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A 57-year-old woman, who was a custodial worker at the Hackensack University Medical Center, was walking with her supervisor when she slipped and fell on a wet floor. The hospital hired a general construction company to expand its ER, who in turn hired a separate company to do the carpentry. On the day of the accident, the carpentry company had installed sheetrock and spackled the ceiling, leaving behind dust that one of its employees mopped up. The employee had left the floor wet without putting up a caution sign.
Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. Partners Garry R. Salomon and Adam B. Lederman filed suit in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County, and proved that the general construction company was negligent in its failure to maintain a safe environment for hospital employees and patrons. He secured our client a $950,000 settlement as compensation for her injuries, pain, and suffering.
The incident injured our client’s head, neck, and back, and she received treatment immediately after at the Hackensack hospital. She suffered contusions to her head and back, and was diagnosed with disc herniations in her cervical and lumbar spine. Her cervical spine also suffered radiculopathy and her lumbar spine a disc bulge. The client underwent months of physical therapy, an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, and a lumbar laminectomy to treat her neck and back.
Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. hired medical experts to author narrative reports proving the permanent nature of our client’s injuries. Their reports helped show our client’s entitlement to financial compensation for her loss in income, medical bills, and pain and suffering. The firm also retained an economics expert to assess the financial loss suffered by our client. The expert found that, because our client was disabled and unable to return to her work at the hospital, the accident reduced her total future earning capacity by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Partners Garry R. Salomon and Adam B. Lederman also hired an engineering expert to assess liability in this case. The expert concluded that the wet floor caused the client to slip and fall, and the employee who mopped the floor had created the dangerous condition by failing to either separate the floor into wet and dry lanes, place a warning wet floor sign, or to verbally warn passersby.
On June 24, 2015, the case went to mediation before a retired Judge. With the support of these experts, Garry R. Salomon and Adam B. Lederman persevered and won our client compensation for her pain, injuries, and suffering.
Settlements are often limited by the total available insurance coverage. Insurance company adjusters and their lawyers often defend cases by claiming that a client was negligent and could have avoided being injured by arguing comparative negligence on the part of an injured client; or that their pain and suffering was caused by pre-existing medical conditions or prior injuries. Despite those defenses, the Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, PC lawyers won their client’s injury claim. Each client’s case is unique. Results may differ because of different facts, circumstances and available insurance coverage.
Call us now for a free and confidential case evaluation. We are also available 24/7 online at our website, www.dsslaw.com.
Medical Glossary:
Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion: A surgical procedure used to treat neck problems. It involves removing a damaged disc in the neck and fusing together the adjacent vertebrae with a bone graft or metal plate. This helps relieve pain, stabilize the neck, and promote healing.
Disc Bulge: A disc bulge happens when the cushion-like discs in the spine push outward beyond their normal position. It can cause pressure on nearby nerves, leading to pain, tingling, or weakness. Treatment for a disc bulge may include physical therapy, medication, or in severe cases, surgery.
Disc Herniation: A disc herniation is an abnormality of the interverbal disc, that can also be called a “slipped disc”, “ruptured disc”, or “torn disc”. This abnormality happens when the inner core of the disc (nucleus pulposus) bulges out through and tears the outer layer of ligaments that surrounds the disc (annulus fibrosis). A tear in the annulus fibrosis can cause pain in the back where the herniation is. If the herniated disc compresses a spinal nerve, the pain can spread to the area of the body served by that nerve. Some disc herniations can result in no pain or discomfort, but others cause excruciating pain or numbness.
Lumbar Laminectomy: A surgical procedure performed on the lower back to relieve pressure on the spinal nerves. It involves the removal of a small portion of the bony arch of the vertebra called the lamina, which covers and protects the spinal canal. By removing the lamina, the surgeon creates more space for the nerves, reducing pain and other symptoms caused by conditions such as spinal stenosis or herniated discs in the lumbar spine.
Radiculopathy: A condition that affects the nerves in the spine. It occurs when a nerve root is compressed or irritated, leading to pain, weakness, or numbness in the areas connected to that nerve. This can happen in different parts of the body, depending on which nerve is affected, such as the neck, back, or legs.
