Case Summaries

$20,000,000 Verdict — Colon Damage During Colonoscopy Goes Undetected
The case involved a 42 year old man who underwent a colonoscopy at a Bronx Hospital. During the procedure, the doctor caused several small perforations and then ignored our client's complaints of pain and sent him home. This delay in diagnosis allowed his condition to worsen and led to the need for emergency surgery. Our client required removal of a portion of his colon and the creation of a colostomy. He also endured subsequent surgeries to reverse his colostomy and to repair abdominal hernias that developed due to his multiple operations.
The case was tried because the defendant doctor refused to consent to settle the case.

$2,650,000 Jury Verdict — Construction Site Accident, Labor Law, New York City
Our client, a member of the Union of Operating Engineers was operating a forklift during the excavation of a prominent entertainment venue in NYC. A one-of-a-kind material hoist at the site collapsed under him, dropping him to the bottom of the excavation and causing devastating injuries. The insurance company for the contractor responsible for the hoist refused to settle for an amount we thought was fair. The case was tried to a jury verdict, which was more than triple the settlement offer. The defendants appealed and the Appellate Court affirmed the verdict finding the evidence we produced at trial was exhaustive and totally persuasive on the seriousness of our client's injuries.

$2,100,000 Jury Verdict — Trip and Fall Accident, Brooklyn
A decrepit steel plate in a city sidewalk covering a vault caused our client, a private waste hauler, to trip and injure his back. This hard worker suffered two herniated discs in his lumbar spine which resulted in major surgery – a two-level disc fusion with the insertion of titanium plates to stabilize his spine. The City of New York which owned the sidewalk, The New York City Transit Authority which owned an elevated subway line above the accident site and the abutting private landowner all denied ownership of the metal plate or responsibility for its condition. An exhaustive investigation using engineers, the examination of a decade old City plan, schematics and no small amount of dogged persistence uncovered evidence that the plate and vault below it was owned by the New York City Transit Authority. A jury awarded damages for pain and suffering, lost income and medical expenses, both in the past and in the future to compensate this disabled worker.

$1,250,000 Settlement — Unsafe Sandblasting Equipment Injures Bridge Painter, Labor Law, Brooklyn
A union painter performing a very dangerous job suffered disabling injuries when the electrical connection on a sandblaster shorted out and the machine turned on in a confined space. The defendants argued our clients own negligence caused the accident. This firm retained a Professor of Electrical Engineering as an expert and presented evidence in Court that the sand blasters electrical connections were inadequately protected and wear and tear on the machine which the owners were aware of caused the malfunction. After the presentation of this evidence in front of a jury, the defendants settled the case.

$2,250,000 Settlement — Airline Crash, Federal Court
Retained by the family of a mother of four who lost her life aboard American Airlines Flight 587, the firm gathered information and documentation to show how this hard-working single parent had supported her family and how devastating her loss was to them. The case settled without a trial.

$1,500,000 Settlement — Negligent Supervision of a Special Needs Student, Queens
A special-needs student became separated from her class on a field trip, wandered away and became the victim of a heartless assault. The firm proved that the procedures required to insure the security of these students were not followed and a substantial settlement was placed in trust for this young woman.

$1,050,000 Jury Verdict  — Windblown Debris in Parking Lot Strikes Customer, Queens
Our client was struck in the head and neck by a flying piece of plywood, causing a herniated cervical disc and resulting in a laminectomy and fusion surgery. Sheets of plywood stacked on the exterior of a Home Depot Store were not properly secured. A strong wind blew one of the sheets, which became a projectile flying through the parking lot and into our client. An exhaustive investigation by this firm to identify the employees present, including some no longer employed, resulted in evidence sufficient to hold the store liable for its negligence. Evidence from two orthopaedic surgeons, an economist and a vocational rehabilitation specialist was presented to a jury in Federal court to obtain this substanial verdict.

$3,100,000 Settlement — Leg Amputation, Queens
An airport baggage handler was struck by a luggage cart being driven by another handler which tragically resulted in his right leg being amputated at the knee joint. He came to our firm for advice on a workers compensation claim, having been previously told this was his only remedy. We did not accept this at face value and conducted an investigation which revealed that the driver of the luggage cart was not an employee of the airline in which our client worked for, but was rather employed by a subcontractor who was hired to assist with the baggage handling operation. By identifying a target defendant who the law allowed to be sued, we took our client from zero damages to a three million dollar settlement.

$1,000,000 Jury Verdict — Motor Vehicle Accident, Brooklyn
Our client was one of a group of young people returning from a club, late at night, on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. There were six people in a car that only had seats for five. Our client ended up sitting on the console dividing the front seats. When the driver lost control of the car a terrible crash occurred. The insurance company for the car denied our client's claim for damages, using a "seatbelt defense" and arguing our client was responsible for the seriousness of her injuries because she put herself in a dangerous position in the car. The insurance company spared no expense and hired accident reconstruction and bio-mechanical experts to testify our clients fractured femur, which required surgery, would not have occurred if a seatbelt was used. Our legal research revealed a seatbelt must be available for use before the "seatbelt defense" could be used. The expert testimony was precluded and we won a large jury award for our client.

