$96.9M Verdict: Nassau County Ignored 108 Crashes Before Teen Was Catastrophically Injured
Won by Lipsig, Freund & Wisell.
A Nassau County jury awarded $96,906,004 to a woman who suffered catastrophic brain injuries at age 15 at an intersection the county had been warned about for years, making it the second-largest verdict in Nassau County history.
What happened
On a Nassau County road that had already claimed dozens of victims, a 15-year-old girl became the latest casualty of an intersection officials had been warned about for years. The collision left her with injuries that would define the rest of her life.
By the time the case reached trial, attorneys Charles Wisell and Michael Marando of Lipsig, Freund and Wisell had assembled a damning record: 108 motor vehicle crashes at the same location had already resulted in injuries and fatalities. Nassau County police had flagged the intersection as dangerous, and local legislators had added their own warnings. The county took no meaningful corrective action.
The plaintiff endured months of hospitalization and multiple brain surgeries. The road to recovery stretched into years of rehabilitation, and the injuries she sustained are permanent. Her quality of life was fundamentally altered before she reached adulthood.
At trial, Wisell and Marando argued that the county's inaction amounted to a deliberate disregard for public safety. The defense did not dispute the crash history or the warnings. The jury sided with the plaintiff in full, returning a verdict of $96,906,004 in June 2026.
The award is the second-largest in Nassau County history, trailing only a $100.3 million wrongful death verdict in 2002. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced plans to appeal the verdict. As of publication, no reduction or remittitur has been ordered.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
More proven verdicts from Lipsig, Freund & Wisell
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