Forensic Cases

Some of the typical forensic cases includes the following:

• Numerous construction defects along the interior and exterior of a residence/new construction.
  
  
• Plaintiff was walking up the stairs of the basement to a multi-family dwelling when she was caused to slip and fell. As a result of the accident, she sustained serious injuries.
  
  
• The Plaintiff slipped and fell on ice where his work vans were parked along the lot behind the premises of a multi-family rental property thereby suffering serious and permanent injuries.
  
  
• Plaintiff was approaching the winder steps leading to the 2nd floor of the subject residential building when she was so caused to lose her balance and fall. She tried to break her fall by grabbing unto the balcony guardrail system, but, said system was loose. The Plaintiff sustained serious injuries as a result of the incident. Hand-railings were not present along the staircase in question on or about the time of incident.
  
  
• Plaintiff slipped and fell on the sidewalk in front of a nail salon thereby sustaining serious injuries.
  
  
• The Plaintiff was a customer and business invitee of a motel. On or about the time of incident, she was walking at night along a walkway adjacent to her motel room as assigned by the Defendants. She stepped down from the aforementioned walkway into the parking lot towards where she had parked her vehicle to enter the parking lot from the customer walkway. The height of the walkway down to the surface of the parking lot, at the step down area, was excessive, which surprised the Plaintiff and caused her to fall and sustain severe and permanent injuries.

• Plaintiff tripped over a box in a medical examination room and sustained serious injuries as a result.

• The said Plaintiff was participating in a senior day care program. At the time of the incident, all of the senior citizen participants were told to rise from their seats to form a line in order to participate in a recreational game involving throwing beans towards a target for a prize. Plaintiff was awaiting her turn within the formation of a line, and was walking slowly at the pace of the line when the incident occurred. The wooden planks of said senior day care center facility were worn and uneven, with some of the wooden planks rising above the surface, causing gaps in between the planks. Plaintiff’s foot became caught in one of the gaps and/or raised wooden planks of the floor, thereby causing Plaintiff to trip and fall and sustain serious injuries.

• The Plaintiff was intending to go to a neighbor’s house as she and her kids were good friends with their kids and took her daughter to go swimming and her other kids were going to accompany them. She was going down the front steps, there was a depressed area along said stairs, hit her sneakers in the front, tripped and went to grab the left-side railing and fell down. One leg was positioned one way and the other leg in the opposite direction. As a result of the fall, she sustained serious injuries.

• Plaintiff slipped and fell on a wet floor inside a commercial space and sustained serious injuries as a result.

• The Plaintiff was leaving her home to go to work on the morning of incident. She was standing on the 4th step from the bottom of the interior staircase leading from her 2nd floor apartment when she was suddenly struck from behind by her daughter who had fallen from the top of the steps. The impact pushed the Plaintiff into the front door of the premises. Her husband took her from the accident scene to the hospital. Plaintiff sustained serious injuries due to the incident.

• Plaintiff was going to discard some newspapers in the recycling bin located at the bottom of the concrete staircase located adjacent to the façade of the residence overlooking the driveway. At such time, he allegedly tripped and fell due to the construction and placement of the temporary wooden landing located along the top portion of the staircase.

  Defendant had the wooden landing installed at the top of such staircase as he was experiencing maneuverability issues due to physical challenges. The wooden landing was to be a temporary installation and was designed to fit for a duration of approximately 6 months and/or until a permanent ADA vertical lift could be installed. The side exterior staircase originally had a traditional side door with an exposed aggregate concrete landing and then 4 steps leading to the bituminous pavement of the driveway. Overtime, the concrete stairs experienced differential settlement. As a result the vertical measurement from the concrete landing to the threshold of the side door entryway measured. 9.5 inches. The use of a temporary wood platform was the only means for Mr. James Farrington, Jr. to get into and out of the house on his own. An ADA-compliant vertical lift was eventually installed level with the kitchen. Such lift goes from the driveway up to the level of the kitchen floor.

• Plaintiff was playing miniature golf with family members when she was caused to trip and fall over rocks and due to a sudden change in the elevation of the course.

• Plaintiff had made a delivery of home fuel oil to the residence of the Defendants.. As he was leaving the premises, he stepped down by the wooden gate on the walkway in the rear of the Defendant’s  residence, slipped and fell.

• The plaintiff was traversing the boardwalk at or near a hotel when she was caused to trip and slip and fall due to a dangerous condition that existed on said boardwalk, There were loose boards along the boardwalk. Her foot caught on a nail on one of the boards and she fell forward.

• The Plaintiff was visiting a building and found a space in the parking lot, opened his car door and attempted to leave his vehicle. At such time, he slipped and fell in said lot due to the accumulation of ice. 

