Past Cases & Results

AUTOMOBILE REAR-END • CASE #1

DATE OF OCCURRENCE: 10/15/1993

CLIENT: P.S. (38 year-old female)

DESCRIPTION OF OCCURRENCE: Our client's vehicle was rear-ended by a truck on Rockaway Blvd., near Baisley Blvd., in Queens County. The truck driver reported that his foot slipped off the brake.

INJURIES: Soft-tissue neck and back injuries - radiculopathy, myofascitis; herniated discs at C4-C5, C5-C6 and L5-S1 (confirmed by MRI).

Client seen in Emergency Room on day of accident. She commenced physical therapy.

Out of work - 10/15/93 to 4/8/94 (we helped client recover $9,000 for her lost wages). (The client, with barely a high school education worked with mentally-disabled adults, for a New York State Agency.)

11/11/93 to 11/15/93 - admitted to hospital for traction, exercises and heat therapy.

Pain did not resolve, client continued with physical therapy.

6/97 - Reports pain traveling from lower back into right leg .

Out of work: parts of 8/97 to 9/97.

Back surgery on 2/6/98: "Right L5-S1 Hemilaminotomy and Excision of Herniated Disc".

Out of work: post-surgery to 3/31/98.

We retained a vocational economist who found that even though P.S. could work,
she was partially occupationally disabled so that she would earn less than her nondisabled counterparts and her worklife expectancy was reduced.

RESULT: Settlement for $600,000.

OF PARTICULAR INTEREST HERE:

1. P.S. had a prior accident approximately nine months before this accident with a reported herniated disc at L5-S1, the same injury made worse in this accident and that ultimately required surgery.

2. A lawsuit was commenced in Bronx County Supreme Court. In an aggressive move, in May, 1998, we obtained summary judgment for P.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, P.S., a huge advantage.

3. On March 2, 1999 we attended mediation, a non-binding settlement conference, to try to resolve this case. Defendants offered a settlement of $250,000, which we declined. We knew that the true value of this case was higher, as shown by the ultimate settlement figure.

4. We showed an aggressive, trial-ready posture by obtaining the services of medical illustrators, who prepared customized drawings showing P.S.'s injuries and test results, and her back surgery. While expensive, these drawings are feared by defense counsel because they are powerful evidentiary tools that, had the case not settled, would have been enlarged and presented to the jury at trial.

ATTACHED:

Medical drawings:

(1) Cervical disc herniation: 11/8/93;

(2) Lumbar disc herniation: 11/9/93;

(3) Lumbar disc herniation: 8/7/97;

(4) Lumbar disc herniation with subsequent surgical repair on 2/6/98.

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

109-05 72nd Road
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.