$11,000,000 awarded to 2 college students run over by a vehicle that suddenly accelerated, despite the driver's foot being on the brake, due to a products defect with the automobile. One woman sustained multiple fractures and required a below the knee amputation. The other victim sustained brain damage and required long term care
$9,000,000 verdict awarded to a 21 year old Pace University student that suffered a traumatic brain injury in a head-on automobile collision in Westchester County. The impact resulted in the airbags deploying and slamming the victim's right wrist into her forehead, fracturing the right scaphoid bone and bruising the forehead. Her doctors testified that the impact led to an injury to the right front temporal lobe of the brain, a portion of the brain that when injured can create seizures and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). At trial it was established that the OCD was affecting so much of the victim's day to day existence that she was unable to work or fully function in the real world.
$5,350,000 verdict awarded to a 44 year old Staten Island mechanic who, following a rear end collision, initially sustained torn ligaments in his left wrist, but following complaints of severe wrist pain more than a month later was diagnosed as suffering “reflex sympathetic dystrophy”, also known as “chronic regional pain syndrome”, a neurological condition that involves severe, chronological pain. This can result in a "burning" pain, as well as excessive sweating, the swelling of tissue, as well as sensitivity issues and more. The disorder rapidly progressed to an advanced stage, leaving the plaintiff’s left arm swollen and disfigured and his left shoulder frozen. The RSD then jumped/spread to his lower left leg. Medical treatment including injections, nerve blocks and a cervical spinal-cord stimulator failed to reduce the pain and left the plaintiff wheelchair bound.
$4,800,000 obtained by a Manhattan resident dragged by an elderly driver who lost control of his car while exiting a garage. The victim sustained multiple leg and pelvic fractures, as well as abdominal injuries. Summary judgment was granted in plaintiff's favor on the issue of liability. Using multiple experts, which included a neurologist, orthopedist, physiatrist, gastroenterologist, a vocational rehabilitation specialist, a life care planner and an economist, we established that our client's injuries would require a lifetime of care
$2,950,000 verdict awarded to the family of a Brooklyn woman who was killed after being struck in the head by a falling tree limb. The plaintiff's proved that the City of New York had actual and constructive notice that the tree in question had a propensity to fall by demonstrating city employees were aware the tree had diseased and decaying branches which should have been removed in a timely fashion. We represented the client as trial counsel in this matter
$1,898,880 awarded by the Special Master of the Victim Compensation Fund to the estate of a woman killed in the September 11th, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. We obtained sworn statements of the decedent's co-workers and superiors that she was anticipated to have a bright future at the company and thus her earning capacity was greater than what might have anticipated by simply reviewing her income prior to her untimely death. This case was handled without fee or expense to the client, as part of the Trial Lawyers Care program
$1,750,000 and a full waiver of the Medicaid lien to a young woman who suffered "Dropped Foot Syndrome" due to an injury to her peroneal and sciatic nerves, when the car in which she was a passenger had a head-on collision with a leased vehicle, which was being operated by a drunk driver
$1,600,000 to woman who lost her leg when she was struck by a subway car that failed to properly brake after she fell onto tracks. Plaintiff provided evidence that demonstrated that the train was traveling too quickly upon entering the station and if moving at a slower speed would have had time to avoid the collision
$1,500,000 for a construction worker who herniated cervical discs and required surgery after the oversized jackhammer he was using to perform deck repair work on a major New York City bridge punched completely through the bridge deck, causing him to nearly fall to his death and dangle by the machine's pneumatic hose. We sued the owner and general contractor and the Court held the parties put the plaintiff in an unreasonable risk of serious injury
$1,500,000 medical malpractice settlement to victim's estate for a hospital's failure to diagnose and treat a condition known as spinal epidural abscess. The hospital argued that the condition was extremely difficult to diagnose because it was consistent with multiple pathologies. However, our experts opined that routine follow up on any of the differential diagnoses, as well as film studies, would have revealed the existence of the abscess such that it could have been treated before resulting in permanent injury
$1,500,000 for the family of a Long Island mother, whose ovarian cancer progressed to a terminal stage due to a Manhattan hospital's failure to properly treat the disease after Stage 1 ovarian cancer was found following a hysterectomy. Two years later, when the cancer was found, it had developed to Stage 4 and led the plaintiff's untimely death at 60 years of age
$1,425,000 this is a products liability case, whereby a high school teacher was seriously injured while using a home exercise device that hooks into any door frame and allows a person to perform pull-ups and sit-ups using their own body weight. The accident happened when the device unhooked from the frame, as the plaintiff was doing reverse crunches, causing the plaintiff to land on his head and fracture a vertebrae in his neck, requiring spinal fusion to insert a cage and left the plaintiff with mild numbness in his hands.
