Jury renders a $520,000.00 verdict for a motor vehicle accident on Staten Island

Sometimes jurors are hard to figure out. 

An independent witness saw the entire accident.  Her name was on the police report. John Bosco, a lawyer in the accident law firm of Bosco and Mascolo, Esqs., subpoenaed her to testify.  She testified that a NYCTA bus ran the red light and struck his client's car - who had the green light.  Despite this evidence, the jury returned a verdict on the liability half of the trial declaring that the bus driver deserved 60% of the blame and his client deserved 40% of the blame - even though Bosco's client had the green light. Go figure.

On the damages half of the trial, the jury returned a verdict of $400,000.00 for past pain and suffering and $120,000.00 for future pain and suffering for a total of $520,000.00

3.25 Million Settlement by John Bosco for car accident on Nelson Avenue

In 2005, President George Bush signed into law a federal highway bill that gave the lessors of leased vehicles immunity against lawsuits for damage and injury.  Bush's legislation changed New York State Law that holds owners of motor vehicles, including lessors, liable.  Corporations had once again successfully lobbied away the rights of the injured. Bush's gift to the automobile leasing industry, however, was too late to protect the Mercedes Benz Credit Corp whose leased vehicle was involved in a collision on February 8, 2003.

The leased Mercedes, in the process of exiting the St. Clares parking lot onto Nelson Avenue on a busy Saturday afternoon, crashed into a Honda in which our client was a passenger. The crash devastated the vehicles. Our Client was taken by ambulance to the hospital. She eventually had surgery to her right shoulder and lower back.  The case settled for Three million two hundred fifty thousand ($3,250,000.00) dollars after a jury had been selected and the case was assigned for trial to the Honorable Judith N. McMahon, a judge of the Supreme Court in St. George.  "We had lined up four doctors and an economist to testify" Bosco added. Summary Judgment had already been granted against the Mercedes on the issue of liability in January of 2006 by the Honorable Robert J. Gigante, formerly a Supreme Court judge now the Richmond County Surrogate Court Judge. The issues that needed a jury trial were an apportionment of liability amongst the defendants and damages.

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$ 3.5 Million Motor Vehicle Highway Guardrail Accident: Guardrail impales leg

Water is squeezed out of a Stone

Lemon juice can be squeezed out of lemons and orange juice from oranges but it is impossible to squeeze water out of a stone - usually. There are exceptions to every rule! In this case,  John Bosco of the law firm of Bosco, Bisignano & Mascolo, Esqs. LLP succeeded in squeezing water out of an ordinary stone on behalf of their seriously injured client. Caution: What appears to be legal magic is the result of decades of experience in practicing personal injury law. Do not try this trick yourself or with an ordinary lawyer.

John Bosco's client came to them after having been injured in a car accident. John Bosco has computer access to the records of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Consulting them, John Bosco learned that the DMV's records listed Allstate as the Insurance Company for the car that struck their client. John Bosco contacted Allstate who told him that Allstate provided only $25,000/$50,000 in liability insurance. This meant that there was only $25,000 available to our seriously injured client.

The first number in a dual limit liability policy is the most an Insurance Company will pay to any individual hurt in an accident. The second number is the most an Insurance Company will pay to all individuals hurt in an accident. To an individual, it is the first number that counts and that's why only $25,000 was available to our client under a 25/50 policy.

A 25/50 policy is the minimum amount of insurance that New York State requires for its drivers with a few exceptions. To protect yourself from such underinsured drivers it is important that you review your own car insurance policies to make sure you have sufficient uninsurance and underinsurance coverage. Un and Under insurance protects you when you are injured by a car that has no insurance or too little insurance to fairly compensate you for your injuries. When you purchase a car liability insurance policy, you are purchasing coverage that will benefit others. Un and Under insurance is one of the coverages that protects you and your family. Don't overlook it. Get enough of it because there are too many bad drivers using our roads with either no or too little insurance.

Meanwhile, back to our story.

After John Bosco contacted Allstate, Allstate investigated the accident and thought some shenanigans were going on involving their driver and owner so Allstate disclaimed. Allstate told John Bosco that they would not honor their obligation under the insurance policy that it issued. Our client had only $25,000 in underinsurance coverage through his own policy.

John Bosco did not like the idea that Allstate was refusing to honor its policy so he took action. John Bosco, using his decades of experience representing the victims of auto accidents, took advantage of a mistake Allstate made. Allstate disclaimed and refused to both indemnify and defend its insured. Allstate, however, ought to have disclaimed, defended, and simultaneously brought a declaratory judgment action to get the Court's approval of their refusal to defend and indemnify. By failing to follow the proper procedure, John Bosco was able to take advantage of Allstate's mistake.

John Bosco first took a default judgment against the Allstate vehicle. Remember Allstate had refused to defend it. The default judgment was for an amount approximately four times (4x) greater than Allstate's 25K policy. Then John Bosco started a legal proceeding seeking benefits under our client's 25K uninsured policy. In that proceeding, our client's insurer and Allstate were made a party. At the conclusion of that proceeding, the Court determined that Allstate had mistakenly disclaimed its obligation under its policy. Allstate indeed had the duty to indemnify and defend. But now it was too late. John Bosco already had a default judgment for an amount four times (4x) greater than the Allstate $25,000 policy. Allstate had made a costly mistake. Thanks to the good lawyering of John Bosco, Allstate's mistake benefited our client to the tune of four times the available insurance coverage. Instead of getting only $25,000, John Bosco's happy client received approximately four times as much.