Case Studies

Automobile Accident

Plaintiff, a 33-year-old police officer, was a passenger in a patrol car responding to a robbery in progress that collided with another car at an intersection in the Bronx. Plaintiff sustained severe brain damage in the accident and had no memory of it. The driver of the patrol car likewise lacked any recollection of the accident as a result of brain damage; the two occupants of the other car were killed. Initially, the case against the city did not look promising-all three witnesses interviewed for the police report said the civilian driver (who lacked adequate insurance coverage) ran the red light at high speed, and that the patrol car had the green light and was going much more slowly. To make matters worse, the autopsy report revealed that the civilian driver had a blood alcohol content of 0.10.

The case was handled by Dallin Fuchs, who took it to trial. He found other witnesses who said, in fact, that it was the police car that ran the red light, and through cross examination discredited two of the three witnesses in the police report by getting them to admit that they hadn't actually seen what color the light was when the accident occurred. Mr. Fuchs also prevailed on the third witness to admit that he had merely assumed the civilian car had the red light based on what he had observed at the prior intersection. Finally, Mr. Fuchs asked the jury to reject the city's argument that the police car, which was responding to a robbery at 5 a.m., was traveling only 10 miles per hour at the time of the accident. The jury came back with 100 percent liability on the part of the driver of the city police car and a $3.2 million award to plaintiff, a result made even more impressive given the fact that a police car responding to an emergency is exempt from many traffic laws.

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Construction Accident #1

Plaintiff, a bridge painter, fell 40 feet and fractured his femur while painting a bridge. Dallin Fuchs, who prosecuted the case, filed suit against the bridge owner under Labor Law Section 240(1), which holds an owner of a construction site strictly liable, or legally responsible, for not providing adequate safety devices. The lower court denied Mr. Fuchs's motion for summary judgment on liability; Mr. Fuchs appealed the ruling and won at the higher court. The case presented other challenges on damages, because at the time of the accident, plaintiff had been HIV-positive for 10 years, and a pack-a-day smoker for 20 years, which the defendants argued combined to reduce his work expectancy to just seven years. At trial, Mr. Fuchs put on the witness stand a renowned infectious disease expert who testified that combination anti-retroviral therapies had reduced plaintiff's viral loads to the point where he was not susceptible to the opportunistic diseases that define AIDS, and that he could expect to live a normal life and work life expectancy. The jury found that plaintiff had a normal life expectancy of 25 years and awarded him $2.48 million.

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Construction Accident #2

Plaintiff, a 30 year old laborer, was working in a trench helping to install sewer pipe. A 2,000 pound pipe leaning against the inside of the trench slipped downward several feet, and landed on the plaintiff’s back. The impact caused severe spinal injuries, rendering the plaintiff paraplegic.

Workers compensation laws prohibited the plaintiff from suing his employer for their negligence in causing his injuries. Instead, Queller, Fisher brought suit against the owner of the property, the city of New York. The suit was premised on New York’s labor laws which can impose liability on the property owner, in certain circumstances, even in the absence of fault or negligence. The City denied liability and initially made no offers to settle the case.

The case went to trial in December, 2006. The trial of the case was handled by Dallin Fuchs and Barry Washor. Numerous witnesses were called by plaintiff’s counsel, including an expert in the field of construction and excavation safety. Throughout trial, the city continued to deny liability under New York’s labor laws, and further claimed that the plaintiff himself was at fault for causing his own injuries.

After a full liability trial, the jury was charged with the law and sent to the jury room to deliberate. During jury deliberations and prior to the verdict, the case settled for 10.5 million dollars.

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Premises Accident

The plaintiff is the wife of a detective who had been run over by a bus and was in the intensive care unit at a hospital. She decided to get some dinner for the ICU nurses at a nearby restaurant. As she was leaving the restaurant, she slipped on ice and broke her ankle. It was a challenging case because the plaintiff could not remember exactly what happened. In fact the insurance company never made a settlement offer of any amount.

