On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Burn injuries on Friday, May 18, 2012
One Philadelphia firefighter had been on the job for five years, joining the force when he was just 20. The other was a 60-year-old veteran, nearing retirement from a dangerous job where serious burn injuries and death are constant threats. Both men lost their lives last month fighting a five-alarm fire at an abandoned warehouse in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood.
Earlier this month, a writ of summons was filed at Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia by the parents of the younger firefighter who lost his life. Writ of summons filings often precede civil lawsuits. The attorney who submitted the legal paperwork did not say if or when the parents would seek damages for their son's untimely death.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Personal Injury on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Over the past several years, Philadelphia has become a hub for people who have suffered spinal cord injuries and can no longer walk on their own. This is due to the metro area's availability of cutting-edge robotic technology that works as a second pair of legs. Local rehab facilities offer two competing models of the exoskeletons, which are not yet approved for commercial use.
One man, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a hunting accident, said the exoskeleton is just as important for his mind as it is his body. He said that when he is strapped into the robotic frame, he can finally look someone in the eye again. The man is one of just a handful of people who have tried both of the available models, right here in Philadelphia.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Wrongful Death on Friday, May 11, 2012
On July 7, 2010, a fatal accident involving a Philadelphia duck boat occurred on the Delaware River when a tugboat pilot led a 250-foot barge into a Ride the Ducks tourist boat that had stalled on the river. The collision caused the boat to sink in 55 feet of water, and two Hungarian tourists drowned.
The families of the two victims as well as the 18 other passengers on board the duck boat at the time of the accident filed a personal injury lawsuit against the companies that owned the vessels.
After close to two years of litigation, it was announced this week that the parties settled for $17 million. Reportedly, the families of the two people who were killed will split $15 million, while the surviving passengers will split the remaining $2 million.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Many states, including Pennsylvania, have developed graduated licensing programs that restrict the number of passengers teen drivers can carry in their vehicles. Teenagers might gripe about the laws, but a new study has revealed just how dangerous it is for teen drivers to be surrounded by friends in a vehicle.
The study by AAA's safety foundation concluded that a teenage driver's chance of being killed in a motor vehicle accident increases substantially when other teens are in the car and drops when an adult is in the passenger seat.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents on Friday, May 4, 2012
In May 2010, a woman left a Philadelphia bar with a man around 2:55 a.m. While traveling southbound on Interstate 95, the pair was involved in a motor vehicle accident when the man rear-ended another vehicle. The woman was seriously injured.
The female passenger recently filed a personal injury lawsuit against the man and several other parties, alleging that the accident occurred because the man was driving drunk after being over-served at a Philadelphia nightclub.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Workers' Compensation on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
An Amtrak worker has filed a personal injury lawsuit against his employer after he was injured on the job at Amtrak's Lancaster, Pennsylvania, rail yard. The worker said he badly injured his knee in December 2010 as a direct result of "tight clearances, [and] poor and hazardous uneven unstable walking conditions."
Apparently, the Amtrak yard in Lancaster was under construction at the time the incident took place. The lawsuit alleges that Amtrak violated the Federal Employers' Liability Act by exposing its workers to an unsafe work environment. The lawsuit states that Amtrak should have notified its employers of the dangerous conditions created by the construction work.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Wrongful Death on Friday, April 27, 2012
A February accident involving an overloaded dump truck and a school bus has resulted in a wrongful death lawsuit in a city northeast of Philadelphia. The tragic collision caused the death of an 11-year-old girl who riding in the school bus, as well as serious injuries to both of her triplet sisters who were riding along with her.
Relying heavily on findings made by the National Transportation Safety Board, the lawsuit names the drivers of both vehicles and their employers as defendants. It asserts that the dump truck was barreling down the road at an excessive rate of speed and that the bus driver improperly failed to take account of oncoming traffic before traveling through a dangerous intersection.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Brain injuries on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
A former NFL player who was part of the Philadelphia-based lawsuit against the NFL died of a self-inflicted bullet wound last week. According to his wife, Ray Easterling suffered from brain disorders including depression, insomnia and dementia as a result of the hard hits he endured while playing for the Atlanta Falcons during the 1970s.
The suit against the NFL alleges that league officials knew about the traumatic brain injury risks associated with the sport, but failed to treat and protect the players. Easterling's wife said she stills plans to pursue the lawsuit on behalf of her late husband, and she will be encouraging the NFL to set up a fund to assist players with traumatic brain injuries.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Personal Injury on Friday, April 20, 2012
While a rap video was being filmed in North Philadelphia on the evening of March 22, a gunshot rang out. A crowd of about 100 people in the area panicked, and one man was later pronounced dead. While some initially believed that he had been shot, it was determined that the man died after being run over by a car.
The man is said to have stumbled or tripped in front of a moving vehicle that ran him over. Emergency responders rushed him to a nearby medical center for evaluation and treatment. There, for the first time, doctors discovered that he had no bullet wounds whatsoever. He later died of injuries he suffered in the car accident after medical personnel were unable to save him.
On behalf of Cherry, Fieger & Marciano, L.L.P. posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Everyone knows that wearing a seatbelt is the best way to stay safe while traveling in a motor vehicle. But sometimes even a seatbelt isn't enough to protect a motorist from a catastrophic motor vehicle accident.
On Saturday, a suburban Philadelphia woman appears to simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time when a road sign flew through the air and crashed through her windshield on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
