$394 Verdict: Bosco's 1st Trial in Car Accident - 3/25/1983 - He starts his career as a winner (perhaps not)!

On February 9, 1983, John Bosco was admitted to the bar of the State of New York. By March 25, 1983, he had taken his first jury verdict in a trial in the Supreme Court of Westchester County. John Bosco's erstwhile boss, Philip Damashek, handed him a file and said, 'Go try this case'. It was early 1983. It was an Allstate case. Allstate had the reputation of happily accepting their policy holders premiums but only reluctantly paying out benefits to injured claimants. Moreover, the venue was Westchester County - a venue not distinguished by the generosity of its jurors. In addition, Bosco was up against the serious injury threshold. In an auto accident case there are four elements that a plaintiff must plead and prove at trial: negligence, causation, injury and seriousness. A plaintiff must prove all four. If a plaintiff does quite well and proves three out of the four elements of an auto accident case, the plaintiff loses! All a defendant need do is knock out one of the four elements. A plaintiff must prove 100% of the four elements. All a defendant need do is prove one - 25% to win. Obviously, it is harder to be plaintiff than a defendant. The State of New York defines one of the elements of an auto accident case, seriousness, to be death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, a loss of a fetus, a permanent injury, a significant injury or being disabled for 90 days out of the first 180 days after an accident. When a plaintiff hurts his neck or back, seriousness is the element on which the defense focuses. Faced with all of these hurdles, in his infinite wisdom, Bosco's boss sends him to Westchester County to try his first case. Before beginning, Bosco's friend, Richard Ancowitz, suggested that he put a property damage expert on the stand to prove the damage to the vehicle which Bosco did. After 10 days of schlepping from Staten Island to Westchester every morning, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Bosco's client for the princely sum of $394 in property damage. Bosco had one his first trial! Implicit in the verdict, however, for those readers who notice, was no jury award for personal injuries. The Westchester jury had found that Bosco's client had not suffered a serious injury. Bosco was happy that the verdict was not unanimous. One juror held out in Bosco's favor. Bosco's client did not share his happiness.