Articles Posted in General

The jury probably did the right thing in the George Zimmerman case. Given the absence of good evidence about what happened between him and Travon Martin during those last five minutes, the defense established reasonable doubt about whether a crime, under Florida law, had been committed.

That doesn’t mean Mr. Zimmerman is innocent (just not guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt”) and it doesn’t mean he was right for tailing a young man simply because he was black.

But what does this have to do with my Central New York personal injury cases? A lot, actually. Every time we represent an African American in a Central New York courtroom, we have to wonder — will the jury treat him or her fairly? Will the jury harbor prejudices?

Twenty eight years ago a smart, hard-working mother-of-two from Elbridge, NY — Ellen Williams — sent a resume and cover letter into the law offices of Lee S. and George M. Michaels (our predecessor firm) . Her two daughters were now old enough so she felt she could go back to work. She had just graduated with an associate’s degree in paralegal studies from Cayuga Community College in Auburn, NY. Now she wanted to realize her career goal – a job as a paralegal at a local law firm.

Meanwhile, Lee S. Michaels (our senior partner) was on the hunt for a smart, ambitious paralegal. His personal injury practice was growing by leaps and bounds. He wasn’t finding the time to draft all his own pleadings, review and summarize the hundreds of pages of medical records that landed on his desk every month, set up and calendar his depositions, and reach out to his clients for additional information he might need.

Lee received Ellen’s application, met her, and hired her on the spot.

Everyone loves a fighter. Someone who, when faced with great tragedy, hardship, or injustice, doesn’t just lie down and give up, but shoulders on and fights back. That’s why the story of Adrianne Haslet, a Boston Marathon bombing victim, is so compelling. The bomb blast blew off her left foot – a devastating loss — especially since she is a ballroom dance instructor.

But Adrianne is a fighter. She told the Boston Herald, “I absolutely want to dance again!” Do you doubt her?! She elaborated, “I just want people to know that you can come out of a situation that might seem like the end of the world and come out stronger.”

But why is Adrianne featured in my New York personal injury lawyer blog? Because Adrianne would make a perfect personal injury client. We all love fighters, and juries are no different. That’s why personal injury victims who fight back from an injury, who try to rehabilitate themselves, who try to remake their lives, fare better in Court than those who wallow in misery and self-pity.

I usual cheer for the injured plaintiff in lawsuits. I love it when wrong-doers and their insurance carriers get slammed for huge verdicts — hey, especially if it’s my case!. But every once in a while I root for the other side.

That’s how I felt about a California Supreme Court ruling that a bumper-car rider could not sue the amusement park for a broken wrist he suffered in a bumper car ride. The adult plaintiff was enjoying the bumper car ride when he was hit from the front and then from behind. She broke her wrist when she sought to brace herself on the car’s “dashboard”. A year after the accident, the amusement park owner added an island in the middle of the bumper car park — like those you see in most bumper car rides nowadays — to keep bumper car drivers headed in the same direction and minimize head-on collisions. The plaintiff’s lawyer argued, among other things, that this should have been done before his client’s accident.

The State’s highest court disagreed. It ruled that, by voluntarily engaging in the mock violence of low-speed collisions, bumper car riders assume the risks inherent that activity, just as people who play football or other sports assume the risks inherent in those sports. (We New York personal injury lawyers call this the “primary assumption of the risk doctrine” — see my prior blog post about it here.)

You get hurt. Your first thoughts are about getting medical care. You aren’t thinking about calling this Central New York personal injury lawyer or filing a lawsuit. You’re not “the suing type”, you say. But several weeks later, when you realize you may be stuck with this injury for the rest of your life, you start seething about the careless jerk who hurt you.

So you call me. Sure, you have a lot of questions, but so do I!

If you slipped and fell I am going to ask you, “do you still have the shoes you were wearing”. Why? I need those to disprove the almost certain defense that worn out or inappropriate footwear made you fall.

A lawyer friend of one of my partners called him yesterday to tell him that, while in a telephone conversation with one of the judges who sits in the Appellate Court in Rochester (Fourth Department), the judge asked him if he knew Michael Bersani (me). He responded, “sure, I know Mike, why”? The judge replied, “because he writes the most excellent appellate briefs”!

Very flattering, especially since I don’t even know that judge. I used to work up there clerking, many years ago, but all the judges I worked for are retired.

More important than the flattery, though, is what this could mean to my clients. I have two important appeals pending up in that Court. I argue one of them next week. Did the judge’s comment mean that this particular judge agrees with my arguments? Or does he just think I write wonderfully on a losing argument? I am hoping the judges don’t just think I can “write” well, but also that I am just plain “right” on the legal issues.

Hey mom and dad: Halloween’s here. Boo! Not really scary, huh? Figured. Hey, I’m a parent, too, and also a Central and Syracuse New York personal injury lawyer. (Scared yet?).

From my experience representing injured people, including injured kids, let me tell you what does not scare me about Halloween: tainted candy, candle fires and child abductions. If you read the newspaper headlines the day after Halloween, you are unlikely to see reports about any of that. That’s because that stuff hardly ever happens.

But I can almost guaranty you will read a headline like this: “Trick-or-Treater struck by car”.