Central New York Injury Lawyer Blog

Central New York Injury Lawyer to Give Free Legal Aid to Asylum Seekers on the Texas-Mexico border for the New Year.

December 24, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all enjoy this holiday season. Like most of you, I will be spending Christmas with family and friends. But come the New Year, I will be spending a week with complete strangers. Here’s my story:

I will be a volunteer lawyer on a week-long assignment in an immigrant detention center near the Texas-Mexico border. I will be helping asylum seekers advance their claims. I will help them present evidence that they have a credible or reasonable fear of returning home because their safety or lives are threatened there. The fear cannot be simply economic. It has to be a fear of persecution based on their ethnicity, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

It’s not an easy claim to win. As anyone who follows the news knows, our borders are now crowded with refugees, mostly from Central America. Some politicians have painted these refugees as evil. Although there may be a criminal here and there in the group, the vast majority of refugees consist of simple, poor, and desperate families seeking safe harbor. And unfortunately for them, most of their asylum claims will fall on deaf ears. Their “reasonable fear” of returning home will not fit within the narrow confines of asylum law.

Michaels Bersani Kalabanka’s Historic Founder, George Michaels, Honored at the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center

November 24, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

Most lawyers, whether they make their living representing personal injury victims or others, have a few heroes who inspire them to fight the good fight, to go above and beyond, and to be courageous warriors for their cause. We at Michaels Bersani Kalabanka are no different. So let us tell you about one of our heroes, George Michaels.

To tell the George Michaels story, we need to take a walk through the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center (located right next to the historic William H. Seward museum and about a mile from the Harriet Tubman home, in our home town of Auburn, New York), which had its grand opening on November 13, 2018. The Center celebrates New York State’s progressive history of promoting social and equal rights by luminaries such as Harriet Tubman.

As we start our tour, the first thing we see is a seven-and-a-half-foot commemorative statue of Harriet Tubman, which adorns the entrance.

M&S Once Again Honored by U.S. News & World Report as a First-Tier “Best Lawyers” law firm.

November 4, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

We are proud to announce that U.S. News & World Report has once again honored Michaels Bersani Kalabanka with its “first tier” ranking in its “Best Lawyers in America” listings for personal injury litigation firms in the Syracuse, New York metropolitan area. In the 2019 edition, just as past editions, the firm was ranked “first-tier” in the categories of both “personal injury” and “product liability”.

These days, personal injury trial lawyers like us are bombarded with letters and “announcements” notifying us that we have been selected as part of an “elite group” of trial lawyers. These letters go on to tout the very “stringent requirements” that attorneys must meet in order to qualify for the elite listing. Only a very small percentage of lawyers, the letters say, have been selected. And guess what? YOU have been selected!

There’s only one hitch: You have to pay for it. These type of “award” or “honor” letters almost always end with a sentence like this: “to have your name registered as a member of this select group of top attorneys, simply make payment of (a few hundred dollars) to ____”.

Syracuse NY Construction Accident Lawyer Wins Another Fall-From-Roof case

October 3, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

If you walk into a Syracuse, New York pub on a Friday at 5:20, and you happen upon a group of personal injury lawyers having an end-of-the-week beer, you might hear them rant about how unfair some New York personal injury laws are. For example, unlike most States, New York does not allow the immediate family of a wrongful death victim to receive compensation for their grief and heartache at losing their loved one, even if that loved one is a child. A millionaire drunk driver ran over your thee year old? Tough luck, mom. Was he supporting you economically? Of course not, so you don’t get economic loss recovery. So what if he was the most important thing to you in the whole world, and your life has been destroyed by losing him. No compensation for your grief! You might settle that case for a few thousand dollars, but not the millions it is really worth. Very unfair!

But New York personal injury law has its upside, too. For example, unlike any other state, New York has something called “the scaffold law”, also known as Labor Law section 240. That law allows construction workers and others who fall from heights – and in some cases upon whom objects fall — to get full compensation for their injuries. This compensation goes far beyond mere workers’ compensation. The injured fallen worker can sue the general contractor and owner of the construction project for real money, including pain and suffering compensation. Usually, the case will involve a ladder or scaffold that failed, but can also involve a worker falling because he was not provided with adequate fall protection, such as a harness or barrier.

But here’s the real kicker, and here’s why New York construction accident lawyers like me just love Labor Law section 240: The injured worker gets fully compensated even if the fall from the height was partially his own fault, as long as Labor Law section 240 was violated. And Labor Law section 240 is violated almost anytime a construction worker falls from a height, whether because the ladder or scaffold or harness failed, or because such safety devices were not provided, or because proper barriers were not in place.

“We Don’t Take Low Ball Offers”, Says Central New York Injury Lawyer

September 25, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

In this Syracuse NY Injury lawyer’s last blog post, I talked about how, in most cases, a New York personal injury victim will end up with a much larger settlement with a lawyer than without one. The problem with “going it alone” is that insurance companies will generally “low ball” you an offer, hoping you will take it, sign a release, and go away (forever).

But my clients aren’t the only ones who get low balled. Sometimes insurance company adjusters will “low ball” me an offer, hoping I will want to make a quick buck and move onto the next case. But at my law firm, we don’t take low ball offers (except in the rare case where our clients won’t listen to our advice and take the low offer). Although some New York personal injury lawyers regularly traffic in low ball settlements, I am proud to say ours does not.

