Page 22 - Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame

MOTOR VEHICLES
VERDICT & SETTLEMENTS
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#13
By Len Maniace
A woman whose car struck a bus as she drove through a Ben- sonhurst intersection was awarded $10 million in damages by a Brooklyn jury.
Josephine Pantano was 77 on May 30, 2007 when the vehicle she was driving on Bath Avenue across 25th Avenue struck the bus, which she said had driven through a red light. Pantano suffered leg and neck fractures and led suit against bus driver Jimmie Irizarri and N.Y.C. Transit Authority, charging negligence.
Irizarri, however, testi ed during the May 2010 trial that the signal was green for the bus, as did a bus passenger.
Pantano’s attorney William Schwitzer, of Dinkes & Schwitzer, said
#14
By Len Maniace
A motorcyclist who was severely injured in a collision with a car making a left turn in Smithtown was awarded $10 million in damages by a Suffolk County jury.
Frederick Roth, a 48-year-old unemployed man when the crash occurred on Sept. 17, 2006, was motorcycling on West Main Street when he was hit by a car driven by Robert Capizzuto. The car’s driver was attempting to make a left turn across the road into a parking lot despite the oncoming motorcyclist, said Roth’s attorney, Leonard J. Tartamella.
“You can’t make a left turn unless you yield the right of way and you are not supposed to create a zone of danger by your efforts. He did both,” Tartamella said.
disputed facts and exceedingly sympathetic witnesses on both sides – the injured woman and the bus passenger – posed a challenge. Though Pantano said she had a green light shortly before the crash, she could not recall its color as she entered the intersection. Schwitzer said he believed the jury accepted the possibility that Pantano’s memory could have been disrupted when she lost consciousness in the crash.
As for the bus witness, Schwitzer said he did not challenge her recollection of the traf c signal as she boarded the bus, but instead won her admission that she did not know if the light had changed as she walked to her seat.
“The way I tried the case was all or nothing. It was not a 50-50 case. It’s a question of what makes sense, not who you believe,” Schwitzer said. “If my client wanted to make up a story she would have said: ‘I saw it was green; I saw it was green; I saw it was green.’”
Pantano needed neck surgery and treatment for a broken right leg. When the leg failed to heal properly she required surgery six weeks later. She underwent 18 months of occupational and physical therapy.
Pantano said she continued to suffer pain from her neck radiating to her left shoulder; a reduced range of motion in her neck; and a limp that requires her to use a cane. Those conditions, she testi ed, made it dif cult for her to use stairs and to participate in recreational activities with her husband.
The injuries were some of the worst that he had even seen, Tar- tamella said.
The accident left Roth’s severed left foot in a sneaker on the road. Other injuries were to Roth’s head, heart, spleen, a leg, hip, lung, shoulder, three ribs, and his vocal cords. He was in a coma for approximately four weeks and bedbound for ve months following the accident. He underwent operations to remove his spleen and an above-the-knee amputation of his left leg.
Roth sued Capizzuto and Daniel K. Capizzuto, his father and the car’s owner. In the suit, Roth said his health problems continued despite the treatment; he suffered from recurrent rashes of his left leg stump and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Capizzutos subsequently led for bankruptcy. Judge Robert Drain approved an agreement on the lifting of an automatic stay on damages and another agreement that held any award to Roth to no more than $100,000, the limit of the Capizzutos’ insurance coverage.
In his suit, Roth sought reimbursement of a medical-expenses lien of approximately $165,000, reimbursement of a social-services lien of $2,780, recovery of future medical and life-care expenses, and costs of future medical and life-care, as well as $10 million for past and future pain and suffering.
Judge Paul Baisley Jr. ruled in July 2011 that Roth’s damages totaled $10 million, but that his damages were limited to the earlier stipulation of $100,000.
Case: Pantano v. Irizarri and NYCTA Attorney: William Schwitzer
Firm: Dinkes & Schwitzer
Verdict: $10,000,000
Case: Roth v. Capizzuto and Capizzuto Attorney: Leonard J. Tartamella
Firm: Tartamella, Tartamella & Fresolone Verdict: $10,000,000
20 November 2015