Verdicts & Settlements
Some Notable Successes
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RONALD C. BURKE
Attorney at Law
(212) 808-8008
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(516) 965-4370
(516) 965-4370
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome
Ron Burke's
Selected Verdicts & Settlements
Selected Verdicts & Settlements
2010
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A 1.4 million dollar settlement during a trial for the wrongful death of a 62 year old man who died due to the complications of metastatic prostrate cancer. Our client should have been biopsied two years earlier when his PSA rose from 1 to 4. When diagnosed two years later, the PSA had risen to 8, and the Gleason Scale was 9. Shortly after, a radical prostatectomy, a bone scan, confirmed Stage IV bony metastasis resulting in death within one year.
LEGAL MALPRACTICE - A confidential settlement of $925,000.
PERSONAL INJURY - A Westchester Supreme Court jury awarded 1.4 million dollars to a 58 year old nurse who was rear-ended by a Yonkers Police Department police officer while he was on a routine patrol. The jury rejected the police officer's excuse that the accident was unavoidable because he was cut off by some phantom car. Our client suffered neck and back injuries resulting in a cervical fusion surgery four years after the accident.
2009
PERSONAL INJURY - Marshall v. TBTA - A Supreme Court, Bronx County jury awarded $2,000,000 to a 40 year old EZ Pass technician who suffered a trimalleolar fracture of the ankle, requiring surgery and a herniated lumbar disc causing radiculopathy. The Triborough Tunnel & Bridges Authority was found 100% liable for failure to maintain the roadways at the Whitestone Bridge.
PERSONAL INJURY - A $1,000,000 settlement for a mother, age 92, and daughter, age 76. Our clients were rear seat passengers in a car when they were involved in a two car accident at an intersection in Brooklyn. The mother fractured her hip and elbow, and the daughter fractured her leg (femur). Both underwent surgery (open reduction with internal fixation) to set the fractures.
PERSONAL INJURY - During jury selection, a case filed by a New York City public high school teacher settled for $1,400,000 as a result of injuries suffered when a white board she was erasing in the classroom fell and knocked her to the floor. One year after the accident, the teacher required a cervical discectomy and fusion. Though our client returned to class as a teacher, her physician explained that she would necessarily have to retire approximately 8 years earlier than she planned due to the accident. Thus, we were prepared to present evidence of both future wages and pension benefit losses due to a premature retirement.
2008
PERSONAL INJURY - Jones v. City of New York - Following a four week trial in Queens, Supreme Court, New York City Pays $7,250,000 To Former Employee - Botched Suicide Leaves Corrections Officer Paralyzed
Our client shot herself in the head and survived only to recover with a permanent and painful condition called severe spastic quadriplegia. She is totally paralyzed from the neck down - See media coverage:
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - Paul v. Dr. Ho - Following a two-week trial in Brooklyn, Supreme Court, a jury awarded a 7.9 million dollar verdict to our client and found that a neurosurgeon negligently performed an anterior cervical decompression, vertebrectomy and fusion with iliac crest bone graft, plating and screws. In addition to finding that the doctor performed a substandard back surgery, the jury also found that the neurosurgeon failed to obtain the patient’s informed consent for the surgery. The plaintiff, then age 61, had been diagnosled with severe cervical spondylytic myelopathy but had been working ful time as a machinist. Upon waking from the surgery, our client was unable to move his left leg and his left hand (a condition known as hemiparesis).
Because the fusion had failed, four weeks after the operation another neurosurgeon had to complete the decompression and replace the bone graft, plate and screws. The second neurosurgeon stated in his operative report that a very poor decompression had been performed and that the bone plug (which was too short) had shifted onto the thecal sac of the spinal cord. The plaintiff has never recovered from hemiparesis and remains dependent on a walker or wheelchair to ambulate. He is totally disabled from any employment. See media coverage:
LEGAL MALPRACTICE - A prominent personal injury law firm agreed to settle a legal malpractice lawsuit for approximately 3 million dollars. A widow had hired a law firm to pursue a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit. The defendant law firm missed the two year statute of limitations for filing wrongful death actions, which is six months shorter than the medical malpractice statute for pain and suffering. The case settled prior to trial during a mediation that included a confidentiality agreement.
