400 Pound Door Causes Serious Injuries
From the law office of Charles S. Gucciardo
Mr. Williams was a 49-year-old Supreme Court Officer Sergeant on the fast track to becoming a Lieutenant. He was injured when a poorly secured 400 pound exterior employees entrance door on the side of the Nassau County Court building at 262 Old Country Road in Mineola swung shut on him because the door closer, which was made for an interior door, gave out.
The evidence was crystal clear that Nassau County knew that the doors, installed somewhere around 1940 were rusted, rotted and in extremely poor working order. The Nassau County locksmiths that testified were emphatic that these doors should have been replaced years ago. One of the Nassau County workers even testified that the subject door was known as the “guillotine” before the Plaintiff’s accident. Frankly, if this door had hit Mr. Williams’s head instead of his body, it would have killed him.
Williams suffered a very serious injury to his spinal cord causing permanent nerve damage and now has 5 of the 7 cervical vertebrae in his neck locked together with titanium. He has permanent spinal cord damage and nerve damage causing severe limitations with his arms and hand, and he is consequently totally disabled. The complicated and dangerous surgery that had to fix the problem FAILED according to the doctor that performed it at North Shore Hospital. It is just a matter of time until the level below the four that are fused also fails under the increased pressure on that lower disc. Around 10 years later, the next level disc below that one will fail as well. Mr. Williams will be in pain and not be able to move his head, or use his right hand for much of anything for the rest of his life.
His lost earnings and lost pension benefits alone are 3.3 million dollars. His future medical, loss of household services and his wife’s loss of consortium totaled close to 2 million.The balance of the award came in at 5 Million for 6 years of past pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life (7.5 million asked), and 10 Million for 23 years of future pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life (11.5 million asked), which includes 2 future surgeries for further level fusions and accelerated deterioration as plaintiff ages.
In a statement, Mr. Blakeman has criticized the verdict. I am certain that when Mr. Blakeman gave his criticism, he was unaware of many of the above stated facts about the case that may have caused him to make these untoward comments about the verdict.
It should be appreciated that the verdict was rendered by jurors who are Nassau County residents and in fact, Blakeman’s own constituents who were well aware that the defendant was, in fact, the County of Nassau.
Mr. Blakeman should be aware that Mr. Williams’ lost earnings claim was based on his last year salary of $83,000 a year. If this was Mr. Blakeman’s salary of $211,821, his lost earnings and benefits award alone would be almost triple what Mr. Williams was awarded. While I pray that nothing like this would ever happen to anybody, I am available for consultation.
Interest is running on the verdict at 9% per year, approximately 1.9 million a year in interest alone, some $155,000 a month.
This catastrophe did not occur on Mr. Blakeman’s watch. It was the failure of the prior administration who absolutely failed to take care of the dedicated employees of the State that use the Nassau County buildings including judges, ADA’s, court reporters who use that entrance on the side of the County Court Building, and especially the New York State Court Officers who are ready, willing , and able to put their lives on the line to save others who may run into peril when using our court system which is one of the rocks of our Republic.
While this is true, at this point, the current administration has to finish taking care of the sins of the prior administration. I applaud their efforts in their current rush to change all the doors, as this will no doubt save injuries and perhaps lives. However, they also need to make reparations for the injuries that were caused to my client, which, again, they inherited from the prior administration. I am available at any time for Mr. Blakeman’s call to negotiate a fair and just settlement in this matter. In the meantime, interest, payable by the taxpayers, keeps accumulating every day.
Mr. Williams will be totally disabled for the rest of his life. This is neither a lottery, nor a prize. Mr. Williams would trade the jury’s verdict in a heartbeat for the chance to put his uniform back on and to go back to protecting judges, juries, court personnel, and even Defendants and prisoners. Mr. Blakeman is further reminded that the County’s negligence is not “alleged” but rather has been found by both the Nassau County Supreme Court and the jury, who knew full well that the County of Nassau was the defendant in this case. Their integrity and the sanctity of the jury system and verdict should be respected by a co-equal branch of government and this jury should be thanked for sacrificing 3 weeks of their time and effort.
The trial last approximately one month, and the jury’s verdict was handed down yesterday, November 29, 2022. The case was tried by me, Charles S. Gucciardo and my partner, Jon-Paul Gabriele,
