Cases of Note

The Turkewitz Law Firm has won a multitude of New York personal injury cases over the years, many of which have appeared in the New York Law Journal (one of the most important trade publications in the legal industry) and the New York Jury Verdict Reporter (a leading legal publication which tracks significant cases.)

• $1.87M for a Brooklyn woman who suffered nerve injury to right arm during liposuction and then a stroke after she hemorrhaged. This medical malpractice case was featured in the New York Law Journal in 2002.
• $2.5M award for breach of partnership agreement regarding a New York law firm. This appeared on the front page of the New York Law Journal in 1999.
• $1.49M medical malpractice recovery for a 65 year old New York man who underwent by-pass surgery for his left leg due to vascular insufficiency, and had his right leg amputated.
• $3.07M birth injury settlement for Erb’s Palsy to a Brooklyn child. Permanent injury to the brachial plexus nerves. This is a multi-year payout with a present value of $1.0M.
• $1.295M medical malpractice recovery for negligence in failing to diagnose and treat an impending stroke in a Bronx man, resulting in left-sided weakness and right-sided numbness.
• $575K jury verdict for a 58-year-old Queens man who was hospitalized for cardiac failure and underwent multiple intubations with an endotracheal tube, resulting in damage to his voicebox. The medical malpractice victim was noted courtroom sketch artist John Hart, whose works appeared in museums, and on the pages of numerous national publications and television broadcasts. (Four of his Watergate trial sketches hang in Mr. Turkewitz’s office, and are featured on this site.)
• $1.015M medical malpractice settlement for a 79-year-old New York woman when a surgical drain was negligently left in the knee after a total knee replacement, resulting in infection, multiple surgeries and fusion of the knee.
• $610K jury verdict for an injury to the sciatic nerve from a negligently placed injection in the buttocks of this Brooklyn woman. (This medical malpractice verdict was later reduced by an appellate court to $450K because the verdict was too high.)
• $2.2M for negligent injury to a child’s eye during childbirth, resulting in reduced vision in the eye and forceps marks next to the eye. The $2.2M birth injury recovery in Queens was a structured payout over many years, which had a present value of $750K.
• September 11 Attack - represented two victims (Bronx and Brooklyn) on a pro bono basis, as part of Trial Lawyers Care, the largest volunteer undertaking by attorneys in the history of the country.
• Counterfeit Drugs - Represented Tim Fagan, a victim of counterfeit drugs. See the Counterfeit Drugs Resource Page.
• $675K for negligence in failing to diagnose colon cancer in a 59 year old Queens man, allowing cancer to progress from Stage 2 to Stage 3 in this medical malpractice victim.
• $400K medical malpractice settlement during jury deliberations for a 25 year old Brooklyn man who suffered an anal stricture due to negligence following a hemorrhoidectomy.
• $400K jury verdict in a Bronx medical malpractice case for negligence in failing to diagnose and treat appendicitis, resulting in a ruptured appendix, hospitalization and scarring.
• $625K for negligence in failing to diagnose a slow growing meningioma in the head for this medical malpractice victim in Poughkeepsie.
• $450K medical malpractice recovery for an 80-year-old New York woman who had a surgical pad negligently left behind after bowel surgery, resulting in infection, ICU care, temporary tracheotomy and severe weakening of an already fragile condition.
• $400K for chemical burns in the ankle of a Bronx newborn baby from intravenous extravisation resulting from medical malpractice
• $450K medical malpractice recovery for a 77-year-old New York woman due to a negligent failure to diagnose and treat an infection in the left eye, leading to blindness in the eye.
• $300K for a 13-year-old Westchester child with an injury to the bowel from back surgery, resulting in short bowel syndrome due to medical malpractice.
• $400K settlement, mid-trial, for the family of a 56-year-old Queens seamstress who bled to death during surgery when her liver was negligently lacerated (in New York, one can not be compensated for grief, only for monetary loss and pain and suffering). This was a wrongful death case resulting from medical malpractice.
• $300K settlement during jury deliberations for negligent injury to the facial nerve during middle ear surgery, for this 15 year old medical malpractice Bronx resident.
• 1st Amendment Defense — defense of a Florida man wrongfully accused of defamation. Judgment in our favor, January 12, 2001.
• $250K for a slip and fall in a Dutchess County restaurant by a 54 year old woman resulting in a torn meniscus and rotator cuff surgery
• $150K for this Queens woman who suffered a fractured leg after a slip and fall on snow and ice
• $200K medical malpractice recovery for this New York woman who was misdiagnosed with lymphoma and underwent radiation
• $160K a Bronx child due to negligence, when a laceration of a tendon in the ring finger of the non-dominant hand was not diagnosed at Jacobi Hospital
• $150K for delay in diagnosing breast cancer, which deprived this Rockland medical malpractice victim of an opportunity for a lumpectomy.
• $175K for a surgical sponge negligently left behind after bypass surgery at NYU University Medical Center on a 72 year old New York woman, necessitating surgery to remove it from behind her sternum
• $100K for a broken scissor blade negligently left in this Bronx patient after a hysterectomy at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, necessitating surgery to remove it
• $200K medical malpractice recovery for a vesico-vaginal fistula in this Westchester woman after a hysterectomy
• $240K settlement mid-trial of this medical malpractice case involving a sciatic nerve injury after a negligent injection in the buttocks of this Bronx woman
• $215K medical malpractice recovery for this Rockland patient who suffered a detached retina, after an anesthesia injection ruptured the globe of her eye prior to cataract surgery
• $125K for a laparotomy pad that was negligently left behind after a Cesarean section for this Bronx woman at Jacobi Hospital, discovered two years later
• $150K medical malpractice recovery for retained bone fragments left in this Queen man after a C5-C6 diskectomy at Elmhurst Hospital, necessitating additional surgery
• $185K for the failure to diagnose an impression fracture in the shoulder in this Brooklyn man, and subsequently undergoing the wrong surgery on his shoulder
• $110K settlement during trial for a fractured wrist in a New York man suffered in a car accident with a police car
• $285K settlement for hospital malpractice and doctor error when catheter placed in carotid artery instead of jugular vein, causing wrongful death of 87 year old Westchester man.
• Sexual assault/molestaton - The firm's cases involving this subject have been handled as "Jane/John Doe" and have not been reported.

Other cases of interest will be discussed at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog.

About These Cases

Throughout this site you will see examples of cases the firm has handled. Since all cases are different, and legal authority may change from year to year, it is important to remember that prior results cannot and do not guarantee or predict similar outcomes with respect to any future matter, including yours, in which any lawyer or law firm may be retained.