On December 18, 2014, Audrey Buckham was injured in her Brooklyn apartment when the ceiling in her bathroom collapsed on her while she was in the shower striking her and knocking her to the floor.
Ms. Buckham, then 52 years old, sued her landlord claiming that the defendant knew the bathroom ceiling had been leaking for years but the leak was never repaired and it caused the ceiling collapse. The jury agreed and assessed full liability against the defendant.
In a separate damages trial a month after the liability verdict, a new jury awarded plaintiff pain and suffering damages in the sum of $1,350,000 ($600,000 past – 4.5 years, $750,000 future – 25 years).
In Buckham, v. 322 Equity, LLC (2d Dept. 2024), the appellate court affirmed both the liability and damages verdicts.
Plaintiff claimed she sustained injuries to both shoulders, her back and her right knee, each requiring surgery. Here are the injury details:
- Right Shoulder – rotator cuff tear requiring arthroscopic surgery on 6/5/15
- Left Shoulder – impingement requiring arthroscopic surgery on 7/29/16
- Lumbar Spine – spondylolisthesis with injured disk requiring facetectomy decompression and discectomy with fusion with placement of intervertebral body cage at L5-S1 on 4/19/17
- Right Knee – meniscal tear requiring arthroscopic surgery on 9/8/17
The defendant argued that the damages awards were excessive because (a) plaintiff admitted her back surgery improved her condition and (b) the conditions requiring surgery to plaintiff’s shoulders and knees were not related to the accident.
Plaintiff was also awarded damages in the sum of $580,000 for her past and future loss of earnings. She’d been a home health aide at the time of the accident and claimed she was unable to return to any meaningful employment as a result of her injuries. Her testimony and W-2s established that her actual loss of earnings was less than the jury award so the appellate court reduced the award by $15,000.