Case resultsResults may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.
Our client was a previously healthy three week old baby boy whose parents brought him to a local emergency room after he would not stop crying. Even though the ER was virtually empty, the baby was not evaluated by a doctor for over two hours and then, signs of possible bacterial meningitis, a highly dangerous and frequently deadly infection, were not immediately recognized. Even after being seen by the doctor, a lumbar puncture was not performed until about four hours later and antibiotics were not administered until about an hour after that. The defendants argued that this five or six hour delay had no effect on the child’s outcome, as the child was already sick at the time he came to the hospital. We argued that under these circumstances, the standards of care required immediate antibiotics which would have given the child an opportunity for a better outcome and less severe disabilities. As a result of the meningitis, the child suffered multiple neurological and cognitive impairments, including a near total loss of vision. The case was settled for $4,825,000, which will ultimately yield much more because some of the funds are being invested in structured settlements.
Our client was a nurse who became a gestational diabetic while she was pregnant. Her pre-natal obstetrition failed to complete the testing for gestational diabetes and consequently did not treat plaintiff for same. After she went into labor, the fetal monitor showed signs that the baby was under distress, which usually means that the baby is not receiving sufficient amounts of oxygen and requires caesarian section. This situation was not addressed in a timely manner and our client’s son was born with a birth weight of nearly 12 lbs and was later diagnosed with mild mental retardation and attention deficit disorder. A suit was brought against the pre-natal physician for not diagnosing and treating the gestational diabetes and against the delivery physician and hospital for not addressing the signs of fetal distress in a timely manner. After a pre-trial settlement of $1.5 million with two defendants, the case proceeded to trial against the remaining defendant in Supreme Court, Kings County. The trial resulted in a $4,096,900 jury verdict although the Appellate Division reversed the verdict against the pre-natal physician.
42 year-old woman underwent gynecological surgery resulting in numerous complications requiring multiple additional surgeries and resulting in her death 28 months later. Case settled at mediation for $3 million.
Our client was a 62 year-old supermarket chef, who presented to an emergency room after cutting his hand at work. After noting that his hand and fingers had “full range of motion,” the wounds were sutured. Weeks later a hand specialist discovered that our client had sustained a torn extensor tendon to the middle finger and was now unable to open that finger. Even after surgery to reconnect the tendon, complications ensued and our client was unable to return to work. At trial, in Supreme Court, New York County, the hospital’s lawyers noted that the possibility of a tendon injury had been ruled out by the physical exam, which showed “full range of motion”. However, our expert explained that the hand contains a band of fiber known as the juncturae tendinum, which can permit motion to a finger even after a tendon has been cut because of its connection to the other fingers. We successfully argued that the standard of care required further testing before ruling out a tendon injury. The jury returned a verdict in favor of our client for $1,278,000.
Our 65 year-old client presented to his local emergency room with extremely high blood pressure and a recent history that was consistent with possibly having had a mini-stroke(s). In spite of his numerous other risk factors and his still elevated blood pressure, he was released from the emergency room only to suffer a stroke the next day resulting in neurological deficits. The case was settled for a confidential amount.
Our client was being prescribed medication in order to control an autoimmune disease. However, after being referred to a specialist in order to be monitored for potential side-effects of the medication, the specialist failed to conduct the necessary tests to detect early signs of the side-effects, which in this case involved damage to her retina and blurry vision. The case was settled for a confidential amount.
The plaintiff was a laborer who was struck on the back of the head by a falling cinderblock, while working for a sub-contractor on the construction of a building. As a result, our client sustained soft tissue trauma to the neck and head causing him to have headaches, neck pain and sleep difficulties. We successfully argued that the building owner and general contractor violated the NYS Labor Law in failing to protect workers at ground level from the dangers of falling materials and judgment was entered against the defendants. The case was settled for a total of $958,000 (including $60,000 reduction of the workers’ compensation insurance lien).
Our client’s husband and father was a 68 year-old retiree, who had been complaining about a burning pain in his abdominal region for about 4 years before he finally underwent a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. He passed away 7 months later. The defense claimed that the patient had refused medical advice to undergo a colonoscopy but there were no medical records supporting that contention. The defense also claimed that the family suffered virtually no significant financial losses as a result of the death. Since New York State does not permit the families of wrongful death victims to sue for loss of their loved ones’ comfort, society and affection, we were pleased to exact a settlement offer of $950,000, based primarily on the deceased’s pain and suffering during the last 7 months of his life.
