Brooklyn Boro

SKETCHES OF COURT: Homeless accident victim receives $190K in Brooklyn

June 29, 2015 By Alba Acevedo Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Court sketch by Alba Acevedo
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In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Dawn Jimenez-Salta listens as plaintiff’s attorney Kenneth Klein (standing), of the law firm Gorayeb & Associates, cross-examines the defendant in the pedestrian-motor vehicle accident trial Guzman v. Ram Caterers. Court reporter Eric Pollyea (center) transcribes the proceedings.

The defendant driver, an employee of Ram Caterers with permissive use of their vehicle, was at the wheel of a GMC van with his wife as passenger in June 2010. The driver had been heading from a crowded hospital to another hospital in seeking treatment for his ailing wife. Around 10 p.m. he made a left turn onto West 39 Street at the intersection of 8th Avenue in Manhattan when, he testified, he was unaware of an accident until he heard noise at the rear of the vehicle.

The defendant is represented by attorney John Szewczuk (seated, right) of the law office of Steven G. Fauth. 

A 69 year-old homeless pedestrian on the ground was removed from the scene by ambulance, claiming he had been knocked down by the van. Amid comorbidities that might be expected with a homeless patient, he remained at Goldwater Hospital in convalescent care until release two years later. 

The bifurcated case was settled for $190,000 before the determination of liability, in the proceedings that concluded this week in Kings County Civil Term.  

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