Why Block O’Toole & Murphy for Personal Injury Representation?

At Block O’Toole & Murphy, we keep our caseload small. Each case receives individualized attention from our seasoned trial lawyers, which helps us build better relationships with clients. Often, our attorneys will continue to stay in touch with the very people we fight for long after their cases are resolved — this is just one reason many clients say we treated them like family.

We fight tirelessly to pursue the maximum compensation our clients are legally entitled to. This dedication has led to Block O’Toole and Murphy recovering more than $2 billion for our clients, including a $65,000,000 settlement for a cyclist who was paralyzed by a falling subway tie, and a $32,756,156 record-breaking jury verdict for a Vietnam veteran who was hit by a car. Below, learn how our approach can help you.

Need to Know:

• Block O’Toole and Murphy is conveniently located above Penn Station in New York City, close to most major subway lines and the LIRR, and we serve clients across the entire state.
• Once our firm signs your case, we are all in — we will do everything possible to secure a strong outcome.
• Since 2012, our firm has obtained more results exceeding $1,000,000 than any other law firm in New York State.

In This Article:

• The Difference a Lawyer’s Trial Experience Makes in Personal Injury Cases
• How We Investigate Your Personal Injury Case
• How Block O’Toole & Murphy’s Cases Have Changed Precedent
• How Compassion Informs Our Approach as Injury Attorneys

The Difference a Lawyer’s Trial Experience Makes in Personal Injury Cases

The majority of legal cases — including some 95% of personal injury cases — settle out of court. Even attorneys who have successfully practiced for many years may not have significant trial experience. But in a personal injury case, having trial experience on your side is critical.

Preparing Every Case for Trial

From the moment we sign your case, an experienced trial lawyer considers how your story will play out in court. That real-life experience equips an attorney with a finely-honed instinct for what details might resonate with a jury, what type of material can and can’t be put into evidence, and what questions to ask when seeking out information and interviewing witnesses. This knowledge helps ensure your case is handled correctly from day one.

Trial as a Negotiation Tool

The attorneys at Block O’Toole & Murphy value effective settlement, but we are trial lawyers to our core. We are never afraid to go to court if it’s the best way to achieve the results that a client needs. This helps our clients at trial, during mediation, and in other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution. When opposing legal teams and insurance adjusters recognize your willingness to go to trial, they are far more willing to settle on your terms. 

How We Investigate Your Personal Injury Case

Accident investigations are a key component of every personal injury case. Our lawyers go above and beyond to collect all available evidence regarding your accident.

The Importance of Early Investigation

It’s imperative that your attorney begins their investigation promptly. Even a short delay means accident scenes are cleaned up, footage from security cameras and businesses is taped over or erased, and witnesses become harder to locate.

Our attorneys begin investigating a case as early as possible — often on the same day a case is signed. We can cite many cases in which this early investigation made all the difference.

In one case handled by Partners Jeffrey A. Block and S. Joseph Donahue, our client suffered a traumatic amputation of his leg when he was struck by a Transit Authority bus while crossing a street. Our attorneys scoured the surrounding area and found that a nearby building’s surveillance footage had captured the accident, which proved the bus driver should have seen him. Thanks to our firm’s quick investigation, the case was settled for $8 million.

Visiting the Accident Scene

Our attorneys often travel to the accident scene themselves, working alongside expert investigators to fully understand what happened. This firsthand perspective allows us to put your case in context and ask the right questions during legal proceedings.

For example, in one case that our firm settled for $3,000,000, a 78-year-old woman was injured by a garbage truck while riding an electric scooter to her daily gym appointment. When Partners Daniel O’Toole and Frederick Aranki, who handled her case, traveled to the accident scene, one of the first things they saw was a sign at the entrance to the bicycle lane which said NO TRUCKS. The driver of the garbage truck had ignored this sign and used the bicycle lane as a shortcut.

By asking the driver about this sign, O’Toole and Aranki forced him to admit that he had seen the sign and understood its significance — in other words, that he had knowingly put bikers in danger by ignoring it.

A Culture of Collaboration

We assign two attorneys to every case we handle, giving them the advantage of each other’s knowledge throughout the process of investigation, settlement, and trial. Our attorneys also discuss cases with the rest of our team, ensuring that when your case is signed by Block O’Toole & Murphy, you receive all the expertise our firm has to offer.

Additionally, our partners seek out and hire attorneys who can contribute diverse perspectives to our firm. Our range of knowledge touches every case we handle and benefits each of our clients.

Persistence in Investigation

Our attorneys are tenacious, even in the face of intense challenges. For example, Partner Pawel Wierzbicki once successfully settled a ladder accident case on behalf of a client who, during the initial consultation, was not even able to tell him where he had worked at the time.