• The plaintiff commenced construction on four (4) residential apartment buildings. The design of each of the four (4) buildings is substantially similar, one to the other. The said plaintiff hired the defendant to insulate the buildings which work was performed on each as the construction scheduled warranted. During the winter of 2015, the water piping in the building denominated Building 4 froze, necessitating emergency measures to thaw the same. It was later determined that the insulation of all water piping was not installed properly in all four buildings on the premises. Due to the deviation from industry standards and non-compliance with the State Building Code in effect, the plaintiff demanded that all defects related to insulation installation be remedied. Also, the plaintiff has and will suffer damages including payment for alternate tenant housing during the remediation; repair and replacement of portions of the premises not originally within the scope of work performed by the defendant; and repair and replacement of materials and workmanship within the scope of work performed by the defendant. 

• Plaintiff was working on a construction project and was on the Defendant’s scaffolding which was against the wall when the scaffolding suddenly and without warning collapsed and he fell off the scaffolding striking his body on the concrete flooring and sustained multiple injuries.

• The Plaintiff’s purchased a single-famliy residence from the Defendants whereby critical facts were concealed with respect to various existing structural issues and existing water intrusion problems on or about the time of purchase. Due to such facts that were not disclosed by the sellers and/or real estate broker, damages including but not limited to financial harm was inflicted upon the Plaintiffs to remedy all defects.Around July 2014, Plaintiffs purchased the property from one of the Defendants. At all times the Defendants’ realtor represented to Plaintiffs that the property was in “good shape.”

  The Seller’s Disclosure falsely indicated there was no awareness of termite damage. Prior to the purchase of the property, Defendants, a home inspection company and a separate engineering consultancy inspected the property and discovered minor issues with the property and in their respective reports only included minor structural damage in the crawlspace of the basement. Subsequent to the Plaintiffs’ purchase of the property, Plaintiffs discovered ongoing severe termite damage throughout the home which required more than $175,000 in repairs. During said repairs, Plaintiffs discovered a section of wall which had recently been renovated and replaced. The severe termite damage was visible once the renovated section was removed; this damage would have been readily apparent prior to and during renovations. Another engineer Plaintiffs hired after purchase explained to Plaintiffs that the massive structural damage would have been easily known to all Defendants. At no time did any Defendants advise Plaintiffs about the severe extent of terminate/structural damage to the property. As a direct result of the aforesaid defects, Plaintiffs suffered severe harm and damages. .

• On or about 2011, Defendant who resided in Unit No. 4 of a condominium complex installed a patio deck consisting of concrete pavers on the real property owned by said Defendant and abutting and adjacent to a retaining wall structure owned by the Plaintiff. Prior to Defendants installation of the concrete patio pavers, she was directed by certain members of the Plaintiff’s board to apply for an approval prior to installation of the same. Defendant did not heed such advice and proceeded in having the pavers installed. Such work was performed by an unlicensed and uninsured contractor .Shortly after the paver installation in 2011, the retaining wall structure nearby collapsed thereby causing damage to the property of an adjoining non-owner. It is the Plaintiff’s allegation that the primary factor in the retaining wall collapse was the result of poor workmanship upon building the retaining wall and the secondary factor was the negligent and haphazard construction of the patio. .

• The Plaintiff was injured while working on a single-family residence. The injured party was working for a construction company which performed stucco work on the home’s exterior at the time of incident. Such company was hired to furnish and install a hard coat stucco system around the exterior facades of the residence, under the deck along the back of the residence, install real thin stone, and a drainage mat (for stucco and stone) over the wood substrate, masonry chimney and deck area of the outside walls. The fall occurred near an exterior wall of the residence. The Plaintiff was standing on a scaffold when such scaffold collapsed and plaintiff fell to the ground and suffered injuries including a broken back. 

• Plaintiff was visiting her son on the 2nd floor of a multi-family dwelling when she slipped and fell thereby sustaining injuries along the staircase leading to his apartment. She thought that her left foot and ankle were broken. The fall was caused by the inclement weather conditions at the time including the accumulated ice and snow along the exterior walkways and along the said staircase.

• Plaintiff slipped and fell due to the inadequate conditions along the exterior of the premises on or about the time of incident. The existing gutters and downspouts on the residential building were not inspected on a periodic basis and/or maintained to mitigate injuries to occupants, invitees or the general public. The plaintiff sustained serious injuries due to the incident at hand.

• Party A was going into a convenience store to get a soda for his girlfriend’s daughter and coffee for himself and his girlfriend. Prior to going into the store, he went to the back of the truck, got his girlfriend’s daughter and then went inside the retail establishment to purchase the said beverages. After paying and upon exiting the convenience store, he went to left side of the front door and fell right on the sidewalk due to the dangerously slippery conditions present on said walkway.

