$31 Million Verdict for Rear-End Crash Victim Left Permanently in a Wheelchair on the Mid-Hudson Bridge
Won by Jacoby & Meyers, LLP.
A Ulster County jury returned a $31 million verdict, the largest car-crash award in the county's history, for Kelly Burley, who developed cauda equina syndrome and permanent wheelchair dependence after a moving truck rear-ended her vehicle on the Mid-Hudson Bridge in 2019.
What happened
During evening rush hour in 2019, Kelly Burley was stopped in traffic on the Mid-Hudson Bridge when a moving truck operated by Arnoff Moving and Storage struck her vehicle from behind. The impact pushed her car into the vehicle ahead, creating a chain-reaction crash. The truck driver, 21-year-old Robert Wayne Spadaccini, was cited for following too closely. At the time, Burley appeared to have escaped serious injury.
In the days and weeks that followed, her condition deteriorated. She developed cauda equina syndrome, a rare compression injury to the bundle of nerve roots at the base of the spinal cord. The condition left her permanently disabled and dependent on a wheelchair, altering every dimension of her daily life.
Arnoff Moving and Storage, a Poughkeepsie-based company, conceded responsibility for the crash at trial. The litigation focused on causation and the extent of Burley's damages. Attorneys Andrew Finkelstein and Kenneth Fromson of Finkelstein and Partners argued the collision directly caused her spinal injury and presented evidence of the severity and permanence of her condition. Arnoff had offered $10 million to settle before trial; Burley's team declined.
The two-week trial was held before Ulster County Supreme Court. The jury sided with Burley and awarded $31 million in total damages, covering pain and suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages.
The verdict is the largest car-crash jury award ever recorded in Ulster County. No appeal or post-verdict reduction has been reported as of the time of publication.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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