Representative Case Results

U.S. Government Pays Structured Settlement

A young mother of three living in Germany, where her husband was stationed in the Air Force, suddenly began having splitting headaches with changes in her vision. She went to the military clinic several times. On the last visit, she suddenly collapsed onto the floor and went into respiratory distress. The woman was rushed to a German medical center, where MRI films showed she had intracranial hemorrhaging. Emergency surgery was performed but was unsuccessful, and the young mother died. After filing a claim on behalf of the family under the Military Claims Act, the federal government settled the case with the woman's husband and children.
Awarded: $636,369
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Operation on Wrong Disc Leads to Settlement (September 2000)

A young man from eastern North Carolina needed an operation to remove a ruptured disc in his spine at the C6-7 cervical level. The surgeon operated on the wrong disc and inexplicably removed a healthy disc and fused the bones at C7-T1, one level below the ruptured disc. Even after two more surgeries, the patient is still being treated for chronic neck pain. Shortly before trial, the surgeon's insurance company settled.
Awarded: $350,000
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Surgical Error Settlement in NC

An elderly North Carolina gentleman underwent a triple-bypass surgery for a heart condition. The surgery went well except the surgeon mistakenly attached one of the bypass vessels to the wrong blood vessel, and the error had to be corrected several weeks later with a second surgery. Fortunately, there were no complications.
Awarded: $155,000
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Insurance Company Forced to Pay for Inmate’s Injury

A jail inmate was injured while working on a sheriff’s highway work force. He was part of a crew of inmates doing clean up on the shoulder of an interstate. A dump truck traveling on the highway drifted out of its lane and side-swiped the sheriff’s van parked on the shoulder. The truck tore off the van’s side-view mirror causing it to strike the inmate in the middle of his back. The inmate sustained a herniated disc in his neck. After he was released from jail, the injured man had surgery to remove the ruptured disc and to fuse two of his cervical vertebrae. Because the man was an unemployed carpenter who had previous surgeries on his back and knees, the trucking company’s insurance carrier denied his claim. The injured man hired the Law Offices of Joseph J. Perez, who filed a lawsuit on his behalf. Shortly before the trial, an acceptable settlement was reached.
Awarded: Settled $200,000
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$1.5 Million Jury Verdict for Shattered Ankle in Balcony Collapse (March 2002)

A jury awarded damages to a young man for permanent injuries when an apartment balcony collapsed in 1999 and nearly crushed his right ankle. The 28-year-old self-employed barber was standing on a second-story balcony when it suddenly gave way, dropping him onto a concrete slab. His right anklebone shattered. He went through surgery and physical therapy, and faces more surgery to permanently fuse the joints in the ankle. He uses a cane, suffers chronic pain, and can’t stand long enough to work as a barber. He also suffered back and neck injuries, which have not gone away. “I think the award is fair,” the injured man said, “but I would rather have use of my ankle back.” After a three-day trial, the Portsmouth, Virginia, jury was out for only 24 minutes before returning its verdict. Before trial, the defendants’ insurance company offered $50,000 to settle the injured man’s claim.
Awarded: $1.5 million
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Confidential Settlement (November 2003)

A man was badly injured in an automobile-train collision at a railroad crossing when the crossing gates and signals failed to operate. He was a passenger a pickup truck that was struck by a locomotive that plowed into the side of the truck and pushed it down the tracks approximately 100 feet. The gentleman suffered a herniated cervical disc in his neck that required surgery. He was unable to return to work and had to be retrained for another job. The case settled shortly before trial.
Awarded: Settled for $1.35 Million
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Jury Awards Man Run Over By Tractor Truck $1.6 Million (December 2004)

This case involved a Freightliner tractor truck that ran over the plaintiff, who was working as a mobile pressure washer washing tractor trucks at Old Dominion Freight Line’s Greensboro, North Carolina, truck terminal. On June 10, 2003, the plaintiff, then 23-years-old, was in the process of spraying degreaser onto the rear of the tractor truck when the driver responded to a signal given by another worker to move the truck forward. When the truck moved forward, the plaintiff was pushed face down to the ground by the truck’s right rear tires, which ran over the length of his body from feet to head. The plaintiff suffered multiple injuries and spent six days in the hospital where he underwent foot and ankle surgery and surgical repair of a severely lacerated ear. He was unable to work for more than six months. The plaintiff sustained a 5% permanent impairment to his ankle, a 15% permanent impairment to his foot, a 40 decibel loss of hearing in his left ear, and he is currently being treated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The trial lasted eleven days. The jury awarded $1.6 million, which, with interest, totalled $1.7 million. The trucking company denied liability for the plaintiff’s injuries and damages, and alleged contributory negligence. Before the trial, the highest settlement offer the company made was only $150,000.
Awarded: $1.7 million
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Student Recovers for Serious Injuries from Fall From Tree

