NEW YORK PREMISES LIABILITY LAWYERS

$775,000 Settlement for Slip and Fall in Supermarket

Trial Counsel Robert J. Bellinson recently obtained a $775,000.00 settlement for our client who slipped and fell on liquid laundry detergent in a supermarket. Our client, a 53- year-old VP of security for Goldman Sachs, was shopping at defendant’s Shoprite store on June 22, 2003, when the accident occurred. The accident was witnessed and reported, and our client suffered thoracic spinal injuries.

After trying physical therapy, and after MRI’s revealed the nature and extent of our client’s spinal injuries, he underwent a 10 ½ hour surgical procedure whereby three herniated discs were excised, titanium rods, plates and screws were inserted into his back and a bone graft from a cadaver was placed into his back. Our client was unable to return to work, cutting short a truly remarkable career that started as a police officer and saw our client ascend to security management at arguably Wall Street’s most respected investment bank.

The defendant’s attorneys tried to blame degenerative disc disease, and plaintiff’s car accident from 1978 as the cause of his injuries. They hired a bio-mechanical engineer who opined that the accident from the 1970’s, for which he had no records, "MAY" have caused the spinal injuries that our client was suing for. We made a motion to preclude the expert’s testimony and opinion as speculative and were prepared to argue the motion when the case settled right before opening arguments. The defendant was self-insured for the first $250,000.00, and the excess insurance carrier paid the additional $525,000.00.

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