Attorneys Kenneth Halperin and Bryce Moses obtained a settlement of $5,000,000 for a 49-year-old union worker injured on a construction site when an unhinged door, propped up against a wall, became dislodged and hit him on the head. On the morning of the accident, the plaintiff was tiling in a hallway in a sub-basement. After completing a portion of the tiling, he sought to cover and protect the area with a sheet of Masonite. There was a vacant room adjoining the hallway where the Masonite was stored.
The room was not lit as it had no temporary or permanent lighting. The plaintiff entered the dark room and felt around for the Masonite. He finally got the piece and began dragging it out behind him. He turned and took two steps towards the door into the hallway when, unbeknownst to him, a metal door, which had been propped up against a wall by another subcontractor, fell and hit him on the head, knocking him to the floor. He did not know what caused the door to fall. Despite the argument from the defendants that the plaintiff was the sole proximate cause of his own injury, we were able to win summary judgment on liability under New York State Labor Law 240(1).
He sustained two fractures in his C2 vertebrae and disc herniations at C3-C6 with cord compression. The plaintiff underwent an anterior cervical fusion at C5-C6.
The plaintiff also suffered a traumatic brain injury evidenced by physical damage to brain tissue revealed on an MRI and documented by neuropsychological testing. He suffers from anxiety and depression and struggles with control of his emotions due to brain damage. The psychiatric evaluation noted that although his speech was normal, it was loud, and his psychomotor mood was agitated; he was depressed and had a tangential thought process.
After the case was thoroughly prepared for trial, Bryce settled the case for $5,000,000 the day the jury was scheduled to be selected. Using a unique negotiation tactic, he was able to get the parties to agree to pay the plaintiff an additional 9% interest on $3,000,000 for the right to litigate insurance issues between themselves. This effectively allowed the client to recover an additional $540,000, bringing the total potential sum recovered to $5,540,000.