However, a spokesman for the Department of Motor Vehicles, NYDMV noted that there are substantially fewer fatal car accidents in New York per capita than in Idaho or Wisconsin, where drivers scored the best on the written driving tests. The New York DMV suggests that drivers go to the DMV website for information on defensive driving classes which can reduce points on your license and lower insurance payments.

To try out the written test yourself, go to the GMAC test page. For the record, I took the test and got an 80%, meaning that I missed 4 questions out of the 20. I must say that I was surprised to learn that you are permitted to pass on the right (obviously, everybody does it but I did not know it was legal) when traveling on a multi-lane highway carrying two or more lanes of traffic in the same direction--just shows that you can always learn something new!

1. Make sure to call the police. The other driver may ask you to "work it out between us", but that is always a bad idea, and will certainly hurt your prospects for a settlement with the other driver's insurance company if the accident was not reported.

2. Report all injuries to the investigating officer. Frequently, new clients come to our White Plains, New York office with a police report which states that "no injuries" were reported by either driver in the car accident. Insurance companies always refer to this in settlement negotiations, so don't let this happen to you.

3. Go to the hospital immediately and make sure that all of your injuries are noted by the triage nurse at the hospital.

4. If at all possible, get the names, addresses and phone numbers of any witnesses. Once you are taken for medical treatment, this information is very often lost forever and this can be absolutely vital to the success of your case.

5. Document the accident scene, the location of the vehicles, accident debris, the damage to your car, and any visible injuries with photographs. If you don't have a camera, use your cell phone if you can. This cannot be emphasized enough.

6. Treat immediately for your injuries to avoid insurance company claims that your injuries were not from the New York car accident.

7. Don't speak with the other driver's insurance company, and don't sign any papers or fill out any reports for the other insurance company.

8. Obtain the police report right away and if the other driver hasn't reported the accident, you or your lawyer must do so right away to preserve your rights.

9. Make sure you report the accident to your own insurance company to ensure that your no-fault coverage, which will pay for your medical treatment and lost wages, is immediately in effect.

10. Contact a New York personal injury lawyer immediately to represent you throughout the process, which is designed with many filing deadlines which must be met to protect your legal rights and insurance coverage.

The settlement must be approved by the Westchester County Board of Legislators, which was scheduled to vote on the settlement this week. It is expected that the Board will vote to approve the settlement; if not, the case would have to be retried, with the seven year old victim's family and lawyer determined to obtain a verdict on the heels of that vital testimony by Mr. Montalto.

Jon-Kely's death was the third at Rye Playland in the last five years. On May 22, 2004, 7 year old Stephanie Dieudonne, was thrown from the Mind Scrambler ride and killed. Three years later, 21 year old park employee Gabriela Garin was also killed on the Mind Scrambler, which has since been removed from the park.

The physician's assistant who performed the injection used a highly risky intravenous push technique, which allowed the drug to enter an artery, rather than the intravenous drip technique, the much safer method in which the drug is injected into liquid already flowing into a vein. Allowing the drug to enter the artery causes immediate and irreversible gangrene. Wyeth's lawyers requested that the Supreme Court set aside the verdict, attempting to rely on the fact that they had complied with FDA labeling requirements. (In a case last year against medical device manufacturers of heart defibrillators, stents, and artificial hips, the Court had ruled that federal law and FDA scrutiny prevented product liability lawsuits in state courts). However, in a decision written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the elder statesman and most liberal member of the Supreme Court, the justices determined that Wyeth's warnings were insufficient and should have made abundantly clear the dangers of serious injury if the drug was injected improperly.

The decision to allow state damage suits will undoubtedly cause manufacturers to use greater care in the production and labeling of their products. We would also expect a revisiting of last year's decision protecting device makers, which seems somewhat inconsistent with the Court's welcome decision protecting the public this week.

