Abbas Chaaban v. Dollar Rent A Car, Inc., DTG Operations, Inc., Rental Car Finance Corp., Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. and Menahem H, Rotbann

Venue: Supreme Court, Kings County

Damages only trial.  Plaintiff, Abbas Chaaban, a 30 year old male operator of the adverse vehicle, born in 1983, alleged C3-C4 herniation impressing the cord;  C2-C3, C5-C6 and C6-C7 bulges; epidural steroid injections at C7-T1 in 11/2013 and 12/2013; (6) 1/2014 anterior cervical discectomy at C3-C4, partial excision of C4 vertebral body, intervertebral PEEK implant and fusion at C3-C4 with arthrodesis and anterior instrumentation and allograft;

The initial demand was 915k (amount remaining on the insurance policy) lowered to 800k, lowered to 700k, lowered to 550k.  Offer before trial began was 400k, lowered to 250k once trial commenced.

Plaintiff initially claimed that the defendants were negotiating in bad faith and demanded the testimony of French citizen defendant Rotbann regarding the bad faith claim. The testimony was taken outside the presence of the jury but became moot once the high low of 150/700 was in place.

Plaintiff black boarded over 800k in future medicals but was awarded less than half.  Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for 2.4 million dollars, defense counsel suggested zero.

Low jury verdict 571,996 on cervical fusion surgery with allograft and hardware.

PMT Attorney: Lawrence J. Buchman
Court: Supreme Court, Kings County
Judge: Wayne Saitta
Case Type: Auto
Caption: Abbas Chaaban v. Dollar Rent A Car, Inc., DTG Operations, Inc., Rental Car Finance Corp., Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. and Menahem H, Rotbann
Index No.: 503345/2014