Recent Case Results

Auto Accident

30-Year-old Man Requires Neck Surgery After Plumbing Van Cuts Off His Car

June, 2006 - $600,000 settlement - Notwithstanding the defendants' claim that the plaintiff rear-ended their van, we successfully induced the defendants to settle this case in the middle of trial rather than face plaintiffs' panel of experts including an accident reconstructionist, vocational rehabilitation expert and forensic economist.

Defective Premises

Mail Carrier Fractures Arm After Slip and Fall on Defectively Shoveled Steps

July, 2006 - $100,000 settlement - Following depositions, where the plaintiff testified convincingly as to his ongoing problems related to his surgically repaired fractured elbow that was sustained when he slipped and fell on the front steps of the defendants' premises, the defendant-owner of the premises offered their full insurance policy limits to settle this matter.

Woman Suffers Subdural Hematoma When Falling Through Open Trap Door in Floor of Restaurant

August, 2008 - $500,000 settlement - Supreme Court, New York County - Even though the plaintiff's hospital records indicated that the plaintiff was intoxicated when she fell through an open trap door that was located in the floor of the defendant's restaurant, the defendant offered this sum because their own experts confirmed that the plaintiff sustained a subdural hematoma, and that she still suffers from diminished senses of taste and smell.

College Student Loses Part of Finger When Door Closer Malfunctions

March, 2008 - $37,500 settlement at trial - Supreme Court, Kings County - The defendant university had a witness ready to testify that she had slammed the door on the plaintiff's hand, and was therefore at fault for causing the plaintiff's accident, and despite the plaintiff's concession that he was not paying close attention to his surroundings immediately prior to his accident, we were successful in convincing the defendant university to settle this claim in the middle of trial.

Woman's Lung Collapses After Slip and Fall on Icy Parking Lot

July, 2008 - $70,000 settlement - Supreme Court, Queens County - In this case, plaintiff slipped and fell on ice that had accumulated in the parking lot that was leased by her employer. After the initial attorney on the case declined to continue the action because he could not see how it could be proved that the owner of the parking lot was responsible for this accident, we obtained the climatic data reports for that month, and determined that the ice was likely present for at least two full days before the accident, and hired an expert engineer, whose survey of the area indicated that the drainage from the roof of the adjacent building fed directly onto the parking lot, and likely contributed to the ice buildup in the area before the plaintiff's fall.

Defective Products

Woman's Legs Suffer Second Degree Burns When Handle Breaks Off Brand New Ceramic Mug

February, 2008 - Supreme Court, Westchester County -$ 90,000 settlement - In this case, the plaintiff sustained second degree burns to her legs when the handle from a newly purchased ceramic mug broke off into her hands, causing the mug's contents to spill onto her body. Even though the plaintiff did not keep the receipt from her purchase of this ceramic mug (and her credit card receipts failed to confirm that she purchased the mug at the defendant's store), this case settled after the Court granted our motion to preclude the defendant's expert from testifying at trial.

Woman's Achilles Tendon Severed When Carving Knife that Defectively Packaged Fell Off Store Shelf

June, 2007 - Supreme Court, Kings and Nassau Counties - $550,000 - While walking down one of the aisles of a $.99 cent store seeking bleach, the plaintiff felt a sharp pain at the back of her leg, and turned to find that a knife from a shrink-wrapped knife and cutting board set had fallen from a shelf, piercing the thin PVC wrapping, and in that process, severing approximately 70% of the anterior aspect of her Achilles tendon, causing nerve damage, and ultimately required surgical correction. At trial, the plaintiff settled her case against the U.S. distributor of the knife and cutting board set for $275,000; but we didn't stop there. Since the $.99 cent store never responded to the complaint in that action, we brought a separate lawsuit directly against the $.99 cent store's insurer, and obtained an additional $275,000 for the plaintiff.

Professional Liability

Company Reimbursed Full Value of its Losses Due to Attorneys' Malpractice

October, 2006 - $700,000 settlement - After a bench trial in the underlying commercial action resulted in a finding that there was a de facto merger between the plaintiff manufacturer and the defendant supplier, the defendant was held liable to the plaintiff manufacturer for 20% gross profits on certain technologies for a 5 year period. Although the Court's decision in that action was in direct contravention of the applicable law, the law firm representing the defendant company failed to appeal the decision, claiming that they had been fired as the supplier's attorneys at the time the appeal was required to be filed.  At the deposition of the supplier's former attorney, we elicited admissions from the attorney that his firm had not, in fact, been terminated at the time the appeal was due to be filed, because they continued to file papers with the court on the supplier's behalf for several months thereafter. Within a few months after the depositions concluded, the attorneys' insurer reimbursed our client - the supplier - for the full amount that the supplier had paid to resolve the underlying commercial action.