and the victim’s head can strike the front seat back or center console causing additional closed head trauma or brain injury. Most consumer safety experts will state that the most effective way to secure a child in a vehicle is to use a combination lap and shoulder belt in the rear seat if the child is above the age requiring proper securing in a safe child seat.

The Pennsylvania vehicle defect law firm of Reiff & Bily has a successful track record representing consumers and their children injured as a result of defective airbags and lap seat belts. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation, and of course, we do not charge a fee unless we win your case. To learn more, please contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or call us for a free, no obligation consultation at 1-800-421-9595.

Any casual reader of the news understands that over the last few years the number of assaults and attacks on a small and large level has risen sharply when it comes to hotels. Most hotels offer easy access with a comparatively low security and inadequate measures. In a tightened economy, chances are many of the security guards have been improperly trained or are temporary. When people go to hotels they are generally there to relax and so they may not always have their guard up and often falsely assume that they are safer than at home. In this tightening economy, obviously the level of risk of an assault or an attack increases and therefore, in this inadequate security and hotel attack lawyer’s opinion, it is extraordinarily important to have visible security measures to deter an assault or an attack. I have even noticed false and inoperable closed circuit cameras in some hotels and motels which is just a joke. Anybody who is carefully planning an attack will normally be very much aware of this situation. If you are at a hotel and observe suspicious activity, you should notify the desk at once and make sure they act upon it.

If you or a loved one is injured at a hotel due to inadequate security, please feel free to contact one of the inadequate security and premise liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. Our record of success speaks for itself, and as always, we do not get paid unless we make a successful recovery on your behalf.

Darvon, a well known drug that has been on the market for 25 years and is used to relieve mild to moderate pain is being withdrawn from U.S. markets by the pharmaceutical company Xanodyne that manufacturers it due to serious safety concerns. The branded or generic version of the drug is also affected. According to the FDA, new clinical data indicates Darvon and Darvocet “puts patients at risk of potential serious or even fatal heart rhythms" and the risks are now outweighing the benefits.

Since 2007, over 20 million prescriptions have been written for the two drugs. Darvon and Darvocet are the brand name versions of propoxyphene and the FDA also requested generic makers of the pain medication voluntarily remove their products as well. The FDA has further recommended that physicians stop prescribing the drugs. Those who are currently taking Darvon and Darvocet should contact their healthcare professional. If you or a loved one has suffered or has sustained a catastrophic injury or wrongful death as a result of taking Darvon or Darvocet, please contact one of our Pennsylvania defective product lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation.

Earlier in November 2010, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Williamson v. Mazda Motor Company of America. In this case, the Court addressed the issue of Federal preemption. As a Pennsylvania auto product liability lawyer who has been representing individuals and families of individuals who have been killed or catastrophically injured as a result of manufacturers’ defects, I am somewhat concerned that the current Supreme Court may side with big business rather than the individual consumer.

In this case, the family of Thanh Williamson, age 32, sued Mazda Motor Corporation of America following a 2002 car accident that killed Ms. Williamson as she was riding in the rear aisle seat of the second row of a 1993 MPV mini van. At the time the mini van was manufactured, the seat belts in the back were lap seat belts. More specifically, they did not contain a shoulder harness and were permitted by law. The Williamson van collided with a Jeep that became detached from a motor home that was towing it. The collision forced a jackknife of the plaintiff’s body around her lap belt causing severe abdominal injuries and internal bleeding according to the filed lawsuit.

Arguments were made at the lower trial level that the law gave Mazda the option of selecting the safest design and that Mazda made the wrong decision that a safer alternative design existed and that the additional cost of the design was minimal (merely pennies per vehicle). In short, the family alleged that Mazda made the decision not to install the safest seat belts and put profitability ahead of consumer safety.

Chief Justice John Roberts, a Bush appointee, indicated that he would vote to limit lawsuits and reenforce a 2000 decision that shielded car manufacturers from some claims. Justice Stephen Breyer said he was inclined to defer to the federal agencies which said that standards shouldn’t shield car manufacturers from suits claiming they did not do enough to make vehicles as safe as possible. Interestingly enough, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan voluntarily recused herself from the case due to the fact that she felt it would be inappropriate for her to be involved in the decision since during her term as Solicitor General for President Obama she urged the Court to consider this case. If there is a deadlock or a tie in the vote, Mazda would win due to the fact that the opinion of the lower court of appeals would stand.

As a practicing Pennsylvania personal injury and product liability lawyer, I believe that lawyers are the unsung heroes and policemen of society in that they give juries a chance to speak out against manufacturers who produce unsafe products. With the rising number of lawsuits filed against automobile manufacturers in the last few years and the more recent number of lawsuits filed against Toyota, this is an important case for all of us to watch. I will be curious to read the final opinion of the Court.

A jury recently awarded millions of dollars to the estate of a 20-year-old and 17-year-old who were in their apartment when an intruder entered and fatally shot them. Although the crime remains unsolved, the mother of the slain siblings, on behalf of their estate, sued the company that owned and managed the premises alleging negligent security. Important to the decision is the fact that the plaintiffs offered evidence that for several months preceding the crime the complex front entrance gate was frequently broken and left open and that in the previous three years there were nearly 20 crimes permitted on the premises. Despite this factor, the plaintiffs claimed that management failed to properly warn tenants or properly repair the gate or make other safety provisions. They also contended that while the gate was broken, the complex should have posted a security guard at the entrance to check the identification of guests and record license plate numbers of entering vehicles, actions which would have deterred intruders.