Douglas Milch, of counsel with Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP, settled this matter prior to trial, after handling the matter through discovery, following the plaintiff discharging his prior attorney.
At the time of the accident, the plaintiff, a 52-year-old union plumber, fell in a small hole in the floor of a construction site. Doug alleged that the plaintiff suffered a spine injury requiring a lumbar laminectomy at L4-5. The plaintiff had a second surgery that required a lumbar decompression and fusion.
The defendants claimed they were not liable because the floor defect was too small to be the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries, and both surgeries were due to a preexisting back condition for which the plaintiff had been treated a number of times prior to the accident.
The settlement was effectuated after Doug established that the hole presented a violation of Labor Law 241(6), and that the lighting at the accident location was insufficient, causing a dangerous condition.