The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

Construction workers, by the very nature of their work, face some extremely dangerous conditions day in and day out. Especially those who work on high-rise buildings such as those found on every block in New York City. Crane accidents are one type of construction accident you hear about in the news as construction workers are required to work on buildings that are hundreds of stories tall. Construction accidents often result in catastrophic personal injuries and death.

The New York City construction accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm have represented countless construction workers following work-related accidents, injuries, and deaths. We can help you, too, if you have suffered a serious injury, or have lost a loved one due to a construction accident in New York.

The causes of construction accidents are numerous and include:

• Falls from scaffolds or roofs
• Explosions/fires
• Unsafe equipment
• Chemicals
• Electrical incidents
• Being struck by falling objects
• Careless behavior
• General unsafe working conditions
• Not receiving proper training on the use of specialized equipment
• Poor supervision

Construction accident cases are often very complicated and involve several parties. If you were injured on the job, you may be entitled to workers' compensation benefits, and if you receive benefits, you cannot sue your employer. However, if you collect workers' compensation, you can sue a third party who contributed to your injury such as the manufacturer of a faulty piece of machinery that caused an injury such as a loss of limb or broken bones. After hearing the details of your injury, our experienced, knowledgeable construction accident attorneys can advise you on how best to proceed with a claim.

If you live in the New York City area and have been injured in a construction accident, please contact the New York branch of The Cochran Firm today to schedule a confidential, no-cost consultation.

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A double-decker bus crashed into a railroad bridge that did not provide the height needed for the bus to safely pass under. The bus fell on its side after hitting the bridge killing 4 passengers. At least 17 passengers were sent to a local hospital following the bus accident in New York.

Reports of the bus accident indicate that the 59-year-old driver took the wrong exit off the highway and found himself on an unfamiliar road without a place to pull over or turn around. Officials are unsure how the driver missed the warning signs and flashing lights indicating that the clearance under the bridge was only 10 feet, 9 inches. The bus driver was not under the influence of alcohol or any controlled substance.

This New York bus accident may have several possible causes. The driver could be at fault if he was driving while distracted or driving while exhausted. Government entities that maintain the roads may be at fault if the roads were inadequately marked or if the warning signs for the bridge’s clearance were not readily visible. An experienced New York bus accident lawyer has the knowledge and resources to figure out who was at fault, especially if a wrongful death occurred.

No matter what party or parties were at fault, you are entitled to compensation if you or a loved one was involved in a bus accident and suffered a personal injury. Please contact the Cochran Firm today to schedule an evaluation of your case in New York, New York.

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There is no sadder event in life than the untimely death of someone you love. If that unexpected death was caused by someone else’s negligence or wrongful actions, you may be eligible for financial compensation to meet the challenges that lie ahead without the comfort and support of the one you love.

A wrongful death can be the result of an automobile accident, medical malpractice or negligence, a death caused by a defective product, pharmaceutical or medical device, a fall caused by unsafe conditions on someone else’s property or a work-related incident among others.

You may be able to recover money for your loved one’s medical expenses prior to death, their pain and suffering, lost income, mental anxiety and emotional distress family members have had to endure, the loss of support and companionship of the deceased and the loss of their future financial support, along with their funeral and burial expenses.

Our wrongful death attorneys at The Cochran Firm will review all evidence regarding the cause of death in order to determine how to prove fault or negligence in an effort to maximize the financial compensation you are able to receive.

If you live in the New York, New York area and you have lost someone you love to a wrongful death, please contact the experienced wrongful death attorneys at The Cochran Firm today to protect your legal rights and get the financial compensation you need for your future.

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Every twenty-three seconds someone in the United States is the victim of a brain injury. The consequences of a traumatic brain injury can be overwhelming, challenging and expensive. Everyone in the family suffers when a loved one endures a traumatic brain injury. No matter how the brain injury occurred, every brain injury can be serious, debilitating and even life-threatening.

A wide variety of symptoms can manifest themselves after a traumatic brain injury, such as slurred speech, paralysis, profound confusion, memory loss, changes in personality and difficulty swallowing and breathing.

Although no amount of money can reverse the damage a traumatic brain injury causes, a fair settlement can provide you with the necessary resources for the long term rehabilitation and medical care and treatment which is often necessary in the case of a traumatic brain injury.

The experienced traumatic brain injury attorneys at The Cochran Firm have the skill and knowledge to represent our brain injured clients in their fight to get fair and just financial compensation for the devastating injuries they have suffered. We have the resources required to hire scientific experts and investigators to build a convincing case that substantiates the facts surrounding your injury.

If you or someone you love has suffered a devastating traumatic brain injury in New York, New York or the surrounding area, please contact the caring and compassionate traumatic brain injury attorneys at The Cochran Firm today to protect your legal rights and get the financial compensation you need and deserve.

