Page 8 - Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame

MOTOR VEHICLES
VERDICT & SETTLEMENTS
HALL OF FAME
#2
Case: Turturo v. City of New York, Louis Pascarella & Beatrice Pascarella
Attorney: Robert J. Walke
Firm: Gallagher, Walker, Bianco, & Plastaras Date: 4/1/2015
Verdict: $36,161,797
By Phil Albinus
A boy and his bike. A carefree ride in an early winter evening near the waters of Brooklyn. This sounds perfectly idyllic but for Anthony Turturo it turned into a near tragedy for the 12-year-old.
On the evening of Dec. 5, 2004, plaintiff Anthony was bicycling on Gerritsen Avenue near Florence Avenue, in the Gerritsen Beach section of Brooklyn. He was struck by a car that was being driven by Louis Pascarella, who was traveling on the southbound side of Ger- ritsen Avenue. Anthony sustained injuries of an ankle and his head.
The scene was grim. According to Robert Walker, partner of Gal- lagher, Walker, Bianco & Plastaras, and the attorney for the boy and his mother, rst responders at the scene determined that Anthony was likely to die.
“He survived despite the fact that every medical projection stated that he was in bad shape. The kid was a ghter and has regained a lot of function. He is nowhere near normal he wasn’t expected to survive but he did,” said Walker. “He got out-of-bed and walked with the assistance of an aid dog a few weeks later.”
Turturo’s near fatal injury didn’t have to happen. In the course of investigating his accident, Walker found a series of negligence from agencies of the City of New York. The accident took place on a busy stretch of road that has become a quasi speedway, accord- ing to Walker.
Gerritson Beach is a peninsula and the road is the sole means of coming in and out of the area, said Walker. The attorney found that the city had received letters from local, state and federal of cials complaining about the roadway. In April 2004, years before the acci- dent, the commissioner of the Department of Transportation said they would study the roadway and solve the problem by July 2004. Instead the, commissioner’s orders were never followed before the December 2004 accident.
“Right after the accident they did the appropriate study and they made changes to the roadway to slow traf c down,” said Walker.
Anthony’s mother, Elida, acting individually and as Anthony’s parent, sued the driver of the vehicle Louis Pascarella and the owner of Pascarella’s vehicle, Beatrice Pascarella and Gerritsen Avenue’s maintainer, the City of New York.
This slow response to a dangerous stretch of the road and the severity and long lasting nature of his injuries helped to sway the jury.
“It was a case of pretty clear negligence on the part of the city and the jury was annoyed by the number of complaints that were made to the city about this problem. The city basically ignored them,” said Walker. “As a result, this young man was hurt badly.”
Although Anthony cannot ride a bike these days, he is thriving despite his limitations. “He has pretty much plateaued. He has what- ever recovery he is going to get. Whole sections of his brain were destroyed in the accident so whatever he had cannot regenerate.It is what it is,” said Walker.
“He goes to school, gets special assistance. He has an aide who carries his books, takes him to class and takes notes for him. He gets extra time to take tests,” said Walker. “He was in school at the time of the trial.”
The jury determined that Anthony and his mother’s damages totaled $36,161,797.52. The comparative-negligence reduction pro- duced a net recovery of $32,545,617.77.
6 November 2015