Category: News

In August 2014, two people were injured and ultimately died as a result of a boiler explosion at their home caused by a leak in the propane lines.  One of the people who died was a 23-year-old young woman who suffered horrific burns as a result of the explosion and ultimately died as a result of her injuries two weeks after the incident took place.  Blitz Law Group represented her father in the lawsuit that was brought against the propane company that was responsible for this tragedy.  The young woman’s mother also suffered severe burns and died from her injuries.  Five other family members were also present when the explosion took place and suffered burns and significant psychological injuries.

Because the incident took place in Pennsylvania, Blitz Law Group co-counseled with one of Philadelphia’s premier law firms to assist in litigating the case.  Many allegations of negligence were asserted against the propane company, including that they failed to conduct a pressure test subsequent to refilling propane tanks at our client’s daughter’s residence.

The lawsuit was very complex and required the retention of multiple expert witnesses to prove that the propane company was at fault.  These experts included a propane consultant, a mechanical engineer, a forensic pathologist, an economist, a fire code consultant and a metallurgist.  Over thirty depositions were held in the course of more than three years of litigation.

The case was recently settled at mediation for $17,250,000 on behalf of the plaintiffs.

On a Sunday afternoon in December 2013, our client was sitting on the sofa in the living room of his mother-in-law’s apartment after having spent the morning in church with his family. While the family was gathered in the living room, two huge concrete chunks of the ceiling collapsed, landing directly on his head and shoulders.

Six months prior to the ceiling collapsing on his head, our client’s mother-in-law had notified the building’s owner that when it rained, the living room ceiling would leak.   The complaint was documented by the landlord, which enabled us to prove that the building’s owner knew about the defective ceiling but did not take any steps to repair it prior to our client’s accident.

After the ceiling collapsed, our client briefly lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Bellevue Hospital, where he complained of neck and shoulder pain.  Our client underwent several MRIs, which revealed that he sustained significant injuries to his neck and his shoulder. Our client’s doctors first treated him conservatively, with medications and physical therapy.  When conservative treatment did not alleviate his pain and other symptoms, he ultimately underwent two surgeries, a cervical fusion surgery and shoulder surgery.

At the time of the accident, our client was employed as a bilingual special education high school teacher for the New York City Department of Education.  He attempted to return to work after the accident and after the surgeries but was unable to perform his job duties due to his extensive injuries. He was forced to take early retirement, as his injuries were severe and debilitating.

During the discovery phase of the litigation, we took the depositions of employees of the building’s owner.  These employees admitted that the roof of the building was in terrible shape, and that every time it rained, a “ponding” condition would form on the roof causing leaks into the apartments below.

Blitz Law Group retained several expert witnesses to opine as to the nature and extent of our client’s damages.  We retained a vocational rehabilitation specialist to assess our client’s ability to work in the future.   We also retained a life care planner to evaluate our client’s future medical needs, as well as an economist to calculate the value of his past and future lost wages, lost fringe benefits, and other economic losses.

The case was vigorously defended, and after years of litigation, Fred Schulman, Esq. and Justin Blitz, Esq. settled the case at mediation for $2,600,000.00, providing our client and his family with much deserved compensation.

Our client was a hard-working mother and grandmother when a motor vehicle collision in August 2015 changed her life forever.  On the day of the crash, our client was employed as an ambulette driver. While driving her ambulette along Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn, our client’s vehicle was struck in the rear by a truck.

As a result of the crash, our client suffered multiple herniated discs in her neck and subsequently underwent an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgery.  She was unable to return to work due to severe pain and a significant loss of range of motion of her neck.

After bringing a lawsuit, and after nearly three years of contentious litigation, we agreed to enter into a private mediation, where Stephanie Mastrocola, Esq. settled our client’s case for $925,000.00.

Our client, a home healthcare aide, was taking care of his home-bound patient in the patient’s home in Brooklyn.  His patient asked him to go to the local pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Our client left his patient’s home and was riding his bicycle toward the pharmacy when his bicycle struck construction materials that were in the middle of the roadway, causing him to fall off his bicycle and sustain injuries to his knee.

The construction materials in the roadway were not confined within any type of barrier or other means of separating the materials from vehicles or bicycles traveling on the roadway, in violation of multiple statutes, ordinances and construction permits.

After our client’s bicycle collided with the construction materials, he was experiencing excruciating pain in his knee.  An ambulance arrived at the scene and took our client to the emergency room at Maimonides Medical Center. X-rays revealed that the tibial plateau of our client’s knee was fractured, requiring him to be admitted to the hospital and undergo an immediate open reduction internal fixation surgery.

After years of litigation, and on the eve of trial, Fred Schulman, Esq. agreed to participate in an out-of-court mediation, where he successfully settled our client’s case for $375,000

Our client was driving his car in Queens on his way home from work, when suddenly the roadway beneath his vehicle collapsed, causing his vehicle to fall into a massive sinkhole. The undermined roadway was adjacent to an open trench where the City of New York and its contractor were performing construction work to remove and replace sewer pipes.

As a result, our client suffered injuries to his back and his knee which required him to undergo surgery.

We commenced an action against the City of New York and its contractor on behalf of our client.  During the course of litigation, we discovered that just days before the accident, the City and its contractor had failed to flume and properly secure one of the sewer pipes. Sewage and water began leaking from this pipe, thus undermining the roadway and causing it to collapse right beneath our client’s vehicle.

Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin we settled our client’s case for $190,000.

Our client was on a New York City bus on her regular way to work as a home health aide. As she was walking to get off the bus, the bus driver activated the wheelchair ramp, causing our client’s foot to get stuck in the ramp as it was being automatically lifted. Our client was taken to the hospital where it was found her injuries included a fractured foot and a tear to the meniscus of her knee that required surgery. We sued the MTA who vigorously defended the bus driver in a contentious litigation. On the eve of trial after years of litigation, Justin Blitz settled our client’s case for $315,000.

On February 6, 2012, our client went to pay her elderly mother’s rent check for her apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. After paying the rent, she began walking up the steps from the office to her car in order to return to work where she was employed at JP Morgan in client relationships. When she got to the top of the steps she tripped and fell on an uneven sidewalk slab, causing her to suffer severe injuries to her knee and shoulder. Her injuries required surgeries to both her knee and shoulder and caused her to miss many months of work. The defendant owner of the property vigorously contested responsibility and the case was litigated for four years. On the eve of trial Justin Blitz was able to successfully resolve our client’s case for $275,000.