New York Personal Injury News & NYC Legal Current Events

Lever & Solzenberg Links Suicide to Car Accident

Posted on May 23, 2010

Just recently, Terrence James Cortelli and Howard Stolzenberg of the boutique personal injury law firm Lever & Stolzenberg successfully settled a lawsuit comemenced by a widow whose husband committed suicide two months after being involved in a car accident in Rockalnd County. 

In that case, in August 2009, the husband was rear-ended by an intoxicated driver on Route 59.  The driver then struck a police cruiser and was arrested for driving under the influence.  The husband was driving a new Ford Explorer and it was totaled in the accident.  The husband was a self-employed house cleaner.  Because of the accident, he injured his back and could not work.  His bills began to mount and he was not making any money to pay them. 

Two months later, he tragically took his own life by jumping in front of a train. 

Lever & Stolzenberg commenced a personal injury action against the driver, seeking damages not only for the back injury but also for the suicide. 

State Farm, who insured the drunk driver, initially laughed at the firm's claims, arguing that there was no way the firm would be able to link the suicide to the accident. 

But, in Court, we were able to convince State Farm that there was a link -- we noted that a sucide note was found that explicitly stated that the suicide was a direct result of the husband's inability to work.  The Firm also contacted a psychiatrist who was willing to testify on the subject.  

The firm also stressed that the driver's actions -- being drunk during the middle of the day on a school day -- would not go over well with a Rockland County jury and that we would ask for punitive damages.  Through extensive investigation, the Firm was able to uncover numerous incidents of the driver's past prior bad acts involving alcohol.  In fact, one of the depositions had to be cancelled because the defendant driver had been arrested yet again.  

Based upon the firm's ruthlessness, State Farm finally agreed to pay the full amount of its insurance policy.    

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Lever & Stolzenberg, LLP is located in White Plains, New York and serves clients throughout the state, including New York City's five boroughs (The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island) as well as Westchester County, Rockland County and Long Island. 

Additional Cities: Yonkers, Port Chester, Scarsdale, New Rochelle, Peekskill, Rye, Mount Kisco, Bedford, Eastchester, Mount Vernon, Mount Pleasant, Pelham, Ossining, Greenburgh, New City, Spring Valley, Pearl River.

Additional Counties: Orange County, Dutchess County, Putnam County.