On a frigid day in February, a van was cruising down New York's Sunrise Highway when a red light signaled that it was time to stop. The van's driver failed to notice both the light and that the procession of vehicles around him was slowing to a halt. Directly ahead, an SUV with two occupants was waiting at the light, unaware of the van's unfettered approach. The van collided into the SUV’s rear bumper. The van hadn't been speeding, and damage to both vehicles was so minimal that it didn't even exceed their insurance deductibles. However, just a couple of minutes after the collision, the SUV’s driver, Carlos, suddenly lost consciousness. When he later awoke in a nearby hospital, he had a catastrophic brain injury, partial paralysis, and an entire decade of missing memories.
Carlos was an Ecuadorian who left his home country, despite being well educated there, to pursue a better life in the United States. He lacked total fluency in English, but his gentlemanly and humble demeanor had earned him job opportunities throughout Manhattan. Countless strangers trusted his capable hands with their vehicles as their private driver. Tragically, this one small crash that had been beyond his control robbed him of the remainder of his career. Doctors determined that his unprecedented collapse was related to a rare medical complication: an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM. Its traumatic hemorrhaging had almost been a death sentence.
Carlos's passenger contacted The Law Office of John J. Ciafone, Esq. regarding their own significant injuries. The firm's owner, John Ciafone, was eager to fight for both them and Carlos, whose case was an excellent fit with his specializing and expertise. John had been litigating tough personal injury cases for over three decades, and he also had prior training as an EMT. His empirical knowledge of emergency medicine comprised a powerful first step into what would become a years-long fight.
John had to prove that the $600 to $900 in property damages caused by the accident was nanoscopic relative to Carlos's neurologic sequelae. The defense wasted no time in arguing that the superficial scuffs to both vehicles were at extreme odds with Carlos's clinical picture. They claimed that his suffering wouldn't have happened to an average person in the same situation. The defense quickly aimed to make Carlos's passenger that very example; her comparatively minor injuries evinced that Carlos was merely an unlucky anomaly.
John's counterpunch was the eggshell skull rule, a legal doctrine that holds negligent parties liable for damages exacerbated by preexisting vulnerabilities. Carlos's treating physicians weren't aware of his AVM until CT imaging revealed it, and it had ruptured right after the collision. Nobody could reasonably posit that Carlos's horrible condition wasn't a direct consequence of the accident. Nevertheless, though John had a solid case, the defense offered only a paltry combined sum of $75,000 to the plaintiff and his passenger. For years, this number never budged, and even mediation was unable to dislodge its stubborn inadequacy.
John assembled a well-rounded team of experts to guarantee that the inevitable trial would be worth the effort for his clients. A civil engineer with training in accident reconstruction calculated the van's speed and other dynamics of the crash. An Ivy League-trained emergency doctor confirmed how low-energy impacts can burst AVMs like Carlos's. An economic expert tabulated the potential wages lost by the plaintiff's inability to work. Still, John needed to tie all these complexities together such that a prospective jury would clearly see that Carlos was entitled to compensation. Thus, John contacted DK Global and tasked them with crafting a presentation that would be striking even in the low-tech courtrooms in his district.
DK Global created a slideshow beginning with a 3D model of normal brain anatomy. The next slide highlighted two areas on this model where the plaintiff had sustained substantial brain bleeds. Demonstrative slices of the plaintiff's head CT imaging showed the precise locations and sizes of his hemorrhages. The presentation concluded with a 3D model of the brain's arterial structure, overlaid on the previous model, showcasing the plaintiff's AVM. Color-enhanced neuroimaging of his AVM completed the picture of how drastic his associated injury had been.
John continued to submit reports and explanations to the defense until jury selection began. While he did so, the defense team swelled to seven lawyers, one of whom was also knowledgeable of medicine. Not long after John provided them with DK Global's presentation, he received a massively revised offer: $4,500,000. John's clients were elated to accept nearly 100 times the amount initially proposed to Carlos alone. Though Carlos will never completely recover, his retirement can finally be one of relative comfort.
John Ciafone is the award-winning owner of the Law Office of John J. Ciafone, Esq. in Astoria, New York. He specializes in litigating personal injury and medical malpractice cases. He brings to these cases the unique perspective of being a trained EMT, paramedic, and first responder. Additionally, he is a Certified Mediator, Small Claims Court Arbitrator, and Guardian ad Litem. He has served in all three branches of government and has been endorsed by the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York. In 2018, he was rated AV Preeminent by his peers through Martindale-Hubbell.