PERSONAL INJURY - Brown v. City of New York - This case was settled for 3.5 million dollars just before Mr. Burke's opening statements were scheduled to be heard by Justice Starkey in Brooklyn, Supreme Court on behalf of three (3) brothers now ages 21, 22 and 25 who suffered lead poisoning. The Brown brothers were raised in a two bedroom rental apartment owned by New York City. The Department of Health issued three violations against the City for excessive and dangerous lead paint levels in the Brown rental apartment between 1987 and 1990 in violation of NYC Local Law 1. We retained an expert pediatrician and child psychologist who would have testified that as a result of their exposure, the Brown brothers suffered permanent cognitive deficits, learning and behavioral impairments that prevented them from graduating high school or attending college.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A well known HMO operating in Brooklyn agreed to settle a claim of malpractice brought by a 43 year old mother and wife who suffered from systemic lupus erythmetosus (SLE). One of the complications of SLE is kidney inflammation, which can cause leakage of protein into urine and ultimately, kidney failure. Our client's primary physician ignored a recommendation received from a nephrologist to schedule a percutaneous renal biopsy as a result of his finding of proteinuria. The biopsy was never ordered and ten months later the patient went into total renal failure requiring permanent dialysis pending a kidney transplant. This case settled for 2.1 million dollars shortly before jury selection.
INSURANCE COMPANY NEGLIGENCE - One of our client's who was injured in a construction site accident had obtained a money judgment against a general contractor who had gone out of business. We filed a declaratory judgment action against the general contractor's liability insurance company arguing that their delay in disclaiming coverage to the general contractor and our client resulted in a waiver of any defenses that the insurer could raise. The insurer had refused to pay their $1,000,000 insurance policy coverage on the ground that they had not been notified of the lawsuit against the general contractor until years after it had been filed. The insurance company settled our client's claim for $1,100,000.
2007 & Earlier
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - After a 3 week jury trial in Supreme Court, New York County, the defendant physicians and a major Manhattan hospital agreed to settle a brain damaged baby case for $1,750,000. The five year old child was born prematurely at 30 weeks and suffers from cerebral palsy and developmental delays. Among the issues raised at trial included whether the mother had made complaints of abdominal pain due to a fall the day before delivery (the doctors and hospital denied that she had complained); and, whether medical treatment 36 hours earlier with tocolytics and corticosteroids would have arrested labor and/or accelerated fetal lung maturity sufficient to avoid the infant's injuries.
PERSONAL INJURY - After turning down a settlement offer of $500,000 from the City of New York, a Brooklyn jury awarded our client, a 48 year old sanitation worker and his wife, $5,100,000 in damages. The client slipped and fell in a puddle of oil, caused by a leaking garbage truck in a New York City Sanitation Department garage. He had been employed as a sanitation worker for 15 years as of the date of the accident and never returned to work. A co-worker testified that he reported the oil leak to a civilian clerk in the garage approximately 40 hours prior to the accident. The client's supervisor witnessed the accident and testified that the garage was poorly lit in the vicinity of the accident site. The jury rejected the City's argument that our client should have seen the oil spill and avoided the accident. The client was taken to the Lutheran Medical Center emergency room complaining of bilateral knee pain. Within six months of the accident, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on both knees to repair multiple tears. A third arthroscopic surgery was performed on the left knee in 2001, followed by a total knee replacement in 2004. The City hired experts (a radiologist and orthopedic surgeon) who unsuccessfully argued that all the client's knee problems were due to pre-existing degenerative conditions,including chondromalacia. The client's orthopedic surgeon persuasively testified that; 1) the right knee will require a total joint replacement within two to five years; 2) each knee replacement will need to be replaced every twelve years; and, 3) all past and future surgeries were caused by the accident.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - An award of $3,000,000 by a Westchester County jury to the Estate of a 30 year old single woman who died as a result of a delay in diagnosis of infiltrating squamous cell anal cancer. The jury found that a surgeon who treated the young woman for recurring perianal infections and fistulas for over two years departed from accepted standards of care for failing to biopsy tissue, depriving her of a 90% chance of a cure. (Settled pursuant to a pre-verdict high/low agreement.)
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A $2,300,000 settlement in a wrongful death action against a hospital located in Brooklyn that prematurely discharged a 31 year old mother of 7 children who was constantly complaining of abdominal pain and vomiting. The young mother's death was due to a failure to promptly diagnose and treat a bowel obstruction that led to gangrene and septic shock.
PERSONAL INJURY - A $2,800,000 verdict awarded by a Manhattan jury to a 31 year old assistant bank manager who fell onto his back as a result of a recurring leak in a basement cafeteria. The plaintiff suffered a herniated lumbar disc at L5-S1 requiring a laminectomy and fusion surgical procedures. This case was reported in the New York Law Journal as one of the highest jury verdicts achieved in a trip & fall case in the State of New York in 2003.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A $3,500,000 settlement from the State of New York for a 56 year old bank vice president who became partially paralyzed (hemiparesis) as a result of a Suffolk County hospital's failure to timely diagnose and treat a brain infection.
