Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. Attorneys at Law

Carrier IQ Class Action Lawsuit - call 1-888-LAW-LAW5

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:35:10 +0000

Expect Lawsuits Soon in Carrier IQ Case: Fomer DoJ Prosecutor

Update 15:00 EST 1 dec 2011:

http://www.huliq.com/3257/expect-lawsuits-soon-carrier-iq-case-fomer-doj-prosecutor

“Because this happens with text messages as they’re being sent, a quintessentially streaming form of communication, it seems like exactly the kind of thing the wiretap act is meant to prevent. When I was at the Justice Department, we definitely prosecuted people for installing software with these kinds of capabilities on personal computers.”

- Paul Ohm, a former Justice Department employee

Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. a law firm that has been dedicated to protecting individuals against the wrongful misconduct of large corporations for over 20 years, is actively investigating potential claims on behalf of people owning “smart-phones” in connection with reports that Carrier IQ and smartphone makers as well as wireless phone carriers allegedly violated such persons’ privacy by secretly collecting information transmitted via text messages and cell phone calls originating from their smart-phones. It is suspected that U.S. wiretap and/or privacy laws were violated.

Smart phone owners concerned that their privacy has been violated should call 1-888-LAW-LAW5 (1-888-529-5295).

BUSTED TWO: Carrier IQ monitor-ware on iPhones too? (go.theregister.com)
CarrierIQ: Follow the money and it is the carriers behind it (zdnet.com)
Verizon Says Carrier IQ Software Not on Its Phones (phonescoop.com)
Carrier IQ, Your Phone Might Record Your Activities Silently (ghacks.net)
Carrier IQ and Android: demystification (9to5google.com)
Phone ‘Rootkit’ Maker Carrier IQ May Have Violated Wiretap Law In Millions Of Cases (forbes.com)
People Are Freaking Out About Carrier IQ, The Hidden Smartphone Program That Tracks Everything You Do (businessinsider.com)
These Are the Phones We’re Pretty Sure Don’t Have Carrier IQ [Video] (gizmodo.com)
Carrier IQ is on some iOS devices, but doesn’t appear as nefarious as on other platforms (9to5mac.com)
You’re being spied on! – Smartphone Spyware “CarrierIQ” what it is, why it’s there, and how to remove it (toodamnez.wordpress.com)
Phone ‘Rootkit’ Maker Carrier IQ May Have Violated Wiretap Law In Millions Of Cases (textually.org)
EFF offers to defend Carrier-IQ whistle blower from legal action (slashgear.com)
You Can Test Your Android For Carrier IQ (Sort Of) [Carrier Iq] (gizmodo.com)

Injured while visiting / vacationing in New York City?

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:30:14 +0000

Nearly 50 million people a year visit NYC as tourists or vacationers; it is sad and inevitable that some people’s holiday will be marred by an accident or injury while sightseeing in the safest big city in the United States.

New York City has the world’s largest rapid transit system with more than 600 miles of track, over 400 stations and a billion rides annually (saving $5,000,000,000 in congestion costs), so it’s not surprising than at least 20 people a year meet their demise on the subway (in addition to those who suffer a mishap, injured while underground).

Another iconic Big Apple fixture is the yellow taxi, with more than 13,000 NYC cabs shuttling 240,000,000 fares across nearly 1,000,000,000 miles on Gotham’s bumpy streets, resulting in almost 5,000 accidents annually.

Most tourists see the city by way of the sidewalk, where more than 2,000 slip and fall cases occur every year, costing NYC over $50,000,000.

NYC has almost 1,000,000 buildings and the city is always under construction, with scaffolding erected in many places to ease work. Even with rigorous safety standards and skilled workers, scaffolding accidents can and do occur.

Sometimes, it’s the journey, not the destination that creates trouble for city visitors. NYC tour bush crashes unfortunately do happen, sometimes resulting in serious injuries.

Costing NYC over $4,000,000,000 annually, there are more than 7000 pedestrian-related vehicle accidents causing injuries or fatalities.

New York City has also been the site of spectacular mishaps, such as crane accidents and aviation disasters, which almost certainly had a devastating impact upon the lives of some people merely visiting New York City.