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Defective consumer products can be an annoyance or cause life-threatening injuries and wrongful deaths. A defective consumer product can encompass a can-opener that doesn’t open cans effectively or a defective medical device that causes serious harm and fatalities.

Thousands of Americans are injured every day and suffer traumatic brain injuries in automobile accidents caused by defective tires, severe burns in fires caused by flammable materials used in clothing and furniture, heart attacks and strokes caused by dangerous and defective drugs and our children die in cribs, strollers and baby slings that become instruments of death even when used according to the directions.

The defective consumer products attorneys at The Cochran Firm understand your frustration and have the experience and knowledge to bring those responsible for these life-threatening and life-ending injuries to justice. If you have been the victim of an injury suffered from the use of a defective consumer product, you may be eligible for financial compensation for your pain and suffering, disfigurement, lost income, rehabilitation costs and lost future earning potential.

If you live in the New York, New York area and you have been injured by a defective consumer product, please contact the experienced defective consumer product attorneys at The Cochran Firm today to protect your legal rights and get the financial compensation you deserve.

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Toxic torts are legal cases that refer to injuries caused by the exposure to toxic substances because of the negligence of chemical manufacturers, distributors or users of toxic chemicals. In a toxic tort, the people who were injured by exposure to the toxic substance are the plaintiffs and the people whose negligence caused the exposure and injuries are the defendants.

Some toxic substances involved in recent toxic tort cases include asbestos, pesticides, toxic waste products, paints, benzene and fertilizers. These toxic substances are found in the environment, home and workplace.

Diseases that can occur after exposure to toxic substances include, but are not limited to mesothelioma, silicosis, leukemia, lung diseases, aplastic anemia and Hodgkins disease.

Despite the difficulty of proving responsibility in a toxic tort case, the effort may gain you compensation for your pain and suffering, disabilities, medical expenses, emotional stress, loss of enjoyment of life or the death of a loved one. Proving responsibility can also result in protection for your community by forcing the polluters to stop their damaging activities and punishing them with large monetary losses.

If you know or suspect a toxic exposure in your environment, home or workplace has caused serious injury to you or someone you know, please contact the experienced toxic tort attorneys at The Cochran Firm in New York City today.

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When a doctor, nurse, midwife, anesthesiologist or healthcare facility fails in their obligation to provide adequate care during labor and deliver, or the prenatal and postnatal periods, and the result is a devastating birth injury, the entire family is confronted with a situation they never envisioned.

The tragic outcome of a medical error at this critical time can never be undone, but financial compensation to assist a family struggling to meet the needs of their injured child is available. A medical error during this particular time can cost hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, in order to cope with the life-long effects of a birth injury. Birth injuries can mean multiple surgeries, a lifetime of nursing care, recurring medical conditions, limited expectations and other issues that may arise during the infants' lifetime.

The birth injury lawyers at The Cochran Firm are committed to ensuring families get the financial compensation they need to pay for medical bills, nursing care, occupational and physical therapists, medications, durable medical equipment and electronic devises that help them cope with the overwhelming requirements of children with birth injuries.

If you live in the New York area and you suspect medical errors before, during or after the birth of your child caused your child to suffer a birth related injury, please contact the experienced birth injury attorneys at The Cochran Firm today to make sure your child's needs are taken care of now, and in the future, even after you are no longer there to provide that care.

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Medical malpractice can occur anywhere and anytime you or someone you care about is injured as a result of a healthcare professional's negligence. The effects of medical negligence and medical malpractice are often life-altering, long term and can even result in wrongful death, but not every bad result experienced by a patient means that medical malpractice has occurred.

Risks and complications are frequently experienced by patients as a normal course of events in the care and treatment of illnesses, diseases or medical conditions. Most risks and complications are unfortunate and unintended risks of a certain procedure, disease or medical condition and not considered to be medical malpractice.

However, believing you were a victim of medical malpractice and proving it in a court of law is a complicated and challenging task. The medical malpractice attorneys at The Cochran Firm are highly qualified and up to that difficult task. Our medical malpractice attorneys have the medical and legal resources to acquire documentation of the events surrounding the incident of medical malpractice and will retain the most sought after expert witnesses on your behalf to support your allegations of medical negligence and malpractice.

If you believe you or someone you care about was harmed because of the negligence of a healthcare provider and you live in the New York area, please contact our highly skilled medical malpractice attorneys at The Cochran Firm today to protect your legal rights and hold those responsible legally accountable.

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Defective vehicles can cause accidents that result in catastrophic injuries that may include traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, multiple fractures, severe burns and deaths. Automobile manufacturers can be held legally liable for these injuries and deaths when a defective vehicle is involved.