$2,800,000 Jury Verdict — Police Brutality, Bronx
Our client was a victim twice on this terrible night. Returning home from work on New Years Eve he was mugged on a subway train. The muggers escaped through the crowds and as he was on the subway platform, bleeding from the mugging, the police approached and treated him like he was the criminal. He was badly beaten again by the police, handcuffed and brought to a holding cell where he was tied with electrical cord and placed in a body bag being used as a restraint. The police charged him with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. This firm first defended him at his criminal trial and although it was his word against five police officers, we won an aquittal. We then sued the police and Transit Authority for false arrest and brutality and won a huge victory for this young man.

$1,000,000 Settlement — Traffic Accident, Bronx
Our client, a young man working his way thorough college as a taxi driver, was terribly injured when the cab he was driving was broadsided by a private garbage truck. His injuries were so severe he had no recollection of the accident at all. The driver of the garbage truck testified our client had gone through a red light causing the accident. Testimony from multiple eyewitnesses resulted in conflicting versions of what had occurred. Using an accident reconstruction expert and vigorous advocacy on behalf of our client we obtained the entire insurance policy available for our client in this case.

$2,750,000 Settlement — Object Thrown From Building, Bronx
In an act of madness a stone was thrown from the roof of a building in the Bronx, striking a young woman in the head, causing her to become paralyzed on one side of her body. Although the police never arrested anyone for this action our firm accepted the case. An exhaustive investigation established that the owner of the building knew non-residents congregated on the roof, that things had been thrown from the roof before and that the stone that struck our client had been used by the superintendent to prop open the roof door, a violation of city regulations. Exhaustive interviews with people in the neighborhood revealed who had thrown the stone. This information was reported to the police and the insurance company. The landlord paid our client a settlement consisting of a large cash payment up front and monthly payments for the rest of her life.

$6,000,000 Settlement — Medical Malpractice, Queens
Errors by several doctors in diagnosis and treatment led to a long period of suffering and ultimately the death of the cherished husband of our client. This 49-year-old man, who was also the father of two young daughters, had a history of asymptomatic heart valve disease when he was presented to the defendant doctors over a period of two months with complaints of pain and high fever. With the help of experts we retained in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Pulmonary Medicine and Infectious Diseases, our office was able to prove that a mistaken diagnosis was made by the first doctor the deceased saw and then followed by his other doctors. We established that as a result of these doctors' negligence, he developed a severe heart infection with numerous horrific complications. Our ability to prove that his death from a pulmonary embolus nine months later was caused by the doctors' earlier mistakes, led to a very substantial settlement that will provide his family with the resources to completely fund his daughters' education and otherwise dramatically improve the quality of their lives in his absence.

$2,700,000 Settlement — Medical Malpractice, Brooklyn
Joy turned quickly to crushing loss for our client after his 29-year-old wife delivered their second child. Bleeding that was noted during her caesarean section was not adequately controlled and lab tests showing continued blood loss were ignored until she developed severe anemia and suffered a heart attack. By immediately arranging, at our expense, for a pathologist to perform an independent autopsy and by quickly consulting our obstetrics expert, we were able to establish that transfusions and a re-operation should have occurred hours earlier and would have prevented her death from cardiac arrest. With the information obtained from our independent autopsy and our OB/GYN expert, we were able to convince the doctors' attorney to agree to settle this case in the extraordinarily short time of less than one year after her tragic death for an amount that will allow the education of her children in private primary schools and college.

$875,000 Settlement — Motor Vehicle Accident - 2003, Brooklyn
This was an extremely difficult case involving an intersection accident between a Transit Authority Bus and our client. The TA defended the case by alleging our client was intoxicated and speeding and caused the accident himself. A thorough investigation and accident reconstruction revealed the bus had passed through a stop sign and left skid marks on the roadway as it braked to avoid the accident. We were able to argue that our client had no opportunity to avoid the accident, that he obeyed all rules of the road and his blood alchol level was not a factor in the accident. A jury ruled in our favor on liability and the case promptly settled.

$652,000 Jury Verdict — Trip and Fall in Supermarket - 2005, Rockland County
A negligent employer at an A&P Supermarket placed a stock cart behind our client without notifying her. When she turned from a display case she tripped over it, injuring her knee which required arthroscopic surgery. Although the employee was never identified by the store, we were able to convince a jury that they were negligent and won an excellent verdict.

$3,300,000 Settlement — Medical Malpractice, Queens
40-year-old schizophrenic becomes brain damaged because of hospital neglect when hospital staff fails to administer oxygen in emergency room.

$1,600,000 Settlement — Motor Vehicle Accident, Rockland
Wrongful death action where the decedent's last words were "Tell my wife and kids I love them."

$1,500,000 Settlement — New York City Transit Authority Bus Accident, Bronx
New York City Transit Authority Bus strikes a pedestrian causing severe fracture and degloving of her leg.

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