The crash, which occurred on October 15, 2003, caused the death of 11 ferry passengers and resulted in over 170 lawsuits filed against the City of New York for their negligence in breaking their own rule requiring two pilots present in the pilot house. The sole pilot in the pilothouse passed out, causing the ferry to crash into a concrete maintenance pier. Mr. Adde claimed that he suffered a herniated disc in his back when other passengers fell on him during the accident. The City claimed that Mr. Adde wasn’t even on the ferry that day. The back injury ultimately required surgery. At Mr. Adde’s deposition, he testified that after the ferry crashed, he walked to Battery Park from the ferry’s Manhattan Terminal, although the crash happened near the Staten Island Terminal. The City also claimed that Mr. Adde’s back injury was pre-existing. After a two day bench trial, which means that the judge and not a jury decided the case, the court concluded that Mr. Adde’s testimony was “much less than credible.”

The City claimed fraud and Mr. Adde’s attorney claimed that his client is an African immigrant who speaks English as his 4th language. The City will vigorously defend lawsuits that they believe are fraudulent and refused to settle the case before trial. However, the claimant will most likely appeal the judge’s ruling in the hopes of getting a new trial, so i am sure that we have not heard the last about it.

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A woman who had both legs and forearms amputated is going to be allowed to retry her case after a jury ruled in favor of a Florida Hospital and two doctors in a case alleging medical malpractice. The plaintiff, Lisa Strong, accused a Miami, Florida hospital and two doctors of misdiagnosing her condition, which led to complications and massive infection, resulting in the amputation of both forearms and both lower legs. Ms. Strong went to the hospital after suffering severe back pain and a fever of 106. She told the emergency room doctor that she believed she had a kidney stone as she had a history of kidney stones. Unfortunately, the hospital or the the doctors never treated the stone. Instead, Strong suffered a life threatening infection. The infection led to the amputation of both legs below the knees and her forearms. At the trial, the doctors blamed each other for the misdiagnosis. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the hospital and against the plaintiff. The trial judge felt that the verdict was so against the evidence that was introduced at trial that he took the extremely rare step of replacing his judgment for that of the jury.

In Staten Island, such a step is rarely taken by a judge. The jury’s verdict should be given due deference as they are the ultimate finder of fact according to the law. The judge should not intrude on their domain. Only in the rarest occasions should a jury’s verdict disturbed by the trial judge. That is why we have appellate courts.

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