{"id":13791,"date":"2013-05-09T16:13:22","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T20:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=13791"},"modified":"2013-05-09T16:13:22","modified_gmt":"2013-05-09T20:13:22","slug":"company-that-left-power-saws-unguarded-is-found-negligent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=13791","title":{"rendered":"Company that left power saws unguarded is found negligent"},"content":{"rendered":"

This case, just decided by a jury and reported in today’s Daily News, offers a number of general lessons about lawsuits.<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Steinberg, the plaintiff, was in a subway station when he was attacked by a man wielding power saws that had been left unguarded in the station by a company doing work there.<\/p>\n

The man who attacked him plead guilty and is in prison.<\/p>\n

Mr. Steinberg sued because the power saws were left available to the obviously unbalanced man who without provocation had attacked him.<\/p>\n

The company, Five Star Electric Corp., was found by the jury to be 75% at fault for the attack; the attacker was found to be 25% at fault. I’ve mentioned this division of fault previously, when I talked about the Jury Verdict Reporter.<\/a> This lawyers’ resource, older editions of which you can find in the New York Public Library (and presumably other libraries), reports that fault \u2014 such as in a personal injury case \u2014 is quantified by a jury by percentage.<\/p>\n

Mr. Steinberg was not faulted for the attack. He hadn’t been negligent in any way.<\/p>\n

Another lesson: the attack took place in 2006, the attacker plead guilty a year later, but it’s taken this long for the case against the contractor to go to trial and verdict. Mr. Steinberg said, “I don’t believe I won…It took seven years for justice to be served.” That’s how long cases can take.<\/p>\n

Yet another lesson: Mr. Steinberg had not asked the jury for specific financial damages. His lawyer will be negotiating a settlement amount. I think this is strategic: if the jury has not been asked to assess monetary damages, the company found liable has limited (or maybe no) appellate issues that could delay a result for several more years.<\/p>\n

The contractor had offered $40,000 to settle, but “then took it off the table during the trial…”<\/p>\n

“Edward Steinberg, a veteran lawyer not related to Michael Steinberg, estimated the award for such a case would be in the $500,000 range.”<\/p>\n

Mr. Steinberg’s lawyer was Ronald Landau.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Man attacked by power saws wins suit against company that left them unguarded\u00a0 – NY Daily News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This case, just decided by a jury and reported in today’s Daily News, offers a number of general lessons about lawsuits. Michael Steinberg, the plaintiff, was in a subway station when he was attacked by a man wielding power saws … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[4,247,213,68],"class_list":["post-13791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news","tag-interpreting-lawyers","tag-legal-contingency-cases","tag-personal-injury-lawsuits","tag-settlement-negotiations"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t