Personal Injury Accident Settlements Manhattan, New York

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Successfully settled case during trial for $3.5 million.

Mitchell Proner was able to uncover key evidence while his client was still in the hospital. Mr. Proner was originally contacted by the brother-in-law of a woman who was left unconscious after falling down a flight of stairs. Mr. Proner went to the accident scene while the woman was still in the hospital. He found numerous code violations at the staircase. He immediately had an engineer examine and take photos of the stairway. Shortly thereafter the owners of the stairway repaired the stairs as part of a large renovation project. Mitchell Proner was able to show photos of the pre-accident conditions and have his expert testify at trial as to the numerous code violations that led to his client falling down the flight of stairs. During the trial the defendants agreed to pay Mr. Proner’s demand of $3.5 Million dollars.

The facts of the case are as follows:
While returning home from work as a production coordinator for an import export company on May 29, 2003, the 33-year-old plaintiff, May Tsoi, fell down the stairs and was knocked unconscious at a New York City subway station located in 40th Street and Broadway. Ms. Tsoi was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital by ambulance. She regained consciousness at the hospital, but remained lethargic. She was diagnosed with a fractured skull and later had a seizure disorder.

Although the hospital records indicated that the plaintiff had amnesia with regard to the facts of the accident, subsequent to her discharge the plaintiff recalled that her heel had gotten caught in one of the pits in the cement and that the hand rail was loose. The plaintiff was able to identify in a photo the pit that caused her heel to get caught. The defect in the cement was approximately three inches long and ¼ of an inch deep.

Plaintiff was unable to return to the position she had previous to the accident earning $40,000 per year. Eight months later plaintiff returned to work at another position which paid approximately $30,000 annually. As a result of the accident, plaintiff had persistent complaints of seizure disorder, memory loss, headaches, decreased energy and loss of smell and taste. She sustained approximately $28,000 in medical expenses.

Plaintiff claimed that the defendant, the New York City Transit Authority, was negligent in allowing the subway stairway to have a defective surface and a handrail that was not properly fastened to the wall. During the trial the plaintiff’s engineer indicated that from his inspection of the stairway he can conclude that the defect in the cement was of the nature that would have developed over years of neglect and failure to repair.

The engineer also testified that it was obvious that the Transit Authority had made numerous unsuccessful attempts to secure the handrail and that it should have been replaced prior to the accident. The defendant claimed that the defects were deminimus and that there was no prior notice.

Result:
Settled on the eve of trial for $3,500,000.00

$5,100,000 Settlement

Mitchell Proner was recently successful in settling the personal injury claim of Donna Newcomer for $5,100,000. Ms. Newcomer’s claim was for injuries she sustained on September 17, 2003 when her bicycle was struck by and pulled under an 18 wheel tractor-trailer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The tractor trailer was owned by the defendant Armstrong World Industries.

Initially Ms. Newcomer contacted a local Lancaster attorney, but he failed to return her phone calls and never actually agreed to represent her. This was probably due to the fact that the police report, which included the names of six independent witnesses, indicated that the accident was Ms. Newcomer’s fault. After investigating the accident scene and interviewing the witnesses, the officer who prepared the report concluded that Ms. Newcomer had failed to stop a the corner while the truck was making a right hand turn and had driven her bicycle into the side of the truck. Ms. Newcomer, however, claimed that she had stopped on the sidewalk and when she realized that the rear wheels were going to come up onto the sidewalk, she attempted to peddle out of the way and in the process the bike’s handle bar struck the trailer and she fell under the truck. The wheels of the trailer ran over her right leg and she subsequently had to have it amputated at Lancaster Hospital.

Mss. Newcomer was still in a rehabilitation facility when her sister did some research online and contacted Mitchell Proner of the Law Offices of Proner & Proner. Mr. Proner agreed to come to Lancaster Pennsylvania that same day. Mr. Proner traveled from Manhattan, New York to Lancaster. He listened to Ms. Newcomer’s version of what had happened to her and immediately agreed to represent her. Within 24 hours of having been contact by Donna’s sister, Mr. Proner was already working on the case.

In the beginning, it did not look like Ms. Newcomer was going to be successful as she eventually was in obtaining a multi million dollar settlement. In addition to having to deal with a police report which indicated that the accident was entirely Ms. Newcomer’s fault, the case had to be brought in Lancaster County. Lancaster is known to be one of the worst places in Pennsylvania for an accident victim to bring a law suit because the juries there are very conservative and do not like to award large sums of money to personal injury claimants.

When Mr. Proner initially contacted Armstrong’s attorney, they professed shock that he had even agreed to take the case in light of the information contained in the police report. Mr. Proner, however, commenced his own investigation and personally interviewed the witnesses listed on the police report. He subpoenaed each of them to give a deposition and it soon became clear that the witnesses weren’t at all as sure of what they had seen as the police report indicated. Mr. Proner’s handling of the witnesses provided to be the turning point in the case and Armstrong started taking the claim seriously.

Mr. Proner hired an Accident Reconstruction Engineer, a trucking expert, numerous medical experts, a life care planner and had a computer animation done of the accident. He notified Armstrong that he intended to call at least 15 witnesses to testify on Ms. Newcomer’s behalf at the trial which was scheduled to begin on September 17, 2007. Three days before the trial was scheduled to start, Armstrong, who had been vigorously defending the case for nearly four years, agreed to pay the $5,100,000.00 which Mr. Proner was demanding. Ms. Newcomer is currently looking into options with regard to a structured settlement to provide for the even greater financial gain in the future.

Recovery: Six Million Nine Hundred Thousand ($6,900,000) November 3, 2005

Facts: Proner & Proner served as lead counsel for two victims and four other law firms in this lawsuit arising from a hotel fire where homeless families were placed for temporary shelter. A fire was started by a tenant of the hotel who was using drugs. Proner & Proner recovered on claims that the hotel and the City of New York did not have an adequate fire safety plan.

Recovery: Two Hundred Twenty Thousand Dollars ($220,000) September 14, 2005

Facts: A 74-year-old woman fell down an open trap door at a tile store. She sustained a broken wrist and a laceration on her forehead.

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