Margarita lives in the Bronx and speaks Spanish. She came to our bilingual- Spanish speaking personal injury law firm after she injured both ankles, due to negligent maintenance of a subway station staircase in the Bronx.
Margarita’s Story: The Slip and Fall Accident and her injuries.
At the time of her accident Margarita was on her way home from her job as a home health aide. While descending the stairway from the elevated subway station at Elder Avenue, she stepped down onto an unstable step. The old wooden step was partially rotted and sagged when Margarita stepped on it, causing her to lose balance and fall. The slip and fall accident she suffered resulted in fractures to both ankles.
Margarita is a strong independent woman. Nobody was around to call the police to the scene, so she walked home. But the pain was severe and she went from her home to the hospital. She did not require surgery, but endured a slow recovery.
As a residential health aide Margarita spent many hours on her feet, taking care of others. But due to her ankle fractures she was forced to stop working for several months. Because both ankles were effected, she was unable to get around for a time and was in a rehabilitation center. At trial her doctor stated that she now suffers degenerative arthritic changes in her ankles as a result of her slip and fall personal injury.
In pre-trial settlement discussions the Transit Authority made only low, and unacceptable settlement offers. At trial they argued that there was no police accident report to prove the accident happened as Margarita claimed. The Transit Authority also produced their own expert who testified that the step was not defective.
Justice for a Personal Injury in New York
Critical to the successful outcome of the case was our quick and thorough investigation. Immediately after Margarita retained us to represent her, one of our attorneys went to the scene of her accident. Some law offices don’t send anyone to the scene of an accident; others will send an untrained investigator who might not understand the law and won’t know what to look for.
In this case, our attorney observed subtle evidence that the Transit Authority had attempted a repair of the step. Photographs were taken, and a safety engineer was quickly retained to perform a thorough examination of the scene, including photographs and measurements. Our expert engineer concluded that the Transit Authority’s attempted repair of the step was improperly performed, leading to a dangerous condition. The engineer’s testimony was critical to the trial and the jury awarded Margarita approximately $800,000 for her pain and suffering, plus her medical costs.
Our Spanish-speaking staff and our lawyers were able to communicate with Margarita during every phase of the lawsuit, which made the entire process much less stressful for her. She was extremely pleased with the outcome of her case.
To see some of our other large verdicts and settlements visit our dedicated page or explore our blog for more stories of how our bilingual personal injury lawyers have obtained justice for injured New Yorkers.
