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Syracuse paying record $3 million to woman hit by DPW truck
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Syracuse, NY - The Syracuse Common Council Monday approved the city's largest legal settlement in history - $3 million, which will go to a woman who was hit by a city pickup truck while she was nine-months pregnant last year.
Tatalisha Mack was walking to the grocery store on a Saturday morning in August when a public works employee struck her, dragging Mack 30 feet at Erie Boulevard East and Westmoreland Avenue.
Mack, 28, lost a leg below the knee and suffered broken bones and a cut to her spleen, but her baby's injuries were more severe, said Mack's lawyer James Alexander. Sonyria Chesna, 7 months, had to be delivered prematurely by emergency Cesarean section the day of the accident. Sonyria has brain damage, cerebral palsy and is partially blind and deaf, Alexander said.
"They have terrible injuries, but they are surviving," Alexander said of mother and daughter.
Mack and roommate Sonya Chesna were walking from an apartment on Westmoreland Avenue to get to Aldi grocery story Aug. 1 when Mack was injured, police reports show. Chesna, reached Monday at a phone number for Mack, said Mack did not want to be interviewed.
"She's doing all right," Chesna said of Mack.
Syracuse Corporation Counsel Juanita Perez Williams said the city decided to settle the case as quickly as possible because of the severity of the injuries.
"Our position was it was an unfortunate accident, but due to the injuries, we wanted to negotiate the matter, to ensure this wasn't a long, drawn out proceeding for the victims," Perez Williams said.
Perez Williams said a review of the city's past settlements shows this to be the largest.
The city will bond for the money and pay it back over five years, a total of $3.45 million due to financing costs, said city budget director Robert Sprague.
The city plans to make cuts to next year's DPW budget to make up for the settlement, said Councilor Ryan McMahon, a Republican who chairs the Finance Committee.
The $3 million is meant to help cover future expenses for Mack and Sonyria, as well as compensation for their suffering and loss in quality of life, Alexander said. They'll seek more from the state in another lawsuit, he said, because of the lack of crosswalks and pedestrian lights at the intersection.
"We've had an expert review the situation, as has the city, and both agree that this was a very unfriendly pedestrian intersection," Alexander said.
The city may participate in that lawsuit, Perez Williams said.
The pickup's driver, Robert L. Reed, 53, of Syracuse, was ticketed for failure to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian, Alexander said.
Mack was ticketed for crossing against the traffic light, said mayoral spokeswoman Lindsay McCluskey.
Reed told police he never saw Mack or realized he hit someone until another driver yelled at him to stop. He told police he suffered from diabetes, as well as glaucoma that impaired his vision, according to police reports.
"There's no dispute about what happened. The entire claim against the city had to do with their driver's negligence in striking the pedestrian," Alexander said.
Reed remains a city employee but is out on disability, Perez Williams said. He has applied for retirement disability, she said.
Reed could not be reached for comment.
Alexander's cut of the settlement will be $1 million. He said Mack's case, like most personal injury lawsuits, calls for legal fees totaling one-third of the settlement.
Part of the settlement will be put into a trust for Sonyria and will be administered by a court appointed trustee, Alexander said.
Meghan Rubado can be reached at mrubado@syracuse.com
Additional information:
Birth Defects Compensation Claims Advice on Injuries at Birth
The Japan Obstetric Compensation System for Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral Palsy Lawyers Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Cerebral Palsy Compensation Claims Australian Medical
Cerebral Palsy Compensation Claims Cerebral Palsy Solicitors Network
Cerebral Palsy Attorneys Lawyers Serving Salt Lake City and Utah
Specialist Medical Malpractice Lawyers Canada Compensation Advice
Parents of cerebral palsy sufferer seek compensation Claims Direct
Remove cerebral palsy compensation cases from the courts to get a
Cerebral Palsy compensation claim My Injury Lawyer are Cerebral
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