On June 1, 2017, Kenneth S. Merber obtained a directed verdict after a 3-week jury trial in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Queens in a premises liability case brought against a New York City commercial building owner, its managing agent and maintenance contractors.
Ken successfully defended one of the world’s largest maintenance service contractors. The case was tried before the Hon. Carmen Velasquez. Plaintiff alleged the defendants were negligent and that they violated various provisions of the New York City Administrative Code. Plaintiff also relied upon the doctrine of res ipsa loquitor. Plaintiff alleged the defendants failed to address and remedy a recurring condition which caused repeated and extensive backups of the building’s plumbing system and its connection to the New York City sewer system. Plaintiff alleged that she sustained catastrophic life altering injuries including a concussion with loss of consciousness and multiple herniated discs for which she underwent multi-level discectomies, decompressions and fusion procedures with bone grafting and the placement of medical instrumentation.
Plaintiff had a poor result post-operatively including a non-union of the bone grafts. Plaintiff’s expert opined that the claimant requires additional surgeries including a revision of the previously performed discectomies and fusions.
Plaintiff incurred approximately $300,000 in past economic losses. Prior to the trial, Plaintiff’s demand was $6 million. Her demand was never reduced below $2 million. This was Ken’s second defense verdict in the past month.
To view Ken’s official GVK Trial Win announcement click here.
On May 4, 2017, Kenneth S. Merber obtained a defense verdict in a New York Labor Law/Premises Liability case brought against an automotive garage after a 4-day trial in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Westchester.
The case was tried before The Hon. David F. Everett. The plaintiff alleged that the firm’s client was negligent and violated New York’s Labor Law claiming the work site was inadequately constructed, equipped, arranged, operated and conducted. Plaintiff further claimed defendants failed to provide him with adequate protection and negligently instructed his employees creating the allegedly perilous conditions that caused the accident.
During the trial, Mr. Merber successfully sought a ruling precluding Plaintiff’s liability expert based upon his arguments that the opinions lacked general acceptance under the United States Supreme Court decision of Frye v. U.S. and procedural defects in Plaintiff’s expert disclosure served pursuant to New York’s Court’s Rules. Plaintiff alleged that he sustained catastrophic permanent injuries including a traumatic brain injury, post-concussion syndrome, dysautonomia and neurologic dysfunction as a result of a work place accident in which he struck his head. Plaintiff continuously treated for his claimed injuries from the time of his accident in 2012 through the date of the verdict almost 5 years later. He claimed more than $200,000 in medical expenses and sought a 7-figure recovery.
On November 2, 2016 Mary L. Maloney obtained a unanimous defense verdict in Supreme Court, Rockland County, before Justice Linda Christopher
The jury of 3 men and 3 women were out deliberating for over 3 hours and returned a unanimous no cause verdict in this automobile trial in favor of our client, a large commuter bus company that operates in the five boroughs and surrounding suburban counties.
During the liability phase of trial, our client, bus driver testified that he had stopped his bus 20 feet from the intersection of Cosgrove Avenue and East Railroad Avenue in West Haverstraw, New York. He saw no vehicles traveling on East Railroad Avenue and, unsure what plaintiff was doing there, he made a decision to pass plaintiff’s vehicle on her left and to make a wide right turn onto East Railroad Avenue.
Plaintiff testified that she was stopped at a stop sign on Cosgrove Avenue at its intersection with East Railroad Avenue, when defendants’ bus went around her to make a right turn and struck the front driver’s side of her vehicle.
The jury ultimately awarded a defense verdict in our client’s favor and awarded nothing to the plaintiff.
Mr. Vitucci obtained a unanimous verdict for the defendant in a case involving a pedestrian knockdown. The plaintiff claimed to have been struck by the defendant’s limousine. The matter was tried before Judge Thomas Aliotta of the Supreme Court, Richmond County. The plaintiff, a doorman for the W Hotel on West 47th Street, claimed that while he was helping to direct vehicles to the side of the road to pick up hotel patrons, the defendant’s vehicle backed into him at high speed, throwing him 15 feet into the road and onto the hood of a car behind them. Plaintiff contended that he sustained various head and back injuries that would require lumbosacral spinal fusion surgery. In finding for the defendant, the jury credited the defendant driver’s account of the accident, that being that there was no contact with the pedestrian plaintiff.
Richard J. Gallo obtained a unanimous defense verdict in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (Newark). The matter, tried before Judge Joseph Greenaway, concerned subrogation claims brought by two insurance carriers that paid over $1.5 million for property damage sustained by a plastic bag manufacturer and its landlord. The plaintiffs contended that the defendant-sprinkler company had negligently failed to detect a blockage in the fire-suppression system that rendered the system inoperable in half the warehouse. The defendant contended that it bore no responsibility for the fire loss, because it did not install the system nor did it know nor had reason to know that there was a blockage in the system when it conducted an external inspection of the system the year prior to the accident.
Following a nearly two-week trial, a unanimous jury of 12 rendered a verdict in favor of the defendant. The jury agreed that the defendant did not know nor had reason to know that there were any blockages in the system.
Following a five-day jury trial and four hours of deliberation, Matthew Vitucci obtained a favorable verdict for our client, Megabus, in the matter of Ebrahem v. Coach Leasing, Inc., tried in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York before Judge Shira A. Scheindlin. The verdict came back apportioning liability 50/50 and awarding no pain-and-suffering damages and medical expenses totaling only $11,700. Defendants’ 50% apportioned share of damages, resulting in a net award of only $5,850. Plaintiff’s last settlement demand was $3.2 million, and in closing argument, plaintiff requested a verdict amounting to $2.4 million.
