On September 16, 2017, Carol Lewis was driving his car on Bell Avenue in the Bronx when a car unexpectedly crashed into his vehicle, causing him to collide with a parked car. Mr. Lewis, then 62 years old, sued the other driver (and owner) claiming he sustained significant shoulder and spinal injuries in the crash.

The jury determined that the crash was caused by the other driver and awarded plaintiff pain and suffering damages in the sum of $1,000,000 ($600,000 past – six years, $400,000 future – 14.6 years). On appeal in Lewis v. Ganesh (1st Dept. 2025), the court affirmed the judgment as to both liability and damages.

Here are the injury details:

  • rotator cuff tears in both shoulders, each requiring arthroscopic surgery to repair
  • herniated cervical discs at C5-6 and C6-7 requiring two facet nerve block injections and bulging discs at L4-S1

Plaintiff claimed that he remains in pain in his shoulders and spine, his arms are stiff, they shake sometimes, and he is unable to lift them above his head like he used to. Furthermore, he cannot do things around the house such as fixing things, lifting or painting. His treating orthopedic surgeon testified that all of plaintiff’s injuries were caused from the accident trauma, he has significant range motion deficits, a poor prognosis and his conditions are permanent.

The defendants argued that their medical experts (an orthopedist and a radiologist) demonstrated that none of plaintiff’s injuries were related to the accident:

  • as to the shoulders, each had the same arthritic conditions and neither had any evidence of trauma
  • as to the spine, plaintiff merely had pre-existing degeneration and no traumatic injury

Inside Information:

  • In his summation, plaintiff’s attorney asked the jury to award the exact pain and suffering amounts that they then awarded.
  • Based upon estimated future medical costs testified to by plaintiff’s surgeon (including future spinal fusion surgeries), plaintiff’s attorney asked the jury to award $290,000. Their $300,000 award for future medical expenses was affirmed by the appellate court.
  • After the verdict was rendered, plaintiff sued defendants’ insurance company alleging it acted in bad faith by refusing to offer its $100,000 policy limits to settle the case before trial. That lawsuit is in the discovery phase.