U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Stephen J. Levy is Of Counsel to the firm in the New York City office. He is an experienced litigator, bringing many civil jury trials to verdict in various New York counties and the U.S. District Courts.

Always striving to resolve his clients’ matters in the most expeditious way, Mr. Levy has mediated many cases to successful conclusions. His practice involves cases of medical and dental professional liability, insurance coverage, environmental torts, product and premises liability, construction and commercial motor vehicles.

SELECT REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Papadopoulos v. City of New York et. al. 

In this New York County venued action, plaintiff alleges that, on 2/2/15 at 7:00 p.m., while walking in front of 205 West 43^rd Street in New York City, (we represented the owner and manager of the building) he was caused to trip and fall at the border of a “steel diamond plate vault cover” and the adjacent sidewalk, which was cracked.  Plaintiff also alleged a contributing factor of ice and snow, which covered that area.

In addition to our clients, plaintiff sued the City of New York, Hard Rock Cafe and Con Edison, believing that one of those entities owned or maintained the plate in question.  However, investigation revealed that the plate was, in fact, owned by the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), which we brought in as a third-party defendant.

Plaintiff alleged that, due to the accident, he sustained a fracture of the right distal radius with poor healing resulting in a 5-degree radial deviation and 10-degree dorsal angulation, severe medial nerve compression at the right wrist, tenosynovitis of the flexor tendon, and other related injuries to his right arm and wrist.

Our motion for summary judgment was granted in its entirety, finding that our clients did not have a duty to clear the plate of ice and snow or to maintain the concrete surrounding the plate, in that it was owned by NYCTA.

Bell v. Kim et. al.

In this action, the pro se Plaintiff (d/o/b 8/28/48) alleges that his general dentist, the co-defendant Dr. Raiber, saw an abscess near tooth #5 (which was asymptomatic) and sent him to our client, Dr. Kim, (their offices were on the same floor of the same building).

According to plaintiff, all that Dr. Kim told him was that he was going to make two small incisions in the abscess to drain it but then, unknown to plaintiff and without his written consent, he performed an apicoectomy on tooth #5.  Dr. Kim also performed a root canal on tooth # 29.  Plaintiff later saw our client, Dr. Iofin, who replaced a filling on tooth #29, and Dr. Raiber worked on this tooth as well.

Plaintiff’s principle allegation is that Dr. Kim performed the apicoectomy improperly (and without his consent) causing him to lose tooth #5 and a bridge that it was supporting, and that he needed to have additional root canal therapy on tooth #29, all of which caused him to sustain months of pain and suffering as well as expend substantial sums to repair the damage.  Plaintiff further alleges that Dr. Kim falsified his records and generated x-rays that were never taken. He also alleges loss of earnings of over a million dollars but failed to provide any documentation confirming this.

The Court granted our summary judgment motion in its entirety and denied plaintiff’s cross motion to amend his pleadings to include an allegation of res ipsa loquitur. The Court found that the defendants Kim, Iofin and Fifth Avenue Endodontics, as well as co-defendant Raiber, made a prima facie case entitling them to summary judgment as to all negligence and dental malpractice claims, and that plaintiff failed to raise a triable fact. The Court further found that a reasonable person in plaintiff’s shoes would have consented to the treatment provided by all the defendants.

Kohut v. Citywide Mobile Response Corp.

In this action, venued in the Supreme Court, Bronx County, plaintiff (d/o/b 2/9/49) alleges that on or about 8/12/19, she was being removed from an ambulance owned by defendant Citywide Mobile Response Corp. onto her wheelchair by an EMT worker.  The Complaint states that, due to lack of supervision and assistance, plaintiff was caused to fall as she was instructed to step forward from the ambulance towards the wheelchair.  Plaintiff alleges that she sustained severe and a complex ankle fracture including a mildly impacted and angulated fracture of the distal fibula extending from the posterior aspect of the articular surface, and a mildly displaced and angulated fracture of the medial malleolus/ medial distal tibia metaphysis.

Plaintiff’s initial demand was $695,000.  Following intense negotiation over several months, the case settled for $40,000.