Builders of NYC’s Subway Steps May Ignore Building Code, and Other Lessons From New Cases
So you’re attempting to navigate the steps leading down into one of NYC’s subway stations, and you fall and hurt yourself because the steps are of inconsistent heights, and there is no handrail within reach when you lose your balance. You bring a law suit, during which your expert testifies that the steps at issue [...]
Injury During Adversary’s Medical Exam is Med Mal, Not Negligence
In a decision issued June 24, 2009 by New York’s Court of Appeals, it found that a plaintiff who was injured by the defendant’s examining orthopedist–part of the discovery process in an auto accident case–can bring suit only for medical malpractice, and not standard negligence. This was the pivotal issue in Bazakos v. Lewis, NY [...]
Arons Authorizations: What They Can Say (in the Second Dept., anyway)
In Arons v. Jutkowitz, et al, 9 N.Y.3d 393, 850 N.Y.S.2d 345, 880 N.E.2d 831 (2007), New York’s Court of Appeals held that plaintiff could be compelled to authorize defense counsel to conduct ex parte, off-the-record interviews with non-party treating physicians, as long as a HIPAA-compliant authorization was utilized.
As helpful as that decision was in [...]