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Lorraine Vasquez-Sullivan vs. FC Bruckner Plaza Associates, L.P., et. al.
Bronx County Supreme Court
Index #1481/97
December 2009

New York jury returns verdict for construction client in catastrophic injury case

York Hunter of New York, a HRRV client, has emerged victorious after a five and half week jury trial before Judge Cynthia Kern in Bronx County Supreme Court.

The plaintiff had alleged that the defendant was responsible for a catastrophic injury she suffered in a parking lot.

In a complex trial that spanned the testimony of over a dozen experts in fields ranging from architecture, lighting design and engineering to psychiatry, bariatric surgery and neurosurgery, the jury unanimously absolved York Hunter of all liability and awarded over $7.78 million dollars in damages against York’s co-defendants, FC Bruckner Plaza and First New York Management.

The case originated on December 3, 1996, when the plaintiff, then 38 years old, tripped and fell on a curb located on the roof top parking lot of a recently built shopping mall known as the Shops at Bruckner Plaza at 845 White Plains Road in the Bronx. The plaintiff, who was Christmas shopping at the time with her husband, claimed that her fall was caused by a curb not properly demarcated and by a defective lighting plan that was not completed by the construction manager, York Hunter. Moreover, the plaintiff claimed that the mall was unlawfully operating with an expired certificate of occupancy in violation of New York City Code. York Hunter had been hired by the mall owners, FC Bruckner Plaza, to build the mall. 

After the fall, the plaintiff was immediately diagnosed with a herniated disc of the cervical spine for which she underwent an anterior disectomy. After this surgery, doctors recommended that the plaintiff also undergo surgery of her lumbar spine. The plaintiff’s physicians, however, advised the plaintiff to lose weight before performing further surgery. After several months of unsuccessful diet plans, and, at the recommendation of her treating doctors, the plaintiff underwent  laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery to reduce her caloric intake. Unfortunately, after the surgery, the plaintiff developed complications, and, during surgery to correct the complications, her esophagus was ruptured. The plaintiff underwent four surgeries to attempt to repair her esophagus which all failed. As a result, the plaintiff had a Hickman’s catheter inserted in her chest and a permanent feeding tube installed in her stomach to take nutrition.

After the failed bariatric surgery, the plaintiff underwent eight additional surgeries on her cervical and lumbar spine which included fusion surgery at multiple vertebral levels in the back and neck. Doctors had also implanted a permanent morphine pump in plaintiff’s lower back to alleviate continuous spinal pain which allegedly rendered plaintiff incapacitated. By 2008, the plaintiff, who had suffered severe depression prior to the accident,  had undergone twelve surgeries and was hospitalized for severe psychiatric episodes requiring projected future medical expenses by a Life Care Planner in excess of $5 million. Thirteen years after the accident, the plaintiff is presently unable to eat normally and is required to take nutrition through the abdominal feeding tube for life.

At trial, the mall’s owners claimed that York Hunter had failed to properly construct the lighting plan and demarcate the curb at the scene of the accident in accordance with contract specifications and pursuant to the project schedule. During trial, HRRV, on behalf of York Hunter, proved that the contract specifications did not call for demarcation and that the original lighting plans drafted by the owner’s architect and consultants were defective. Utilizing complex architectural and electrical schematics, it was shown to the jury that the owner’s lighting plan was deficient and that York Hunter, in fact, had corrected these deficiencies within the project schedule. Moreover, vigorous cross-examination at trial of the owner’s witnesses revealed that the owner, not York Hunter, had control over the lighting systems and curb painting at the time of the accident.

Beyond liability, and prior to trial, HRRV conducted a meticulous investigation of the plaintiff, which included video surveillance showing plaintiff shopping, driving and engaging in physical activities all of which contradicted the extent of plaintiff’s claims of disability and her own “Day in the Life” video. 

At the conclusion of the evidence, the plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to find the defendants liable and to award $19 million in past and future damages. The jury unanimously exonerated HRRV’s client York Hunter of  any responsibility for the accident, and found the co-defendants Bruckner and First NY Management 100 percent liable. The jury awarded $7.78 million in damages against these defendants.       

Sean Dwyer represented York Hunter of New York.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome

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