Verdicts
A 40-year-old woman and her 20-year-old daughter were traveling northbound on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington, CT. At that time, a garbage truck owned by the defendant violently collided with their vehicle, causing the death of both Mischelle and her daughter, Kristine. – Wrongful death – $4.25 million
A university student drowned while swimming in apartment complex pool with no witnesses. It took the pool attendant multiple tries to pull the plaintiff from the pool. EMTs resuscitated John Doe who was then immediately rushed to the hospital with life threatening injuries. – Traumatic brain injury – $ 2.2 million
A jury awarded a Meriden woman $1.8 million in damages in a malpractice suit against her gynecological surgeon. The lawsuit stemmed from a botched hysterectomy completed by a Wallingford gynecologist that left the patient with a permanently nonfunctioning kidney. – Kidney failure – $1.8 million
Jean Korner underwent a laparoscopic mesh repair of a parastomal hernia at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. Immediately after the surgery, her small bowel had re-herniated. She then had multiple surgeries and recurrence of hernias due to the surgical error in Hartford, CT. – Small bowel obstruction – $1.75 million
A 68-year-old man experienced an episode of syncope (passing out) in Norwalk, CT. The doctor discharged him without reaching a definitive diagnosis as to the cause of his syncopal event. Thereafter, he experienced a sudden cardiac death due to a ventricular arrhythmia the doctor failed to diagnose. – Wrongful death – $1.2 million
A 60-year-old woman slipped and fell at funeral at a church in Bridgeport, CT and sustained multiple fractures to her femur and hip. – Multiple fractures – $1 million
Kevin Elliott, a resident of Plymouth, CT, was killed by a hunter as he jogged in the Morris Pitch Section of the City’s watershed area. The Estate sued the City of Waterbury and its former mayor, Joseph Santopietro, for permitting hunting in close proximity to a public road. – Wrongful death – $900,000
Joseph Pajor, a resident of Wallingford, CT, was walking on a public sidewalk toward the entrance to the Town Hall when he slipped and fell, sustaining a trimalleolar fracture of his left ankle. – Fracture injury – $700,000
A 16-year-old plaintiff sued 19-year-old defendant for supplying him alcohol and allowing him to drive resulting in an accident that caused severe injuries to the plaintiff. – Spinal cord injury – $300,000
Robert Denes was driving when he was struck by another motor vehicle operated by an underinsured motorist. After bringing a lawsuit against the underinsured motorist, and collecting the available policy limit, he did not believe he was fully compensated and brought a claim against his own insurance company, the Allstate Insurance Company. – Insurance bad faith – $140,000
A 38-year-old man was rear-ended by an uninsured motor vehicle while stopped in backed-up traffic on Interstate 95 in West Haven, CT. The plaintiff maintained that as a result of the accident, he sustained a 10 percent permanent partial disability of the lumbar spine. – Spinal cord Injury – $114,411
The plaintiff, Kelly McCurdy, a college student was travelling on Interstate 84 when she was rear-ended by another vehicle causing cervical sprain. – Spinal cord injury – $61,621
A 63-year-old woman was walking along the sidewalk when she was caused to trip and fall over a raised concrete slab in East Haven, CT resulting in a fracture of her right arm and permanent residual impairment. – Fracture injury – $46,793
Other notable cases
Jane Doe v. John Smith
Jane Doe was a 45-year-old resident of Connecticut who was a citizen of the Philippines. She came to the U.S. on a temporary visa and attempted to find employment on a more permanent basis. John Smith owned and operated a hotel and assisted her in the application for a specialized visa known as Class H1B. The plaintiff contended that the defendant represented that Jane Doe would be involved in highly technical accounting work in order to obtain approval for her application to work in the U.S. The plaintiff contended that defendant had no intention for Jane Doe to engage in accounting work but rather perform remedial tasks consistent with that of a housekeeper. The plaintiff maintained that she was forced to work unreasonable hours for unreasonable pay and subjected to numerous human rights violations. Plaintiff asserted that John Smith was aware that a co-employee of Jane Doe was physically assaulting and abusing her, but took no action to protect her despite demands of co-employees that if he did not intervene that the employee would kill her. On June 30, 2006, Jane Doe was murdered by the subject co-employee. The undersigned attorneys were successful in obtaining workers’ compensation under Connecticut’s Workers’ Compensation Act for the surviving spouse/children. Thereafter Williams, Walsh & O'Connor, & , LLC, pursued federal claims under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and Alien Tort Claims Act, as well as violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The claim was brought against the employer despite the exclusivity of workers’ compensation that was asserted as a defense. Through a private mediation a settlement was reached. Due to confidentiality of settlement the amount of settlement cannot be revealed.
John A. Radziunas v. Harbor Health Services, Inc.
The plaintiff, John A. Radziunas, age 51 and at the time of the accident, a lawyer and counsel for the plaintiff’s office, was operating his vehicle easterly on West Main Street in Branford, Connecticut, on March 2, 2000. He claims he was rear-ended by a motor vehicle operated by an employee of Harbor Health Services. That employee maintains that the impact collision was low and did not produce the significant injuries that the plaintiff was claiming. The plaintiff, Mr. Radziunas, maintains that he sustained an eleven (11%) percent permanent partial impairment to the cervical spine and was permanently limited in his ability to engage in his normal activities of daily living. He contended that he was unable to continue training dogs, an activity that he had done for the vast majority of his adult life. Attorney for the plaintiff, Thomas Virgulto, made pretrial demands that attorney Williams, Walsh & O'Connor thought were unreasonable. Acting on behalf of his client, attorney Williams, Walsh & O'Connor denied responsibility for any damages secondary to the accident maintaining that the impact could not possibly have produced the extent of injury and limitation maintained by the plaintiff. After trial, the jury agreed. After judgment, the case was withdrawn with no voluntary payment of any money damages being awarded to the plaintiff.
Attorney Williams, Walsh & O'Connor maintains his advantage in the litigation field by offering his services to both injured plaintiffs and the defendants against whom legal actions are brought as well as their insurance carriers.
At Williams, Walsh & O'Connor, & , LLC, the attorneys firmly believe that by representing both sides to the controversy, they develop a much better understanding of the opposing counsel’s position and are better equipped to handle the case on behalf of their clients, irrespective of which side they are on. “We firmly believe that our practice that involves representing legitimately injured people as well as individuals against whom claims are frivolously pursued, offers an advantage to our client base. We always know what the other side is thinking and it helps to have a realistic appreciation of where they are going to go with their case so that we can stay one step ahead of opposing counsel during the litigation process.”
*Results are based on merits of the case when reporting litigation results.