Cases Are Down, Says
Justice Gerard Rosenberg
By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
DYKER HEIGHTS – Clearing up misconceptions about medical malpractice suits, Kings County Supreme Court Justice Gerard Rosenberg gave a legal update after swearing in leaders of the Dyker Heights Civic Association, an 82-year-old organization.
“There is no medical malpractice crisis today, especially in New York State. Filings have actually gone down in the past five years,” said Rosenberg, a Bay Ridge resident with 25 years of judicial experience. During the last 11 years, he has been in charge of all Kings County medical malpractice cases.
“There were between 400 and 500 cases I settled without a trial last year. Most are in favor of the doctors and hospitals.”
Backing up his point at the association meeting held Tuesday evening at St. Philips Episcopal Church, Rosenberg made a comparison. “Think back to the controversy over the no-fault insurance for cars. Your premiums didn’t go up did they? They won’t go up here for medical insurance.”
When questioned later, Rosenberg noted that “Premiums have been frozen for the last three years. Yes, filings have gone down in Kings County. Doctors seem to be more careful, and there have been fewer errors. There’s been an increase in cases being dropped.”
Justice Rosenberg, a Democrat, was elected to the state Supreme Court in 1999, he told the group. He specializes in medical malpractice cases and home mortgage foreclosures and first served as a Civil Court judge in 1985. Before his first judgeship, he served as a law secretary for two justices.
Active in Bay Ridge Community
Citing his 40 years of community work, he talked about his longtime and continuing role with the 68th Precinct Baseball League and Youth Council. “We used to take children up to Albany, touring the Legislature, the governor’s mansion and the Court of Appeals. Since 9/11, that’s been stopped.”
He also talked about his being an advisory board member of the Guild for Exceptional Children, being honored as 1993 Ragamuffin Parade Grand Marshall, and working with the Bay Ridge Community Council.
He mentioned his leadership in the Bay Ridge Forum, of which he was a president, with his wife Harriet Rosenberg, also an ardent civic activist and former Community Board 10 member. The forum in the 1980s and 1990s featured topical discussions and speakers held in local apartments and homes.
Justice Rosenberg also handles many home mortgage foreclosure cases. “I’ve seen foreclosures grow over 100 percent over the last four years,” he said of the deep recession and its impact on homeowners in Brooklyn, one of the worst hit areas in the state.
Thanking Rosenberg for his update was President Fran Vella-Marrone, the elected leader of the association that has been at the center of civic activism in Dyker Heights since 1928. “While the concerns of medical malpractice and foreclosures are at the forefront of issues today, it’s been enlightening to hear what’s going on in our courts today.”
Vella-Marrone, who is also a Community Board 10 member and is active with the Kings County Conservative Party, was among the association officers and board of governors installed in the swearing-in ceremony administered by Justice Rosenberg.
She also introduced the association’s historian, Christian Zaino of the Dyker Heights Historical Association, who told of the street re-naming for Dyker Heights founder Walter Johnson (1873-1953), signed into law for a corner of 11th Avenue and 82nd Street. Johnson founded the once-gated private community in 1895.
He and Vella-Marrone, along with Councilman Vincent Gentile who sponsored the bill, were at the law signing done by Mayor Bloomberg recently. They happily waved their pens given to them by Bloomberg.
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