For the twelfth year in a row, Block O’Toole & Murphy has achieved multiple top results in the New York Law Journal’s 2020 report on the Top Verdicts and Settlements. Usually, the publication recognizes the top results in New York State alone, but this year they featured law firms across the Northeast.
The firm attained 17 of the top ranked results across multiple categories, more than any other law firm listed by a wide margin. BOM, impressively, obtained the most top results from 14 different states.
The report ranks both the top 25 verdicts and the top 25 settlements of the year, as well as the top settlements in various case categories. BOM had results in the following categories: Motor Vehicle Accidents, Construction Accidents, Premises Liability, Mediated Settlements, and Slips, Trips, and Falls.
The firm had four settlements that were ranked number one in various categories. In the Motor Vehicle Accidents category, Partners Scott Occhiogrosso and Daniel O’Toole were handling attorneys on the number one case. They obtained a $9,000,000 settlement for the surviving wife and adult children of a truck driver who was killed in a catastrophic tractor trailer collision. This case was heartbreaking, as the deceased husband and father had been about to retire and his death was completely unexpected.
Partners Frederick Aranki, Daniel O’Toole, and David Scher handled the number one case in the Mediated Settlements category, a $15,000,000 settlement in another tragic wrongful death case. They obtained $15 million for the surviving wife and five children of an HVAC worker who was killed on the job when he was crushed by a 28,450-pound falling air chiller. The chiller fell because the proper chains were not used to hoist it.
Mr. O’Toole said, “Often our clients are going through the worst time of their lives when they come to us. Our goal is to get them the maximum amount of compensation they are entitled to, so they can grieve and focus on healing in the aftermath of the accident without worrying about finances.”
Founding Partner Jeffrey Block and Partner Joseph Donahue were handling attorneys on the second-highest mediated settlement, another wrongful death case that resulted from a construction accident. They obtained a $10,500,000 settlement for the family of a union laborer who died in a construction accident after he was struck in the neck by a defective saw.
Partners Stephen Murphy and David Scher obtained the top three settlements in the Construction Accidents category. These accidents resulted in serious injuries for their clients, and in two of the cases, the plaintiffs were permanently disabled from returning to construction work.
“The accident victims and families who come to us have experienced catastrophic accidents because of someone else’s negligence and often have no idea they legally have a right to compensation for their damages,” said Mr. Block. “Helping them get their lives back on track is the reason we do this work.”
Mr. O’Toole and Mr. Occhiogrosso obtained a $7 million settlement, the highest result in the Premises Liability category, for a worker who fell 30 feet down an elevator shaft while on the job and suffered severe crush injuries that required multiple surgeries.
Mr. Murphy said, “We don’t stop working until we are confident our clients have gotten everything that they deserve. These accidents are life altering, and being able to give our clients financial peace of mind as they look towards their futures is the least we can do as personal injury attorneys.”
The cases in the rankings are reported by VerdictSearch, which is an affiliate of the New York Law Journal.