Angelo Bianco, a partner with White Plains-based Fullerton Beck, negotiated an aggressive settlement in a premises liability case venued in Bronx County Supreme Court involving a bi-level cervical spine fusion surgery. Angelo represented a substance abuse treatment facility and the landlord of the building in which the facility is located.
The case involved a 21-year-old man – a client of the treatment center – who slipped and fell down an interior metal staircase in the facility. The staircase was covered in a vinyl floor covering installed by an outside contractor more than one year before the incident. As the plaintiff was descending the stairs, the vinyl separated from the staircase, which caused him to fall. The plaintiff sustained several cervical and lumbar disc herniations and underwent multiple epidural steroid injections to both his lumbar and cervical spine and eventually required bi-level cervical spine fusion surgery.
The firm filed a third-party action against the contractor/installer for common law indemnity and filed a summary judgment motion to have the matter dismissed on lack of notice – citing the testimony of the parties. Using the leverage from the summary judgment motion, coupled with the claims for indemnification, Angelo secured a significant contribution from the contractor and settled the case with minimal contribution from the clients.