Philip Morris USA announced that they would appeal the verdict, certainly to be expected after a major verdict against the tobacco giant in the first of what will likely be thousands of cases in Florida. Back in 2006, the Florida Supreme Court threw out a 145 billion dollar jury award in a dangerous product class action suit filed in the early 1990's on behalf of 8,000 sick smokers. Undoubtedly, the Hess verdict will encourage the families of those 8,000 smokers to pursue their cases as well.

Compensatory damages are awarded for injuries including pain and suffering, lost earnings, loss of enjoyment of life, and medical bills. These type of awards are more likely to be upheld by an appellate court. Conversely, punitive damages, which as the name suggests, are imposed to "punish" the defendant for intentional or malicious conduct, are frequently either reversed or substantially reduced by higher courts on appeal.

At The Law Office Of Mark A. Siesel in White Plains, New York, we take these "IME's" very seriously, and instruct our clients exactly how to approach them so as to limit any potential damage to their case by the insurance company doctor's opinion. First, make sure that you have your watch with you, and something to take some notes at the conclusion of the examination. Here are the instructions to our clients:

1. When you are presented pages of an intake form requesting personal information such as your social security number and home address (totally for the doctor's convenience and with no benefit to you) write your name, age and injuries you suffered, and nothing else, and hand the form back to the receptionist;

2. Remember that this is not your doctor, and that his or her main purpose is to be able to write a report and testify in Court that you are either fully recovered, are not in any way disabled, and can return to work if you are not working. Thus, it is critical that when the doctor requests that you do certain tasks, such as walk on your toes or heels, touch your toes, lift your legs to a 90 degree angle from a sitting position or bend in some awkward way (all for the purpose of testifying that you have "normal range of motion"), YOU MUST STOP THE DOCTOR WHEN WHAT HE OR SHE IS DOING IS HURTING YOU! Take control of the exam in a firm fashion and let the doctor know that you do not want to reinjure your back, neck or other part of your body by the examination;

3. The doctor is entitled to ask you about your injuries, past related injuries, treatment you are undergoing and medications you are taking for your pain. If he or she begins asking questions such as what color the traffic light was, or if you were distracted when the accident happened, politely remind the doctor that he or she is supposed to be doing a medical examination, not cross examining you--that role is for the lawyers.

4. When you walk into the examination room, check your watch, and write the time down. Similarly, when the exam ends, jot down the time that it was completed. This is absolutely critical! The reason? Because these "IME's " are generally no more than 10 minutes, maybe 15 at the most. When we have the opportunity to cross examine this very wealthy IME doctor during your trial, imagine his or her surprise when they are confronted with the question: 'Doctor, how could you possibly have conducted a complete examination of my client when you began the exam at 10:54 AM and she left your office at 11:03? Believe me, these insurance company doctors have no good answer for that question.

The two basic types of dispute resolution in New York car crashes or New York slip and fall cases are mediation and arbitration. In a mediation, the two sides agree to an impartial mediator, usually a retired judge, and submit written submissions with their respective positions in the case. At the mediation, the judge listens to a brief statement from each side, then commences negotiating with both parties to try to work out a settlement. The parties are not obligated to agree to the judge's settlement recommendation, but in my experience, approximately 75% of cases do settle when they go to mediation.

In an arbitration, the big distinction is that unlike a mediation, the judge's decision is binding on the parties. The arbitration is similar to a mini trial, with parties questioning and cross examining witnesses, and testimony from experts such as treating doctors. Unless the judge makes a substantial error in his determination of the facts and the law, the decision in an arbitration is final. At The Law Office of Mark A. Siesel in White Plains, New York, we prefer mediation to arbitration and encourage our clients to consider mediation to resolve their case. Mediation is much faster than going to trial (often, a case can be mediated within the first year after the accident), much less costly (there is no need to have the treating doctor testify in Court, which in 2009, generally costs between $7,500 to $10,000), and the process is non-adversarial.

To know if you are driving distracted, take the following test: Have you ever slammed on your brakes because you didn't see the car in front of you stop? Run a stop sign unintentionally? Forgot entirely that you drove from one place to another? If so, you have been "driving while distracted."

