Key Takeaway
Million-dollar herniation verdict upheld: Bronx jury awards $1M for cervical discs and lumbar herniations with permanent pain requiring surgery and spinal stimulator.
Waring v Sunrise Yonkers SL, LLC, 2015 NY Slip Op 09174 (1st Dept. 2015)
(1) “$100,000 for past pain and suffering, $500,000 for future pain and suffering, $80,000 for past lost wages, and, as stipulated to by plaintiff, $200,000 for future lost wages and $65,000 for future medical expenses, unanimously affirmed, without costs.”
(2) “We reject defendant’s argument that plaintiff failed to mitigate his damages. There is no evidence that either plaintiff’s failure to fully comply with physical therapy orders or his sleeping [*2]on couches while homeless affected his recovery or contributed to his injuries (cf. Robinson v United States, 330 F Supp 2d 261, 275 ), and there is no evidence that plaintiff, who obtained a GED to increase his employment prospects and was looking for work, made, as defendant claims, only minimal effort to seek employment.”
(3) “Plaintiff sustained two bulging cervical discs and three lumbar herniations with impingement, and experienced only limited improvement from physical therapy and epidural injections. He is still in treatment for his injuries, which are permanent, he suffers daily pain and will require surgery and/or a spinal cord stimulator and continuing pain management, and he must restrict his activities, although he may perform sedentary work”
It is point 3 that justified the $1,000,000.00 verdict. AMAZING.
I suspect the demand was between $50k-$80k. Well, when you take your chanced with a Bronx jury, these things can happen.
