Queens Personal Injury Law Blog

Estate planning may be difficult to consider, but it's essential

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in Estate Planning on Friday, April 20, 2018.

A survey conducted by Caring.com in 2016 showed that only 56 percent of Americans questioned had either a living trust or will in place at the time.

Many legal experts suggest that individuals delay drafting estate planning documents because they want to avoid having financial or emotional conversations with their loved ones. Doing so ensures that your estate is handled according to your wishes. The creation of an estate plan takes tremendous pressure off of your loved ones at a time when they're grieving.

How do manufacturing and design defect cases differ?

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in Personal Injury on Friday, April 13, 2018.

Each year, countless Americans are injured or die as a result of using defective products.

Oftentimes, we hear about cars and how their faulty brakes, airbags or some other feature malfunctioned, resulting in a crash injury or death. We also often hear about toys and they were recalled because they posed an unknown choking hazard or some other type of potentially catastrophic defect. No matter what the product, we often don't hear about how dangerous it is until some time after it's already hurt someone.

An Astoria bicyclist is hit, dies 7 months later from injuries

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents on Friday, April 6, 2018.

A 59-year-old bicyclist with a prosthetic leg died on March 19, some seven months after having been hit and left to die by a motorist in Queens.

He'd been comatose since having been struck by a Mercedes-Benz on Aug. 17, 2017, at the intersection of 12th Street and 36th Avenue. That night, at around 11 p.m., the victim had been traveling back to his home in Astoria after having left work.

One of the biggest dangers on any construction site: Deadlines

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in blog on Thursday, April 5, 2018.

You know that your boss signed a contract when he or she took the latest construction job. All of the workers learned what the projected timeframe was when you started the job. You all know the schedule. You all know the deadline.

Did you know that that deadline can also become one of the biggest hazards to your health?

Your rights after becoming injured in a New York hotel room

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in blog on Sunday, April 1, 2018.

When becoming injured on a premises such as a shopping mall, restaurant or movie theatre, the rules are quite clear: It is the responsibility of the premises in question to ensure the safety of all of its guests, whether it is preventing slips and falls, to making sure all food and drinks are safe to consume.

However, when it comes to hotel rooms and premises liability, the rules can be a little different. This is because when you rent a hotel room in New York, the room itself becomes effectively your private premises for the night, and your privacy makes it quite difficult to prove that any injury which occurred inside a hotel room was not your fault.

A 34-year-old Queens construction worker dies from crush injuries

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in Personal Injury on Friday, March 30, 2018.

A 34-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant lost his life at a Queens construction site on Tuesday, March 13. The incident occurred right before 11 a.m. near the intersection of 150th St. and 89th Ave.

According to witnesses, one worker was down on the ground helping guide a large set of windows into place along the wall. The forklift operator apparently lost sight of the decedent for a short while, yet moved forward in placing the windows against the wall.

Factors to consider when setting up a special needs trust

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in Estate Planning on Friday, March 23, 2018.

If you take care of someone with special needs, then it's important for you to start thinking about how you'd like him or her to be taken care of in the future if something were to happen to you. It's particularly important that if he or she either plans to or is already receiving government benefits, that a special needs trust (SNT) be set up to ensure that can happen.

Most any parents, grandparents or legal guardians of any disabled individual that's under the age of 65 is eligible to set a SNT for their loved one. To do so, you'll need to pool any and all assets the disabled individual may have and be willing to set them aside explicitly for the use of that person.

A pedestrian is struck, killed by a mini-bus in Kew Gardens

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents on Thursday, March 15, 2018.

A 58-year-old Queens resident was struck as she crossed Kew Gardens Road at its intersection with 82nd Road this past Tuesday morning, March 13. The fatal pedestrian accident occurred just after 6:45 a.m.

According to police, the woman had been walking in the designated crosswalk when she was struck by a 24-year-old mini-bus driver. The bus's operator was apparently attempting to make a left turn to continue onto 82nd Road when she crashed into the woman.

Pool owners are responsible to keep their guests safe

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in blog on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.

As the winter weather begins to thaw, swimming pools and the enormous amount of fun they bring begin to enter our radars in New York. However, pools also present real dangers to visiting guests. Regardless of whether the pool is being used at any given moment, the owners of pools need to take precautions to keep visitors safe. The negligence of owners to take necessary safety precautions is not only an error in judgment, it's unlawful and will open up the pool owner to liability issues in the event of a serious accident.

Here are a few liability concerns that pool owners need to keep in mind:

Tax benefits are just 1 of the reasons to set up a trust

On behalf of Simon & Gilman, LLP posted in Estate Planning on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.

When it comes to revocable trusts, many look to them as a way of not having to pay as much in taxes. They offer quite a bit more in terms of benefits, though.

One of the reasons many decide to set up trusts is to ensure that their heirs won't have to endure a long, drawn-out probate process once they've passed. Trusts that are properly structured avoid this oversight altogether.