As Published In
Settlement: Xxxx Xxxxxxx v. NYCTA XXXXX/8
Date of Settlement: 8/12/92
Venue: New York Supreme
Plaintiff Attorney: Eric Turkewitz for Oliveri & Schwartz, Manhattan
Defendant Attorney:
This action, which settled for $110,000 after opening arguments, involved a 25-year-old employee of an exterminating company who was injured when his vehicle was hit by a police car.
The accident occurred on 10/22/87 at approximately 2 AM at the intersection of Eighth Ave. and 56th St. in Manhattan. Plaintiff, who had Just finished exterminating work at several restaurants, was driving a van west on 56th St.. and Defendant’s police car was heading north on Eighth Ave. Both parties agreed that Plaintiff had the green light. There was a dispute as to whether the police car’s lights and siren were on. A passenger in Plaintiff’s van corroborated Pltf’s contentions that the lights and siren were not on at the time. The driver of the police car, his partner, and a third officer waiting at the corner of Eighth Ave. and 56th St. on an unrelated matter had testified in their depositions that the lights and siren were on and that the police car was responding to an ‘officer needs assistance” call, although they differed as to the type of classification of the call.
Injuries: fractured scaphoid of the right (dominant) wrist requiring open reduction and internal fixation with pins. The hardware was removed several weeks after surgery. Plaintiff wore a cast and a brace on the wrist until the summer of 1988. He claimed that he still has a loss of strength and restriction of motion in the wrist. Plaintiff claimed that as a blue collar worker this limitation will hinder his ability to work In the future.
