Top Spinal Cord Injury Attorney in New York

NY Spinal Injury Lawyer Ben Rubinowitz obtained a record setting $71 million verdict for a 19 year old woman who sustained a fracture of the lumbar spine in a car accident. This verdict is one of the highest ever in the US for a spinal injury.

The NYC personal injury lawyers at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf  have obtained many of the largest awards in New York and the United States for clients who have sustained Spinal Injury:

• Our Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys obtained the highest Spinal Cord Injury Verdict in New York State in 2017. This $71 million verdict was also the second highest verdict of  all listed 2017 NY personal injury verdicts and the fourth highest listed verdict in NY in 2017 among all categories of law.
• In 2019 the legal team at our firm obtained a $20 million verdict for a 57-year-old man who suffered spinal cord injury after he was hit by a police car.
• In an earlier case, our attorneys obtained $28 million for a 21 year old man who sustained a spinal cord injury and was rendered paralyzed in a tragic SUV accident. Our client was a passenger riding in a Ranger Rover that crashed into a tree.
• We also also obtained $6.1 million in a claim that combined an auto accident and a spinal cord injury accident. Our client, who suffered a herniated disc from a car accident, subsequently became the victim of medical malpractice. During surgery to repair the herniated disc, the surgeon accidentally slipped and lacerated the dura mater surrounding her spinal cord.
  

Spinal injuries are often permanent, always life-changing, and affect the lives of both victims and their families. These injuries, whether involving permanent paralysis or not, are often caused by the fault of others, whether by surgical error, birth injury, subway or train accident, automobile and truck accidents, or motorcycle collisions, construction site mishaps, playground accidents, slip and fall accidents, chemical exposure, defective products or machinery failures.

Quadriplegia and paraplegia are catastrophic injuries involving damage to the Central Nervous System. Victims sustaining these types of injuries need attorneys who possess the extensive knowledge and experience necessary to secure proper and adequate compensation for those whose lives have been irreparably damaged. At Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, our attorneys have extensive background and training in prosecuting cases in New York involving these and other types of injuries to the Central Nervous System. The brain and spinal cord, the two main components of the Central Nervous System, control neural function throughout the body. Knowledge of motor and sensory function is a key element in securing appropriate compensation for the victim of such an injury whether it be paralysis or paresis. Not only do our attorneys have more experience in handling these types of injuries than other law firms, but we have obtained among the highest awards in the country for our clients. Indeed, our attorneys have such familiarity with these injuries that we are often called upon to teach and lecture to other attorneys at Continuing Legal Education (CLE) sponsored by educational associations throughout the United States.

At Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, every case of this type is thoroughly prepared so that the present and future needs of the victim are accounted for both medically and financially. At the outset, we assemble a team of legal and medical experts chosen for their ability to analyze, document, and persuasively describe their findings with respect to every technical issue of liability and damages that will arise in your case. We consult nationally recognized experts in healthcare, medicine, and life care planning in order to ensure our clients receive full compensation. In cases involving paraplegia or quadriplegia, we work with established healthcare cost data that details known costs associated with current and future nursing care, medical equipment, and other needed medical care including the cost of wheelchairs and required changes to your home and your vehicle. A physical rehabilitative expert (a physiatrist) works with a life care planner to identify and address the physical, medical and day-to-day needs of the victim and individualized plans are prepared to insure that the victim can achieve some level of future independence and a meaningful quality of life. An economist is retained to analyze and quantify the medical costs associated with the life care plan and prepare a report that accounts for rising medical costs, interest and inflation. An experienced Trial Attorney is, in this way, equipped to present all of the damage issues to the jury in clear and understandable terms.

Spinal cord injuries affect between four and five million Americans yearly, and 400,000 live with the continuing effects of these injuries. Injuries to the neck(the cervical spine) or to the back (the lumbar spine) can result in serious damage to the spinal cord causing permanent, and often catastrophic injuries.