In my opinion, those that do are typically large law firms who advertise heavily and need to “churn” their cases to keep the money rolling in to pay their advertising bills. At my law firm, where the bulk of our cases come by referral from other lawyers, we would rather handle fewer cases and MAXIMIZE the amount we can get for those few but dear clients. We make our money by working up a few cases rather than knocking off quick settlements on a swarm of cases.

Do You Need a Lawyer or Can You Represent Yourself in a New York Personal Injury Claim?

September 3, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

I hate to break it to you, but despite all the cute auto insurance ads on TV, insurance companies are not “nice guys”. At least not if you were injured through the negligence of their insured. You have to understand this very important fact right from the get-go: In personal injury litigation, insurance companies are not your friend. They are not a “good neighbor”. They are not a cute little lizard. They are not “by your side”. You are not in “good hands” with them. They are a business. Their business is to pay you as little as possible on your claim so they can yield a bigger profit.

Case in point: Last week I settled a case for a woman who fell off a horse at a local riding stable during a riding lesson in upstate New York (near Syracuse). It was her first time on a horse. The saddle spun around while she tried to mount, throwing her to the ground, where she suffered a serious femur fracture. Turns out she weighed more than the saddle setup could handle. The stable owners knew it, but failed to warn her. Here was the original position the insurance company took (you need to click the image to read it):

After we got that letter, we sued the stable owners. We then took the deposition testimony of the owners and witnesses. The insurance company lawyers then asked the trial judge to toss out our case because our client had “assumed the risk” of horse riding lessons, and had signed the waiver. The trial judge dismissed our case. We then appealed to the appellate court in Rochester, New York, got the trial judge reversed, and the case reinstated. Last week, at a mediation, we settled the case for $130,000, which by the way was the amount of money we always thought the case was worth.

Michaels Bersani Kalabanka’s Backpack and School Supplies Giveaway Brings Many Smiles to Auburn, New York

August 31, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

Yesterday there were lots of smiles on the sidewalk of East Genesee Street, Auburn, NY, just outside the office of Michaels Bersani Kalabanka. The reason? Our back-to-school backpack giveaway. We loaded up the new backpacks with all kinds of school goodies and supplies. Live radio coverage was provided by Mix 98.5. For a full hour they came, lined up, chose their backpack, and left with a smile. Most takers were single parents or grandparents with their kids. It was so great to see smiling kids pick out their backpacks. Shout out to Catholic Charity volunteer Ellen Wayne and Angelo DiAngelo of Angelo’s Pizzeria (free pizza)! Check out our photos below:

Keep safe!

Mike Bersani

New York’s Assumption of Risk Doctrine Generally (But Not Always) Bars Personal Injury Claims For Adventure Sports Activities

July 15, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

I am in my final days in Costa Rica where I have been exploring rain forests, volcanos, and beaches. Some of the exploring is (just a little) risky. Costa Rica is famous for its “environmental tourism” also called “adventure tourism”. But where there is adventure there is a risk of misadventure. In other words, s— happens. And since I can’t go anywhere without taking my lawyer brain with me, I have been thinking a lot about the “assumption of the risk” doctrine, which protects sport facilitators from lawsuits by participants who might get hurt while engaging in the sport. This includes of course adventure sports.

I have had some “misadventures” here already. Read on and find out about them!

But first, a little about the assumption of risk doctrine. In New York, this means that if you are injured in an adventure sport such as zip-lining, hiking, bungee jumping or whatever, it is difficult to bring a claim and get compensation in court against the entity that provided or facilitated your participation in the activity. It is pretty much universally the rule – in New York and everywhere – that you “assume the risk” of dangerous activities you choose to participate in. This is based on a fundamental concept of law . It’s called “common sense”.

Cuidado! Sidewalk Hazard law in New York versus Costa Rica

July 9, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

Photo above: A New York sidewalk defect, suitably marked with orange cones.

I love traveling and have done a lot of it, including in Mexico and Central America. Right now I am in Costa Rica. Love it here! The people are super friendly, the climate is awesome, the food great. The countryside is spectacular – active volcanoes, dense pristine jungles, and sandy beaches both on the Atlantic and Pacific costs. What’s not to like?

So far I can think of only one thing: Their tort law. Though I have not read their laws, I have to assume – from what I have seen – that someone injured through the negligence of others does not have much of a remedy in Court. Take a look at this video I shot today before you read any further:

Six Stubborn Myths about Motorcycle Safety Debunked by Central New York Injury Lawyer

June 10, 2018 | by Michael Bersani

At M&S, we are big on safety, and that includes motorcycle safety. But safety requires some study and practice. We like to say that “safe riding is no accident!” We urge our biking clients to read up on and follow the strictest biking safety guidelines. But unfortunately, there are many FALSE biking safety tips out there. And some myths never die no matter how much evidence accumulates to debunk them. For example, remember when they used to tell you that eating before you swim was a no-no because it could cause you to cramp up and drown? Turned out to be false! Still, many people still believe it to be true.

Here are the most common and enduring myths about motorcycle safety. Share these with any friends or family members who bike:

MYTH 1. Full-Face Helmets Restrict Your Visibility