Many automobile accident injuries and deaths are caused by defective vehicles and defective vehicle parts. Automobile manufacturers have a legal and moral obligation to ensure their vehicles are crashworthy and can protect the occupants in the event of a collision. Unfortunately, many vehicles rollover too easily, have inadequate roof supports, defective airbags and seatbelts, faulty ignitions, malfunctioning brakes and gas pedals and other safety defects.

Defective vehicle accident victims are often not aware that a defective vehicle or defective car part may have caused their accident. Indications that a defective vehicle or defective part may have caused your accident is the vehicle rolled over, the roof collapsed, there was a fire or explosion immediately following the crash, a tire failed, the car doors came open during the accident, you were thrown from the vehicle or airbags did not deploy.

The Cochran Firm fights for the rights of our clients and we believe every automobile accident should be investigated to determine if defects in the vehicle caused the accident and contributed to the injuries or wrongful deaths.

If you believe you have been the victim of an accident caused by a defective vehicle, please contact the New York office of The Cochran Firm today to learn how to protect your legal rights and whether you are entitled to financial compensation.

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Train operators and their employers have an obligation to ensure safe passage for passengers, but train accidents do happen for many reasons, including engineer negligence, poor rail maintenance and operator error.

If a train operator is negligent and fails to deliver passengers in a safe manner, injures motor vehicle occupants in a collision or harms pedestrians, the train operator and train company may be found negligent and legally liable according to the laws of the state of New York.

The most common types of train accidents are collisions with motor vehicles at railroad crossings, collisions between trains, derailments and incidents involving pedestrians. People injured on the New York Subway System are usually injured by slipping and falling and collisions with other subway trains caused by human error.

Train operators and railroad employees have an obligation to the traveling public to protect the safety and well-being of their passengers by maintaining equipment and following all safety regulations and protocols. Defective railroad equipment such as faulty railroad crossing gates and signals, along with train operator error can result in catastrophic injuries and wrongful death.

The laws surrounding New York train accidents are complex, so it is important to have an experienced New York train accident attorney at The Cochran Firm working for you to ensure your rights are protected. Whether you were injured in train or subway accident, The Cochran Firm has the experience and dedication to seek the maximum financial compensation for your injuries and losses.

If you live in the New York area and you were injured in a train or subway accident, please contact The Cochran Firm today for a no cost to you confidential consultation.

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According to the United States Department of Transportation there are over 170 people killed in truck accidents on New York roads every year with more than 2,000 people seriously injured. In spite of strict government regulations regarding driver training, truck safety and safety procedures, truck accident injuries and fatalities cause devastation to victims and their families.

Due to the tremendous size and weight of these trucks on the road today, they create enormous amounts of energy as they travel at highway speeds. As a consequence collisions with these trucks cause serious injuries or death to those unfortunate occupants of smaller passenger vehicles involved.

Common causes of truck accidents are overloading or improper loading of cargo, poor tire and equipment maintenance, defective or poorly designed roadways, poor driver training, driver fatigue, unsafe speeds and driving while impaired.

The wide spectrum of possible causes of a truck accident makes determining the cause of a truck accident a difficult job for anyone other than an experienced and knowledgeable truck accident attorney who understands the complexities involved. The Cochran Firm has experts in all fields of truck accident investigation available to assist their clients in obtaining the best possible legal representation when confronting the trucking industry in litigation regarding an accident with one of their trucks.

If you have been in an accident involving a truck in the New York City and surrounding areas, please contact The Cochran Firm today to get the legal representation you deserve.

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Product liability laws are designed to protect consumers against negligence so a consumer who is injured by the use of a defective product can receive financial compensation for injuries or damages from the manufacturer or distributor of the defective product.

Damages for defective consumer product injuries can include payment for pain and suffering, disability and disfigurement, lost income, rehabilitation costs and any other expenses incurred as a result of injuries sustained in the use of the defective product.

Defective consumer products are often the cause of the initiation of a wrongful death lawsuit. As an example, defective tires are a well documented cause of a defective product being responsible for a fatal automobile accident. In another tragic example defective toys can maim and kill. Children have been injured or killed due to choking hazards, flammable or sharp toys or toys contaminated with lead.

If you or someone you care about has been injured or killed by the use of a defective consumer product, it is in your best interest to consult a product liability attorney as soon as possible as there is a time limit in filing a claim against the manufacturer or distributor of the defective product.

Please contact the New York, New York office of The Cochran Firm today so the highly skilled and knowledgeable product liability attorneys and their investigative teams can work together to protect your legal rights and get you the financial compensation you deserve.