Jonny Kool, who handled the case, was able to reconstruct the accident to establish that planters outside the restaurant had leaked water that had pooled in front and froze into "a sheet of ice." He was also able to show that the plaintiff was especially compromised by her injury because she had to care for her husband, who was rendered a paraplegic from the bus accident. The jury came back with a $750,000 verdict.

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Wrongful Death

A homemaker was struck and killed by a New York City bus while walking across Kissena Boulevard in Queens, N.Y. The deceased, who was 30 years old when she died, left behind her husband and two young children. She was knocked under the bus and dragged some 340 feet. Her leg was torn off and she died at the scene. The case was challenging because there were no eyewitnesses. The City Transit Authority claimed that the decedent slipped and was lying prone on the ground in the bus driver's blind spot when she was struck.

Dallin Fuchs, who tried the case, argued that to the contrary, the decedent was upright and in the crosswalk when she was hit, and that the bus driver was not paying attention. Mr. Fuchs built his case at trial by establishing that the driver was working extremely long hours and could not recall many of the details of the accident scene. The jury awarded the decedent's family $5.05 million, including $2.4 million for each of her children. The verdict for loss of parental guidance for each child exceeds any such amount that has yet been sustained on appeal by any New York state appellate court.

Have you ever lost a loved one due to someone else's negligence? Contact an attorney to help you with your wrongful death claim today! [ Back to top ]

Medical Malpractice #1

The plaintiff, a 39-year-old part-time home health aide and mother of three young sons, went to Brooklyn Hospital Center complaining of chest pains. An internist diagnosed her with septic shock caused by a stomach infection and ordered intravenous fluids. But she did not have a stomach infection-she had congestive heart failure, which causes the lungs to fill up with fluid. She should have been given diuretics and heart medication to flush out the fluid already in her lungs. Instead, the hospital pumped more fluids into her and she died a terrible death, basically drowning in her own fluids.

Queller Fisher argued that the hospital and doctor that diagnosed her were negligent, since the X-rays showed the fluid around her lungs and an enlarged heart. The defense denied any responsibility, saying that the plaintiff was already fatally ill by the time she reached the hospital. After a two-week trial, the jury awarded the decedent's survivors $46 million.

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Medical Malpractice #2

The plaintiff, an eight-month-old boy, was brought to the Queens General Hospital Emergency Room suffering from an ear infection and fever. His temperature had reached 105 degrees and he had had an incident of shivering before he was admitted to the hospital, which medical personnel suspected could have been a seizure. They decided to give the infant a spinal tap to rule out spinal meningitis. During the spinal tap, the nurse bent his head to such a degree it cut off the air supply to his windpipe. Within five minutes, he was transformed from a healthy, normal child to a severely brain damaged, mentally retarded and quadriplegic child. The hospital denied any negligence, contending that the child had sustained a sudden cardiac arrest unrelated to the spinal tap. It offered his family a settlement of $2.5 million, including $1 million in past medical costs.

Queller Fisher rejected the offer and took the case to trial. The jury awarded the child and his family $27.5 million.

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Medical Malpractice #3

The plaintiff, a 22-year-old college student from a wealthy family in Peru, was recuperating in New York after facial surgery when he went to the emergency room at New York Hospital complaining of a headache and fever. To rule out meningitis, the hospital decided to give him a spinal tap. During the procedure, the plaintiff's breathing became irregular, but the doctors failed to try to normalize his breathing for two hours. When they finally decided to insert a tracheal tube, they botched the procedure. As a result, he suffered significant brain damage due to lack of oxygen, and now requires constant attendance and care. The hospital denied negligence, claiming that the brain injury was the result of whatever illness the plaintiff had that caused the headache and fever, and never offered to settle.

Queller Fisher attorney Kevin McDonald took the case to trial. After a weeklong trial, the jury awarded the young man $46 million.

Have you suffered injuries due to malpractice? Contact an attorney to help you with your medical malpractice claim today! [ Back to top ]