May 1st is known as Law Day. Not too many people outside the legal profession know that Law Day is celebrated by the Bar, but in recognition of the day, we figured that we’d post something about what’s been happening in the Court system and how our office and clients have benefitted from the Courts re-opening.
Our office has been fortunate enough to post a series of significant recoveries that our firm has recently obtained, in part due to the fact that the Court system is finally recovering from the back-log caused by COVID. For obvious reasons, it’s been very difficult the last few years to get cases scheduled for trial, and the insurance companies have inevitably used these delays to their advantage. However, we are happy to say that the trial parts are again filled with lawyers, which means that there are a sufficient number of jurors available, so that any cases which do not settle, can be sent by the Judge for jury selection.
We have many clients who have waited for years for their day in court, and during the last few years, despite the delays caused by COVID, we did a number of things to ensure that we were in a strong position, including extensive pre-trial preparation, ensuring that our witnesses and experts were lined up for trial, and by maintaining the discipline to turn down unreasonably low offers of settlement during the time that a trial date was still far away. As a result, over the last several months, we’ve been on our best roll ever, and have had many significant verdicts and settlements. The most notable of these recoveries are as follows:
– $22.9 Million – Construction Accident
– $7.25 Million – Construction Accident
– $2.85 Million – Slip and Fall on Ice
– $2 Million – Car Accident
– $1.4 Million – Construction Accident
– $1.25 Million – Car Accident
Apart from these seven-figure recoveries, there are dozens of other cases that we’ve been able to resolve so far this year, as things have gotten back to normal. It bears noting that for all these cases listed above, there are common threads which resulted from our discipline and hard work.
PRIOR TO TRIAL WE DEMONSTRATED THE DEFENDANTS’ LIABILITY AS A MATTER OF LAW
Whether it was in the trial courts or in the Appellate Division, in each of these cases, we developed a strategy to establish the defendants’ negligence or violation of a statute as a matter of law. This was done by conducting as many depositions as necessary and engaging in discovery to the point that we boxed our opponents in. It’s our firm’s philosophy to out-work our opponents, because when you out-work your opponents, you can out-think and out-manuever them. This enables a lawyer to develop strategies by maximizing the strengths of the case, and diminishing the weaknesses. Apart from the obvious advantage in proving that defendants’ liability, and having a trial which only addresses the issue of the plaintiff’s monetary damages, another benefit of proving the defendants’ liability as a matter of law, is that it entitled our clients to 9% statutory interest on any future jury verdict from the date the finding of summary judgment was entered with the Court. This is something that we obviously used to our advantage in settlement negotiations.
ALL OF THESE INCIDENTS OCCURRED PRE-COVID
During the pandemic, we tirelessly litigated these cases, and used our resources to prepare the cases for trial. Along the way, the insurance companies sought to take advantage of the slow down in the Court system by making unreasonably low offers of settlement, which we advised our clients to reject, and to have patience. For instance, in the case that was resolved for $22.9 Million, there was only a $1 Million offer of settlement six months prior to trial. Once we established the defendants’ liability as a matter of law, the offer increased to $21 Million. However, we rejected this, because we believed that we could get more at trial. We were finally able to resolve the case after jury selection and an expert witness had given testimony about the plaintiff’s injuries for the sum of $22.9 Million. Similarly, in the case that recently settled for $7.25 Million, we had a mediation on the case last year, where we were presented with a “final” offer of $1.5 Million, which we promptly rejected. We had to wait almost a year to get a trial date, and as is often the case, we were able to settle this case one day before jury selection for $7.25 Million. There were similar low-ball offers by the defendants and their insurance carriers in all of the other cases listed above, which were rejected, but as the trial approached, we were able to obtain the significant recoveries our clients deserved.
WE WERE PREPARED FOR TRIAL
In every one of these cases, we had our witnesses and experts lined up and ready to go. As a well-known lawyer once told me long ago, litigation is a mental sport. You have to spend countless hours preparing for trial, but when you are ready, the other side knows it, and it’s at that point they will usually treat you fairly and respectfully, and it’s only when you’re not ready, that you’ll get abused.
We are elated to say that after 30 years in existence, this has been the firm’s best year ever, and we’re only four months in. After all these years in business, we’ve assembled the best group of attorneys, paralegals and support staff we ever could have hoped for.
We are privileged and humbled to represent people that have had their lives changed in seconds, through no fault of their own, and we know that if these clients didn’t have us, or another top firm representing them, they would never get the money they deserve. Notwithstanding these successes, we are as committed as ever to doing even better, and we all personally do our best to learn something new every day.
We sincerely want to thank each and every one of you that have recommended our office in the past, and promise you that we will continue to do everything in our power to help those who need it. We’re always looking for ways to ensure our clients obtain the maximum compensation they’re entitled to under our civil justice system and we will continue to work harder than ever to maintain our reputation in the profession.
