PREMISES LIABILITY IN NEW YORK

$350,000 Recovery for professional violinist struck by falling object

Cliff Shapiro obtained a $350,000 settlement for a 32-year-old woman, who was a violinist with the orchestra for the Broadway show "Phantom of the Opera". She was struck by a grapefruit-sized stone which fell from a building on Lexington Avenue in New York City.

The attorneys for the defendant claimed that the stone did not come from their building. However, we procured the services of an expert engineer who was able to match the stone which struck the plaintiff with the facade of the defendant's building. In addition, we sent an investigator to interview tenants in the building who told us that there were prior problems with the building's facade. The incident occurred during the Puerto Rican Day Parade and although the parade had nothing to do with the accident, the defendant's attorneys also attempted to divert the blame to the parade.

We arranged for an on-site inspection, attended by an attorney from our firm, the defense attorneys, and the respective engineering experts. At the conclusion of that inspection, the defendants had no alternative but to concede that the stone came from their building, and indicated to us that they wished to enter into settlement negotiations.

Plaintiff sustained multiple injuries, including injuries to both knees, requiring arthroscopic surgery; and disc herniations at C6-C7 and L4-5.

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E-mail: wrs@wrslaw.com