Our client was a 45 year-old sanitation worker who succumbed to cancer of the bladder. He had originally complained of left side pain and blood in the urine (hematuria) but his medical work-up at his health-care clinic, including an endoscopic procedure, showed the possible passage of stones but no abnormality within the bladder. When the hematuria continued, a second scan was performed but was misinterpreted as “normal”. Months later, our client was hospitalized and advanced stage cancer of the bladder was diagnosed, eventually leading to his death. The defense argued that even a timely diagnosis would not have changed the unfortunate outcome. Through our experts, we argued that the late diagnosis deprived this gentleman of a reasonable opportunity to fight back against the disease and the case settled for $925,000.
The plaintiff was a 50 year-old electrician who fell from a height of about 20 feet while working from inside a steel “cage” that was atop a fork-lift operated by his co-worker that had lifted him to the roof of a building. The general contractor’s foreman testified at a deposition that the electricians had been told not to use the fork-lift and that it should be operated only by the general contractor’s employees. We argued that by failing to properly secure the cage to the fork-lift or to furnish our client with safety equipment, the owner and general contractor had violated the NYSLabor Law. Our client, who had been earning $25,000 per annum, sustained fractures to his vertebrae, ribs and sternum and required open surgery to his back. The case settled before trial for $835,000.
This case involved a young man who had been repeatedly sexually abused by a defrocked, former Greek-Orthodox priest. This priest, who had established his own “stand alone” church, had lured the vulnerable youngster into his midst with promises of menial work at the church. A suit was brought against the priest and his church. The defendant priest fled the country prior to his deposition. One of the biggest challenges in the case involved proving that the church trustees knew or should have known about the priest’s pedophile tendencies. The other challenge involved defeating the separate suit brought by the church’s insurance company which claimed that its coverage did not extend to acts of molestation by a priest. While these issues were being litigated, the church, its insurance company, and our client agreed to proceed to mediation where the case was settled for $800,000.
During a procedure to terminate a pregnancy, our client suffered a perforation of her uterus and injury to the small intestine, which required emergency repair via laparotomy including excision of a section of the small intestine. We claimed that the original procedure was performed negligently and the case settled for $790,000
Our client’s husband was a 46 year-old garage attendant earning $50,000 per annum who complained to his cardiologist about burning chest pain even after a stent was put in to address a blockage of the coronary arteries. The doctor prescribed Prilosec for the chest pain, suspecting that the problem was of a gastric nature. Eventually, the decedent’s family sent him to a gastroenterologist who performed an endoscopic procedure which resulted in a diagnosis of plasmablastic lymphoma, a rare, aggressive and nearly always deadly form of cancer of the lymphatic system. At trial, the defense expert was set to testify that given the nature of the disease, the decedent could not have been saved. Our expert oncologist testified that plasmablastic lymphoma can, on occasion, be treated successfully and that the defendant’s failure to timely refer the decedent for gastroenterological work-up deprived the decedent of an opportunity for a cure. The defense offered $760,000 in settlement and our client accepted the offer.
Our client was a lovely 15 year-old girl who suffered from kidney failure and required dialysis several times a week. During a dialysis treatment, the catheter was misplaced into our client’s retroperitoneal cavity, resulting in a major bleed which required surgical intervention. Although the plaintiff eventually recovered, she sustained abdominal scarring as a result of the surgery. (Later, she received a kidney transplant and no longer required dialysis.) A lawsuit was brought against the hospital and physician who administered the dialysis and it was settled before trial for $750,000.
The plaintiff was a 59 year-old businessman with a long history of epilepsy. In an effort to identify the location of his seizures, he underwent a diagnostic electro-encephilogram, where the patient is taken off his medications and is allowed to have uncontrolled seizures, which are monitored. While experiencing seizures during the procedure, the plaintiff suffered an anoxic episode, that is, a period when his brain was not receiving the proper amount of oxygen. As a result, the plaintiff sustained cognitive and expressive impairments including memory deficits and word-retrieval difficulties. We argued that the procedure should have been terminated before the seizure had progressed to a “grand-mal” state. The case was settled for $750,000.
Our Client was a 38 year old unemployed, single male, who was injured in a two-car head-on crash on an upstate road, when he claimed the other car crossed over the double yellow line. The other driver was killed upon impact and we filed suit against the estate of the deceased. The other side’s expert disputed our client’s version of the events and claimed that it was our client who had crossed over. Our client suffered open fractures of both legs requiring open reductions and internal fixations. The case was settled before trial for a total of $711,484, which represented the full proceeds of the deceased’s insurance policy plus $225,000 from the estate.
