On June 23, 2014, John Czechowski was part of a four-man crew performing gutter and siding renovations at a residence in West Seneca. When he climbed onto the homeowner’s ladder to hang gutters, Mr. Czechowski, then 47 years old, sustained a serious foot injury when the fourth rung on the ladder broke and he fell, feet first, onto the concrete pavement below. In his ensuing lawsuit against the homeowner, Mr. Czechowski was granted summary judgment in his favor; a judge ruled that the defendant was fully at fault. The case then proceeded to a trial on damages only. The Erie County jury awarded ..read more

On May 4, 2016, David Borohov injured his ankle when he fell going down the exterior staircase of his apartment building in Fresh Meadows. Mr. Borohov, then a 24 year old hairdresser, sued Queens Fresh Meadows, LLC, the owner of the building, claiming that his injuries occurred because the the steps were defective and there were no handrails. The defendant failed to defend the lawsuit and plaintiff obtained a default judgment. At the ensuing inquest, plaintiff presented evidence of his injuries and treatment upon which the judge then issued a decision awarding pain and suffering damages in the ..read more

On December 19, 2012, Nicole Angeles was injured when the car she was driving was struck by a county bus in the Smith Haven Mall parking lot in Smithtown. In her lawsuit against the bus driver and the county, the Suffolk County jury determined that the crash was solely the fault of the bus driver and the jury then awarded Ms. Angeles pain and suffering damages in the sum of $745,000 ($634,000 past – six years, $111,000 future – 10 years). The county appealed arguing that the verdict was excessive. In Angeles v. County of Suffolk (2d Dept. 2023), the court ruled that the pain and suffering sho ..read more

On September 5, 2018, Nidia Vasquez was injured while working as a laborer at a demolition and construction site in Buffalo when she was struck on her head and a shoulder by an unsecured ladder that had been standing against a wall. Ms. Vasquez, then 57 years old, sued the site owner, the construction manager and one of the subcontractors on the site. Her motion for summary judgment under the Labor Law was granted and the matter proceeded to a trial on damages. The Erie County jury awarded plaintiff pain and suffering damages in the sum of $1,500,000 ($250,000 past – three and a half years, $1 ..read more

On November 27, 2018, at 3 a.m., then 41 year old William Lee, fell in his bathroom at home in Elmsford. His wife Anna heard the thud, ran to the bathroom and found her husband convulsing on the floor. She called 911. When the ambulance arrived, EMS suspected a stroke and Mr. Lee was rushed to Westchester Medical Center (a certified national stroke center). Mr. Lee was diagnosed with a severe stroke and a CT scan angiography was performed that showed a basilar artery occlusion that was stopping blood from getting to the brain. Tragically, though, the doctors at the hospital that morning were i ..read more

On September 27, 2019, Miguel Ferrer and his wife, residents of Idaho, were on vacation in Manhattan and decided to take a night tour on top of a sightseeing double decker tour bus. Mr. Ferrer was seated on the right side of the bus with his right arm on the railing that went around the open and uncovered upper deck when it passed close to and struck a portable traffic message board placed by the city on the east side of First Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets. Mr. Ferrer’s arm was badly fractured and lacerated and he sued the tour bus company, its driver and the City of New York. During ..read more

On March 12, 2012, Saikou Sinera, then 29 years old, was injured in a construction related accident when he fell from the fourth step of a ladder while painting inside an apartment at 301 East 47th Street in Manhattan. Mr. Sinera sued the property owner and building manager under the Labor Law and was granted summary judgment. In a damages only trial, the Bronx County jury awarded pain and suffering damages in the sum of $3,000,000 ($1,000,000 past – 10 years, $2,000,000 future – 37 years). The defendants successfully argued that the damages award was excessive because it improperly included ..read more

On April 7, 2011, James Romano, previously a lively, mostly ambulatory and self-sufficient 84 year old, was admitted to a rehabilitation facility in Staten Island to recover from a fall at home three days earlier in which he fractured a thoracic vertebrae. It was anticipated he’d recover in about two weeks. He was placed in a wheelchair to facilitate his recovery but on April 14, 2011 he fell out of the wheelchair and sustained a hip fracture. Tragically, Mr. Romano deteriorated and was never able to return home. He died at the rehabilitation facility three years later on March 22 , 2014. Mr ..read more

On August 2, 2018, a state trooper was responding to a 911 call in the Town of Ulster when he drove his police car into the other lane of traffic and collided head-on with a car driven in the opposite lane of traffic by Kathryn Bradley-Chernis. Ms. Bradley-Chernis, then 44 years old, claimed she sustained several injuries and she sued the trooper. In a bench trial, the Ulster County judge found that the trooper drove with reckless disregard for the safety of others and the matter then proceeded to a bench trial on damages. The judge heard testimony from plaintiff and her treating physicians a ..read more

On October 13, 2013, Jesús Moctezuma was injured when he was driving his bicycle on St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan and the driver of a double-parked car opened his driver’s side door as Mr. Moctezuma was passing by. The car door knocked him to the ground; seconds later the rear wheels of a city bus ran along part of his leg. Mr. Moctezuma, then 37 years old, sued both the man who opened his car door and the bus driver. After a jury returned a verdict finding both defendants at fault, plaintiff was awarded pain and suffering damages in the sum of $1,550,000 ($500,000 past -five years, $1,050 ..read more