October 14, 2002
The accident occurred on January 14, 2000 as the plaintiff was passing the driveway of the defendant's residence. The defendant was in the process of backing out of the driveway in front of her home and impacted with the right front corner bumper of the plaintiff's vehicle. Due to the sudden appearance of the defendant's vehicle, the plaintiff attempted to brake and swerve to her left, but her foot slipped off the brake pedal and onto the gas pedal. As a result, her vehicle accelerated diagonally across the street onto the front lawn of another property owner and struck a tree head on.
As a result of the accident, the plaintiff suffered a severely comminuted right hip fracture and six fractured ribs. Further, she aggravated a pre-existing right knee condition which eventually necessitated a total knee replacement. She also aggravated a pre-existing bilateral rotator cuff tendinitis, and developed a new right rotator cuff tear. The plaintiff was taken by ambulance to Pascack Valley Hospital Emergency Room where a CT scan of the right hip identified a posterior dislocation of the right femoral head with a comminuted fracture of the posterior column of the acetabulum. She required emergency surgery by way of a closed reduction of the dislocated right hip and was placed in a skeletal traction. The skeletal traction was achieved by driving a steel pin across the tibia and applying a balance suspension using a splint. Due to the fact that the comminuted fracture of the posterior column had a bone fragment within the acetabular cavity interposed between the femoral head and the acetabulum, further surgical intervention became necessary. Therefore, the plaintiff was transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, where, on January 25, 2000, an open reduction internal fixation of the fractured right acetabulum was performed. This surgery required a 14 hole pelvic reconstruction plate after removal of the bone fragment.
Plaintiff's right hip pain became progressively worse causing her to ambulate slowly and develop an antalgic roll in her gait, secondary to pain at the right hip and a shortening of the leg. As a result, she has been referred for a total hip replacement due to severe post-traumatic arthritis with joint space narrowing and shortening. During the accident, the plaintiff also struck her right knee on the dashboard of the vehicle and developed stiffness, swelling and increased warmth in the right knee requiring injection of cortisone by her treating orthopedist. The right knee continued to experience severe pain and deterioration in function, resulting in a referral to a knee specialist in New York City at the Hospital For Special Surgery. Although the plaintiff had pre-existing osteoarthritis in her right knee, she had continued to function prior to the accident. The arthritis in the right knee had not been disabling and had not limited her abilities to perform household responsibilities, activities of daily living, shopping or driving. Following the trauma of the motor vehicle accident, the arthritis in the right knee became disabling and intolerable and required a premature right total knee replacement approximately seven months after the accident.
During her recuperation, the plaintiff also developed intolerable right shoulder pain due to the necessity of using a walker to ambulate. This required injection of cortisone into the right shoulder to reduce the inflammation. Further ambulation with support continued to aggravate both shoulders, and ultimately, an x-ray of the right shoulder revealed that she had developed a right rotator cuff tear. While the plaintiff had a prior right rotator cuff repair several years before this accident, she had made a good recovery from that surgery.
Attorney Amos Gern was able to resolve the claim just prior to being assigned to trial.