Our client was injured in a store in a store in New Jersey and we brought suit against the store owner. She was diagnosed with a radiculopathy (pinched nerve) in her neck and possible complex regional pain syndrome, which was disputed by the defendant’s neurologist. Our client underwent various pain management treatments and modalities, with limited success. The case settled before trial for $675,000.
The plaintiff was a 73 year-old woman who slipped and fell on a wet floor, sustaining fractures of both long bones in her lower left leg, requiring surgical intervention and the insertion of a plate and screws. Following a mediation, the case was settled for $600,000.
Our client was a 60 year-old nurse who was shopping at a high-end Manhattan boutique. She descended from the second floor to the main floor and, in the process, found herself unknowingly on a 14 inch-high platform where the mannequins were displayed. In attempting to step down from the platform, she fell hard onto her foot fracturing her heel bone (calcaneus). Her injury was treated via surgery with a plate and pin. She returned to full-time nursing about four months later. Suit was brought against the store and its architect. Our expert engineer and architect claimed that the defendants had violated various provisions of the NYS Building Code with respect to steps, signs and exits. The parties agreed to proceed to mediation where the case settled for $590,000.
A 39 year-old man was rear-ended while driving his car in Manhattan. Two years earlier, he had undergone a fusion of his lower spine and as a result of the collision, his back condition flared up, requiring epidural injections. He also underwent arthroscopic surgeries to repair the labrums in his shoulders, although records suggested he may have had a shoulder surgery years before, as well. The case was settled before trial for $575,000.00
While giving a ticket to a truck driver who had driven his truck on a non-truck route, a police officer was knocked down by a SUV that maintained only $100,000 in liability coverage. The officer sustained multiple injuries, including a fractured foot, a torn labrum in his hip and head trauma. Mr. Eidman argued that because the truck driver had violated the law and the violation had indirectly led to the officer’s injuries, the owner and driver of the truck were liable under the New York State statute known as the Firefighter’s Rule. While the case was being prepared for trial, the parties agreed to attend a private mediation session and the case was settled for $550,000.
Our client, a 67 year-old retired woman, was driving in the left lane of a local street when her car was struck from the right by a driver who was attempting to make a left turn into a driveway, from the center lane, sustaining complex fractures to her right (dominant) wrist, requiring multiple surgeries. The available insurance limits were $500,000 which were recovered in full.
A New Jersey woman undergoing a hysterectomy sustained a perforation to her colon that was not diagnosed until two days after the surgery. Our expert gynecologist testified at a deposition that while injury to the colon may occur even without malpractice, it was malpractice not to recognize this particular injury at the time of the hysterectomy. Our expert surgeon testified that as a result, our client required more surgery, had additional scars and other complications. The case settled before trial for $500,000.
Our 35 year-old client, owner of a small home renovation business, was rear-ended by two vehicles, with the two impacts causing his head to move forward and back with great force. He eventually began to experience an array of concussion symptoms including headaches and visual disturbances and a worsening of his pre-existing ADHD. He was treated with medication and eventually returned to work at a different job but with more pay than he had been earning previously. The case settled close to trial for $500,000.
A 42 year-old truck driver sued the owner and driver of another truck after his truck was rear-ended on the shoulder of a New Jersey road, suffering herniations to discs in his upper and lower spine. Our client underwent conservative treatment including injections and was advised that he should consider having surgery. The case settled at a mediation for the sum of $480,000.
Our client was an 89 year-old New Jersey woman who was staying with her daughter. During the night, she tripped over a box that the daughter had packed and left on the floor of the room where her mother was staying. Our client suffered a fracture of the orbit (the socket of the eye) and related injuries, resulting in severely impaired vision in that eye. After we defeated the defense’s motion for summary judgment, the case settled for $470,000.
Our 59 year-old client had stopped her car at a stop sign in New Jersey, when her car was struck along its driver-side door by a car whose driver had lost control of it.
Our client suffered fractures of the hip, which were treated conservatively with rest and therapy, thus avoiding surgery. The case settled before trial for $455,000
After our 35 year-old client was knocked off his motorcycle and suffered several fractures of his left arm, his first lawyer wanted to settle the case for the $250,000 limit of the other driver’s insurance policy. But we brought suit also against the town for failing to regulate its dangerous intersection and against a homeowner whose fence obscured the sightlines. After successfully fending off vigorous motion practice, the case settled for $450,000.
