On April 22, 2009, Evan Martin, a 13 year old eighth grade student, was injured at school in Port Jefferson after a teacher assigned him and another student the task of closing a sliding gate to the school parking lot. The gate was a large chain-link structure measuring about 16 feet wide and six feet
Subway Tracks Accident – Jury’s Pain and Suffering Verdict Affirmed after Court of Appeals Addresses Liability Issues
On March 9, 2006, Robert Obey fell onto the tracks at a subway station in Manhattan. Shortly thereafter, a train ran over his left foot.
Mr. Obey, then 51 years old, sued claiming that the transit authority’s conductor was negligent because he could have
Leg Crushed, then Surgically Amputated after Man Struck by Car
On December 3, 2004 Alfonso Marin had just dropped off co-workers at their construction site when he was standing behind his parked van at 172nd Street and Broadway in upper Manhattan and an SUV smashed into him, pinning his left leg against the van and crushing his femur.
Marin, then 40 years old, was
Above-Knee Amputation Verdict Affirmed in Medical Malpractice Case
On October 10, 2004, Donald Schultz twisted his ankle walking up the stairs at work (he was a 36 year old police dispatcher for the City of Tonawanda) and sustained a simple, non-displaced ankle fracture. He was treated at the local hospital with a brace and instructed to follow up with an orthopedic surgeon.
Mr.
Catastrophic Injury Awards Affirmed for Worker in Roadway Accident
On October 24, 2008 Robert Loja was working for a landscaping firm in Sleepy Hollow. Just after parking his employer’s truck on Benedict Avenue and unloading his lawn mowing equipment from his truck’s trailer, Loja was struck by a car driven by a young woman on her way to work. His legs were crushed between
Appellate Court Orders Significant Reduction of Pain and Suffering Verdict for Newborn who Sustained Loss of Fingers in Medical Malpractice Case
After only 23 1/2 weeks gestation, Zalaya Tart was born prematurely at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx on April 29, 2005. She weighed only 542 grams (1.1 pounds) and was just on the edge of being able to survive.
Zalaya had a host of life-threatening medical problems associated with her extreme prematurity and
Court Affirms Medical Malpractice Verdict for Failure to Diagnose and Treat Compartment Syndrome but Orders Significant Damages Reduction
On September 24, 2000, Thomas Burke fell from his wheelchair and injured his left foot. Mr. Burke, then 57 years old, had been afflicted with progressive multiple sclerosis for 20 years and had been wheelchair-bound since the mid-1990s. A week after he fell, Burke consulted with the first of several doctors about continuing leg
Teenager’s Catastrophic Arm Injury Verdict Affirmed on Appeal
On October 2, 2004, Gary Hoover was operating a tractor-driven post hole digger for a fence project in his backyard in upstate Cambria, New York. This is a very dangerous piece of equipment.
Hoover’s 16 year old step-daughter, Jessica, was helping him by holding the digger’s gear box to line up the auger so a
Court Slashes Verdict for Teenager’s Hand Injury
Dean Robinson was playing in a pick-up basketball game at P.S. 89 in the Bronx on May 5, 2006. The 14 year old made a clap lay-up (a show-off move in which one releases the ball towards the basket and simultaneously claps or slaps the backboard with his shooting hand). That was likely the
Review of the 10 Largest Pain and Suffering Awards Approved by New York’s Appellate Courts in 2011
New York’s appellate courts issued decisions in 10 cases in 2011 that approved pain and suffering damages in the sum of $3,500,000 or more.
The largest was $12,000,000 for a 24 year old woman who was paralyzed when a weight-lifting machine fell on top of her.
The courts affirmed the jury verdict in five of