Christopher Keane (as lead counsel) and Fern Flomenhaft won a defense verdict in this traumatic brain injury case following a 3 week trial in Supreme Court, New York County. The plaintiff, a 70 year old woman, sustained a severe traumatic brain injury in an unwitnessed fall at our client’s building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Although the plaintiff testified that she fell on front entrance stairs which were allegedly defective, she was found by witnesses on an upper landing.
Plaintiff was represented by Alan Shapey, Esq. of Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman. Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award $5,000,000 in future medical care expenses, $5,000,000 for past pain and suffering, and $15,000,000 for future pain and suffering. After a day of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict in favor of defendant. The jury concluded that the building negligently maintained the stairs but that the plaintiff did not establish a causal connection to plaintiff’s injuries. Therefore the jury did not consider plaintiff’s injuries and awarded $0 in damages.
Plaintiff was represented by Alan Shapey, Esq. of Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman. Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award $5,000,000 in future medical care expenses, $5,000,000 for past pain and suffering, and $15,000,000 for future pain and suffering. After a day of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict in favor of defendant. The jury concluded that the building negligently maintained the stairs but that the plaintiff did not establish a causal connection to plaintiff’s injuries. Therefore the jury did not consider plaintiff’s injuries and awarded $0 in damages.
Plaintiff due to her condition did not testify at trial but her prior deposition testimony about the accident was read into evidence. We contended that the plaintiff had no true memory of the accident and could not prove she fell on the front entrance stairs as claimed. Our expert neurologist, based upon his examination and review of plaintiff’s medical records documenting her inability to provide a history of the accident at the hospital or to her medical providers, confirmed that plaintiff suffered from post-traumatic amnesia which caused memory loss. This was unrebutted by plaintiff’s experts. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that the plaintiff was lucid at her deposition and could have fallen on the entrance stairs before climbing to the upper landing where she was later found.
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