Over the last twenty years the phrase “I was visiting New York City when…” has played a significant role in many personal injury cases handled by our firm.

We once represented a cab driver who retained us because while he was in a lane approaching the toll booths at the Queens Midtown Tunnel when an offending vehicle crashed into the rear of his taxi. Our client suffered a life-changing, devastating injury to his back. Eventually he required a complex surgery which left him disabled, unable to ever return to his earlier ten to twelve-hour days of operating a cab. While we argued that the accident was one hundred percent the fault of the defendant (who had a legal duty to keep up a safe distance between the front of her car and the rear of our client’s car), she raised a defense claiming that the plaintiff’s negligence was, in fact, the cause of his injuries. The offending vehicle driver argued that our client cut in front of her car without signaling, a split second before the impact, thereby creating a dangerous situation where a crash could not be avoided.

Our client was transporting a California science professor from the airport to Manhattan at the time of the accident. The professor took another taxi from the accident scene so that he could stay on schedule, telling our client that he would be willing to make a statement about the accident and providing his home contact information.

We contacted the professor back in California and he provided a written statement. He said that our client had been in the very same lane for several minutes before the accident, that our client did not switch lanes and that our client was stopped for a time before the impact by the offending vehicle. This passenger was not affiliated with our client so bias could not be effectively argued in court. Ultimately, the professor’s statement (who presented very credibly) tipped the scales in favor of our client. While this case involved a witness visiting NYC, more often we have been contacted and eventually retained by someone injured while visiting New York City.

For example, in another case our visiting client’s driver pulled over to the highway shoulder to remove sunglasses from the glove compartment and was suddenly struck by another vehicle. The resulting impact from the rear (partly due to negligence by the offending vehicle driver and partly due to our client’s host driver not pulling over fully into the shoulder off the roadway) tragically led to a severe spinal injury to our client, who ultimately underwent a surgery to fuse her cervical spine.

This particular client, after receiving emergency medical care in New York City, returned home to Virginia to continue treatment, convalesce and ultimately to consult with her local attorney about how to protect and advance her legal rights.

Her local attorney referred her to us. As experienced New York personal injury lawyers, it was our privilege and honor to win a significant result for her, to compensate her for her injuries and other damages.

Another client from out-of-state was visiting her adult daughter (a striving young aspiring career person, who, like many before her, came to New York City to “find her star”) when the client was badly hurt. The walk-up apartment building had a stairway that had long been in disrepair, with a dangerous condition ignored by the landlord, by building management and by the building superintendent. As a result our client fell and suffered an awful broken bone injury. Her joyous visit became a nightmare.

She too contacted our firm after her return home from New York State. We successfully prosecuted her claim, recovering compensation for her and holding the reckless landlord accountable.

Quite frankly, a visitor injured while visiting New York City is best served by retaining an experienced New York personal injury lawyer.

As described above, we have represented many people hurt while visiting New York City. We are sensitive to the many special considerations of such cases.

While such cases may require the attendance of the client at certain related proceedings (depositions, medical examinations and if necessary, at trial) we will, via telephone, conferencing, email, fax, overnight delivery and all other means available, do whatever we can to reduce travel for the client and maximize the client’s convenience. If and when attendance at case proceedings within New York State actually does become necessary, we will do everything we can to make sure proceedings are held on the same and/or successive days, to avoid the need for multiple trips. If your accident injury case involves the phrase “I was visiting New York City when…” and you were ultimately injured while visiting New York City, we invite you to call us now.

We will do whatever we can to give you the best information possible for you to protect and advance your accident injury claim.

If you or a loved-one are the victim of an accident while in New York City, contact us to understand and preserve your rights.

If you found this article informative, these links may be of interest to you:

MTA Conductor Reveals Gruesome Side of Working Underground

I am a New York City Transit Subway Conductor, Ask me Anything

Injury lawyer's observations on Hot Coffee and tort reform for the U.S.A.

admin — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:09:51 +0000

“Tort reform” is the subject of the movie Hot Coffee that recently aired on a major satellite television network in the U.S.A. Early Hot Coffee reviews are mostly positive: the critics seem to agree that the film is though-provoking and well-made. The motion picture is not without criticism, some coming directly from participants in the documentary.