A student recovered substantial damages for serious injuries he suffered when he fell from a tree on a well-known university's campus. Several law firms turned the student's case down before he came to the Law Offices of Joseph J. Perez. The university involved in the case never made a settlement offer. After three years of litigation, and shortly before trial, the student's case was successfully mediated and settled for a substantial amount that the university requested be confidential.
Awarded: Confidential
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Shoplifter Assaulted by Guard Gets Confidential Settlement (2008)

A gentleman accused of shoplifting luncheon meat and some fried chicken from a grocery store was confronted several blocks from the store.  The store's security guard assaulted the man and threw him to the ground face down and shattered the man's elbow.  The complex fracture required extensive surgery to repair.  The case was settled for a confidential amount shortly before the case went to trial.

Electrocution Results in Settlement for Policy Limits-- $1 Million (2007)

A 49 year old man was a bystander watching a tree service company take down some trees in his father's yard.  The tree service's crane came into contact with a high power line causing electricity to hit the man nearly killing him.  After months of surgeries to repair severe burns and injuries to his arm, torso, legs and feet, the man is now slowly returning to his normal life.  The claim against the tree service settled for the company's insurance policy limits of $1,000,000.  A lawsuit against the power company is pending.

Parking Lot Fall Leads to $210,000 Settlement (2004)

A school teacher returning to her car after Christmas shopping fell over a poorly maintained and displaced concrete parking bumper injuring her shoulder.  She needed surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.  Her claim against the shopping center was litigated and successfully mediated shortly before trial for $210,000.
Awarded: $210,000
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D.C. jury awards $3.5 Million to Amtrak Electrician for burn injuries

Joe Perez won a verdict for a 39-year-old Amtrak electrician against Amtrak for severe burns the railroad electrician sustained in an electrical explosion on the job. The explosion and injuries occurred when the electrician was repairing a defective electrical receptacle on an Amtrak train car and an unknown Amtrak employee turned on the 480-volt power to the train without warning. The electrician was set on fire in the resulting explosion, and suffered severe second and third degree burns to his hands, arms, chest, neck, and face. He was also treated for severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite the severe injuries, the railroad worker eventually returned to work full-time, but only after months of extensive medical treatment and therapy. The seven-day trial took place in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, and was briefly interrupted by the tragic attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Awarded: $3.5 million
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Amtrak Warehouse Clerk receives compensation for injury

Amtrak agreed to settle a 53-year-old Philadelphia Amtrak warehouse clerk's claim for back injuries he sustained when he fell in a truck trailer parking lot in 1998. The settlement came during the first day of trial in federal court in Philadelphia. The clerk slipped and wrenched his back while working the night shift in an a lot used to store truck trailers in Amtrak’s Penn Coach Yard in Philadelphia. There was evidence that Amtrak did no inspections, maintenance, repair of the unlighted parking lot. Over time, the lot developed potholes and accumulated debris, which made it difficult to walk, especially at night in the dark.
Awarded: $190,000
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Conrail Pays Conductor for Trip and Fall

On a snowy night in Selkirk, New York, a Conrail conductor tripped in a pothole in the employee parking lot and fell onto his shoulder. The injury required a surgical repair of a torn rotator cuff and extensive physical therapy and treatment for chronic pain. Despite surgery, the injury prevented the conductor from returning to work after 28 years of working for the railroad. On the second day of trial in the United States District Court in Albany, Conrail agreed to pay the locomotive conductor $472,000 to settle the case.
Awarded: $472,000
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Brooklyn Jury Awards LIRR Trackman $3.75 Million

In the United States Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, a Long Island Railroad track worker was awarded $3,750,000 at trial for back injuries he suffered when he tripped over a partially buried piece of fence near the tracks while replacing a crosstie with a co-worker. The trackman underwent three separate surgeries on his lower spine and returned to work as a clerk with the railroad. At trial, it was shown that the railroad did nothing to take care of its property beyond the tracks area, even though track personnel, like the plaintiff, regularly worked in those areas. The railroad would remove trash and debris only when there was an injury or someone complained. Before trial, the most that the Long Island Railroad offered to settle the case was $300,000. The jury's verdict was the largest FELA verdict against the Long Island Railroad awarded for an on the job personal injury at that time.
Awarded: $3,750,000
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$550,000 Settlement for CSX Conductor in Collision