The study identified the percentages of distracting activities that drivers engage in: 96% talk to their passengers; 89% adjust vehicle climate and radio controls; 74% eat a meal or snack; 51% use a cell phone; 41% tend to children; 34% read a map; and 19% groom themselves for work.

It is certainly a given that you will be speaking with your children in the car, but I have seen people shaving, putting on makeup, reading a map, making a cell phone call with no hands on the wheel, adjusting their radio, and turning around to speak with their passengers on many occasions, and have had to avert numerous wayward drivers due to these activities.

The best advice is to eat that snack, make that call, comb your hair and get your directions before getting on the car, so we can all be safer on the roads!

When the inflamed pancreas was not treated, Ms. Capwell suffered complications, and was placed on a breathing machine one week after admission to the hospital. The breathing machine caused an accumulation of air around the lungs, which prevented the lungs from expanding and contracting. Had doctors at the hospital used a chest tube to drain the air around the lungs, tragedy could have been averted, but instead, Ms. Capwell was kept attached to the ventilator, and went into cardiac arrest. She had no oxygen for approximately 12 minutes, causing irreversible brain damage, and Ms. Capwell died 11 months later, unable to speak or leave her bed.

Westchester Medical Center vowed to appeal the verdict, which came after a three week trial and one day of deliberations. Ms. Capwell's three daughters were 7, 9 and 11 when she died back in 2001.

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 210,000 people are admitted to U..S. hospitals annually for treatment of acute pancreatitis. With correct treatment, the condition usually resolves within a few days.

The plaintiffs sued Philip Morris under the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act, claiming that they had been injured by the deceptive advertising and marketing of cigarettes such as Marlboro Lights. The Supreme Court had to decide whether the plaintiffs had the right to sue at all considering the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, which was enacted in 1965 and required tobacco companies to place warnings on their packaging and advertising. The federal law had prohibited the states from making their own similar laws as to smoking and health based on the United States Constitution's Supremacy Clause, which states that when there are conflicts between federal and state laws, federal laws must prevail. The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, determined that the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was intended to prevent states from making their own laws about health problems from smoking, not to pre-empt laws such as Maine's which establish a general responsibility not to deceive consumers.

Naturally, the four judges in the minority, Scalia, Roberts, Alito and Thomas, sided with big business in claiming that that the Maine statute was essentially an attempt to get around the federal statute, and was instituted only to regulate smoking and health, not the deceptive business practices of Philip Morris. In a major victory for plaintiffs around the country, the decision will allow dozens of similar lawsuits to proceed in other states. Hopefully, the case will also start a trend by which ordinary Americans will be successful in holding corporations accountable for their dangerous practices.

Similarly, in a Brooklyn slip and fall accident, our client tripped and fell on a missing piece of concrete on an outdoor patio while at a engagement party, and suffered torn ligaments in her knee which required two surgeries to repair. The emergency department's description of the accident: "Recreational injury." This is an example of the damage emergency room personnel can cause to a personal injury case if they do not accurately record how the accident actually happened. Insurance claim representatives and defense attorneys rely heavily on the initial description of accidents in hospital charts, and if that description, as in this case, is both inaccurate and negates any responsibility on the defendant's fault, this has the effect of preventing an early settlement and extending litigation. Once again, we won at trial, but this was a case which never should have reached that stage.

Most recently, in a Westchester County car accident case, (which is presently being litigated), our client suffered a torn rotator cuff when another car went through a stop sign and struck the driver's side of our client's car. As our client was taken from the scene by ambulance before the police arrived, the police report does not contain our client's version of the accident. The emergency room nurse, despite being told by our client that the other driver disregarded a stop sign, wrote: "Patient injured in an intersection accident." This vague description, without any attribution of fault, again gives the defendant's insurance company a misplaced belief that the case may be defensible--how difficult would it have been for the nurse to accurately records what our client reported, that she was the victim of a driver who disregarded a stop sign?

