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Judy Livingston & Tom Moore: Record Pre-Verdict Settlement for $35.6 Million in Westchester Med Mal Case

Westchester Med Mal Case Resolved in Record Pre-Verdict Settlement for $35.6 Million

October 09, 2024 at 05:51 PM

By: Emily Saul - Law.com

Attorneys Thomas Moore and Judy Livingston on Tuesday secured a more than $35 million settlement during the fifth day of a medical malpractice trial—the highest pre-verdict malpractice settlement in New York State history.

The settlement came as Livingston—of Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore—elicited details from plaintiff Arlene Pastor about the moment when she knew her 15-year-old son, who was recovering from various surgeries in July 2020 after being hit by a car, was not okay.

"He thought I had a knife and was going to kill him," Pastor told the jury. "I screamed to my husband and children and we literally put him in our car and drove him right to the hospital."

The judge called a brief recess at the request of the defense counsel Lawrence Rosenblatt of Aaronson Rappaport Feinstein & Deutsch, and the jury was excused.

The parties hammered out the details: $35.6 million as to defendant Westchester County Healthcare Corp., doing business as Westchester Medical Center. The claims against the individual healthcare providers were dismissed with prejudice.

Aiden Zemon was a high school freshman when he went out with friends to ride his Razor scooter on the evening of July 24, 2020. He was hit by a car and rushed to Westchester Medical Center in critical condition.

Once there, according to court records, medical professionals cauterized his spleen. But they failed to address frontal sinus fractures, leaving the teenager's brain susceptible to increased risk of infection.

He developed life-threatening infections, including MRSA, that led to severe brain damage.

"As a 15-year-old, he should have recovered from this significant injury 100 percent," Livingston told the New York Law Journal. "This was so preventable."

As a result of the "abject failure of care," the now-19-year-old Aiden requires 24-hour help, Moore says. He is confined to his room, his vision is poor, and he is unable to move without the assistance of others or a wheelchair.

"He was a basketball star," Livingston said. "Now he loves watching and listening to basketball. That's a joy in his life. His great talent is left to watch others play it."

Moore credited the "compelling" testimony of Pastor with helping the case settle.

"I think they were anxious to settle all along," he said.

Moore said he and Livingston turned down five settlement offers, starting about four months before trial, before accepting the offer on Tuesday.

The defense offered $8 million, then $17 million, then $29.6 million. During the trial itself, defendants offered $32.1 million and then $33 million.

Despite his incapacitation, Moore said Aiden is the "glue" that holds the family together.

"He has a quality of life nonetheless that is precious and guarded by all of his family. He is the center of that family. Really, in an existential way," he added.

Moore and Livingston were aided in the case by fellow KDLM partners John Cagney, Matthew Gaier, and Carmine Rubino.

Counsel for the hospital did not immediately return a request for comment.

Westchester Med Mal Case Resolved in Record Pre-Verdict Settlement for $35.6 Million (law.com)

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