An injury to the spinal cord, the central carrier of signals throughout the body, may be simply a bruise (or contusion), or a partial or complete tear. A mild contusion may cause the temporary loss of some function below the site of the injury. A complete transection, or severing of the spinal cord, causes a total and permanent loss of sensation and movement below the site of the injury.

The spinal column is a flexible, mobile assemblage of individual segments of bone which are called vertebrae. There are seven cervical vertebrae (the neck), twelve thoracic vertebrae (chest) and five lumbar vertebrae (the back) all of which move with the structures above and below. The sacrum (located at the base of the lumbar vertebrae) consists of five vertebrae, all of which are fused forming a solid body. The coccyx (tailbone) is made up of four to five bony segments which are fused together to form one bone, although mobile on the sacrum.

The vertebrae are made up of the vertebral body, lying in front of or anterior to the spinal cord, and the posterior portion, which consists of the neural bony arch which is located on each side of and behind the spinal cord. The bodies of the vertebrae are connected together by the intervertebral disc structures (the tough ring of annulus fibrosis and the sem-gelatinous nucleus pulposus). On its upper or superior, and lower or inferior surfaces each vertebral body is covered with a thin plate of cartilage.

The posterior neural arch is divided into anatomical parts. The arch is connected to the vertebra body on both sides by what is known as the pedicel. The vertebra moves with that above and below not solely through the vertebral bodies but also through bilateral joints called the facets. The facets are located on the posterior neural arches. The facet articulating with the vertebra above is called the superior facet; that with the vertebra below is the inferior facet continuing from the facets posteriorly are the laminate, which meet with each other at the midline. Completing the boney neural arch from the midpoint of the neural arch, posteriorly and projecting backward is the spinous process, to which ligaments and muscles are attached.

The Intra Vertebral discs are interposed between the adjacent structures of the vertebral bodies from the second cervical vertebrae to the sacrum forming strong bonds between the adjacent vertebrae. Each intervertebral disc has two parts, the annulus fibrosis and the nucleus pulposus. The annulus fibrosis is made up of laminae (layers) of fibrous tissue. They are arranged concentrically; the outermost of fibrous tissues, the other of fibrocartilage. The annulus fibrosis surrounds the nucleus pulposus and can be compared to a retaining sheath of fibrous tissue. The tension of the elastic annulus fibrosis keeps the nucleus under pressure. The nucleus pulposus has a pulpy or mucoid consistency. Basically, a disc herniation occurs when the nucleus herniates (protrudes) the annulus fibrosis. Depending on the extent and direction of the herniation (anterior or posterior) the nucleus pulposus can encroach upon the spinal nerve roots and subject them to pressure and/or resulting pain in the areas of the body enervated by the effected nerve roots. Herniated discs may be caused by trauma, such as car, truck and bus accidents, construction accidents and other types of accidents which cause severe trauma to the spinal column. A posterior herniation may cause the nucleus pulposus to encroach on the spinal nerve roots causing severe pain and resulting disability for which surgery may be required.

The New York personal injury law firm of Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is dedicated to the recovery of full and fair compensation for accident victims who suffer spinal cord damage. Our attorneys and staff have the skill and experience to obtain full and fair compensation for those who have sustained such injuries. Spinal injured victims, as well as their families, need lawyers who understand the medical, physical, economic and psychological impacts of  Spinal Cord Injuries(SCI).

Our goal in all cases is to help you recover the money you will need to make the most of your life in the aftermath of a traumatic accident. For more information regarding our practice and how we can help you, contact a New York spinal cord injury lawyer at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf to schedule a free consultation.

Disclaimer: Please be advised that the results achieved in any given case depend upon the exact facts and circumstances of that case. Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf cannot guarantee a specific result in any legal matter. Any testimonial or case result listed on this site is based on an actual legal case and represents the results achieved in that particular case, and does not constitute a guarantee, warranty or prediction of the outcome of any other legal matter.