What to do about this problem? There is no easy answer, since frequently, our clients do not know that the emergency room nurse misstated the cause of the accident until the hospital chart is requested by our office weeks or months after the accident, depending when they retain our firm. What we suggest, to the extent possible, is after emergency treatment has been rendered, and you are in a position to check, request an opportunity to either read or have read to you the description of the accident in your chart before you leave the hospital, so that any corrections can be made while you are still in the hospital and can inform the hospital that the record is inaccurate.

If you have been injured in any type of accident, contact The Law Office Of Mark A. Siesel online or toll free at 888-761-7633 for a free consultation with an experienced, knowledgeable and aggressive attorney who will will fight the insurance companies to maximize compensation for your injuries, pain and suffering and lost earnings.

Do not hesitate to ask the surgeon any and all questions about the potential risks and dangers of the surgery, and if you feel that your questions have not been fully or satisfactorily answered, walk out of that office without going forward with the surgery. Once you have signed the consent, which will state on the form that you have read it carefully and that all of your questions have been answered, you have now given your "informed consent" to the procedure. What the means is that if a problem develops from the surgery, and that problem was disclosed as a potential risk or complication of the operation, you have most likely waived your opportunity to institute a medical malpractice case as a result of your "informed consent."

If you have been the victim of medical malpractice, contact The Law Office of Mark A. Siesel online or toll free at 888-761-7633 for a free consultation to discuss your case with an experienced, knowledgeable attorney who will outline your potential legal options.

The second most lethal holiday for drivers is Independence Day, with average motorist deaths at 505. It is estimated that 53% of July 4th crashes involve at least one drunk driver. The most dangerous holiday of all? That would be Thanksgiving, with too much wine at dinner, perhaps, and possibly extra exhaustion from an over indulgence in rich foods--this holiday averaged 573 vehicular deaths over the last 6 years, and in 2006, there were 623 traffic fatalities. So please be extra careful this Thanksgiving!

If you, a family member or relative are injured in a car accident or any other type of accident, contact The Law Office Of Mark A. Siesel online or toll free at 888-761-7633 for a free consultation with an experienced, aggressive attorney who will fight to get you the maximum compensation for your pain and suffering, lost earnings and loss of quality of life.

To obtain your records from the doctor, hospital or other provider, simply download a HIPAA compliant authorization form from the Internet, write in your name, address, social security number, the specific records you are requesting, where you want them sent, sign and date the form, and give it to the doctor or hospital. In some cases, there may be a fee involved, but the doctor or provider is required to honor the HIPAA form.

The other benefit of having your records is to obtain second opinions when you simply want to get another physician's determination regarding your medical problem or condition. It is a certainty that the second doctor will want to review your records, and you will be able to obtain a second opinion that much sooner if you arrive for your visit with the records from the original doctor.

Contact The Law Office of Mark A. Siesel online or toll free at 888-761-7633 if you, a family member or friend have been the victim of medical malpractice.

There were approximately 27,000 civil cases analyzed that were resolved by bench or jury trials, in tort matters such as slip and fall accidents, car accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, and defective products cases, among others. However, the most common type of negligence case reported involved motor vehicle accidents. The report found that the number of civil trials in the United States has dropped a whopping 52% from 1992 through 2005, and the average award decreased approximately 40% over that same 13 year period.

Awards have increased in two types of cases: products liability (defective products), in which median awards were 5 times higher in 2005 than in 1992, and in medical malpractice cases, in which verdicts more than doubled during that span. As a caveat, it must be repeated that this is a national study, and thus New York verdicts are only a small percentage of the whole. Consistent with this study, I have definitely seen a substantial decrease in cases taken to verdict in Westchester, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange and Putnam counties, and jurors certainly have become more conservative in the last 16 years throughout New York State. However, I continue to believe that if the evidence is there, jurors will give just and proper compensation when the insurance company fails to make a fair settlement offer.

If you or a loved one has been injured in any type of accident, or are the victim of a defective product or medical malpractice, contact The Law Office of Mark A. Siesel online or at 888-761-7633 for a free consultation with an experienced, aggressive advocate who will fight to obtain the maximum possible compensation for your injuries.