New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

Approximately 300 residents of an 18-torey apartment building in Hackensack, New Jersey are still unable to return to their homes after a parking garage collapse last week. On Friday, the three-story parking garage collapsed, trapping one person inside his car. Fortunately, no one was injured in this accident. 

According to the Hackensack Fire Department, two thirds of the building columns have undergone inspection by structural engineers, and no problems have been found. The columns have been determined to be safe. The safety of the entire building, Prospect Tower had been called into question, after the parking garage collapse. According to the Fire Department, they are working on getting residents back into the apartment as possible. Residents had been evacuated immediately after the garage collapse. Some of them are now staying at hotels paid for by the building management, while others are boarded up with relatives.

Inspectors are not taking the collapse lightly. They have been busy conducting inspections of the other structures and buildings close to Prospect Tower. However, they advise that this is merely a precautionary measure, and that there is no real fear that any of the other buildings in the neighborhood are also at risk of any kind of collapse. After all, the safety inspections have been completed, an investigation into the causes of the collapse will begin.

Apartment residents have indicated that a water main leak could have been a factor in the collapse. A water main had been leaking for several months, and according to some residents, the leak was so bad that sometimes when they drove into the garage, they did so through a curtain of water.

Scott Grossman is a Freehold injury lawyer, representing injured victims of car accidents, premises liability accidents, slip and fall accidents and trucking accidents in Freehold, and across New Jersey.

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Researchers have compiled data obtained from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and found that elderly citizens are at a high risk for elevator injuries.

Most elevator injuries occur when the person is getting into the elevator or walking out of it. Elderly persons are likely to slip and fall when they perform these activities, with possibly fatal consequences. Another common cause of injury is when an elderly person gets his hand or leg caught in the closing elevator doors.

According to researchers, just over 50% of elevator injuries that involve older people are slip and fall accidents. Bruises and sprains are the most common injuries, accounting for 40% of all injuries, followed by fractures and cuts. Hip fractures were seen in approximately 40% of hospital admissions involving elderly people in elevator accidents.

The researchers have advice for senior citizens.  

• ·         Take your time to get into the elevator.  Don’t rush to get in.
• ·         Get the edges of the elevator painted a different color from the rest of the walls.
• ·         Make sure that your hands and legs are away from the elevator doors.
• ·         Also, take special care with your walkers and canes. These are likely to get jammed or stuck between elevator doors, with possibly serious consequences for you.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey slip and fall accident lawyer, representing injured victims of slip and fall accidents in Monmouth, Bergen, Passaic and Ocean Counties, and across the state of New Jersey.

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Two officers with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department have filed an injury lawsuit that names both Bergen County and an elevator maintenance company. The two men were injured in an elevator accident at the Hackensack Courthouse last year.

On the day of the accident, George Adamopoulos and Dennis Milnes got into the shaky elevator at the fourth floor at the courthouse. Suddenly, the elevator shook and fell. The two officers were trapped for about 15 minutes before they were rescued. Both officers were seriously injured in the accident, and still suffer from the effects of those injuries. Officer Adamopoulos required spinal surgery to treat a back injury. He has since retired. Officer Milnes suffered lower neck and back injuries that continue to plague him. He continues to be out of work.

The two men have now filed a lawsuit against B&G-Elevator Maintenance Co. which was responsible for the maintenance and repairs of the elevator. Bergen County is also named in the lawsuit.

The day the two officers were injured in the elevator was not the first time that someone had been injured riding it. In June 2008, two judges boarded the elevator to go down to the first floor. The elevator suddenly began to rumble, and fell. In yet another incident that occurred in 2009, another sheriff’s officer suffered serious injuries when the same elevator fell several floors, leaving them with back injuries. That officer was unable to return to work, and had to take early retirement.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey premises liability lawyer, representing victims of slip and fall accidents, assaults, rapes and other results of negligent security in Monmouth, Bergen, Ocean and Passaic Counties and across the state of New Jersey.

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Renowned CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has been named in a lawsuit filed by a New York City interior designer. The lawsuit arises out of a slip and fall accident that the designer blames on Cooper.

The accident occurred last September at Cooper's new home. The anchor had recently purchased a house that earlier used to be a firehouse. On the day of the accident, the interior decorator Killian O’Brien was at the home when she fell through a gaping hole that earlier held the fire pole. Apparently, someone had removed the covers of the hole before O'Brien arrived on the premises. It was a 17-foot fall for O’Brien, and she was injured. Her lawyer claims the fall could have killed her. O'Brien has filed a lawsuit against Cooper.  

Cooper may find that leaving his premises dangerously unsafe for visitors or guests, can be quite expensive. A 17-foot fall could have left O’Brien seriously injured, or even dead. This woman is extremely fortunate that the slip and fall accident did not result in more serious injuries.

