By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 26, 2020 | 0 Comments
On June 24, 2020 an appellate court addressed the value of the fair compensation for a 50 year old female whose small intestine was perforated during an endoscopy procedure.The plaintiff's expert at trial told the jury that an emergency laparotomy was necessary causing a 7 inch abdominal scar and...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 19, 2020 | 0 Comments
On May 13, 2020 an appellate court covering Kings County overruled a Brooklyn trial court that allowed the manufacturer of a Warm Mist Humidifier to sue the parents of a 10 month old baby girl whose foot was badly burned by its product. The father had placed the humidifier on the floor in the liv...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 17, 2020 | 0 Comments
It was reported in Law 360 today that five employees of a McDonald's franchise in Oakland, California tested positive for COVID-19 and filed suit "alleging the franchise's owners forced highly contagious workers who had contracted the virus to keep working and gave workers face masks made from do...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 16, 2020 | 0 Comments
On June 4, 2020 a Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice ruled that a wrongful death suit on behalf of a 41 year old father of 3 failed to meet the strict requirements of a suit against municipal paramedics administering emergency medical care. The decedent's fiance and daughter called 911 three times ov...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 11, 2020 | 0 Comments
A few months ago an appellate court agreed that a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice correctly addressed a gross injustice in a jury verdict that awarded an injured construction worker $4,144,141 for lost earnings and medical expenses but nothing for pain and suffering. This is called an inconsisten...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 10, 2020 | 0 Comments
On April 9, 2020 an appellate court agreed that a Manhattan jury got it right in awarding over $3,000,000 to a 52 year old carpenter who was struck in the neck by a falling wooden plank. The accident occurred at a construction site on First Avenue as a result of an unprotected opening in the floo...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 08, 2020 | 0 Comments
On May 21, 2020 an appellate court reversed the decision of Supreme Court Bronx County Justice Douglas E. McKeon, which dismissed a claim of a brain damaged baby against the New York City Health & Hospital Corporation without a trial. The issue was whether the hospital's staff caused a baby's inj...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 05, 2020 | 0 Comments
On May 14, 2020, a New York State appellate court agreed with a Manhattan Judge that a legal malpractice claim against an attorney who defended a NYC Teacher at a Board of Education license revocation hearing, lacked sufficient proof to proceed to a jury trial. The Teacher lost his license follow...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 03, 2020 | 0 Comments
On March 25, 2020, an appellate court covering Suffolk County found that a Riverhead attorney had taken advantage of a grieving widow who had just received $300,000 in life insurance proceed following the death of her husband. The attorney was retained by the widow to file a petition for probate....
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 02, 2020 | 0 Comments
The question of whether an attorney can be held liable for failing to properly prepare an eyewitness for a deposition was addressed by an appellate court. A disgruntled client who lost a jury trial concerning a motor vehicle accident claimed that if only the sole eyewitness had been better prepar...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 01, 2020 | 0 Comments
On May 27, 2020, Judge Robert D. Kalish of the New York County Supreme Court ordered a defendant in a personal injury action to produce his client and two nonparty witnesses for a remote video deposition. There was no disagreement that the witnesses had relevant testimony to offer. Rather, defens...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 29, 2020 | 0 Comments
An appellate court covering an appeal from a Kings County jury verdict set aside a $700,000 verdict awarded to a woman who was injured during a routine dilation and curettage (D & C) procedure. The D & C was performed to address complaints of abdominal pain due to uterine fibroids. During the pro...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 28, 2020 | 0 Comments
On May 26, 2020 an appellate court covering Orange County Supreme Court agreed that an Urgent Care Center must stand trial on a claim of medical malpractice which deprived a patient of a substantial opportunity to avoid a below-the-knee amputation. The patient had one visit to an Urgent Care Cent...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 22, 2020 | 0 Comments
On March 31, 2020 the Court of Appeals ruled that an attorney who was claimed to have wrongfully induced a client to file a frivolous lawsuit in order to generate a legal fee could not be held liable under New York State Judiciary Law Section 487. A violation of this statute by an attorney is a c...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 20, 2020 | 0 Comments
Ames & Gough's survey of leading legal malpractice insurers found some had experienced double digit increases in claims in 2019 and expect another surge in 2020. According to a spokesperson at Ames & Gough: "The sustained shutdown of the US economy this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic may trigg...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Mar 09, 2020 | 0 Comments
On March 4, 2020, an appellate court resolved an issue on the value of an intra-articular fracture at the base of the thumb metacarpal bone. The injury was sustained by a bicyclist crossing an intersection when he was struck by a car.The plaintiff had surgery to reduce and fix the fracture with p...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Feb 20, 2020 | 0 Comments
On February 19, 2020 an appellate court decided what it believed was fair and reasonable compensation for a 9 year old girl involved in a skiing accident, who fractured her right femur (thigh bone) requiring surgery and developed a leg length discrepancy because the fracture involved the growth p...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Feb 13, 2020 | 0 Comments
On February 5, 2020, an appeals court covering Suffolk County affirmed the dismissal of a legal malpractice complaint filed by a construction worker who was injured at a construction site. The bucket of an excavator struck the plaintiff's leg causing injuries. The attorney's who represented the p...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 27, 2020 | 0 Comments
It was reported on Westlaw today that a jury refused to award any damages to a woman (in her 40's) who claimed that she had been sexually abused by a chiropractor in Corning, New York during the course of his treatment at one visit. What is remarkable is that the jury, last October, found that th...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 24, 2020 | 0 Comments
On January 22, 2020, an appellate court vacated a Staten Island jury verdict of $1,102,000, based on the improper comments of plaintiff's counsel in closing arguments. The jury had determined that a 73 year old woman suffering from multiple severe medical issues unnecessarily died as a result of ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 21, 2020 | 0 Comments
On January 16, 2020, a 42 year old union laborer, who suffered permanent injuries to his neck and shoulder, won his case as a matter of law under Labor Law Section 240 (1), leaving only the amount of just compensation to be determined at a jury trial. The accident happened at a construction site ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 20, 2020 | 0 Comments
A 57 year old United States Diplomat slipped and fell at a gym on a wet floor in Manhattan and fractured two wrist bones (dominant R hand) which required surgery to repair. Having proved to a jury that the stairs where he fell had worn grip tape at the edge of the treads of each tread and that th...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 16, 2020 | 0 Comments
On January 9, 2020, Justice Joan Madden of the New York County Supreme Court denied a motion of New York University Langone Medical Center to dismiss a pediatric/nursing malpractice claim involving a newborn who within 24 hours of discharge was found to have suffered profound brain damage due to ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 10, 2020 | 0 Comments
Yesterday, an appellate court overruled Manhattan Supreme Court Justice, Martin Shulman who had dismissed a claim of malpractice against an obstetrician and New York Presbyterian Hospital. The defendant, Dr. Sophia Drosinos persuaded Justice Shulman that she could not possibly be at fault "in rep...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 06, 2020 | 0 Comments
On December 26, 2019, an appellate court overruled a Bronx County trial court that had dismissed a malpractice claim concerning a 37 year old mother (of 6 children) who had recently given birth but returned to the hospital with complaints of shortness of breath, racing heart beat and dizziness. S...
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