$1,350,000 paid to a 35 year old Queens mother of three, who sustained multiple cervical herniations requiring decompressive laminotomy/facetectomy after her car was struck by a driver who ran a red light. The patient and was left with permanent range of motion problems in her neck. All bills were paid by No-Fault Insurance.
$1,240,000 awarded to a 5 year old girl residing in Section 8 Housing that suffered cognitive deficits from lead paint poisoning that occurred after several years of ingesting paint chips that flaked off the radiator, window sills and walls. Following an infant compromise hearing, the money was placed in a structured settlement, to protect the money and to provide monthly payments over the course of her adult life
$1,050,000 verdict for a Queens packaging manager that fell off a commercial roof while shoveling, due to icy conditions and a missing parapet wall. The plaintiff suffered a fractured coccyx, a fractured sacrum and a comminuted right calcaneal fracture which required open reduction and internal fixation, as well as a second surgery to remove the hardware
$980,000 to the Estate of a woman stabbed to death by an ex-boyfriend at the hospital where she worked. We sued the security company and hospital arguing that the defendants failed to undertake reasonable security measures, as the assailant had been involved in other incidents at the hospital and had been loitering on the premises just before the event. Washington v. Montefiore, 9 AD3d 271; 780 NYS2d 322 (First Dept. 2004)
$966,000 verdict on behalf of a New York taxi driver who, during abdominal surgery, suffered a brachial plexus injury in his dominant arm due to a mal-positioning of his arm during surgery. The plaintiff already had a substantial disability in his right arm due to childhood polio
$900,000 for an 81 year old man that fell from a raised and unmarked platform floor and fractured his hip while attending a wedding in a commercial Manhattan loft space. In contradicting the defendant's argument that the raised platform was safe for the patrons, plaintiff retained an expert engineer who opined that the raised floor was built without proper permits from the New York City Department of Buildings and did not comply with New York City Building Codes which required handrails that could have prevented the accident
$850,000 for four New York City firefighters who suffered 1st and 2nd degree burns to their ears, necks, wrists and ankles when they were not provided by the City with updated bunker gear to protect them against intense heat. The City had issued directives several years earlier of the dangers of not providing upgraded equipment.
$800,000 awarded to a concrete worker struck by an oxygen tank that fell down a set of stairs when it was dropped by an ironworker. The plaintiff suffered a lower back herniations that required surgery and was unable to return to work.
$725,000 received by two Manhattan siblings who suffered lead paint poisoning in their apartment of six years. The landlord argued he was unaware children lived in the apartment. We demonstrated that the lease requested window guards, which are necessary in Manhattan apartments for people with young children and that the superintendent, an agent for the landlord, lived in the building and constantly saw the children
$650,000 collected from the Archdiocese by a 22 year old man who was sexually assaulted by a priest after questioning his own sexuality during counseling. The plaintiff thereafter became depressed and attempted suicide. The priest, who had a dubious history including allegations he had solicited sex from an undercover police officer, was not authorized to conduct one on one counseling
$650,000 settlement during jury selection for a 54 year old woman injured in 2007 in a Suffolk County residential neighborhood, when a drunk 20 year old woman ran a stop sign and crashed into the victim's driver's side door at 25 mph sending the plaintiff's car onto a private home's lawn. The young defendant was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, to which she plead guilty. The impact resulted in the plaintiff aggravating an 8 year old cervical injury from another accident, to wit: C2-3 disc protrusion, cervical stenosis at C5-6-7 with cord compression; cervical stenosis with myelopathy; and C5-6 radiculopathy. Following physical therapy and injections, on February 9, 2009 the plaintiff underwent a posterior cervical fusion at C-4 to C-7 with local bone graft, and a posterior laminectomy atC-5, C-6 and C-7.
$500,000 settlement (policy limits exhausted) awarded to a 38 year old father of two, who in 2011 was rollerblading east bound on the Long Island Expressway Service Road in Nassau County and collided with a vehicle traveling southbound at the intersection with Round Swamp Road. The parties each claimed to have had the green light in their favor and each had witnesses to support their positions. The victim was rendered unconscious and airlifted to Nassau County Medical Center with multiple injuries, including a left grade III open humerus fracture with open reduction internal fixation; a comminuted fracture of the right femoral shaft with open reduction internal fixation; a fracture of the superior and anterior aspects of the right acetabulum; severe and permanent hearing loss in the right ear caused by nerve damage due to labyrinth bleeding in the inner ear; an extensor tendon tear in the left little finger requiring debridement and repair. The victim also suffered severe bruising to his lungs, reducing oxygen capacity by 50, requiring transient mechanical ventilation and underwent a thoracostomy on the left side for pneumothorax, which was later closed as the lungs healed.
