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$675,000 result- cited in The New York Jury Verdict
Reporter
XVIII/16-50 Fall down - Stairs - Blowout Fracture Of
The Eye Socket
SETTLEMENT: Jose and Josefina Urena v. Prime Realty Services,
Inc.; 135-143 Haven Ave. Assoc., L.P., Richard Aidekinan; and
Howard Schwade 113099/96 Date of Settlement 5/16/00 New York
Supreme
Pltf. Atty.: Alan M. Greenberg, Manhattan
Deft Atty.: Joan L. Fiden of Fischer, Fiden & Norris, L,L,P.,
Manhattan
This action settled during trial for $675,000. On 11/12/93 at 10
PM, Pltf., a 29-year-old liquor store clerk at the time, was
visiting a tenant who lived in the basement apartment of Deft,'s
residential building located in Washington Heights. He testified
that he had never been to the tenant's apartment previously. The
apartment was reached from an exterior courtyard by entering a
side door, loading into a short hallway. The boiler room
entrance door was in the hallway a few feet from the tenant's
apartment door, Pltf. claimed that when he left the apartment to
go home, be forgot which door led to the courtyard and
mistakenly opened the boiler room door, which, he contended, was
unmarked and unlocked. He stepped in, expecting to be walking
outside, and fell down a staircase, hitting the concrete floor
face first. Pltf. claimed that Defts. were negligent in creating
a hazardous condition by not locking the unmarked door, Defts.
argued that the door had a "boiler room" sign on it and that the
superintendent always kept it locked, Defts, questioned the
location of the accident, and argued that Pltf was
contributorily negligent for not remembering the correct door
and for not looking before stepping in. Note: Ptlf. speaks only
Spanish and all of Pltf's witnesses testified through an
interpreter.
Injuries: blowout fracture of the right orbit. Pltf- underwent
two operations to repair the fracture and reduce gear tissuo
around the muscles. Pitt claimed that he has vertical diplopia
in an upward gaze, causing headaches, and double vision in an
upward gaze, which has disabled him from his job as a liquor
store clerk. Demonstrative evidence: enlarged photographs of the
accident scene. Carrier: AIG.
Pltf. Experts: Joseph Flynn, P.E., engineer, Bedford; Dr, Martin
Leib, ophthalmologist and plastic surgeon, Manhattan.
Deft. Experts: Dr. Robert April, neurologist, Manhattan; Dr.
Stephen Rodgers, ophthalmologist, Manhattan.
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