By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jul 24, 2023 | 0 Comments
On July 12, 2023, the Appellate Division rendered a decision in what it described as a case of first impression: whether the Arons rule would allow defense counsel to conduct an informal ex parte (private) interview of a physician assistant who treated the plaintiff about the cause of an accident...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jul 06, 2023 | 0 Comments
On June 28, 2023, the Appellate Division, Second Department joined the First Department in holding that a plaintiff requiring surgery for the injuries suffered in an accident is not required to delay surgery and prolong his/her suffering just so that the defendant who is being sued for those inju...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jul 05, 2023 | 0 Comments
On June 29, 2023, the New York Law Journal reported that an attorney in Georgia had won a $1,500,000 verdict three months ago for his client who was injured in a car accident. That verdict was tossed out based on the defense attorney's post trial motion for a new trial. The trial court found that...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 05, 2023 | 0 Comments
On May 23, 2023 the NY Court of Appeals addressed two cases involving the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and negligence claims are discussed. In both cases, tenants were attacked by intruders who entered their buildings through exterior doors that were assumed to have non-functioning loc...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 10, 2023 | 0 Comments
On January 23, 2023 a Bronx jury agreed that Western Beef Supermarket failed to promptly clean up a clear liquid that was spilled in an aisle causing a 45 year old female shopper to fall onto her back. The supermarket argued that their employees routinely inspect for and promptly clean up any spi...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 02, 2023 | 0 Comments
On April 27, 2023, the New York Court of Appeals retained a form of the primary assumption of risk doctrine despite the enactment of the comparative fault regime of CPLR Article 14 in 1975. The doctrine applies only in a narrow set of circumstances, such as in athletic and recreational activities...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Mar 27, 2023 | 0 Comments
On November 7, 2022, following an 8 day trial, a Brooklyn jury found that the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) was negligent for allowing a dangerous snow and ice condition to exist for approximately two days on an exterior staircase to an elevated subway track in the Bronx. The jury award...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Mar 22, 2023 | 0 Comments
On December 20, 2022, a Court Officer employed in Nassau County with the title of Sergeant was awarded $20,156,772, including $15M for pain and suffering. He was seriously and permanently injured when a courthouse door slammed closed on him and knocked him down due to a defective door arm mechani...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Dec 14, 2022 | 0 Comments
On December 7, 2022, an appeals court overturned a $1,140,000 jury verdict in favor of a car driver struck by a left turning MTA bus at an intersection in Queens. The court found that the liability verdict was so contrary to the weight of the evidence that no reasonable jury could have reached th...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Nov 10, 2022 | 0 Comments
On October 13, 2022, the Appellate Division, First Department upheld a Manhattan jury verdict of $1,315,000 awarded to a NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission employee against the NYC Transit Authority for injuries suffered when he was struck by an articulated bus. The plaintiff's injuries includ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 12, 2022 | 0 Comments
On August 17, 2022, the Appellate Division, Second Department upheld the ruling of Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Sanford N. Berland, who in 2019 lambasted a gynecologist for attempting to enforce an agreement his medical group demanded be signed by all their patients restricting their righ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 07, 2022 | 0 Comments
On October 5, 2022, an appellate court upheld the finding of a jury verdict against the Town of Hempstead for the wrongful death of a 69 year old Great Neck man who was killed while riding a motorized scooter due to the faulty roadway design. The decedent was riding thru the intersection of Shor...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Apr 18, 2022 | 0 Comments
On April 13, 2022, the Second Department reversed Justice Thomas Feinman who presided over a damages trial of a 42 year old delivery driver who was rear-ended by a Nassau County police car in Hempstead, New York. Liability was established as a matter of law by pre-trial motion. Justice Feinman ha...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Apr 01, 2022 | 0 Comments
After a one day trial on March 30, 2022, a New York, Erie County jury awarded a John Doe $25,000,000 who had filed suit against a 62 year old man who was his Boy Scout leader. The defendant, Robert Eberhardt did not show up for the trial and was not represented by counsel. It was claimed that the...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Mar 28, 2022 | 0 Comments
On March 22, 2022, I secured a verdict of $5,100,000 from a Nassau County jury, for a 47 year old roofing mechanic who suffered a pilon fracture of his ankle joint in an 8-10 foot fall from a ladder while repairing the roof of a commercial establishment. Liability against the owner and lessor of ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 18, 2022 | 0 Comments
On January 12, 2022, an appellate court modified a Brooklyn jury's verdict for pain and suffering of $3,000,000 ($2M past years and $1M future 10 years) and reduced it to $2,000,000. The plaintiff was a 70 year old male roofer employed by a contractor to provide roofing services to the defendan...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 10, 2022 | 0 Comments
On January 6, 2022, an appellate court overruled a Supreme Court, Bronx County Judge and ordered a retrial of a personal injury action brought by a plaintiff who fell down an exterior staircase. The trial court submitted the case to the jury on a liability theory exclusively premised on the lack ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Dec 30, 2021 | 0 Comments
On December 29, 2021, an appellate court determined that a Brooklyn jury verdict of $14,705,000 was invalid because of the substitution of a regular juror with an alternate juror in the midst of deliberations, without instructing them to restart deliberations anew so the newly substituted juror c...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Dec 29, 2021 | 0 Comments
Last month the Appellate Division Second Department set aside a jury verdict in favor of a pedestrian who claimed that she suffered a crush injury to her foot caused by a New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) bus in an accident that occurred late at night in Brooklyn. The plaintiff testified th...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Dec 28, 2021 | 0 Comments
On December 22, 2021, an appellate court covering an appeal from a defense verdict rendered by a Suffolk County jury, agreed that a Long Island Railroad train engineer was not responsible for the injuries suffered by a 30 year old male who was struck by a train. The plaintiff was residing in supp...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Dec 15, 2021 | 0 Comments
On December 3, 2021, the Appellate Term modified a Queens County, Civil Court jury verdict award of $150,000 for past pain and suffering in addition to $750,000 for 55 years of future pain and suffering to a 17 year old female injured in a rear end motor vehicle collision. The plaintiff testified...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Dec 03, 2021 | 0 Comments
On November 18, 2021, the NYS Appellate Division, First Department reduced a jury verdict of approximately $60,000,000 to $29,000,000 for the pain and suffering of a 16 year old boy horribly burned in a chemistry class at New York City public high school. The boy was burned during a chemistry dem...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Aug 18, 2021 | 0 Comments
On August 11, 2021, an appeals court covering Kings County upheld the decision of Justice Silber which denied a post-trial motion by the NYC Transit Authority to set aside a jury verdict in favor of a then 12 year old girl who slipped and fell on a puddle of water at the Grand Army Plaza subway s...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Aug 10, 2021 | 0 Comments
On July 7, 2021, an appellate court covering appeals from Kings County Supreme Court agreed that a roller skater at the Pier 2 Roller Ring at Brooklyn Bridge Park could not sue the rink for injuries suffered when she tripped over an uneven portion of the wooden floor. The general manager of the r...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jul 16, 2021 | 0 Comments
On July 8, 2021, the Appellate Division, First Department reversed a Manhattan Judge who refused to enforce a settlement via email between counsel because plaintiff's counsel failed to retype his name on the email agreeing to the settlement offer of $400,000. Plaintiff's counsel revoked his accep...
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