$642,500 settlement in Westchester County for a 44 year old divorced mother whose car was rear ended by a commercial van. The plaintiff, who suffered pre-existing cervical and lumbar injuries from an earlier accident, required a surgical fusion of her L4 and L5 levels and two years later underwent a diskectomy at C4-5 and C5-6. Her back healed well, but she suffered mild restriction of motion in her neck
$620,000 verdict for a Pakistani immigrant whose arm was trapped in a milling machine, causing a degloving of his forearm and several fractures. Our engineer helped us prove that the machine's design too easily allowed machine owners to remove the safety devices so it could be run by one operator instead of two and could increase productivity
$600,000 collected after a young woman, attending a concert at an overcrowded music hall, sustained a wrist fracture and reflex sympathetic dystrophy when security personnel tried to lift her over a metal barricade to prevent her from being crushed and then dropped her
$600,000 settlement for a 45 year old Bronx employee of a building supply company who was injured while moving a pallet of formica counter tops which collapsed on him, shattering his ankle and requiring the installation of a plate in his leg. We sued the manufacturer of the countertops as well as the trucking company that transported the countertops. Our expert in industrial packaging and design opined that the countertops were not properly secured with pallet wrap and banding. We also argued that the trucking company was ultimately responsible under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act for insuring the safety and security of the load
$585,000 awarded to an infant that suffered a brachial plexus injury during birth due to shoulder dystocia, a complication that occurs during the birthing process when an infant's shoulder becomes lodged behind the mother's pubic bone. Plaintiff argued the doctor committed medical malpractice by not acknowledging risk factors which included a large baby (9 lb., 2 oz.), a prolonged labor and a pregnancy of 41 weeks. Opting not to perform a cesarean section could have avoided the unnecessary injury. The child suffered a mild Erb's palsy injury which led to a slightly dropped shoulder and mild arm weakness
$500,000 settlement for a mentally disabled woman who was gang raped on the rooftop of a large residential housing complex. The woman's assailants, who had disabled the roof alarm, were never arrested or prosecuted. However, we were able to demonstrate through security expert that the building owners had failed to take appropriate precautions to secure the rooftop such as installing an alarm system that could notify security personnel that the alarm had been disconnected and that people were on the roof
$500,000 received by client who was shot in the chest at a concert hall when security personnel negligently allowed the perpetrator to bring a gun into the facility. Our expert argued that it should have been anticipated that violence might occur at this concert and should have screened for weapons. The plaintiff sustained a pneumothorax and underwent surgery to have the bullet removed and the lung reinflated.
$450,000 for a 30 year old unemployed Queens man, who was in an intersection accident, and suffered a collapsed right ear drum and a tympanic rupture resulting in complete hearing loss in this right ear
$430,000 for a Queens motorcyclist struck by a private bus who cut off his path, causing the biker to slide more than sixty feet until he struck a curb. He broke his left hip and left hand and was in a rehabilitation facility for two months
$425,000 awarded to a teenager who suffered depression and post-traumatic stress disorder following a sexual assault by a school employee who then threatened to kill her if she told anyone. The employee was arrested and plead guilty to sexual assault. It was argued by the plaintiff that the school failed to do a proper background search and negligently hired the employee to be near children. A background search would have uncovered that the assailant had formerly sold drugs to minors
$382,500 awarded to an asbestos worker who suffered a fractured calcaneous and two cervical herniations when he fell from a scaffold. Plaintiff contended that the accident could have been avoided had he been provided with the necessary safety equipment. The Court granted summary judgment under Section 240 of the Labor Law and a mediator brokered a settlement on the damages
$375,000 awarded at mediation to a 40 year old man injured in a 2004 accident when his parked car was struck by a truck in New York County. The plaintiff incurred devastating back injuries, requiring several surgeries and has been left with severe limitations including gross urinary and fecal incontinence, erectile dysfunction and massive depression. He will likely need further medical procedures. The plaintiff had a felony record and had a history of prior back problems that pre-dated the accident and led to a pre-accident award of Social Security Disability, both of which limited the value of the case.