• On or about the time of incident, the plaintiff was leaving to go to work from his second floor apartment. He made a turn to go down the staircase. Upon reaching the bottom of said staircase he would go down a second set of stairs leading to an alleyway which would then lead him to the street. The plaintiff did not make it to the alleyway or to the street to so as to enter his vehicle so he could drive to his place of employment. Instead, he slipped and fell after descending the two steps leading to said alleyway. The Plaintiff slipped on cooking oil which was present along the bottom landing and, as s result, sustained serious injuries.

• Plaintiff was ascending the front exterior staircase to retrieve the mail at which time she lost her balance as she tripped on a piece of metal siding that emanated from underneath the front door that was protruding across the top landing of the main staircase. She went to grab the left-side railing to inhibit her fall, however, her left hip grazed the metal railing at which point it snapped and fell to the ground. She fell backwards unto her left shoulder and her body from the waist down twisted to the right. As a result, she suffered neck and back injuries.

• Plaintiff was coming down a ladder to take a break and wanted to see if Defendant had another sawzall blade when he fell off the extension ladder. The said Plaintiff also claims it was dark and approximately 7:30 pm when he fell. Plaintiff  went to bring his left foot around to touch the third rung and the ladder appeared to move towards the right and then he fell off the ladder thereby landing on his left foot and left ankle.

• Plaintiff was on the premises of a high school to attend an adult education class when she was caused to trip and fall due to the defective condition along the front walkway to the entrance of the main school building. As a result, she sustained serious injuries.

• The Plaintiff was caused to fall when her left foot got caught in a sidewalk gap. She lost her footing and fell violently to the ground, face forward, and lost consciousness. As a result, she incurred injuries to her face and head.

• Plaintiff was working for a construction company at an apartment complex being built. On or about the time of incident, he was in the process of re-positioning a wall on the 2nd floor. The floor decking had ice on it; the wall slipped and knocked him off the decking unto the ground below. As a result, the said Plaintiff fell 16-18 feet and sustained serious injuries.

• Plaintiff was descending the main stairs along the first floor lobby of the apartment building where she resided when she was caused to slip and fall on an unidentified object, hitting her head which left her unconscious. She suffered injuries to her head, neck, back, left and right wrists, left arm, left elbow, left knee, left leg and left shoulder.

• The plaintiff and fell as the result of a 10-15 foot difference in elevation from the parking lot on one (1) property to the parking lot below located along another nearby property. The edge of parking lot/property (at the location of incident) was absent any warning signs, fencing, barricades or other safety precautions. said plaintiff sustained permanent injuries as a result of the fall.

• The Plaintiff was an invitee about to shop on defendant’s premises. Plaintiff walked into the front door entrance, and within two or three steps he was suddenly caused to slip and fall without any prior warning due to the wet and slippery condition of the floor. Due to the fall, the said plaintiff sustained serious injuries.

• The plaintiff fell while visiting a retail shopping center due to the defective construction of the concrete walkway, Belgian block curbing and lack of maintenance of the same.

• The plaintiff was returning home from work when she summarily slipped and fell on the asphalt pavement due to parking lot defects including downspouts emptying unto the walkway and a lack of proper illumination.

• The plaintiff fell due to an unevel walkway in front of a strip mall; lack of hand-railings or safety markings to delineate the adjoining sidewalk from the walkway.

• The plaintiff was a tenant of a single-family residence owned by Defendant. Upon leaving the premises on a particular day, Plaintiff  tripped and fell along the front/exterior stairs due to a construction defect.

• Plaintiff was injured due to the defendant’s failure to fix the roofing system and defective ceiling properly.

• Plaintiff , the tenant of an apartment building, was in her unit when a defective ceiling collapsed on her resulting in severe injuries.

• Plaintiff was reviewing the progress of construction at a family residence when a stack of drywall (leaning against the wood-framing) fell on him thereby causing substantial injuries.

• Plaintiff slipped and fell on the defective concrete sidewalk in front her condominium complex while she was in the process of retrieving her morning newspaper.

• Numerous tenants were severely injured and one tenant perished in a structural fire due to the landlord’s lack of adherence to the State building code, Fire code and local ordinances in effect at the time of incident.

• An apartment building incurred substantial damage due to a roofing contractor’s failure to properly tarp the roof to mitigate the damaging effects of water intrusion.

• Plaintiff slipped and fell on the asphalt pavement due to the defendants’ failure to clear all snow and/or ice from the exterior of the property and failure to maintain the roofing system (and appurtenances) in acceptable condition.

