David Gould obtained a unanimous liability defense verdict in Supreme Court Suffolk County before Justice Martha L. Luft, Piazza v. Zito, Index No.: 605403-16. The plaintiff, an 18-year old college student, was attending a New Years’ Eve Party in the defendant’s basement. She claimed to have tripped over a white extension cord that was plugged into decorative Christmas lights. The defendant testified that no such cord existed as the Christmas lights were plugged directly into an outlet.
Catherine J. Fiorentino obtained a unanimous defense verdict on behalf of a local livery driver in a Kings County Supreme Court case involving a motorcycle crash in Brooklyn. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant, caused him to crash his motorcycle and sustain serious, permanent injuries. Through the cross-examination of the plaintiff by Ms. Fiorentino, the jury learned that plaintiff gave inconsistent accounts of how the accident occurred, had prior accidents and lawsuits, had been in trouble with law enforcement following prior accidents, and testified inconsistently while under oath on several occasions with regard to both the accident and his subsequent medical treatment. The relentle
On February 1, 2019, the Fourth Department issued a Decision in the matter of Flowers v. Harborcenter Development, LLC, et al., Docket No. CA 18-00261; Index No.: 802298/15, vacating $1.6 million of a $1.8 million jury verdict against our client, the defendants in this Erie County Labor Law 240 (1) case. Plaintiff, a construction site laborer, alleged that he was struck on and about the head by a load of rebar which he had bound together, and which a crane was hoisting with his guidance. As a result, plaintiff claimed that he could no longer work in the same industry and could not earn a comparable salary doing anything else. A matter of weeks before trial plaintiff’s counsel helped the h
David Gould obtained a unanimous liability defense verdict in Supreme Court Nassau County before Justice Arthur Diamond, Casale v. The Estate of Edith Marksohn, Index No.: 601097-16. The plaintiff, a 51-year old home improvement contractor placed a ladder against the defendant’s garage door and fell as he was reaching the roof. He claimed that the ladder gave way and fell to the ground due to the defendant’s asphalt driveway being full of holes, sand and debris. The defense argued that the driveway was free of any such defects and that the plaintiff was responsible for his fall when he was about to step off the top rung of the ladder and onto the roof.