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Thousands of homeowners across the country who bought homes constructed with defective Chinese dry wall are finding their dreams of homeownership turning into a nightmare. Defective Chinese dry wall emits fumes that smell of rotten eggs and corrode electrical systems, destroy copper piping, televisions, heating and cooling systems, blackens jewelry and silverware and causes pain and suffering to the human body in the form of headaches, respiratory and sinus problems, nosebleeds and eye irritation.

To add insult to injury, the homeowners have discovered that their insurance claims are being denied and they are being told their policies will not be renewed until the defective Chinese dry wall problem is fixed. The removal of the defective Chinese dry wall presents a whole new set of problems, because when it is removed, it emits even more noxious fumes.

During 2004 to 2008 American construction companies imported millions of pounds of Chinese dry wall because it was cheap and plentiful. More than five-hundred million pounds of dry wall from China was imported into this country; enough to build tens of thousands of homes.

The problem of defective Chinese dry wall is a complex problem that involves international companies, builders and insurers. Never before has the need for an experienced defective product attorney like those at The Cochran Firm been so essential.

Please contact The Cochran Firm without delay if you have been affected by imported Chinese dry wall so our experienced attorneys can advise you on how to proceed to protect your legal rights.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has raised concerns that the popular weight loss drugs, Xenical and Alli containing orlistat, may cause serious liver damage.

Xenical is a prescription medication that contains 120 mg. of orlistat and Alli is an over-the-counter medication that contains 60 mg. of orlistat. Both Xenical and Alli are to be used with a reduced calorie, low-fat diet to produce weight loss.

Xenical is manufactured by Roche Pharmaceuticals and Alli is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and together they have generated almost $200 million in sales.

Reports of serious liver damage have surfaced with the use of orlistat including liver failure, with symptoms such as fatigue and weakness, fever, jaundice, abdominal pain, brown urine, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and light-colored stools.

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with liver failure, liver damage, liver inflammation, lesions on the liver or hepatitis after taking the potentially defective drugs Xenical or Alli, you should consult an attorney as you may be entitled to financial compensation for the damage you have suffered.

If you live in New York or the surrounding area and you have taken Xenical or Alli, even if you are not having symptoms at the present time, please contact The Cochran Firm today to learn all you can about this disturbing situation and speak with an experienced defective pharmaceutical attorney, at no cost to you.

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Wrongful death is a legal term used to describe the death of an individual who has died due to the negligence or misconduct of another individual and that the death entitles the victim's survivors to be financially compensated for their loss.

Of course, it is known that nothing can ever replace a loved one or make amends for that loss. This fact leaves the legal system with only one resource to bring justice and some measure of comfort to the survivors and that is assessing monetary damages on the responsible individual.

Financial compensation in a wrongful death claim may include payment for medical, funeral and burial costs, payment for the deceased's pain and suffering prior to death, loss of financial support for the survivors along with any future earning potential assessed and the pain and suffering of the survivors that is experienced due to their loss.

The laws governing wrongful death claims are very complicated and there are time limits involved in filing a wrongful death claim. An experienced wrongful death attorney has the knowledge to evaluate your claim and assist you through the process of obtaining justice for you and your loved ones.

If you live in New York City or the surrounding area, and you have lost a loved one due to the negligence or misconduct of another individual, please contact an experienced and highly qualified wrongful death attorney at the New York City office of The Cochran Firm today to schedule a confidential consultation, at no cost to you, to discuss the course of action to take to secure your legal rights and get you the financial compensation you deserve.

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On Sunday, a woman driving a minivan with two of her children and three nieces got on the Taconic State Parkway traveling the wrong direction. She hit another car head-on, then went sideways into a third vehicle before rolling down an embankment and bursting into flames. But this car accident was not an isolated incident. It was the second crash that day involving a vehicle traveling the wrong direction on the Taconic State Parkway. Could a defective roadway have contributed to both these crashes and the wrongful death of 8 people, including 4 children?

The Taconic State Parkway was begun in 1927 as the "Bronx Parkway Extension," after the route was approved by the New York State Legislature in 1923. Construction on the highway continued through 1963, linking homes in the scenic New York countryside with New York City. However, rapid population growth along the highway has also dramatically increased traffic. Some communities along the highway saw growth of 25% or more from 1990-2000, and along with them traffic on the highway grew over 200% in one section from 1978-1998. This increased traffic caused the New York State Department of Transportation to launch a program of closing crossings and instituting road improvements in 2002-2003. However, a poll of New York Daily News readers indicates about a 50-50 split on whether the highway is still too dangerous.

Although police are still exploring contributing factors to the fatal crash, including the possibility that the driver was sick and disoriented, the fact remains that old roadways can become extremely dangerous when population growth contributes to increased traffic. If you were injured or lost a loved one in a car accident on a dangerous road, the New York personal injury lawyers at The Cochran Firm are prepared to help you. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

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