On August 14, 2007 Remigiusz Nawrocki was working for a plumbing contractor at a construction site at 205 Huron Street in Brooklyn. While on a ladder drilling holes in a wall, Mr. Nawrocki, then 28 years old, fell to the ground sustaining significant jaw injuries.

At an inquest on December 9, 2015 in his ensuing lawsuit against the owner of the premises (whose answer to the complaint was stricken because of repeated failures to appear at court conferences), a judge awarded plaintiff pain and suffering damages in the sum of $50,000 ($25,000 past – eight years, $25,000 future – unspecified).

Plaintiff appealed, arguing that the damages award was inadequate. In Nawrocki v. Huron Street Development LLC  (1st Dept. 2018), the pain and suffering award was increased to $500,000 ($250,000 past, $250,000 future).

Here are the injury details:

• open mandible and condylar fractures and impacted tooth
• facial lacerations requiring sutures and plastic surgery
• six day hospital admission
• open reduction and internal fixation with wires, screws and a six hole plate

• jaw wired shut and unable to eat without straw for eight weeks
• surgical removal of wires and screws
• medical treatment completed within three months of the accident but plaintiff claimed continuing pain and had some resulting scars