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SKETCHES OF COURT: Plaintiff’s verdict in car accident trial settled before damages phase

October 20, 2016 By Alba Acevedo Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Court sketch by Alba Acevedo
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In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Mark Partnow listens as defendant’s attorney Richard Koehler (standing), of the law firm Hammill, O’Brien, Croutier, Dempsey, Pender & Koehler, conducts a cross-examination of the plaintiff in the motor vehicle accident trial Sherline Faustin v. Marco Pineda & KMS Contracting, Inc. At issue was the determination of liability.

The September 2013 accident occurred on Utica Avenue near Winthrop Street in Brooklyn. Faustin claimed serious injury as a result of the impact to her car by the small flatbed truck driven by Pineda. Faustin alleged that Pineda was moving into the right lane without signaling, after passing her on her left. Faustin was represented by Joseph Gorczyca (at right), of the law offices of Michael S. Lamonsoff. 

Pineda could not appear in court due to a serious medical condition. He admitted in examination before trial that he had not signaled when, he alleged, he was changing lanes in getting around Faustin’s double-parked car.  

Koehler faulted Faustin for failing in her obligation to avoid the accident, when she testified that she did not apply the brakes in the seconds before the collision. 

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The trial was settled this week after the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff and before the damages phase of the bifurcated trial in Kings County Civil Supreme. Court reporter Jean deBiase recorded the proceedings. 


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