Plaintiff worked for a company that serviced garage doors and was attempting to repair an overhead steel garage door by using a crow-bar while standing on a tool box that was located inside the bed of the company’s flat-bed truck. While he and his co-worker pulled with the crow-bar, he lost his balance and fell, sustaining a fracture to his skull that required surgery in order to reduce the swelling. Our client’s co-worker testified that he had warned our client not to stand atop the toolbox but we produced a witness who testified that he saw two men standing atop the toolbox and reaching upwards in an awkward fashion. The case proceeded to mediation and was settled for $450,000.
Our client was a woman who was being treated by a podiatrist for heel spurs (bony growths that form on the back of the feet). She had a previous history of gastrointestinal bleeding but the doctor prescribed Feldene, which, according to the drug’s manufacturer, is contraindicated for patients with such a history. After taking the Feldene, she again developed a gastrointestinal bleed and required surgery to stop it. The case proceeded to trial in Supreme Court, New York County and after jury selection it was settled for $450,000.
Our client, a 61 year-old gentleman, underwent cosmetic surgery to his face and abdomen. Afterwards, the plaintiff sustained infections to his surgical wounds in the abdomen and experienced some neurological trauma to the facial region. We claimed that the defendant/cosmetic surgeon failed to arrange for proper follow-up care resulting in the infection, and that the facial surgery was performed carelessly thus damaging a nerve. Our client’s malpractice suit was settled for $425,000 and, in addition, the physician was disciplined by the State as a result of his treatment of this client.
Our client was a 52 year old disabled man who was struck by a car making a left turn while crossing a street in Brooklyn. As a result, he suffered a fractured leg requiring surgery. There was no claim for loss of income because he had not been working. A suit was brought against the owner and driver of the vehicle that struck the plaintiff and we claimed that the driver violated several provisions of the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law and Motor Vehicle Rules & Regulations of the City of New York, including the requirement to yield the right of way to pedestrians within a crosswalk. The case settled for $360,000.
Our client was a 36-year old cable TV installer, en route to a job, when his truck collided with another vehicle as they both drove through an intersection in Queens. both drivers claimed they had the green light. The driver of another car in the vicinity claimed that our client had gone through the red light but we questioned this witness’ ability to actually see the lights from his vantage point. Our client sustained a fractured right patella (kneecap) which required surgery. Then, his surgical wound became infected requiring further hospital care and treatment. The opposing vehicle had a limited ($25,000) insurance policy, so in addition, we also brought an underinsurance claim and a malpractice suit for causing the infection. The claims settled for $360,000.
Our 58 year-old client tripped on the rug in the lobby of her apartment building because the rug had not been properly secured to the floor. The incident was caught on the building’s security camera. As a result of the fall, she sustained a significant to her upper arm which required surgical repair. The case settled just before trial for $350,000.
A 39 year-old New Jersey woman had a longstanding history of neck problems including herniated discs, for which she had been receiving treatment, when she was a passenger in a New Jersey Transit bus that was rear-ended by another NJT bus. As a result, her neck condition worsened and she required more significant treatment, culminating in cervical fusion surgery. Despite the fact that the defense and its doctor claimed that our client’s injuries had been pre-existing, the case settled for $350,000.
Our client was a 17 year old high school student who was a rear-seat passenger in a car which failed to successfully negotiate a turn and collided with a tree. As a result, our client suffered a fractured leg requiring surgeries for insertion of steel rod and repair of rod. We recovered the full $100,000 limits of the insurance policy of the owner/operator of the car in which our client was riding. In addition, after an arbitration hearing, we collected the $250,000 underinsurance policy coverage from a policy owned by our client’s father.
A New Jersey man was a passenger in his friend’s car but unfortunately failed to wear his seat-belt. The car was involved in a sideswipe collision with an uninsured vehicle and the passenger was thrown through the windshield, fracturing his nose and injuring his knee. He required multiple surgeries to his nose and arthroscopic surgery to his knee. The friend’s car carried $250,000 in insurance and the case settled for the full amount of the policy.
After a small snowfall, a 68 year-old man was attempting to get from a public sidewalk into the roadway so that he could cross mid-block. Instead of walking along the shoveled path in the middle of the sidewalk in order to reach the crosswalk, he left the shoveled path and walked onto the unshoveled part of the sidewalk that abutted the curb. He slipped while trying to reach the roadway, fracturing his ankle and requiring surgery. The case was settled before trial for $235,000.
