SR&A Obtains Defense Verdict in Bronx, NY Jury Trial
Trucking/Transportation Warehousing – Martinez v. Hunts Point Cooperative Market, et. al., Supreme Court, Bronx County, 20496/2002
Barry S. Rothman obtained a unanimous defense verdict for a trucking industry client, following a four-week jury trial in the New York State Supreme Court, Bronx County. The plaintiff, a warehouseman employed by a meat wholesaler in the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, claimed that he was seriously injured when a load of animal carcasses fell on him in the cooler area of the warehouse; he alleged that the trucking company had delivered the animal carcasses earlier that morning and in the process had overloaded the double-J hook from which the carcasses were hanging before they fell. He alleged permanent injuries to his shoulder and knee, and had not returned to work since the 1999 accident. The trucking company consistently asserted that it had not made a delivery of carcasses to that warehouse on that day and that, in any event, the responsibility for the condition of the freight, and the method of hanging the carcasses on the hook, was the responsibility of the warehouse and, ultimately, of the plaintiff himself. The Bronx County jury deliberated for under two hours and unanimously found for the trucking company. Plaintiffs settlement demand, through discovery and trial, was in the multi-million dollar range. No offers of settlement had been made by our client throughout the 11-year litigation.