A slip and fall accident can leave a victim suffering from serious injuries. These include

• ·         Concussions
• ·         Contusions
• ·         Fractures
• ·         Spinal cord injuries
• ·         Head injuries
• ·         Brain injuries
• ·         Sprains
• ·         Strains

The victim may require weeks and months of hospitalization, surgeries and extensive physical therapy and rehabilitation. There may be extensive losses, including medical bills and days lost from work.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey slip and fall accident lawyer representing victims injured in slip and fall accidents in the state of New Jersey.

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The city of New Brunswick and its outdated inspection laws are the focus of a new premises liability lawsuit filed by the family of a Monmouth County college student, who suffered serious injuries in a fall accident at a friend’s off-campus house in 2008.

Howell-resident Frank Ozello Jr. was standing on a second floor landing, leaning against the railing when the railing broke under his weight, and sent him crashing to the floor. He suffered critical injuries, and had to be placed in a medically induced coma. He suffered brain trauma, broke 6 of his vertebrae and suffered three skull fractures. Ozello spent 6 weeks at a brain trauma center. He has been recovering physically, but still shows signs of brain damage.

The house where the accident occurred had several violations, including damaged handrails, broken windows and a weak and unstable door stairway. After the accident, inspectors found that the property owner had installed a spiral staircase by removing ceiling joists.  This probably weakened the structural integrity of the home further. The owner of the house Monroe-resident Jason Cyrus, is also named in the liability lawsuit. Cyrus, who once lived at the property, moved out and converted the home into a rental property without informing the city. By doing so, he was able to escape mandatory property inspections every three years.

After Ozello’s scary fall, the city found approximately two dozen violations on the same property. Among these were illegal conversions of a basement and a attic into extra bedrooms, and absence of smoke detectors and fire alarms. The city has moved fast to declare the house uninhabitable.

It shouldn’t be this easy for a property owner to rent out a derelict, uninhabitable property to unsuspecting tenants, who may have no idea of how unsafe the property is nor of the property owner’s duty to maintain safe premises.  

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey premises injury lawyer representing victims who have been injured in slip and fall accidents, amusement park accidents, and dog bites, in the state of New Jersey. 

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As a New Jersey premises liability lawyer, it was very encouraging for me to read this report about a safe and fun summer season at New Jersey’s theme parks this year. For the first time in more than a decade, there were no injuries at any of the state’s amusement parks.

Last year, there had been 6 amusement park injuries that required hospital care, and more than 150 cases of bumps and bruises. This year, there were no serious injuries at all, and the number of minor injuries like bumps and bruises was lower at 147. According to Cynthia Wick, who is the director of the New Jersey Division of Codes and Standards, this year’s injury free summer at amusement parks was a result of several factors. These include training for employees on specific rides, and better coordination and monitoring of employee training. There have also been more detailed inspections of rides over the last few years. 

In 1997, which was one of the worst years for New Jersey theme parks, there were 24 people who suffered serious injuries. The following year, then-Governor Christy Whitman signed a bill calling for annual park inspections, and giving the state authority to close down unsafe rides and set tougher fines for operators.

These measures have helped bring about some control over those runaway injury numbers. In 1998, there were 16 serious injuries, and the following year that number dropped to 12. Not that tragedies have been unheard of since then. In 2005, a 14-year-old girl drowned at a theme park in Ocean City. The same year, a mechanic who was inspecting a ride in Lacey Township, suffered an electric shock, and died. Since then, however there have been no fatalities in our theme parks.

As a consumer, you can do your bit to avoid injuries in a theme park.

• Avoid old and poorly maintained rides.
• Observe the operator to see if he is competent.
• Avoid carnivals and amusement fairs, and other temporary rides that look shabby or old.
• Follow ride operators’ instructions.

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The results of a study released earlier this month, show that the number of fatalities from unintended injuries increased by 11 percent between 1999 and 2005. Most troubling of all has been the sharp increase in the number of people killed in accidental falls and poisonings.

Researchers at the John Hopkins School of Public Health say that there were approximately 20,000 more deaths from unintentional injury in 2005, compared to 1999. Approximately 89 percent of the increase in fatalities could be traced to two causes –

• Accidental poisonings in the age group of 15 to 64
• Fall accidents in those above 45 years of age

Poisoning death rates seem to have risen among all racial groups, but have doubled in Asian and Native American men. Among whites, the increase in poisoning deaths has been dramatic - there has been a 104 percent increase for men and a 172 percent increase for women. Most poisoning deaths, according to the researchers, can be traced to the abuse of prescription drugs. The spike in poisoning deaths has been easy to explain. During the study period, the use of opioid analgesic increased, enhancing the risk of addiction and abuse. 

In the case of deaths from fall accidents, the increase has been the most significant in whites above the age of 45. Drilling down further, the increase was much sharper for women than men. Rates for white women dying in fall accidents increased by 64 percent in the 45-64 age group, and 48 percent for women above 65 years of age. The researchers are at a loss to explain the increase in the number of fall accident deaths, and say further studies are necessary to identify the reason for this increase.

Scott Grossman is a Bergen County slip and fall accident attorney, representing victims of slip and fall accidents in Bergen County, and across the state of New Jersey. 

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