Wierzbicki’s client, who had suffered from severe brain trauma after falling off a ladder, was cared for by his grandmother for a full year before she sought legal aid on his behalf. He was no longer able to remember the name of the company where he had worked at the time of his accident. In fact, he could not even pinpoint the area of Manhattan where he had worked on a map.

Undeterred, Wierzbicki called Manhattan hospitals until he managed to find an ambulance call report that documented our client’s accident, along with the name of his company. When he contacted his clients’ former employers, he met a new challenge: because his client was an undocumented immigrant and had been paid off the record, his former employers denied that they had known him.

By extensively interviewing his clients’ former coworkers, Wierzbicki was able to prove his client’s employment with the company and gain comprehensive information on what had happened. Thanks to his efforts, he was able to settle the case for $8,750,000, ensuring that his client would have the care he needed for the rest of his life.

How Block O’Toole & Murphy’s Cases Have Changed Precedent

Our firm includes a stable of experienced attorneys with a proven track record in appellate law, which is the category of law related to how cases are appealed. This extensive body of legal knowledge has allowed our firm to achieve results that have influenced how law is practiced in New York.

For instance, in one often-cited case we handled, a construction worker fell from a forklift while placing a box containing granite countertops onto a high shelf. Our firm sued under Labor Law 240, which protects workers who fall during construction work. Initially, the defense argued that stocking shelves was not a covered activity under Labor Law 240, and the case was dismissed. However, our firm appealed this decision, arguing that because this work was completed as part of a larger construction job, it should be considered a covered activity in these circumstances. This led to the decision being reversed, and the case settled for $4,450,000.

Another Controversial Decision on Labor Law 240

In a different case, we handled a wrongful death accident involving an HVAC technician who was tragically killed while deinstalling a 28,450-pound “chiller unit” used to cool a hospital during the summer months. The chains being used to hoist the unit broke, and our client was crushed to death under its weight.

It was clear to the experts at our firm that this case was a matter for Labor Law 240, otherwise known as the “Scaffold Law” — a New York State law which states that construction site owners and operators must be held fully responsible for even partial negligence when it involves gravity-related risks.

It was also clear that our deceased client’s wife and his five children, ages 2 through 17, deserved nothing less than the best compensation that could be obtained after losing a husband, a father, and a provider. Yet the defense successfully contended that our client’s case did not fall under the Scaffold Law at all.

Labor Law 240 applies to cases that involve gravity-related risks during “the erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning or pointing of a building or structure.” The defense argued that removing the chiller unit was not fundamentally altering the space. Unbelievably, our client’s case was dismissed.

Appealing the Judge’s Decision

Labor Law expert David Scher was undaunted. He appealed the case with an argument still cited in similar cases today: that our client had been performing a profound alteration, since, by uninstalling the chiller unit, he altered the temperature of the entire hospital. Because of Scher’s appeal, Block O’Toole & Murphy not only revived the case, but settled it for $15,000,000 on behalf of our client’s grieving family.

How Compassion Informs Our Approach as Injury Attorneys

Our attorneys understand that every case we handle is having a profound, immediate impact on our client’s lives. As such, we strive to make sure we serve each client to the best of our abilities.

Individualized Attention

Although our attorneys have handled hundreds of cases, we know each one of our clients is dealing with one case: their own. Our attorneys ensure their clients feel heard, often making themselves available for consultation outside of normal work hours. We have also connected clients to mental health resources, personally helped them find new living spaces to accommodate disabilities, and otherwise gone above and beyond what is required of a personal injury attorney.

Advocates for Justice

We are committed to making New York State a safer place for people to live and work and are deeply involved in civil justice advocacy for all New Yorkers. For example, Partners Daniel O’Toole and David Scher are Co-Chairmen of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association (NYSTLA) Labor Law Committee, which is dedicated to protecting the rights of construction workers. Additionally, David Scher has been an outspoken advocate for the Grieving Families Act, which would allow family members to be compensated for the grief suffered in wrongful death cases.

Charitable Giving

Our work has intensified our awareness of how quickly life can go wrong for victims and families, and we’re committed to making life better for those in similar situations, however and wherever we can. Notably, we host one of the country’s largest annual St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital events, raising millions of dollars over the course of 20 years of sponsorship.

Receive a Free Legal Consultation Today

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, the attorneys at Block O’Toole & Murphy are here to help. We serve Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island, Westchester County, and upstate New York. Contact Block O’Toole & Murphy to receive a free legal consultation by calling 212-736-5300, or by filling out our online contact form.