Accomplishments

In June 2009, Lorraine Berlund Polin obtained a defense verdict in a trial in Supreme Court, Nassau County, before Justice Daniel Palmieri. The matter involved a claim by the plaintiff, a former JFK baggage handler, that the defendant failed to timely diagnose nerve damage from a work related injury to his foot and failed to refer the patient to a neurologist for treatment of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. The plaintiff eventually underwent four sympathectomy procedures and finally insertion of a Spinal Cord Stimulator for pain control. Trial counsel for the plaintiff, asked for 1.1 million dollars in damages, but the jury returned a unanimous verdict on behalf of the defendant on all four alleged departures after approximately three hours of deliberation.

In June 2009, Alan J. Fumuso obtained a defense verdict in a case tried for 4 weeks in Supreme Court Suffolk County. The plaintiff was a now 6 year old girl who suffers from cerebral palsy, and is significantly and permanently handicapped. It was alleged that Mr. Fumuso’s client – her delivering obstetrician – and the co-defendant St. Charles Hospital, were negligent in failing to recognize the obstetrical emergency of a ruptured uterus during labor and negligently delayed her delivery, resulting in hypoxic brain damage. The delivery was an attempted VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarian section), and carried an increased risk of uterine rupture. Plaintiff’s offered proof of 93 million dollars in economic damages. An 8 million dollar settlement offer on behalf of both defendants was rejected prior to the summations. The jury in their second day of deliberation returned a unanimous verdict on behalf of the defendant obstetrician and St. Charles Hospital.

In October 2008, Douglas J. Swart obtained a defense verdict on behalf of his client in a trial before Judge Roy Mahon in Supreme Court, Suffolk County. The action was brought by a then thirty-two year old married mother of three, who was employed as an occupational therapist, alleging that the defendant internist was negligent in failing to timely refer the patient to a rheumatologist resulting in a worsening of the patient’s psoriatic arthritis. After approximately three hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant physician.

In July 2008, Alan J. Fumuso obtained a favorable verdict on behalf of the New York City Board of Education on a damages only trial in New York County. The plaintiff was a developmentally delayed 3 year old male infant who sustained a spiral/oblique fracture of his left femur during gym class at the Birch School in Manhattan. Liability was conceded, and the case proceeded to trial solely on the issue of damages. Plaintiff established the severity of the fracture, the time spent on rehabilitation and recovery, and the emotional and developmental setbacks sustained by the infant. The plaintiff rejected a $200,000 settlement offer and asked the jury for $750,000. The jury returned a verdict in the amount of $125,000.