Skip to content

News & Knowledge

Appellate Victory for Town Ends Nine Years of Litigation Over Spinal Cord Injury

Case Study

Appellate Victory for Town Ends Nine Years of Litigation Over Spinal Cord Injury

May 23, 2012

Goldberg Segalla won an appeal on May 23, 2012, for a municipal client in a personal injury suit. The victory, achieved by Brian W. McElhenny, concludes nine years of litigation on the matter for this Long Island town.

The plaintiff was an 18-year-old passenger in a vehicle operated by her boyfriend. The car skidded on a patch of ice on a town-maintained road, lost control, struck a snow bank, and overturned. The town argued that although there was evidence of actual notice of a water condition, there was no liability without written notice of the defect, and the town did not create the condition.

The vehicle operator had a $25,000 insurance policy. The plaintiff sustained a serious neck injury, including spinal cord injury and a fracture of C5-C6, requiring cervical fusion surgery from C4-C7, plus two months of hospital and rehabilitation treatment.

The Appellate Division-Second Department affirmed the order dismissing the plaintiff’s complaint against the town.