$360,000 settlement for a Bronx college professor who slipped on an icy sidewalk when the owner shoveled, but failed to salt and sand. The plaintiff sustained a bimalleolar fracture which was treated with open reduction and internal fixation
$350,000 verdict for a 57 year old retired housewife that slipped and fell in Grand Central Station on garbage that had leaked onto the marble flooring. The plaintiff suffered a comminuted ankle fracture and underwent open reduction and internal fixation. She was left with permanent range of motion loss
$350,000 at mediation to a 67 year old New York male who slipped and fell on ice while entering his car, fracturing several ribs and sustained a lacerated spleen, which had to be removed. The car was parked next to a construction site and the personnel had not properly sanded and salted after shoveling the snow and ice
$350,000 settlement for a juvenile that fractured both forearms after he fell on slippery stairs while recovering from drug abuse at a Brooklyn rehabilitation center. The stairs had just been mopped and the staff failed to provide "slippery when wet" signs or other warning devices to prevent the incident. The plaintiff had surgery to set the bones and was left with five inch vertical scars on both forearms
$330,000 recovery in a labor law matter involving a 42 year old carpenter injured on the job site when another sub-contractor on the scaffold directly above him dropped a wrench, striking the plaintiff's face, fracturing his nose and creating a 3 inch laceration off of the tear duct of his left eye, which required sutures to repair and which left a permanent scar
$300,000 judgment at inquest for a 50 year old woman who suffered a nasal fracture when she was struck in the face by a bucket of debris that had been left on a scaffold as she entered the lobby of a friend's building
$287,500 mediated settlement for a Roosevelt Island man who suffered fractured forearms when his bike hit a pothole in the roadway. By conducting multiple depositions, we obtained evidence that the pothole was created by the collapse of the pavement supporting an electrical vault in the roadway and that the defendants were aware of the condition, which they failed to repair
$280,000 awarded to a 58 year old New York pedestrian who was struck by a car and required arthroscopic ankle and rotator cuff surgery
$250,000 medical malpractice verdict to a Brooklyn woman who suffered a severed ureter during fibroid removal surgery and had urinary incontinence for several months until the problem was corrected in a subsequent surgery
$250,000 settlement (policy limits exhausted) for an 80 year old New York woman who was injured when the cab in which she was trying to enter pulled away before she fully entered. She sustained a four part fracture/dislocation to her shoulder and brachial plexus injury, requiring surgery called a hemiarthroplasty to repair said shoulder
$240,000 awarded at arbitration to a law school professor from Greenwich Village who was struck by a nursing home ambulette while on his bicycle. It was undisputed that the ambulette was improperly traveling in an emergency lane. As the plaintiff merged into said lane, he was struck and thrown from his bike, losing consciousness and suffering L4 and L5 compression fractures. The arbitrator awarded $300,000 finding that the driver should have seen the cyclist merging but found the plaintiff 20% comparatively negligent, reducing the award
$235,000 for a laborer injured in an explosion that occurred at a decommissioned electrical plant which was being converted to condominiums. The plaintiff, working for a demolition team, contended that the explosion was caused by a ruptured gas line that was connected to an oxy-acetylene torch and that the plant owner and general contractor were liable under Labor Law §241(6) and Labor Law §200 on the grounds that specific provisions of the Industrial Code concerning the maintenance and operation of said equipment were violated and that no site safety inspector was present. The plaintiff suffered a mild traumatic brain injury, and EMG confirmed disc herniations at the L4-5 and L5-S1 levels.
$220,000 received by a woman who tripped and fell on a defective City overpass in Brooklyn and sustained a fractured ulna, requiring surgery. The Sakkas, Cahn & Weiss attorneys located inspection reports documenting that the bridge and others maintained by the City were unsafe and long overdue to be renovated
$220,000 awarded to a 54 year old woman in Rockland County who slipped and fell backward down concrete steps while on her way to work at a North Fork bank branch. The plaintiff contended that a construction company contracted to pave the parking lots surrounding the building, did so in a deficient manner, allowing tar, macadam and loose pebbles to come loose and get tracked onto the bank's walkways by people's shoes. The plaintiff struck her head and was rendered unconscious following the accident and was admitted to Nyack Hospital for four days. Her hospital diagnosis included a substantial laceration to the back of her head, traumatic brain injury, a vestibular disorder, monocular dyploplia and cervical and lumbar bulges. She was later issued a permanent partial disability by Worker's Compensation.
$215,000 for a Federal Express employee chased from a home at which he was delivering a package by a pit bull. The worker sustained bites on his hands and legs and after the insurance carrier refused payment, the owner of the dog, an NFL player, paid from his own pocket.