View the official “Hot Coffee” injury lawyer movie trailer, below:

Hot Coffee Official Trailer

Runtime: 2:29
View count: 229,120

Before moving on to the reviews of Hot Coffee, consider for a moment the effects of tort reform on the rights of citizens in the United Kingdom, visible in this hyperlinked infographic: An accident resulting in the loss of both hands would be compensated at $125,000.00 for a British national.

Critics had the following to say about Hot Coffee:

Saladoff shows with incandescent clarity that the unabashed aim of the “reformers” is to shield large corporations and medical professionals from being held accountable, allowing those who commit negligent or wrongful acts to escape meaningful responsibility. – Gerald L. Shargel, a member of the New York Bar since 1969

It is a sad reality of our day that the trial lawyer is one of the most stereotyped and satirized figures in contemporary society. There was a moment early in the film where Saladoff is interviewing people on the street about what they knew about this iconic case. Each expressed scorn and ridicule towards the plaintiff who was burned with the coffee, until Saladoff showed them–and us–pictures of the burns and how horrific they were. People stopped laughing then, and I couldn’t help but think of one of the seminal moments in Robert Bolt’s classic play, A Man For All Seasons, when Sir Thomas More chastises an adversary for threating him like a “dock side bully.” A true statesman, he opines, threatens only with the truth. The innocent are not threatened by it, and the guilty are more afraid of it than of any fabrication. – Kenneth R. Morefield

Everyone remembers the lady who sued McDonald’s for her coffee being too hot, right? We all thought she encouraged frivolous lawsuits and tied up the court system with a meritless complaint, right?

Well, this new documentary by Susan Saladoff may actually revise our judgments.

– Tassoula E. Kokkoris

Whether you agree or disagree with the participants in the documentary, viewers will feel outraged to see the damage done to a family who were not given the money they were originally awarded to help their disabled child due to non-economic damage caps. The audience will also fight back tears when hearing how Jamie Leigh Jones couldn’t rightfully sue KBR/Halliburton after she was gang-raped by seven fellow co-workers in Iraq because she had an arbitration clause in her contract with the company that prevented her from doing so.

No matter what your stance is on U.S. civil justice reforms, after watching the documentary there is no question viewers will applaud Hot Coffee for its informative facts and heartrending anecdotes. – Serena Whitney

There are many talking heads to address the various subjects discussed, but none of the story’s “villains” agreed to comment. In addition, a group of interviews were conducted to illustrate how misinformed and/or unaware the general public is in regards to most of these issues. There are many lessons to be learned in Hot Coffee – and in case you missed any of them, Saladoff does a recap at the film’s end. Even though the legislation is not applicable in Canada, the narrative is still a horrifying revelation and a genuine reminder to be vigilant. – Sarah Gopaul, TFS Contributing Editor

Chaptered using the catch phrases that have been so well-marketed to us as examples of “frivolous lawsuits”, we learn a great deal more about what is at stake, and the development of slogans that have intimidated us into voting to restrict our own rights. The deterioration of accessibility to courts is then translated into explaining how the economics play out from the altered state and federal practices that have been manipulated over the past few decades.

Hot Coffee is simply a film that everyone should see. Even if its elements only provoke debate, that would still be a beneficial outcome, for which we owe Saladoff a tremendous debt. It succinctly provides accessible information of how things are, and concisely forshadows the dangers that lie ahead. It not only illuminates complicated functions of the legal system, but provides scrutiny of all information sources. While there is definitely an agenda and bias upon which the film is based, so much is clearly composed that every point of view will get something new out of watching it. – Rachel Gordon

Expertly edited by Cindy Lee with slick visuals by Brian Oakes, “Hot Coffee” is so good that it’s difficult to believe it was helmed by a first-time filmmaker. Executive producer Sheila Nevins and the HBO hierarchy usually have enough on their own production and development plates, but it’s no surprise that they picked up this provocative and potentially game-changing documentary; one would also not be surprised to see this film continue on its way into end-of-season awards discussions. – Elliot V. Kotek