Brooklyn Boro

SKETCHES OF COURT: $145K awarded in rear-end accident

March 31, 2017 By Alba Acevedo Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Court sketch by Alba Acevedo
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In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Larry Martin listens as plaintiff’s attorney John Avanzino (standing), trial counsel to the law offices of Bruce S. Reznick, calls on expert witness Dr. Alan Dayan (at left). The orthopedic surgeon is explaining an MRI film to the jury during the motor vehicle accident trial Rivera v. Rosa. 

Liability against the defendant was decided in summary judgment; at issue was the determination of damages. Pedro Rivera alleged that he was seriously injured in April 2014 as he sat in the driver’s seat of his stopped car when it was rear-ended by a delivery truck. Rivera claimed that he sustained a rotator cuff tear to his shoulder necessitating surgery and complained of pain in his neck and back. Rivera missed a few days of work after the accident and a few weeks of work post-surgery

Louis DeSena (at right), of the law firm DeSena & Sweeney, sought to diminish the consequences of what he characterized as a light-impact collision during which no airbags deployed and little vehicle damage was sustained. DeSena alleged that Rivera had made a full recovery from arthroscopic surgery to his non-dominant arm after the repair of a small tear, which DeSena maintained was not causally related to the accident. 

The jury made no award for future medical expenses or pain and suffering, but compensated Rivera for past pain and suffering in the amount of $60,000 and past medical expenses in the amount of $85,000, in the trial that resolved in Kings County Civil Term. Court reporter Harold Ortiz (center) recorded the proceedings.

 

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