05 Aug $2,228,000
Auto Accident caused disabling injuries, electrician claimed
On August 2, 2013, plaintiff N.G, 30, a union-affiliated apprentice electrician, was driving on the southbound side of Little East Neck Road, near its intersection Park Avenue, in Babylon. When plaintiff reached the intersection, he stopped at a red traffic signal. Before he could resume travel, his car’s rear end was struck by a trailing taxi that was being driven by defendant E.H. Plaintiff claimed that he suffered injuries of his back, his hips and his neck.
Plaintiff’s counsel moved for summary judgement of liability, and the motion was granted. The trial addressed damages.
After having traveled to his workplace in Manhattan, plaintiff presented to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, in West Islip. He claimed that his back, his hips and his neck were painful. He underwent a CT scan and minor treatment.
On December 22, 2013, he underwent arthroscopic surgery that addressed his left hip. On September 15, 2014, he underwent arthroscopic surgery that addressed his right hip. His recovery was complicated by a failure of sutures that were inserted during the latter surgery. That surgery was repeated July 9, 2015.
Plaintiff sought recovery of past and future medical expenses, future lost earnings, and damages for past and future pain and suffering.
The jury found that plaintiff suffered a serious injury. It determined that he suffers significant limitation of use of a body function or system and that he suffered a medically determined, nonpermanent injury or impairment that prevented his performance of substantially all of the material acts that would have constituted the usual and customary daily activities of 90 or more of the first 180 days that followed the accident, though it also determined that he does not suffer permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member.
The jury found that Plaintiff’s damages totaled $2,228,000.