Man struck by subway train awarded $7,000,000 by New York City jury
Posted by: Doug in Auto Accidents, Disability, Negligence Cases, Slip and Fall Accidents, brain injury
Leesburg and Fairfax injury lawyer Doug Landau regularly reads about large verdicts from other states, such as New York. Clients often ask why their case does not get multi-million dollar verdicts. They also ask why their cases are so much harder to try in jurisdictions like Virginia. While I congratulate the plaintiff’s lawyer in the subway train case, there are critical differences in the laws of New York City and Virginia. My friend and fellow AAJ member Gary Pillersdorf did a magnificent job to get such a result. However, the jury found his client was 30% to blame for the accident. Despite his client’s “contributory negligence,” the case still went to the jury. According to the New York Times, in March, the jury awarded Pillersdorf’s client $7 million after a subway train struck him when he stumbled onto the tracks in 2002. In New York, the verdicts may be higher, but it takes a lot longer to get a personal injury lawsuit to trial. In this subway accident case, the plaintiff’s right leg had to be amputated, and he also lost an eye. In the New York City subway case, the jury found the injured plaintiff to be 30 percent culpable. In Virginia, if the injured person is even 1% culpable (or “contributorily negligent”), then they can recover nothing. In other words, according to Leesburg and Fairfax crash injury lawyer, if a Virginia jury finds the plaintiff even 1% at fault for causing the accident, even if the Defendant is 99% to blame, they will return their verdict for the Defendant driver
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May 2nd, 2009 at 6:20 am
Thanks for your timely comparison of comparative negligence laws in NY and VA. It seems to many that the plaintiff in the NYC subway case (about which I blogged yesterday) should not have been permitted to recover any money damages from the city, given his 30% fault (and many feel his fault was much more, if not 100%) but I think many would also agree that when a plaintiff is only 1% or 5% or some small % liable he should be able to recover (proportionately). Where the line is drawn is of course the legislative policy issue.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:54 am
I think this is huge amount. I congratulate the injury lawyer to bring our such good result for the victims and his family.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:02 am
The human brain is a delicate organ that can be injured in many different ways. Every year, over 2 million Americans sustain traumatic brain injury. When those injuries result from the fault of another, individuals have the right to seek legal assistance from qualified lawyers to help defray the expenses to which brain injuries can give rise.