Our client, a truck driver, parked his vehicle at the defendant’s loading dock. He exited his vehicle and began to walk to the back of the truck to make sure it was properly parked for loading. As he walked along the side of the truck, he stepped into what he thought was a puddle of water, only to find out that it was an open storm drain which had been plugged up with sludge. The drain was not visible to the plaintiff as water had accumulated around it. The plaintiff’s left leg entered the drain while his right leg remained on the surface adjacent to the drain. As he fell, his arms went out and his hands hit the surface of the parking lot. He immediately felt tremendous pain in his lower back, in his left leg, which was cut and bleeding, and in both hands, particularly the right thumb. With no one around to hear him calling for help, he eventually was able to pull himself out of the drain and make his way into the building where he reported the incident and his injuries. He suffered soft tissue trauma and abrasion to left lower leg, a sprained right thumb, a ganglion of the left wrist, severe headaches, a herniated disc at L5-S1 which required fusion surgery, and infection of surgical wound site and rejection of hardware requiring additional surgery for removal.

The case settled after suit but prior to trial for $485,000. A lump sum settlement with the workers’ compensation carrier was also negotiated for $60,000.

Our client was five years old when he was struck on the back by a section of siding from his grandmother’s home which fell as a result of tree work being done on the property. He suffered a fractured vertebra with resulting permanent effects.

The case settled after suit but before trial for a structured settlement with a present value of $375,000.00.

Our client slipped and fell in the parking lot at work. She attempted to brace her fall with her left hand and tried to catch herself with her right hand injuring both hands and wrists. She was diagnosed with left and right wrist and hand pain with tingling down the ulnar two digits and thumb, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, and bicipital tendinitis on the left side. For more than two years she suffered with pain in both wrists and hands, underwent several surgeries, and attended physical therapy.

The case settled after suit but prior to trial for $45,000.00. She also received a lump sum recovery under workers’ compensation in the amount of $15,000.

Our client slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk at the shopping center where she worked. She suffered an acute muscle strain and discomfort in the groin area laterally and posteriorly in her buttock which, over a period of 1 ½ years, developed into chronic and severe iliopsoas bursitis based on pelvic obliquity with right hip extensor spasm and tenderness, rectus tendinitis of the right hip and chronic myofascial pain disorder involving the quadriceps and gluteal muscles.

The case settled after suit but prior to trial for $210,000.

Our client was struck by a softball while driving his motorcycle on a main street through a town in New Hampshire. The ball came from an adult men’s softball game that was being played at a public ball field. The playing field at the park was too small for adult softball and the outfields end at the sidewalk with no barrier of any kind between the field and the sidewalk or the street. Our client was hit in the eye causing a blow out fracture of his eye socket and permanent damage to his right eye.

The case settled after private mediation.