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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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jan 02, 2020 | 0 Comments
It has long been recognized that there is an exception to the general rule that you cannot sue an attorney for malpractice if you were not his/her client. The exception is where the plaintiff claims "fraud, collusion, malicious acts or other special circumstances". AG capital Funding v State St....
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Nov 26, 2019 | 0 Comments
On November 21, 2019, Justice Joseph E. Capella, Supreme Court, Bronx County reduced a $90,000,000 verdict for pain and suffering to $30,000,000. The jury agreed with plaintiff's counsel who argued that St. Barnabas Hospital had failed to properly treat a 50 year old woman's asthma over the cours...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Nov 21, 2019 | 0 Comments
Yesterday, an appellate court reviewing a Queens County jury verdict awarding in excess of $12,000,000 to motorist struck by a NYC Transit Authority bus cut the verdict by almost $9,000,000. The motorist was at a complete stop at an intersection in Queens while he was being ticketed for a traffic violation when his car was struck by a bus.
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Nov 20, 2019 | 0 Comments
On November 14, 2019, an appellate court covering Bronx County cases, held that a construction worker had demonstrated entitlement to a pre-trial ruling that the NYC Housing Authority failed to properly protect him from a fall off a 10 foot high sidewalk bridge. This means that a jury trial will ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Nov 15, 2019 | 0 Comments
Last week a Nassau County Supreme Court Justice dismissed a lawsuit against the Sewanhaka Central High School brought on behalf of a student who seriously injured himself while engaged in some hallway horseplay. In an attempt to simulate a basketball "slam dunk" the student jumped up over the hea...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Nov 14, 2019 | 0 Comments
On November 11, 2019 an appellate court directed that an injured bus passenger be given a new trial on her personal injury claim because a defense verdict awarded to the NYC Transit Authority was an absurd result. Basically, the jury found that the bus driver negligently discharged his passenger ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Nov 11, 2019 | 0 Comments
Last month Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice St. George denied a motion to dismiss a wrongful death medical malpractice claim against a cardiologist. The suit was filed by the wife of a 51 year old attorney who died as a result of congestive heart failure brought on by hypertension and atheros...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Nov 08, 2019 | 0 Comments
On October 31, 2019, an appellate court covering Manhattan refused to dismiss a legal malpractice claim against a law firm that litigated a client's foreclosure action involving a property on West 12th Street. The law firm moved to dismiss the client's claim arguing that it was filed four years a...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 22, 2019 | 0 Comments
Last week, an appellate court reviewing the dismissal of a legal malpractice suit agreed: “Emails may be considered as documentary evidence if those papers are essentially undeniable.” The plaintiff sued the law firm that allegedly drafted a postnuptial agreement between him and his wife. The pla...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 18, 2019 | 0 Comments
In 2016 a Queens Jury awarded $1,800,000 to a motorist involved in a car accident due to a metal object that fell from an elevated subway track over a road and through the windshield of the plaintiff's car. The NYC Transit Authority (NYCTA) refused to pay and appealed claiming the award was exces...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 15, 2019 | 0 Comments
On October 11, 2019, a Kings County Supreme Court Judge (with 13 years on the bench) was suspended following federal charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Justice Sylvia Ash, the presiding judge of the commercial division in Kings Supreme Court since January 2016, had been the Chairpe...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 10, 2019 | 0 Comments
On October 3, 2019, an appellate court found that a Manhattan jury had unreasonably failed to award any damages to a plaintiff who proved that a New York City police officer had used excessive force while arresting him. The jury found that the cop had smashed the plaintiff's face with a bullet-pr...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 09, 2019 | 0 Comments
Yesterday, a Philadelphia jury awarded an $8 Billion verdict in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson (the folks who brought us the opioid epidemic) for the deceptive marketing of their drug Risperdal. The award was provided to a man who had been prescribed the anti-pschotic drug Risperdal a...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 04, 2019 | 0 Comments
On October 3, 2019, a Nassau County Judge found a general contractor liable as a matter of law for the injuries suffered by a 46 year old construction worker who fell while working on the roof of a mansion in Old Westbury, New York. The plaintiff testified that neither he or any of the other roof...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Oct 03, 2019 | 0 Comments
Last month the Appellate Division, Second Department was called upon to review a Kings County jury verdict that was shockingly low - implying a great dislike for the victim of a rear end car accident. The plaintiff established the defendant's liability for the collision based on a pre-trial Order...
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