Sketches of Court: Motor vehicle collision case in Brooklyn court
In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Carolyn E. Wade listens as plaintiff’s attorney William Durbec (standing), of the law firm Krentsel, Guzman, Herbert, makes his opening statement to the jury in a motor vehicle accident trial. The parties, Perau v. Lougrini, sought a determination of liability in the bifurcated trial. The collision occurred in an intersection in which both drivers maintained that they had lawfully entered during a green light.
Perau was at the wheel of her red 2000 Honda CRV on 79th Street in Brooklyn on a rainy midmorning in December 2017, with her two children as passengers. Perau testified in direct examination that when she first saw the defendant’s car’s headlights coming toward her, she only had time to speed through the intersection in order to avoid an impact to her passenger side, where the children were seated.
Attorney Richard Brown (left), trial counsel to the Hereford Insurance Company, represented the defendant. Brown’s client maintained that his black 2016 Toyota Camry was fully in the intersection at 17th Avenue when he first saw the plaintiff’s vehicle from only a few feet away. In cross-examination of the plaintiff, Brown noted that she was not wearing distance glasses, for which the plaintiff had a prescription, at the time of the accident.
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.