Articles Posted in Personal Injury Law

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A group representing child sex abuse victims in the Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy proceedings has proposed its own plan for the organization.

In a new development in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy proceedings in Dover, Delaware, the committee representing child sex abuse victims has sought the court’s permission to “file its own reorganization plan” for the Boy Scouts. The Tort Claimants Committee argued in a motion filed last week that the reorganization plan proposed by the Boy Scouts “falls woefully short of fairly compensating abuse victims while shielding local Boy Scouts councils and sponsoring organizations from liability,” according to the Associated Press. Continue reading

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New York City’s neighbor Hoboken has enjoyed three years free of traffic violence-related fatalities.

The city of Hoboken, New Jersey, has recorded zero traffic violence deaths for three years, an impressive feat which a recent report by Streetsblog recently attributed to the city’s commitment to its Vision Zero campaign.

Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla launched the campaign in 2019, expanding its network of bicycle lanes by 38% in that year and 2020. Today Hoboken has a “total on-street network of 16.3 miles” of bike lanes, encompassing nearly 50% of the city’s 33 miles of roadway—although, as StreetsBlog notes, only 6.4% of the bicycle lanes are not protected. New York City, on the other hand, launched its Vision Zero campaign in 2014 and now has 1,375 miles of bicycle lanes (546 of which are protected) on its 6,000 miles of roadway, or about 23%. Continue reading

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Recently released statistics reflect New York City’s struggles to keep its roadways safe in 2020.

According to New York City’s preliminary Mayor’s Management Report, road fatalities in the city rose 40% from July 1 to October 31, 2020, reaching a total of 106 deaths compared to the same period in 2019. As StreetsBlog details, the report also found that pedestrian deaths rose 16% in that period, while motorcyclist rose 80% and car driver fatalities “almost doubled” from 7% to 13%. These figures, Streetsblog argues, reflects the shortcomings in the city’s governance of its “dangerous roadways” when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, rolling back progress in its Vision Zero campaign to eliminate all traffic violence in New York City. Continue reading

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A new law in New York City will task the Department of Transportation with investigating car crash injuries and issuing public reports about their investigations’ results.

A new bill passed by the New York City Council puts the city’s Department of Transportation in charge of “all vehicle crashes involving significant injury” rather than the New York Police Department. The new legislation, Intro 224-A, creates a “crash investigation and analysis unit” within the DOT which will also be tasked to recommend “safety-improving changes to street design and infrastructure” and to publish its car crash analyses, according to StreetsBlog.

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Pedestrian death rates from car crashes increased 20% during the first six months of 2020, according to federal data.

American roads have grown more and more dangerous for pedestrians in recent years, according to a recent article by NPR, and statistics show they are especially deadly for minorities. Data gathered by the Governors Highway Safety Administration shows that “6,301 pedestrians were killed by vehicles on American streets” in 2019, an increase of 46% since 2010. The same time frame saw a 5% increase in all traffic fatalities (vehicle occupants as well as pedestrians).

According to NPR, pedestrian deaths in the US increased 20% during the first six months of 2020. That figure, the pedestrian death rate, is calculated by comparing “the number of people struck and killed” by vehicles against “the number of miles driven.” Experts suggest that the death rate increased because as cars disappeared from the roads during the pandemic, many of the drivers who did venture out engaged in speeding and reckless driving. Continue reading

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This is “the seventh such lawsuit leveling allegations against retired Bishop Howard Hubbard,” according to the New York Post.

A recently filed lawsuit alleges that Howard Hubbard, a retired Catholic bishop in Albany, molested “an 11-year-old boy at a carnival more than 40 years ago,” according to the New York Post, which notes that this is the seventh lawsuit alleging that the former clergyman committed abuse.

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Critics told USA Today the Boy Scouts are trying to “force abuse survivors to give up their claims for close to nothing.”

A recent article by USA Today reports that in early March, the Boy Scouts of America proposed to contribute $220 million into a trust that would “compensate tens of thousands of former members who say they were abused during their time as scouts,” a sum that may be complemented by a contribution of $300 million from the organization’s local councils. This total of $520 million—pending a commitment from local councils—would constitute a “fraction” of the Boy Scouts of America’s total value, which USA Today estimates at about $3.7 billion.

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Critics say the Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy reorganization plan is “woefully and tragically inadequate.”

Last week the Boy Scouts of America filed a document proposing a reorganization plan as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, the Associated Press reported. The filing “envisions continued operations of its local troops and national adventure camps,” according to the report, but does not entirely address how the organization will address “tens of thousands of sexual abuse claims” filed against the organization by people who allege that they were abused when they were Boy Scouts.

The reorganization plan proposes the allocation of $300 million from the organization’s local councils, of which there are about 250, “into a trust for abuse victims,” though it reportedly does not specify “the form and timing of those contributions.” According to the Associated Press, the organization will also allocate into the fund “any unrestricted cash above the $75 million” it says it requires for operational purposes. The organization will additionally “contribute its collection of Norman Rockwell paintings to the fund,” sell a North Carolina warehouse, a “Scouting University facility,” and “rights to oil and gas interests on properties in 17 states” to raise money for the fund.

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An additional 4.8 million people were injured in car accidents in 2020, according to the National Safety Council.

Data released by the National Safety Council found that 42,060 died in traffic violence in 2020, up 8.4% from the 38,800 motor vehicle accident deaths counted in the National Safety Council’s report for 2019. According to StreetsBlog, “because total annual mileage dropped about 13 percent during the nationwide quarantine, the one-year increase in the car crash fatality rate was the highest since 1924,” or 24%. As that article notes, this increase appears to be linked to the nationwide decrease in cars on the road in 2020, which had the side effect of enabling “the remaining drivers to race around recklessly on roads designed to prioritize speed above all else.”

The report goes on to note that certain states experienced traffic violence fatality increases that exceeded the national average. South Dakota experienced a 33% increase in traffic violence fatalities; Vermont experienced a 32% increase in traffic violence fatalities; Arkansas experienced a 26% increase in traffic violence fatalities; and Rhode Island experienced a 26% increase in traffic violence fatalities. As the co-founder of traffic violence fatality support group Families for Safe Streets told StreetsBlog, these figures represent “people: children, parents, grandparents, friends, co-workers. These are lives lost and life-changing injuries suffered in preventable crashes.” Continue reading

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More than 95,000 child sexual abuse claims have been filed against the Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts of America have asked the judge overseeing its bankruptcy process to prolong an injunction stopping plaintiffs from filing sexual abuse claims against local Boy Scouts councils and organizations, the Associated Press reported last week.

As it currently stands, the injunction on sex abuse claims against Boy Scouts local councils expires on March 19, 2021. The Boy Scouts has requested that the injunction be extended until July 19, 2021. The organization’s attorneys argue that if the injunction is extended, this will help the organizations’ restructuring efforts, and allow local councils to contribute to a settlement fund for sexual abuse claims against them. They also argue that if the bankruptcy court lifts the injunction and permits new sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts, this will make it “make it difficult, if not impossible, for the BSA to both equitably compensate abuse survivors” and perform other charitable activities, according to the Associated Press. Continue reading

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