Representing the site owner and general contractor in Ting Wang Lin v. Flushing Point Holding, LLC in Queens County Supreme Court, MMG Partner Robert Paessler obtained a damages verdict of $365,000.00. This was a Labor Law 240(1) claim in which plaintiff was granted summary judgment on liability. The case proceeded to trial on damages only. Plaintiff never moved off his settlement demand of $2,000,000.00 despite an offer of $450,000.00 and authority up to $850,000.00 (the trial judge’s recommendation). In summation, plaintiff’s counsel requested that the jury award his client $4,000,000.00.

Plaintiff, Ting Wang Lin (51 years old), fell 15 feet from a ladder onto a concrete floor on 7/6/16 sustaining a fracture of the left forearm with an acute displaced fracture of the radial head (elbow) requiring open reduction internal fixation; a lateral humeral fracture, fracture of the left hip, fracture of the left ball and socket, left pubic rami fracture, tear of the gluteus maximus, disc herniation at C3-4, disc herniation of C5-6 and was recommended for left hip replacement surgery due to a 4 cm non-union of the left greater trochanter. Plaintiff claimed that he could never return to work again as a laborer and that his left hip caused him so much pain and discomfort that he was essentially bed ridden.

Paessler argued that plaintiff presented no evidence of any residuals concerning any of the four fractures or disc herniations. He also argued that plaintiff was clearly embellishing his left hip symptoms or one of his treating/surgical physicians (none of whom testified) would have recommended surgery to his left hip prior to plaintiff’s expert’s recommendation in April of 2019. It was further argued that if plaintiff’s complaints were genuine he would have received some form of treatment/therapy/NSAID since his last treatment in September of 2018. Finally, it was argued that if the jury did believe plaintiff’s claims of left hip symptoms so severe that they kept plaintiff bed ridden they still should not compensate him for past pain and suffering as plaintiff was well aware of the fact, as early as April 2019, that left hip replacement surgery would resolve all his problems and yet he had refused to schedule the surgery. Clearly, these arguments resonated with the Queens County jury based on their verdict.