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Settlements/Verdicts

October 2009
Crash victim awarded $2.2M for bedsores from hospital stay

A jury has ordered Westchester Medical Center to pay $2.2 million to a quadriplegic man who got horrific bed sores. Eric Trainor, a 30-year-old former construction worker from Putnam County, was awarded the amount last month for pain and suffering, following a civil trial in state Supreme Court in White Plains.

His lawyer, Raymond Keegan, said the hospital's failure to turn Trainor every two hours during his six-week stay - and the failure of Dr. Francis Baccay to ensure that care - caused Trainor to develop "stage four" bedsores on his buttocks and lower back. "They were all the way down to the bone," Keegan said. "They were huge."
Kara Bennorth, a hospital spokeswoman, said in a statement that "Westchester Medical Center does not comment on litigation."

Trainor, who now lives in Springfield, Mass., with his parents, suffered for years from the bedsores, which had to be surgically closed.The sores delayed his physical rehabilitation so much that he lost the chance to build upper-body strength, Keegan said.

The jury granted the award following a seven-day trial.

Other Verdicts & Settlements

• Automobile Accident: 19 yr. brain injured and paraplegic $46.8 Million settlement
   Rockland County Supreme Court (largest verdict in NYS outside NYC)

• Medical malpractice: Womblind $1.2 Million verdict
   U.S. District Court

Product Liability: Wrongful death from drowning $1.2 Million verdict
   Westchester County Supreme Court

Premises Liability: Fall causing blowout fractures to lower back $2.2 Million/verdict
   U.S. District Court

Medical Malpractice: Brain injury to mother of three $2.1 Million settlement
   Suffolk Couty Supreme Court

Automobile Accident: Multiple fractures to hip and limbs $1 Million settlement
   U.S. District Court

Automobile Accident: Herniated disc complicated by preexisting condition $1 Million settlement
   U.S. District Court

Medical Malpractice: Cardiac patient not properly monitored resulting in brain injury $1.5 Million settlement
   Westchester County Supreme Court

Automobile Accident: Injury to unborn twins resulting in loss of blood to mother $3.2 Million settlement
   Westchester Country Supreme Court

Backyard Trampoline Case Settles in U.S. District Court

Plaintiff, Joseph C. Anderson settled his case today for 6.9 million dollars which includes an annuity settlement which will pay out 45 million dollars over his lifetime. The settlement was put on the record before Judge Smith on February 17, 2000, with the plaintiff physically present.

Mr. Anderson, age 24 at the time of the accident on May 20, 1998, fell from a circular backyard trampoline manufactured by the Hedstrom Company of Bedford, Pennsylvania. Mr. Anderson was represented by the firm of Raymond J. Keegan & Assoc., LLP, White Plains, New York.

His attorney, Raymond J. Keegan, reached this settlement which will be paid out over the lifetime of Mr. Anderson and which will take care of all his medical and financial needs. Mr. Keegan stated that the case contended that backyard trampolines are inherently dangerous and should not be utilized in the home or recreational environment.

He contended that there was a safety cage which would have prevented Mr. Anderson’s fall from the trampoline, and in addition, the trampoline should have had a center marking and that the warnings on the product were otherwise inadequate. Joseph Anderson as a result of his fall from the trampoline was rendered a quadriplegic.

View/Print Decision of U.S. District Court [PDF] (63 pages)
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