Case Results
Gordon & Silber Obtains Defense Verdict in Automobile Case Involving Claims of Traumatic Brain Injury in 83 Year Old Man — October 2009.
Type of Case: Automobile
Venue: Supreme Court — Nassau County
Background Facts: On October 26, 2002, plaintiff, a then 83 year old man, was involved in an automobile accident with the defendant in an uncontrolled intersection. The jury found the defendant to be 78 percent responsible for the accident in the liability portion of the case.
The matter proceeded to trial on the issue of damages. Plaintiff claimed that he suffered a bilateral hemorrhage to the brain as a result of the impact from the accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury. He claimed that before the accident he lived an active life style including hiking, swimming, walking, taking care of his elderly wife and his home. After the accident, he was treated in the emergency room and hospitalized for 4 days. He had lacerations to the back of the head which were stapled. He was then sent to a skilled nursing home in Long Island where he was diagnosed with dementia. He then moved to North Carolina where one of his sons lived, where he was treated for a variety of medical problems at several skilled nursing home facilities until his death in 2007.
Our Strategy: We retained neurological experts in traumatic brain injuries and progressive dementia disorders of the brain and argued that the CT scans taken at the hospital did not show any signs of a traumatic brain injury. We argued that the CT scans taken in Long Island and North Carolina indicated ischemic changes suggestive of long standing hypertension which caused mini-strokes over a period of time which resulted in progressive degenerative dementia and was in no way causally related to the accident of October 26, 2002.
Result: Defense verdict. The jury found plaintiff's injuries were not causally related to the accident.
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