Location: Buffalo, New York
This case involves our client attempting to walk down her neighbor’s porch stairs. Weeks earlier, the boyfriend of the neighbor homeowner removed the handrailing intending to do some remodel work but he never did and he never replaced the handrailing. Our client suffered a serious tumble all the way from the top down five steps to the concrete at ground level landing on her left arm. She suffered a highly comminuted fracture of proximal humerus and a highly comminuted and severely displaced fracture of distal humerus. She required extensive open reduction internal fixation and very extensive hardware of the distal humerus, reverse total shoulder arthroplasty for the proximal humerus fractures, and extensive debridement and repair throughout.
She was in terrible shape and unable to leave the hospital. Conscious of how quickly the homeowner might alter the scene, we immediately traveled to meet her at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo to explain the process to her, place her at ease, and gather the necessary details to get the investigation moving. The homeowner ignored all of our notices and initial contact attempts. Left with no choice, we put the case into suit. Served with the suit, the homeowner finally presented the matter to her homeowners’ insurance carrier who then appeared in the suit. Still, the homeowner failed to return the insurance carrier’s calls and correspondence and failed to even produce simple photographs of the porch condition or a description.
Thereafter, we asserted a deadline within which to respond to our demand for the full coverage of the policy. The carrier was preparing to disclaim coverage on the grounds that the homeowner was breaching her duty to cooperate with the investigation and litigation. We pressed on and diligently provided our own detailed photographs and data such that no elements of the claim could legitimately be disputed and refused requests to extend our demand deadline. On the final day the carrier tendered the policy. Quick success was achieved through immediate investigation, thorough and detailed photographs, quick gathering of medical records, quick filing of suit, and refusal to back off of deadlines.