case results

$10.8 Million Verdict for Traumatic Brain Injury

Our client, a 26 year-old college physics student, who also worked as an actress, a model, and as an executive assistant, was hit by another car while in a NYC taxi. Our client’s head struck the plexiglass divider behind the driver’s seat. She was treated and released from the hospital, but continued to have headaches and cognitive difficulties. She returned to the hospital and was found to have slight bleeding of the brain and was admitted for four days for observation.

She returned to school and completed three more semesters, but continued to have problems in school understanding the professors. Her memory was diminished and she was unable to comprehend what she had read. She eventually was unable to complete her classes and lacks three courses to complete her degree. She has suffered with cognitive deficits, headaches, anxiety, depression, memory problems and confusion. She was accepted into the New York State Brain Injury Waiver program, so she has assistants come to her apartment three days per week to help her with shopping, cooking, cleaning, paying bills and laundry.

Plaintiff’s doctors said she developed a traumatic brain injury (TBI) known as the “silent epidemic” because its effects are not immediately obvious to a stranger. She returned to college but was unable to graduate due to inability to read or remember. She has tried to work several jobs, but has been unable to hold a job. Her doctors said she is permanently disabled and can’t work.

The jury awarded a total of $10.8 million dollars. This included $1.2 million in lost earnings, $6 million in future medical costs, $3.6 million in pain and suffering.

$7.4 Million Verdict for Brain Injury

Our client, a 28-year-old female accountant, sustained a brain injury when she was struck while crossing in a crosswalk. The driver claimed that she ran out between parked cars. Our client did not recall the accident, but remembered standing on the corner waiting for the walk light. She struck her head on the ground and was later diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). She had recently been hired to work at a large accounting firm, and tried for two years to work, but was unable to do so due to concentration and memory problems. She was later diagnosed with traumatically induced epilepsy and is on social security disability. The jury found the van driver and his employer responsible and awarded a total of $7.4 million for past and future pain and suffering and economic losses.

$6 Million Verdict for Brain Injury

Our client, a 38 year-old high school guidance counselor, sustained brain injury (TBI) after being struck in the head by a door. The client walked through the left door of a pair of swinging doors while walking downstairs during a fire alarm. To get downstairs, he was required to walk in front of the right door, which was pushed by a student and struck our client in the head. Over several months, he lost his balance, developed the inability to speak properly, and became hypersensitive to noises. He has been disabled since the accident and now receives social security disability. The jury found that the Board of Education was responsible for maintaining a dangerous and defective door and awarded a total of $6 million in compensation.

$5 Million Verdict for Medical Malpractice

Our client suffered a stroke and was left unattended for six hours in a hospital emergency room hallway. The ER doctor ordered a CAT scan, but hospital employees said that the CAT scanner was not operating properly. The patient was finally transferred to another hospital, where the stroke was diagnosed and an operation was performed to attempt to remove a blood clot from his brain. However, due to the delay in treatment, our client’s condition deteriorated and he died after living six months in a nursing home. Our client had worked as a dental technician and earned approximately $25,000 annually. He had lived with and helped to support his 80 year-old father.

$4.75 Million Settlement for Cerebral Palsy

Our client, a six year-old girl, sustained brain damage at birth due to medical malpractice. The child’s mother had gone to the hospital on May 15, 2001. She was admitted and placed on a fetal monitor. Over the course of three days, the monitor showed signs of fetal distress and abrupted placenta. Doctors initially scheduled the patient for a Cesarean section, but for reasons no one could explain, cancelled it. On the third day at the hospital, a Cesarean section was finally performed. The infant was born with poor response and breathing and spent three weeks in the ICU. The child was eventually diagnosed with neurological damage. The child is now six years old, walks with braces, cannot hear without using a hearing aide and has a very limited vocabulary. The settlement money will pay $37 million over the course of the child’s life.

$4.75 Million Settlement for Lead Poisoning

An infant and her family moved into an apartment where paint chips started to fall off the walls. The infant plaintiff ingested the paint chips causing the lead to go to the child’s brain. The child is in special education with reading and math difficulties.

$3.65 Million Verdict for Brain Injury

Our client suffered fractured facial bones and traumatic brain injury when he fell from scaffolding on a movie set. Our client was unable to return to work as an artist in charge of major movie sets. The insurance company offered $300,000 to settle the case as the jury was deliberating, which we declined. The jury awarded $3.65 million.

$2.5 Million Settlement for Erb's Palsy

The physician who delivered the baby failed to take precautions to protect the nerves leading to the baby’s arm. The attending physician should have recognized that the baby was too large to be delivered vaginally. Due to the size of the baby, the baby’s shoulder lodged behind the mother’s pubic bone during delivery. The mother claimed that the doctor applied excessive traction to the baby’s head, which damaged the nerves leading to her baby’s arm. After birth, the mother located a physician who performed surgery to attempt to repair the damaged nerves. This operation resulted in partial improvement of function, but the child will suffer permanent, limited function of her arm. The settlement is expected to pay the child millions over the course of her life.

$3 Million Settlement for Cerebral Palsy

Our client, a newborn, was born neurologically damaged at birth. The child’s mother came to the hospital complaining of not feeling the baby and bleeding. Doctors at the hospital placed her on a monitor but failed to detect any abnormalities with the infant. The child was born twelve days later and at birth could not breathe. Tests were performed which revealed that the child had suffered a brain bleed while in utero. The child was transferred to New York Hospital for further treatment. Our client, now seven years old, cannot walk or talk and has to be fed through a tube. The child will receive $29 million from the settlement over the course of her life.

$1.25 Million Settlement for Erb's Palsy

In this case, the injured baby’s mother claimed that the delivering physician failed to take measures to prevent severe injury. Instead, when the baby wouldn’t arrive, the doctor applied excessive traction and twisted the baby’s head, which damaged the nerves leading from the spinal cord to the baby’s arm. Nerve graft surgery, using a nerve from the baby’s leg to repair the damaged nerves, resulted in partial, although limited, recovery of function. The settlement is expected to pay the child millions over the course of his life.