New York Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

According to the final New York State Police report, issued last month, Diane Schuler was speeding at a whopping 85 miles per hour in last July's fatal car crash on the Taconic Parkway in which 8 people died. The fiery crash occurred on July 26, 2009, when Ms. Schuler, traveling with her three nieces and two children, was driving southbound in the northbound lanes of the Taconic Parkway with a blood alcohol content of .19 (more than twice the legal limit) and high on marijuana. Everyone was killed in the Schuler vehicle with the exception of her then 5 year old son Bryan, and all three occupants of the vehicle driven by Guy Bastardi, which was traveling northbound in the left lane, were also killed.

Daniel Schuler, the husband of Diane Schuler, claimed last year that his wife must have had an illness or medical problem which caused her to drive so recklessly on the wrong side of the parkway. There was talk of exhuming Ms. Schuler's body to conduct a separate autopsy to potentially rebut the findings of the Westchester County Medical Examiner's Office, but to date there has been no evidence to refute the Westchester Coroner's findings that Schuler was high and intoxicated at the time of the accident.

Understandably, the Bastardi family has commenced litigation against the Estate of Diane Schuler for the deaths of 81 year old Michael Bastardi, Sr. and his 49 year old son, Guy Bastardi, who was behind the wheel when the tragic accident occurred. The lawsuit is pending.

When you combine the speed of the Schuler vehicle at 85 m.p.h with the alleged speed of the Bastardi vehicle at 74 miles per hour, the vehicles were approaching each other at 233 feet per second--(Total of 159 miles per hour X 1.466 feet per second= 233 feet per second). Thus, there is no question that Guy Bastardi had no time to react or take evasive action from the Schuler vehicle. The only real question in this lawsuit is how much automobile insurance or umbrella insurance coverage the Schuler family had in effect on the date of the accident to compensate the Bastardi family. To date, we are not aware whether the family of the late Daniel Longo, also in the Bastardi vehicle, intends to commence legal action against Schuler's estate.

Continue reading "Schuler Driving 85 M.P.H In Fatal Taconic Parkway Crash" »

Toyota is in the midst of an absolute legal and public relations disaster as the result of its delay in responding to deadly defects in its cars and trucks which have apparently led to at least 34 deaths in the last decade. The problem is sudden acceleration, which has been blamed on floor mat interference and sticky gas pedals, but which many safety experts are attributing to the electronic systems in these vehicles. Toyota has recalled approximately 8.5 million cars, and supposedly repaired about 800,000 to date, but the company has run into two huge public relations and credibility nightmares. First, despite initially claiming that it first learned of the sudden acceleration problem last October, it is now known that a year earlier, in October of 2008, there was an issue with sticky pedals in Europe, particularly in Britain and Ireland. Toyota's CEO for North America, Yoshimi Inaba, claimed that the company "Did not hide [the problem]...but it was not properly shared...with the United States to see if there was any danger to American consumers." Sure seems like hiding the problem to this writer.

Second, the Congressional oversight committee found that Toyota had given a presentation that stated "Toyota safety wins", noting that they had been able to save $100 million by convincing the government initially to allow them to recall floor mats on 55,000 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES 350 sedans rather than recalling the vehicles themselves. This past Tuesday, in testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, James E. Lentz, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., informed the committee that the ongoing repairs might "not totally" solve the sudden acceleration problem--certainly not exactly comforting words for Toyota owners nationwide.

To attempt to quell the growing swirl of controversy and anger at the delayed and insufficient response to their defective vehicles, Toyota has announced that they will commence at home pickups of vehicles, reimbursement of consumer's transportation expenses and free rental cars while cars are being repaired. New York State's Attorney General has started a website- www.NYToyota-Help.com to provide information about this program. Toyota has also announced that new models will allow brakes to override gas pedals in an added effort to solve the sudden acceleration issue.

Continue reading "Toyota Reeling In The Wake Of Recalls And Congressional Investigation" »