49 year old plumber was stopped by police while en route to a customer and was given two traffic summonses. After receiving the tickets, some additional words were exchanged and the plumber called one of the officers a “pathological prevaricator”. According to the plumber and his wife, who was in the vehicle, this enraged the officer who then began to choke the man. Eventually, a police lieutenant persuaded the man to get out of his van and the lieutenant tasered him in the chest, causing him to fall backwards and to sustain a laceration to the back of his head. My client was charged with various crimes and after a criminal trial, he was found not guilty of all charges except guilty of disorderly conduct. We sued the City for the use of excessive force and for civil rights violations. After receiving a “final offer” from the City in the amount of $20,000, we prepared the case for trial, at which point the case was settled for $150,000.
The plaintiff, a 72 year-old legal secretary slipped off of a broken sewer grate cover at night fracturing the elbow to her non-dominant arm and requiring surgery. Documents and witnesses proved that this condition had existed for a long period of time but had gone unrepaired. Suit was brought in Supreme Court, Queens County against The City of New York and the abutting landowner and before jury selection it was settled for $150,000.
The plaintiff, a 76 year-old retired attorney was walking beneath a sidewalk bridge on East 81st Street where he turned to cross the street. As he stepped towards the curb, his foot caught on a nail that slightly protruded from the side of the wooden block, (known as mudsill), that formed the footing to the upright post of the sidewalk bridge. As a result, he tripped, fell and fractured his patella (kneecap). Surgery was performed to remove the bottom piece of the patella and to align the rest of it; then, he underwent physical therapy for about three months. Although the condition which plaintiff complained about was admittedly small, we argued that its location, lined up with a pedestrian crosswalk, made it particularly dangerous. Suit was brought against the building owner, its general contractor, and its sub-contractor for the sidewalk bridge, and it eventually proceeded to mediation. Documents and witnesses proved that this condition had existed for a long period of time but had gone unrepaired. Also, an inspection report from the general contractor’s foreman showed that the bridge had been inspected that day but that the condition was not noted on the inspection sheet. At the mediation the case settled for $150,000.
A 49 year-old man employed by the NYC Housing Authority and earning $46,000 per annum, slipped on ice while stepping from a curb. This occurred two days after a 26 inch blizzard. Our client fractured both bones in his lower leg. After surgery to repair the fractures with a plate and screws two screws were eventually removed and after three and a half months, our client returned to work on a full-time basis. Suit was brought against the City of New York for failure to maintain the crosswalk and curb in a reasonably safe condition and the case was settled for $100,000.
This case was tried before a jury in Supreme Court, Queens County, on behalf of a 62 year-old Type I diabetic man who had been confined to a wheelchair since age 57 due to a spinal infection. Our case involved poor care of his diabetic wounds in his leg by a wound care specialist, including the use of compression dressings and the failure to consult with a vascular specialist. According to our vascular expert, this caused the compromise of the bypass that had been put into the plaintiff’s leg about 10 years earlier in order to restore his circulation, this bypass became infected, ultimately requiring amputation of the leg. The defense argued that the loss of plaintiff’s leg was the result of the natural progression of his diabetic condition, but we showed that the plaintiff’s wound did not spiral out of control until he came under the care of the defendant. By bringing in records from our client’s rehabilitation from when he first went into a wheelchair following the spinal infection five years earlier, we proved that he had a chance to walk again and now was forever deprived of that. After the jury returned a verdict in the plaintiff’s favor, the action was then settled for a confidential sum.
The plaintiff was driving her car on an entrance ramp attempting to enter traffic on the Long Island Expressway. Her car was struck on its right side by a tractor-trailer that was driving in the right lane of the highway. Our client suffered serious lower back injuries requiring extensive surgery and eventually a surgery to fuse several vertebra in her lower back. Even though the truck claimed to have had the right of way, at trial in Supreme Court, Queens County, we were able to bring into court the driver of the car that was directly behind our client’s car on the entrance ramp. That witness confirmed our client’s testimony to the effect that no portion of her car had left the entrance ramp at the time it was hit by the truck. As a result, the jury found the truck 100% liable for causing the accident. Following the 100% liability verdict, the case was easily settled for a confidential amount.
This case involved an 11 year-old autistic child, who was physically and sexually assaulted on a school bus by an emotionally disturbed student on multiple occasions, en route between school and home. There were two adults on the bus, a driver and an aide, neither of whom intervened. Our client’s status as an autistic child created special difficulties in proving liability and damages. He had a limited ability to describe the incidents although he recalled dates perfectly. Because of his limited baseline understanding of sexual activity, he did not, thankfully, sustain the types of emotional trauma typically associated with this type of trauma. Nevertheless, our young client possessed an engaging manner and was able to participate in a deposition, which convinced the defendants to offer a settlement in a sum that is confidential.
