New York Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

For the last six decades, insurance companies have enjoyed immunity from federal anti-trust investigation and prosecution. On February 15th of this year, Senator Leahy (D. Vermont) announced a bipartisan bill that would give the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission the authority to apply antitrust laws to anti-competitive behavior by insurance companies. The insurance industry and its practices have come under serious scrutiny along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said Leahy, who has raised concerns that insurers have been denying claims and delaying payouts to residents along the Gulf Coast instead of honoring their contractual commitments to their customers and helping rebuild that region.

The concern of our legislators in introducing this bill is that by allowing the insurance industry to avoid the scrutiny of anti-trust regulation, this has led to price fixing, agreements not to pay, and market allocations. Americans rely on insurance, and they have the right to be confident that the cost of their insurance, and the decisions by their insurance carriers about which claims will be paid, reflect competitive market conditions, and not private agreements among major insurance companies to deny groups of claims.

Senator Trent Lott, not normally associated with issues such as consumer protection, noted: “One thing I learned coming out of Katrina is that the insurance industry is not subject to antitrust laws," Senator Lott said. “I've looked at the history, and there's no explanation for why that is - for why antitrust and price fixing in this industry are not covered by the federal government. In this regard, two of the area’s biggest home insurers – Allstate and State Farm – are moving out and abandoning the area. They are not moving out because the companies have hit on hard times -- State Farm profits increased 65% in 2006 with earnings of $5.3 billion and Allstate’s 2006 profits rose to a record $5 billion, nearly tripling its profits from the year before.

Continue reading "Senator Leahy Introduces The Insurance Industry Competition Act" »

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety analyzed the highest and lowest death rates for motor vehicles between 2002 and 2005. Interestingly, General Motors manufactured the automobile with the highest death rate as well as the vehicle with the lowest death rate, measured by driver deaths per million registered vehicles during the four-year span. The Chevy Blazer had the highest of any vehicle, with 232 driver deaths per million registered vehicles, followed by the Acura RSX with 202 driver deaths. The next highest death rate was found in the Nissan 350Z, with 193 deaths. The analysis was performed by dividing the reported number of driver deaths by the model's number of registered years.

The lowest number of deaths was recorded by the Chevrolet Astro minivan, with only seven deaths per million registered vehicles. This was followed by the Infiniti G35, BMW 7 Series and the Toyota 4Runner.

In a strange twist, General Motors no longer manufactures either the Chevy Blazer or the Astro.
There is certainly an open question as to other variables not considered by the Insurance Institute, including the age and gender of the of the drivers involved.. Further, statistically speaking, it is likely that a driver of a Chevy Astro minivan is more likely to be, for example, a mom with children in the car, and much more likely to avoid risk taking behavior than the driver of a Chevy Blazer. It is hard to fathom that a Chevrolet Blazer is over thirty times safer than the Astro.

Without question, the drivers of heavier vehicles such as SUV's and pickups are going to have lower death rates, even taking into consideration the driver profiles involved. With the cost of gasoline skyrocketing, automobile manufacturers are likely to make smaller vehicles in the future to improve gas mileage and make them more affordable to drive. However, based on the statistics of this study, it is an unfortunate fact that the smaller the vehicle, the more likely that there will be a commensurate rise in automobile death rates.

The right wing of the U.S. Congress has for years expressed concern about passing the far reaching immigration reform that President Bush has advocated. However, the irony is that there are multiple reasons why immigration reform would benefit the United States economy, the social security system, our education system, and our country's security--which these same Republicans would be in favor of if the issue of immigration was not part of the discussion.

The United States is at present the World's only military "superpower", and there is a huge financial cost to the government in maintaining that position. With our military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have strained our military's manpower and budget. Just think of it--if we were to give legal status to the approximately 20,000,000 undocumented immigrants already in the United States, many of whom are of military age and who meet the characteristics deemed desirable for soldiers, there would be a tremendous increase in the available pool of potential recruits.

Continue reading "Comprehensive Immigration Reform--Will It Happen?" »

In the last decade, the stretch of the New York State Thruway between exits 15 A and 16, a section of roadway approximately 13 miles in length, has claimed the lives of 25 people, the last three in March of this year. The irony is that the thruway in this area between Sloatsburg and Harriman, New York, which this writer travels regularly, is a pleasant, mostly straight and altogether unremarkable section of highway, looking every bit the prototypical interstate designed to take drivers quickly and safely from city to city.

After considerable analysis, state troopers and transportation officials cannot seem to find anything wrong with the roadway. “They are basically flukes,” said Sgt. James A. Whittel of the New York State Police, referring to the long string of deadly crashes. “It’s usually that the driver did something bizarre that causes the accident.”

In a March 17, 2006 automobile accident, on March 17, 2006, the driver of a minivan stopped in the middle of the right traffic lane to check a tire. A tractor-trailer slammed into the van, killing four people, including three children. It was the third of four crashes between Feb. 7, 2006, and June 18, 2006, that killed 10 people.

Continue reading "The Most Dangerous Section of the New York State Thruway" »

You've just been involved in a slip and fall accident , or you were in a bad car accident. Obviously, you must seek medical attention. However, there are several important do's and don'ts to be aware of, and if possible, some of these must be done right away, or the opportunity is lost.

Get the names of any witnesses. This can't be stressed enough. Especially if you are involved in a fall down accident, where the condition you fell on, be it ice, spilled liquid, or even a banana peel at the supermarket, might not be there ten minutes from now, or in an intersection accident, where you and the other driver both claim to have the green light, identifying witnesses and getting their names and phone numbers is critical. Armed with the names of objective witnesses who observed the large patch of ice, who saw the condition of spilled detergent and heard the supermarket manager say to her employee: "I thought I told you to clean that up an hour ago", or who saw that you had the green light, your case is much stronger.

If you are physically able, and have a camera phone, or access to a camera quickly, take photographs of the condition. That icy patch could be gone in a half hour, either by the owner rushing out to place salt on an icy sidewalk or the store owner finally deciding that he will clean up that produce aisle.

Invariably, when you report your accident, an adjuster from some insurance company will call on the premise that he or she is just concerned about "how you are doing", and they'd like to record a statement from you "with your permission." You must, and this cannot be stressed enough, hang up the phone and refuse to do so. This adjuster has been trained in the art of asking questions designed to place the blame of the accident solely on you--i.e., so you were running really late for school, work, or your dental appointment, and you weren't paying as much attention to the ground as you might normally do, huh?" You must hang up the phone, and let your attorney handle this call--this is what we are trained to do.

Continue reading "The Do's and Don't After A New York Accident" »

What is No-Fault coverage and what am I entitled to under it?

Regulation 68 requires that "in the event of an accident, written notice setting forth details sufficient to identify the eligible injured person, along with reasonably obtainable information regarding the time, place and circumstances of the accident, shall be given by, or on behalf of, each eligible injured person, to the applicable No-Fault insurer, or any of their authorized agents, as soon as reasonably practicable, but in no event more than 30 days after the date of the accident, unless the eligible injured person submits written proof providing clear and reasonable justification for the failure to comply with such time limitation."

You should file your claim with the insurance company which covers the car in which you were an occupant (either as passenger or driver) or, if you were a pedestrian, with the car that injured you.

What do I do if my expenses exceed the $50,000 available under No-Fault?
Ans: When the basic No-Fault benefits are consumed, you may apply for Additional No-Fault (Additional PIP) benefits either from the vehicle you occupied or any auto policy of a related member of your household. Additional PIP is an optional coverage which is usually not expensive.

Continue reading "Summary of New York No-Fault Law Provisions" »