Photo of newest roundabout in Ontario County Before I explain why roundabouts (also called traffic circles) are popping up all around us, let me digress.  I lived in France for five years back in the 70’s and 80’s and I never once came across a four-way stop.  That’s because they don’t exist there.  In fact, I recently had a French visitor driving my car in Geneva, New York, with me as passenger.  When we approached…

The City this Central New York personal injury lawyer calls home, Geneva, New York, recently amended its sidewalk law.  Many local homeowners are concerned about the effect this might have on their “liability” for snow and ice on sidewalks. Before the amendment, the City Code had said, and continues to say, that homeowners (and business owns) “shall at all times keep the sidewalk (abutting their property) free from ice, snow, grass, weeds, rubbish and other…

The City this Central New York personal injury lawyer calls home, Geneva, New York, recently amended its sidewalk law.  Many local homeowners are concerned about the effect this might have on their “liability” for snow and ice on sidewalks. Before the amendment, the City Code had said, and continues to say, that homeowners (and business owns) “shall at all times keep the sidewalk (abutting their property) free from ice, snow, grass, weeds, rubbish and other…

As I write this blog, the roads in Syracuse, New York and surrounding areas are deadly.  Sleet and freezing rain have been falling all day .  The roads are frozen.  My driveway in Geneva, NY is an ice skating rink.  My windshield had a thick shell of ice covering it before I rolled it into the garage. The National Weather Service just posted that the roads in Syracuse and all the way down through Pennsylvania…

I recently flew across the Great Pond to France. I’m no stranger there. I lived there for five years in my 20’s.  So my French ain’t bad.  I also have three daughters and four grandchildren over there.  Here we are having some fun: While in Toulouse, my French son-in-law and father of two of my grandchildren, Fabrice, took me to a Court called the “Tribunal d’Instance”.  There’s no exact translation for this since the justice…

We are well into the one-year grace-period (which started on August 14) of New York’s Child Victim’s Act (“CVA”).  Victims of childhood sexual abuse of any age can, during this one-year window, sue their perpetrators and those who facilitated the sexual abuse through negligence or worse.  More than 600 CVA lawsuits have already been filed.  New York childhood sexual abuse lawyers, myself included, have received thousands of calls and emails from victims. I have been…

Congratulations to my partner, attorney Jan Smolak, who recently settled a Syracuse personal injury case in mediation for a confidential amount above seven figures. Although we are not at liberty to discuss the details of the settlement, nor any of the specifics regarding the injury (we signed a confidentiality agreement with the insurance company), nor the exact amount, I can say that Jan, once again, did an outstanding job. I interviewed Jan about this result…