The case arose from an accident that occurred at the Manhattan entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel in which the defendants’ bus and plaintiff’s livery taxi had a minor side-swipe collision where each party alleged the other caused the impact. Plaintiff alleged that this accident caused injury to his left knee requiring a partial menisectomy and lumbar spine injury necessitating a six-level lumbar fusion.
Plaintiff offered the expert testimony of the performing spinal surgeon, Dr. Sebastian Lattuga; the performing knee surgeon, Dr. Neofitos Stefanides; an expert engineer, Grahme Fischer; and an expert economist, Dr. Debra Dwyer. Despite the testimony of these experts, Mr. Vitucci was able to persuade the jury that the majority of the alleged injuries and medical treatment were due to pre-existing degenerative disc disease and knee degradation, and not to the impact from this accident. Furthermore, he was able to persuade the jury that the cost of future medical expenses offered by Dr. Dwyer were both erroneously calculated (as she had to concede on the stand) as well as inappropriately large.
Prior to the trial, plaintiff claimed that he could no longer work at all and was making a claim for lost wages since the date of accident through his projected working future. Successful surveillance taken prior to trial, however, led to plaintiff withdrawing his lost-wages claim.
Defendants relied on the testimony of neurosurgeon Dr. Douglas Cohen, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gregory Montalbano, and biomechanical engineer Dr. Mariusz Ziejewski.
In a matter tried before Justice Mark Partnow in Supreme Court, Kings County, Mary L. Maloney obtained a unanimous defense verdict on behalf of the abutting landowner where plaintiff claimed that she was stepping from a City bus and fell on a mound of snow still on the sidewalk several days after the last snowfall. Plaintiff claimed that the defendant was statutorily liable for its alleged failure to remove all snow and ice on the sidewalk. Plaintiff and her cousin testified to the condition, as did the Police Department and EMS worker who responded to the scene. Plaintiff sustained a bimalleolar fracture to the right ankle, Weber C-type right fibular fracture with displaced malleolus fracture of the right ankle, and torn ligaments.
In a matter tried before Judge Patricia Williams of the Supreme Court, Bronx County, Mr. Vitucci successfully defended a truck rental company against claims brought by a livery cab driver who claimed to have sustained bilateral injuries to his knees requiring surgery, a cervical spinal injury that would require surgery, and a ruptured disc in the lumbar spine, which was treated via a spinal fusion procedure. Plaintiff’s doctors testified that in the future plaintiff would require bilateral knee replacements, a fusion surgery to the cervical spine and a further revision surgery to the lumbar spine.
Plaintiff claimed future medical costs in excess of $2.8 million. On behalf of plaintiff and his wife, $9 million was asked of the jury. The jury issued a verdict in favor of the defense, crediting the defense arguments that the accident at issue was minor, and could not have caused the injuries complained of.
Kenneth S. Merber successfully defends a commercial bus and its driver after a 4 week trial in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County, Law Division. The case of Juan Pablo Morales Hurtado v. New Service, Inc. and Abel Reinoso involved a 28 year old Hispanic man whose Honda Civic was rear ended by the defendants’ bus in Fort Lee, NJ. Following the accident, the claimant was immediately transported by ambulance to a hospital. He sought continuous treatment for 2 1/2 years and was diagnosed with multiple herniated discs, spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis. Plaintiff’s course of treatment included, chiropractic, orthopedic, neurologic care and pain management. After 5 epidural steroid injections failed to resolve his pain, he underwent multi-level laminectomy, discectomy, decompression and interbody fusion surgical procedures. Thereafter, Mr. Hurtado underwent a long course of physical therapy and rehabilitation. Plaintiff claimed he was permanently injured. Plaintiff’s past medical expenses totaled more than $500,000. His life care expert projected future medical expenses totaling more than $4 million. Mr. Merber convinced the 8 person jury that Plaintiff only suffered minor injuries as a result of the collision and that his spinal conditions were neither caused nor exacerbated by the trauma from the accident. Mr. Merber argued that Morales Hurtado had the surgery to address his long standing conditions and the possibility of future instability despite the fact that there was no evidence Plaintiff ever complained of back pain or sought any treatment for same prior to the accident at issue. Although defendants had offered $750,000 prior to trial, on January 6, 2016, the jury returned a verdict of only $50,000 for pain & suffering and $71,600 for medical expenses. These amounts were reduced by 20% for plaintiffs comparative negligence.
Kenneth S. Merber obtained a defense verdict on behalf of Verizon New Jersey, Inc. Shortly before the jury issued its verdict dismissing the claims against Verizon, the court granted a directed verdict in favor of Mr. Merber’s other client, J. Fletcher Creamer & Sons. Mr. Merber successfully defended the claims in which the infant claimant, Tiffany Amell, and her mother, Nicole Amell, alleged that Tiffany was severely and permanently injured and disabled as a result of defendants’ negligence in connection with the construction, installation, maintenance and inspection of Verizon’s fiber optic cable system network. The infant plaintiff was 13 years of age at the time of the alleged occurrence. As a result of the alleged accident, Tiffany sustained injuries to her right ankle, including a fracture for which she underwent surgery. She subsequently developed RSD, a diagnosis confirmed by the defense experts.
At trial, Mr. Merber proved that defendants were not responsible for the accident. Plaintiffs had demanded $1.2 million to settle before the jury dismissed the case.