A CSX locomotive conductor was badly injured when the train he was on collided into a tractor-trailer at a crossing at a northern Kentucky coal depot facility. The conductor had previous surgery on his cervical spine for an injury in the past at the time of the collision. When the big truck didn't stop at the crossing and the coal train slammed into it, the conductor re-injured his spine and had to have extensive surgery again. He was not able to return to work and couldn't find any jobs where he lived. Both the trucking company and the railroad blamed each other for the collision and even tried to blame the conductor. They also tried to say that the conductor's problems were due to the first spine surgery years before, and not from the train wreck. Days before trial in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, the case settled for $550,000.
Awarded: $550,000
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$355,000 Verdict to NS Conductor for Chronic Back Strain

A long-time Norfolk Southern locomotive conductor received a $355,000 jury verdict in Durham, North Carolina, for a chronic back sprain he suffered when the train he was on collided with a loaded gravel truck at a crossing in central North Carolina. The conductor was unable to work for several months while he recovered and was treated for his injuries, but he eventually returned back to work full duty. The evidence at trial showed that the tractor-trailer filled with gravel failed to come to a complete stop as required by law, and that the railroad carelessly allowed vegetation to grow up along the tracks and around the crossing, which obstructed the sight distances for truck drivers at the busy industrial crossing. Before the verdict, the most that the railroad and the trucking company offered the conductor was $50,000.
Awarded: $355,000
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Back Injury to N&W Carman Leads to $700,000 Verdict

A Norfolk, Virginia, jury awarded a Norfolk & Western carman $700,000 for a back injury he sustained when he tried to move a heavy and awkward door pan out from beneath a coal hopper car at N & W's Norfolk car shop. The injury kept the carman out of work for several weeks, but he eventually returned to full duty without surgery. The evidence showed that the railroad had considered using tools to help the men move the heavy doors because of the danger of injury lifting and moving the door pans by hand, but never made the tools available for use. The most the railroad offered before trial was $15,000.
Awarded: $700,000
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$470,000 Verdict in Louisville for CSX Foreman's Back Injury

In Louisville, Kentucky, a jury awarded a CSX maintenance of way foreman $470,459 for a back injury he suffered when he lifted a heavy locomotive chain into the back of a truck. The most CSX offered to settle before trial was $25,000. At trial, it was shown that the electric hoist on the back of the truck that could have been used to lift the chain was inoperable and had been broken for some time.
Awarded: $470,000
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Jury Awards $246,000 Against Conrail for Lifting Injury

In Albany, New York, a jury in federal court awarded a Conrail materials handler $246,000 for a back injury he suffered lifting a heavy brake valve. The employee returned to work after medical treatment and without surgery, but continued to have chronic back problems. The evidence at trial showed that Conrail did not ship the brake valves to its Selkirk facility in the usual steel storage bins but instead shipped them loosely in cardboard boxes and then required the employees to lift and carry each heavy brake valve and place them in the bins by hand.
Awarded: $246,000
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Fractured Wrist to CSX Worker Leads to $200K Settlement

A CSX carman in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, slipped and fell off of a tank car while inspecting a train in the yard and suffered a wrist fracture that required surgery to repair. The first law firm that the injured employee hired told him that he had no case. After filing a lawsuit on behalf of the injured carman, the case settled for $200,000.
Awarded: $200,000
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$350,000 to Georgia CSX Employee After Back Surgery

A CSX signal maintainer from Savannah, Georgia, suffered a back injury that required surgery after lifting a spool of wire that weighed over 100 lbs. onto the back of his CSX maintenance truck. The truck had no winch or hoist to load heavy materials so everything had to be loaded by hand, even though signal maintainers were required to regularly handle equipment weighing in excess of 100 lbs. CSX claimed the signal maintainer injured his back deer hunting. After two days of trial, the case settled for $350,000.
Awarded: $350,000
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Amtrak Worker Settles for $270K for Respiratory Injuries

An Amtrak car repairman from Beech Grove, Indiana, was exposed to noxious fumes at an Amtrak locomotive repair facility after two chemicals were mistakenly mixed together in a parts cleaning vat and a chemical explosion occurred sending fumes into the air. The carman breathed some of the fumes and suffered respiratory problems and chronic headaches. He settled his case with the company for $270,000.
Awarded: $270,000
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$225,000 Settlement for Smoke Inhalation

A CSX locomotive engineer from Ohio settled a claim for $225,000 after he breathed fumes and smoke caused by an electrical short on the locomotive he was operating. The engineer suffered memory and balance problems stemming from the incident.
Awarded: $225,000
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$80,000 for Defective Chair Injury (January 2004)

A CSX train conductor in Atlanta went to check in for work at a computer terminal and the chair he sat in collapsed sending him sprawling to the floor. He suffered a sprained lower back that kept him out of work for six months. After medical treatment, physical therapy, and returning to work full duty, his claim was settled for $80,000.
Awarded: Settlement for $80,000
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