Past Cases & Results

AUTOMOBILE REAR-END • CASE #2

DATE OF OCCURRENCE: 6/22/1995

CLIENT: A.S. (44 year-old female)

DESCRIPTION OF OCCURRENCE: Our client, A.S., was a passenger in a car stopped at a red light. The car was rear-ended by a van, whose driver claimed his brakes failed.

INJURIES: Herniated disc C 5 -C 6 , herniated disc L 3 -L 4 , posterior disc bulge L 4 -L 5 , disc herniation L 5 -S 1 causing thecal sac impingement, cervical and lumbar radiculo­pathy; left shoulder: hypertrophic acromio­clavicular joint with spur formation causing impinge­ment; TMJ (temporomandibular joint syndrome): jaw “click” and jaw pain.

Left shoulder surgery was recommended but A.S. declined to undergo surgery.

Out of work – client never returned to work (we helped A.S. recover $12,700 for her lost wages from No-Fault insurance). A.S. was a sewing machine operator. We referred her to one of our affiliated attorneys and she successfully obtained an award of lifetime Social Security Disability benefits (in April, 1997).

We retained a vocational expert who found that A.S. was unable to perform any Seden­tary, Light, Medium, Heavy or Very Heavy work existing in the local or national econ­omy on a sustained full-time, regular, competitive basis; that she was unemployable.

We retained an economist who valued A.S.’s past economic loss at $46,912 and future economic loss at $459,699.

RESULT: Settlement for $345,000 (February, 2000).

OF PARTICULAR INTEREST HERE:

1. We turned down settlement offers of $7,500 (March, 1996), $185,000 (mediation in August, 1999) and $230,000 (August , 1999).

2. A lawsuit was commenced in Queens County Supreme Court. In an aggressive move, in October, 1997, we obtained summary judgment for A.S. Summary judgment was a determination on paper, by a judge – without necessity of a trial – that the defendants (truck owner and truck driver) were 100% at fault for this accident. The only remaining issue would then be the amount of damages. This gave our client, A.S., a huge advan­tage.

3. This client had much testing and treatment with on-going complaints of pain, but no broken bones or surgery. We referred her to various medical experts who examined her and interpreted her medical test results and helped us build up her case. We achieved a great result for A.S. for what were, essentially, “soft-tissue” injuries.

ATTACHED: Three photos depicting the property damage to the rear of the car in which A.S. was a passenger.

Law Offices of Gary E. Rosenberg, P.C.

109-01 72nd Road, Suite 1A
Forest Hills, New York 11375

(718) 520-8787

26 Court Street, Suite 404
Brooklyn, New York 11242

Serving: New York City, including the Boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Bronx, and the Counties of Kings, Richmond, Queens, New York, Bronx, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Dutchess.