SKETCHES OF COURT: Settlement reached in accident liability case
Court sketch by Alba Acevedo
In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Peter Sweeney listens as plaintiff’s attorney Alan C. Salzman (standing), of the law firm Salzman & Winer, addresses the jury during opening statements in Scott v. City of New York. At issue was the determination of liability.
John Scott claimed that he was injured when he was a passenger in a car that spun out of control and struck an elevated subway station support pillar. Salzman faulted the city, alleging that a road surface defect that was created by a roadway repair along McDonald Avenue near Kings Highway had caused the October 2002 accident.
The city had worked on the roadway, during which they employed a subcontractor. The city was represented by Sarah Prager (seated second from right), of the New York City Law Department. While Prager maintained that the repaving work was done and completed properly, and further alleged that the accident was caused by the driver’s loss of control of the vehicle on a rainy dark morning, the city in turn started a third-party action against its contractor Columbus Construction Corporation. Columbus is represented by Doris Rios Duffy (at right), of the law offices of Leon R. Kowalski.
A settlement for an undisclosed amount was reached before closing arguments during the testimony of an engineering expert for the plaintiff. Court reporter Christina Ingravallo recorded the proceedings in Kings County Civil Term.
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