$205,000 awarded to a Bronx woman who sustained a rotator cuff injury when the elevator in which she was riding mis-leveled 17 inches higher than the hallway, causing her to step out into mid-air and fall
$200,000 awarded to the family of an 86 year old New Jersey man who was killed when a truck struck his vehicle
$200,000 awarded to this Nassau County products liability victim, when the defective table saw he was using malfunctioned and partially amputated the tips of three fingers, requiring surgery to reattach the tips and physical therapy to learn how to use the hand again
$157,500 mediation result for a traumatic brain injury suffered by a 60 year old woman when she was involved in a two car collision
$155,000 awarded to a teenaged Bronx girl when the door to her family's New York City Housing Authority apartment abruptly closed on her middle finger due to a defective hinge, amputating the tip of said finger. In addition to the finger being shortened, the young woman argued psychological damages based on the embarrassment she feels when people look at her hand
$145,000 paid to a 14 year old girl that was sexually assault during an after school program in a Bronx high school. The assailant was an older boy who had previously graduated the school. We demonstrated that personnel running the program should not have allowed outsiders into the school and that the assailant should not have been able to access the girl's locker room
$140,000 awarded to a client struck by an unsecured tent, which resulted in fractures to her right hip as well as fractures to her third, fourth and fifth metatarsals of the right foot
$140,000 awarded to a 65 year old Chelsea resident who tripped and fell over a basket of CD's at Tower Records, fracturing his hip. It was argued that the store was aware that customers would leave their baskets in dangerous positions and that personnel should have monitored the aisles more closely
$139,000 for an elderly Manhattan woman who was being transported by ambulance when the vehicle had an accident. The patient sustained a laceration which later became infected. The infection took more than two months to heal and left a 4 inch keloid scar on her leg
$135,000 for a 50 year old Haitian male who tore his right labrum and rotator cuff when he fell down the stairs of his Brooklyn apartment after losing his balance. We argued that the steps were all different heights and that the stairs had no handrail for him to grab onto to prevent his fall.
$132,500 for a 32 year old man who was stripping and applying polyurethane to hard wood floors in a Queens apartment building. The superintendent failed to turn off the pilot light for the kitchen stove before the work began on the floor. As a result, the highly flammable materials ignited, burning the young man's clothes and leaving him with 1st and 2nd degree burns on his arms and face
$125,000 to New York woman who was sexually assaulted by an employee of a medical clinic who presented himself as a doctor and then proceeded to conduct a breast exam, which he was not authorized to do. We sued the medical clinic on the grounds that the clinic employee's supervisors did not properly monitor his activities and that they knew, or should have known, of his propensity to engage in this inappropriate behavior.
$125,000 settled mid-way through trial. Allegations were that plaintiff, a 36 year old female passenger in a 2 car Bronx collision, sustained bilateral meniscal tears in her knees and chondromalacia when she struck her knees on the dashboard of the car. The plaintiff underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair each knee and her doctor opined that she would require knee replacement surgery on both knees at some point in the future.
$125,000 for a 10 year old student who was injured in her gym class playing dodge ball, when another student fell upon her hand resulting in Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy "RSD". Our theory against the private school was that they had too many gym participants, creating a dangerous situation of overcrowding
$120,000 for a male passenger in an automobile, who was not wearing a seat belt and smacked his face on the dashboard of the car. The plaintiff suffered an orbital fracture, leading to blurry vision for several months, as well as herniations and bulges. The value of the case was lowered because the defendants argued the seatbelt defense to demonstrate that if the plaintiff had worn his belt, the injuries would have likely been avoided
$115,000 for a 16 year old girl that claimed she was forced to perform oral sex on an older male who entered the girl's locker room during a YMCA after-school sponsored program in a Bronx High School. The plaintiff alleged negligent supervision on behalf of the staff and claimed psychological injuries, although treatment was nominal.
$100,000 for a 50 year old man pinned against his own car attempted to retrieve something from his trunk, when an out of control motorist crashed into him. The plaintiff suffered fractured legs with surgery but unfortunately there was only $100,000 available in insurance. An asset search on the defendant turned up only $2,800 in savings, and no property
$100,000 paid to a Brooklyn cyclist who was traveling west on a one-way eastbound street and was struck by a car when the driver didn't see him. The driver argued he wasn't looking for someone to come from the opposite direction, but photographs showed the driver had a very wide view and had he been looking at the road, he would have seen the cyclist. The plaintiff suffered herniated discs in his neck and underwent a diskectomy
$100,000 for a woman who slipped in her building complex courtyard, tearing the medical collateral ligament in her right knee. Plaintiff demonstrated that the area was slippery because the courtyard drains were built at a higher elevation than the courtyard itself, causing water to pool after rain storms and moss to grown on the pavement
$100,000 awarded to a Nassau County woman, who became claustrophobic in a stand-up tanning booth and in an attempt to exit, lacerated her finger on razor sharp edges on the metal door. Surgery was required to close the wound and the plaintiff later developed a related nerve compression in her arm