Justice delayed
Injured man, like many, in limbo as cases stall
A crash with a Frito-Lay truck hurt Daniel Moran so badly he could no longer work his pizzeria job — and delays caused by the pandemic have held up the lawsuit he hopes will help him pay off expenses that came of his injuries.
Moran and his wife, Silvina Ramirez, were cruising on an e-bike on Morgan Ave. in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Aug. 9, 2019, when the box truck crashed into them as it turned into a bike lane, video of the incident shows.
Unable to work afterward, Moran couldn’t afford to pay for his mother’s insulin in Mexico. He and Ramirez had to move out of their Brooklyn apartment because they could no longer afford their rent. Both racked up medical debts from their injuries.
Moran sued the snack company, hoping to get some money to pay off what they owed.
But the lawsuit, filed in September 2019, hasn’t moved forward, and Frito-Lay hasn’t offered any money to Moran, according to his lawyer Matthew Haicken.
“I would ask them to please understand that they must help us as soon as they can,” Moran said about Frito-Lay in an interview with the Daily News.
The COVID-19 pandemic has kept most civil lawsuits in New York from moving to trials where jurors could award monetary judgments. The number of lawsuits settled or disposed of also dropped steeply in 2020.
According to Office of Court Administration data obtained by The News, lawsuits filed in the state dropped by 24% in 2020, but the number of lawsuits resolved went down at an even sharper rate, 39% compared with 2019. The state’s backlog of open cases grew by 8%, according to the data.
More than 230,000 cases were resolved in 2016, compared with 119,000 during the pandemic.
Because there are hardly any trials, insurance companies and defendants have little reason to settle beforehand, a common way to avoid juries awarding more money, lawyers say.
Insurance companies and defendants have instead dragged their feet and refused to pay out in some cases, which could force people to settle for less if they’re desperate for cash, according to lawyers in the field.
“It’s very clear to me that insurance companies are taking advantage of the COVID-19 epidemic to delay because they don’t have the hammer of a jury trial over their heads,” said Sanford Rubenstein, a Brooklyn lawyer whose firm settled about 175 cases in 2020 as opposed to 350 the year before.
A bill idling in committee in the state Legislature that would charge interest in personal injury cases from the moment an injury occurs could pressure defendants to settle quicker, lawmakers said.
“The delay of jury trials brought on by COVID-19 has exacerbated what was already an untenable situation for New Yorkers seeking to exercise their right to civil justice,” said state Sen. Brian Benjamin (D-Manhattan).
“Applying interest from the date of injury, just like in breach of contract, will help address the problem of injured parties who cannot afford a delay,” Benjamin said.
A lawyer for Frito-Lay denied slowdowns help the defense. “There has been a delay in getting cases to trial. A backup of cases I don’t think is a good thing for anybody,” he said.
Since his accident, Moran — who can barely walk a few blocks — suffers from ongoing pain in his neck and back, injuries that will require surgeries, according to his doctor.
Moran says the experience has changed him physically and financially. “Before, we were happy together, and everything was good,” said Moran. “I know that COVID has made everything difficult… [but] I don’t think it’s right.”