NYC Truck Accident
Two weeks before trial, Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP attorney obtained a settlement of $4,700,000 for a 42-year-old New York County resident involved in a car crash. The defendant’s box truck made an illegal left turn from the center lane while our client was making a left from the left turn lane. The box truck sideswiped our client’s car at a low speed. The judge granted our summary judgment motion holding the defendant responsible, but set a trial date for a jury to decide whether our client was also responsible, if she was seriously injured, and how much money she was entitled to receive.
As a result of the crash, our client underwent a neck surgery with metal in her neck, a back surgery with metal in her back, a second “revision” back surgery, two knee surgeries including an ACL reconstruction, and she also suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Our client was granted Social Security Disability as a result of her injuries and currently employs a part-time home health aide. If the case had proceeded to trial, a Life Care Planner (LCP) and vocational rehabilitation (VR) expert would have testified that she can no longer work and would need a home health aide later in life. We were also able to establish through the medical evidence that the plaintiff did in fact suffer these injuries from the force of the impact despite the speed of the vehicles not being excessive. Notably, the defendants hired a biomechanical engineer who was going to testify at trial that the force of the impact could not possibly have caused her injuries, but our ability to rebut that testimony and show it was merely based upon speculation is what caused the defendants to pay a significant settlement.