• The plaintiff was in the attic space of the condominium development when she suddenly stepped unto an area of said space that was not well-supported. As a result, she fell through the flooring and partially through the ceiling of a unit thereby sustaining serious injuries.

• Tenant of a residential building was leaving her 2nd floor apartment when she fell down the exterior staircase due to poor illumination and the existing construction defects.

• Plaintiff was exiting a restaurant when she slipped and fell in the roadway due to existing construction defects/maintenance issues

• Plaintiff was visiting a medical center for a doctor’s appointment. Upon exiting her vehicle, she slipped and fell due to numerous construction defects in the parking lot of such facility. As a result, she sustained serious injuries.

• Plaintiff was injured when he stepped unto a parking lot island to avoid being hit by a passing vehicle; tripped and fell on the exposed metal protruding from the paved section of such parking lot feature.

• Plaintiff was painting the interior of a 2 story foyer at a private residence when he fell from an unprotected platform/balcony unto the 1st floor of the subject residence. There was no safety device to prevent him from falling.

• Plaintiff fell down interior staircase to basement area of residence where she was a tenant. The subject property experienced numerous building code violations such as inadequate staircase illumination, unsafe steps due to unreasonable slopes, gaps between risers and treads along with a loose carpet runner.
• A component of the car wash system was improperly stored by an untrained construction laborer during the course of erecting a new car wash. A technical salesman was on-site and the car wash component fell on his leg resulting in serious injuries. The owner of the land and eventual car wash had a main profession as a medical doctor, but, also, purported to be knowledgable in construction management and all corresponding and applicable regulations, which he was not .

• Construction worker was injured while erecting pre-fabricated trusses at the roof level of a residence in a sub-division. Such worker incurred injuries as a result of falling from the roof level and being hit by a piece of heavy equipment.

• Worker injured while operating scissor lift equipment inside a grocery store

• Customer slipped and fell on sidewalk outside a hardware store of a retail/commercial shopping center

• Water main and associated service piping burst and lead to substantial commercial office building damage within a large metropolitan city.

• Security officer was severely injured while working the night shift in order to avoid a deer she inadvertently rammed into a concrete supporting base for a parking lot lighting fixture

• Plaintiff was injured while descending interior staircase at multi-family dwelling due to a lack of maintenance and numerous construction defects

• Plaintiff drove through the storefront of a commercial shopping center thereby injuring an employee of a medical facility. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the employee was hurt due to the Defendants’ failure to provide steel-encased concrete bollards or another form of suitable protection to mitigate such an occurrence. In addition, the Plaintiff presented such theories such as that parking spaces should not run perpendicular to a front walkway.
• The Plaintiff fell out a third story window and sustained serious injuries while attending a college fraternity party in an attempt to reach a 2nd floor roof deck. She was used to accessing the 2nd floor roof deck from windows overlooking the said deck from the 2nd floor. Defendant was sued for a failure to provide for the safety of the Plaintiff on or about the time of incident.On behalf of the Defense, we opined that any and/or all building code issues related to defects along the 2nd floor makeshift roof deck, did not apply to one (such as the Plaintiff) exiting a 3rd floor window in an attempt to access the same roof deck on or about the time of incident. 

• Plaintiff was a tenant of a multi-family dwelling. Due to the fact that a handicapped ramp did not exist on the exterior of such premises, when Plaintiff wanted or had to leave the premises, she required assistance since she is wheel-chair bound due to a prior left-leg amputation. On the date of incident, fire department personnel were carrying her out of her apartment and down the front steps when one of the fire department members slipped and fell on the said steps. Due to such an incident, Plaintiff  was thrown from the wheelchair, hit her head on the concrete sidewalk and then one of the fire department personnel fell on her along with the wheelchair. The said plaintiff alleged that the front staircase was defective at the time of incident and in violation of numerous residential codes.

• The plaintiff purchased a property completely unaware of the water intrusion/drainage issues with respect to the garage since the defendants did not fully disclose, in detail, the extent, of the prior water intrusion problems. As a result, the plaintiff incurred substantial damage to his high-end vehicle and the cost to remedy the defects.

• Plaintiff fell inside a sandwich shoppe resulting in multiple injuries.
• Construction technician was injured while carrying construction materials from the upper level of a high-rise hospital building addition to the ground level.
• Young girl was injured when 2 large, heavy antiquated doors and associated swinging mechanisms malfunctioned and the girl was pinned between the doors.
• Customer of a high-end gift shop severely injured her hip on a step along the interior of such store.
• Visitor to the retail establishment fell at the entryway due to alleged defects in the exterior walkway.

• Plaintiff was injured while walking inside a family bowling entertainment facility (SETTLED).