SKETCHES OF COURT: Jury returns verdict in motor vehicle accident trial

October 20, 2015 By Alba Acevedo Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Court sketch by Alba Acevedo

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In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Kathy King listens as the defendant’s attorney Kenneth Pitcoff (standing), of the law firm Morris Duffy Alonso & Faley, addresses the jury during summations in the motor vehicle accident trial Robert Casuso v. Dempo Equipment Corp and Andrej Bronislaw. At issue in the trial was the determination of damages. Liability was decided in summary judgment.

The plaintiff, 29 years old at the time, was behind the wheel of his Nissan Pathfinder in November 2008, and had come to a stop on Grand Avenue in the Maspeth section of Queens when he was rear-ended by the defendant’s construction van. While Casuso refused medical attention at the scene, he reported to the hospital the next day with complaints about ankle, neck and back pain. Casuso started a course of physical therapy but eventually underwent a discectomy procedure as well as lumbar fusion surgery.

The plaintiff’s attorney Robert J. Bellinson (at right), of the law firm Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro & Halperin, claimed that the accident left his client with permanent disabling back issues. The defendants made note that the plaintiff’s injuries were virtually the same injuries as from prior accidents, and countered that injuries attributable to the recent accident were minor.

The jury apparently sided with the defense, not believing that the plaintiff suffered significant limitations due to this accident and returned a verdict for the defendant in the trial that concluded this week in Kings County Civil Term. Court reporter Roseanne Terman recorded the proceedings. Seated at right is court clerk Danielle Beckett.