INSURANCE COMPANY BAD FAITH - A $900,000 judgment awarded by a Suffolk County jury against an insurance company USAA that acted in bad faith by refusing to settle a motor vehicle accident lawsuit within the limits of the insurance policy and had financially ruined the insured family.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A lawsuit filed on behalf of an infant against a physician and hospital in Queens for brain damage suffered during birth and her mother who brought a separate action for her own injuries suffered during delivery, settled their actions for $3,500,000 just prior to jury selection.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A New York City Hospital failed to timely perform a caesarean section delivery and adequately monitor the infant-plaintiff causing him to suffer brain damage (hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy) and moderate mental retardation. This case settled following the former hospital resident's testimony for $2,750,000 .
HIGHEST DENTAL MALPRACTICE AWARD IN NEW YORK STATE (as of that date) - A New York jury awards a Queens woman $2 million dollars for pain and suffering caused by defendant's dental malpractice in failing to inform her of the risks and dangers involved in dental blade implants which caused severe bone loss and chronic infections.
PREMISES LIABILITY - A Queens jury awards a young girl $2.8 million for burns sustained as she fell on a hot scalding radiator that was left exposed without a cover.
AUTO ACCIDENT - Plaintiff, a 43 year old advertising art director claims he was struck by defendant's delivery truck while he was crossing a crosswalk in Manhattan. He suffered a fractured hip and pelvis. A Manhattan jury awarded him $1.7 million dollars.
PREMISES LIABILITY/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - A mother and her son who were robbed and terrorized by an intruder in an elevator of their apartment building accept $600,000 following opening statements to settle their claims against the owners of the apartment building where they lived.
AUTO ACCIDENT - A $750,000 verdict in Manhattan against a New York City on behalf of a 38 year old woman whose car flipped over on the West Side Highway due to a substandard concrete island in the roadway that was scheduled to be removed five years prior to the accident. The plaintiff suffered from a herniated lumbar disc at L4-5 requiring a laminectomy and a fractured right metacarpal.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A $1,200,000 settlement in a medical malpractice claim against a hospital for a 17 year old student who developed a compartment syndrome because of the hospital's failure to properly monitor the boy’s leg after it was casted to treat a fracture.
WRONGFUL DEATH - The Estate of a 79 year old man who tripped and fell on the sidewalk in Yonkers over a protruding remnant of a fire hydrant was awarded $300,000 by a Westchester County jury.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A $395,000 settlement was received for a young man against a urologist for medical malpractice and deceptive business practices in performing a penis lengthening and widening procedure. It was successfully argued that the augmentation phalloplasty procedure had no appreciable chance of success and failed to achieve the promised results. This case settled immediately after the defendant's expert testified.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - Following jury selection, a settlement of $650,000 on behalf of a young mother other against a New York City hospital that performed a contraindicated hypogastric artery ligation procedure to stop blood loss after a cesarean section. The plaintiff suffered from pain and swelling of the lower extremities.
LONG TERM DISABILITY BENEFITS (ERISA) - Following a bench trial a verdict was entered against First Unum Life Insurance Company, which had wrongfully refused to pay long-term disability benefits to a 41-year-old attorney. A federal court ordered First Unum to restore disability benefits retroactively, with interest, from the date of termination and to continue paying monthly benefits.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A 52 year-old woman alleged that she required a mastectomy, instead of a lumpectomy because her doctors failed to timely diagnose and biopsy her breast cancer. This action was settled during trial just prior to summations for $450,000.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - A $900,000 settlement for a 32 year old mother who suffered a 4 centimeter separation of her symphysis pubis (pelvis) during a vaginal delivery at a Long Island hospital. The case settled during trial in the Supreme Court of Queens County after the client's obstetrician and orthopedist testified how a delivery room nurse overextended one leg in an attempt to hasten the delivery.
CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT - Prior to closing arguments in a case against the New York State Thruway Authority, a bridge painter won a settlement of $1,515,000 for neurological and psychiatric injuries as a result of a fall from a ladder at a height of 6 - 14 feet, according to different witnesses. The case was tried in the New York State Court of Claims under a theory that the accident could have been prevented if appropriate safety devices were provided, as required under the State Labor Law.
