Brooklyn Boro

Sketches of Court: MVA damage award may be highest in NY this year

July 7, 2014 By Alba Acevedo Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Hon. Loren Baily-Schiffman listens as plaintiff attorney Paul Edelstein (standing, right) of the law firm The Edelsteins, Faegenburg & Brown LLP conducts a direct examination during the motor vehicle accident trial of Arkadiy Korsunskiy v. Careful Bus Service Inc.
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In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Loren Baily-Schiffman listens as plaintiff attorney Paul Edelstein (standing, right) of the law firm The Edelsteins, Faegenburg & Brown LLP conducts a direct examination during the motor vehicle accident trial of Arkadiy Korsunskiy v. Careful Bus Service Inc. Co-counsel to Edelstein is Daniel Thomas (seated, right) of the law offices of Daniel A. Thomas, PC. 

The plaintiff, a 63 year old ambulette driver at the time of the February 2008 accident, was at the wheel when his vehicle was rear-ended by the defendant’s bus on the Prospect Expressway. (A third vehicle may have been involved, in the lead, who did not stop and was never identified.) 

The plaintiff was removed to Lutheran Medical Center with hip and head trauma, and he was cleared by their emergency team for surgery. Orthopoedic surgeon Thomas Lyon (standing, center) operated on plaintiff’s femural break. Dr. Lyon testified in court as witness for the plaintiff. 

Korsunskiy’s comorbities include a history of stroke and hypertension, though his counsel alleged that the accident precipitated the stroke that his client was found suffering from while at the hospital, albeit the exact timing of its occurrence was not clear. 

The plaintiff is presently suffering cognitive difficulties and mobility limitations. 

The jury awarded damages totalling $14 million, likely to be among the highest in New York this year, as follows: $10 million for past pain and suffering, $1.5 million for future medical expenses, $2.5 million for loss of consortium and $75,000 for lost wages. 

The defendant was represented by Carl Schaerf (seated, second from left), and co-counsel Allison Snyder (seated, left) of the law firm Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP. 

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