At Carro, Carro & Mitchell LLP, we maintain this blog in part to inform you about the law, but also to try to give you a sense of who we are as attorneys beyond our biographies and the past results we have achieved.
We understand that as people do their homework to find the best Brooklyn personal injury lawyer to represent them for their injuries, they are confronted with many lawfirm websites. After a while they must look very similar. Our most recent jury verdict is illustrative of who we are as attorneys and highlights how we are willing to fight to the end for what is fair. It is a testament to why we may be the best attorneys for your case.
JURY AWARDS $ 450,000 FOR SOFT TISSUE NECK INJURY
That was the headline of this reported case that CC&M partner John Carro tried this summer. What is informative about this case is not the size of award. We have many other verdicts and settlements far in excess of this amount. What is important is how we got to a jury verdict of $450,000.
The case involved Maria M., who was injured in a car accident. Maria was out of work for 3 months. Fortunately, her employer paid her salary, so she did not lose any income. Maria had no broken bones, but she had what doctors call a soft tissue injury, or “whiplash” to her neck. Her injury was causing her pain on a daily basis. However, the diagnostic tests (MRI’s and EMG’s) were inconclusive. They only showed a “minimal disc bulge” without any nerve involvement. Maria’s pain was real however and she treated with her doctors for about 6 months. She stopped only because her medical benefits were cut-off. The insurance company for the defendant driver took a very hard line position due to the inconclusive tests and their own doctor’s opinion that the injury was minor and had fully resolved.
Attempts to settle were unsuccessful. The insurance company’s best offer at the start of the trial was $7,500. The trial itself went quite well. Maria made a believable witness, as did her treating doctor who testified that Maria had a permanent injury which partially disabled her.
The defendant’s doctor did not hold up well under our cross examination and discrepancies in his report and testimony were pointed out to the Jury. Thus, as the end of the trial there was a classic “who do you believe” scenario: Plaintiff Maria and her treating doctor, or Defendant’s witnesses and their doctor.
As the trial attorney, I felt we had done our job and that the Jury was with us. Foolishly the defendants didn’t see it that way and they continued to play hardball, with only a small increase in their insurance company’s settlement offer.
Maria had no problem turning the offer down. She felt as I did, that the offer was insulting and that we would do better with a Jury verdict. And we did. After just ninety minutes of deliberation, the jury came back with a verdict of $450,000: $200,000 for past pain and suffering and $250,000 for future pain and suffering. Needless to say Maria and her family were satisfied that justice had been done.
This case illustrates who we are at Carro, Carro & Mitchell LLP. We took a case in which there was a real injury but that insurance companies don’t normally fear because of the inconclusive tests and their own doctor’s strong opinions. We believed in our client and her case and were very aggressive in our representation. As always when we believe it is in our client’s best interest, we were willing to go to trial. When at the time of trial we deemed the offer to settle inadequate, we didn’t back down. We not only won, but won big. This is the kind of representation we offer. When you contact us and we agree to take your case it is because we believe in your cause. Once retained, we do everything in our power and use our years of experience to bring the case to a satisfactory conclusion.
And when offers to settle are inadequate, we have no hesitation to bring the case before the jury.
Contact us now at (212) 213-5005 for a free consultation. We fight for the largest verdicts for accident victims every day.
