Leav & Steinberg attorney Edward Averbuch obtained a $250,000 jury verdict in Kings County for a client who suffered a herniated disc and lumbar radiculopathy in a motor vehicle accident. The verdict came after the conclusion of a four-day trial where defendants called two medical experts and claimed our client’s injury was degenerative in nature and less severe than his treating physician diagnosed. The defendant’s last settlement offer before the verdict was $10,000.
Under New York No-Fault Law § 5102 in order to recover for personal injuries as a result of an auto accident a plaintiff must prove that he or she sustained a serious injury. No-Fault Law § 5102 defines a “serious injury” as a personal injury which results in:
1. death;
2. dismemberment;
3. significant disfigurement;
4. a fracture;
5. loss of a fetus;
6. permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system;
7. permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member;
8. significant limitation of use of a body function or system; or
9. a medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.
In our case the jury unanimously found that our client sustained a permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; and a significant limitation of use of a body function or system as a result of the accident. The jury awarded $100,000 for past pain and suffering and $150,000 future pain and suffering.
The trial was covered by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
If you or someone you know has been injured in an auto accident, contact Leav & Steinberg, LLP today.