ADDITIONAL VERDICTS OF INTEREST. Tort Claims Act. $______ VERDICT - TORT CLAIMS - POSTAL SERVICE CREATES OBSTRUCTION OF RIGHT SIDE OF ONE-WAY SINGLE LANE ROADWAY DUE TO LONG TRAILER IN LOADING BAY - BICYCLIST IS RUN OVER BY WHEELS OF POSTAL TRUCK APPROACHING FROM BEHIND - WRONGFUL DEATH.

Pages34-35
REFERENCE
United States of America and the State of New York,
ex rel. Catherine Lembo vs. St. JosephsHospital
Health Center. Index no. 5:14-cv-00850, 08-01-16.
Attorney for plaintiff: Adam J. Katz of U.S. Attorneys
Office in Albany, NY. Attorney for plaintiff: Eric T.
Schneiderman of New York Office of Attorney
General in Albany, NY.
$2,500,000 RECOVERY - REGIONAL HEALTHCARE GIANT ACCUSED OF BILLING
IMPROPRIETIES - ALLEGED VIOLATION OF FALSE CLAIMS ACT.
U.S. District Court, Western, Pennsylvania
In this action, the U.S. Department of Justice
(DOJ) accused a large healthcare enterprise of
violating the False Claims Act. The defendant
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), is
an integrated global non-profit health enterprise
based in Pittsburgh, PA. The relators in this action
asserted that certain neurosurgeons employed by
UPMC submitted claims for assisting with or
supervising surgical procedures performed by
other surgeons, residents, fellows, or physician
assistants, when those neurosurgeons did not
participate in the relevant surgeries to the degree
required. Other allegations by the relators
included claims that a particular neurosurgeon,
when performing multi-level spinal surgeries,
submitted claims to the Medicare program for
levels of spinal decompression that were not
actually performed. The plaintiff argued that the
defendant violated the False Claims Act by
submitting false claims for payment to the
Medicare program through the aforementioned
behavior.
The DOJs claims against defendants were resolved
via settlement in which the defendant agreed to pay
$2,520,429 with no determination of liability.
REFERENCE
United States ex rel. J. William Bookwalter, III, M.D., et
al. vs. UPMC, et al. Case no. 12-cv-00145 (WDPA), 07-
27-16.
Attorney for plaintiff: Colin J. Callahan & David Lew
of U.S. Attorneys Office in Pittsburgh, PA.
Tort Claims Act
$4,946,548 VERDICT - TORT CLAIMS - POSTAL SERVICE CREATES OBSTRUCTION OF
RIGHT SIDE OF ONE-WAY SINGLE LANE ROADWAY DUE TO LONG TRAILER IN
LOADING BAY - BICYCLIST IS RUN OVER BY WHEELS OF POSTAL TRUCK
APPROACHING FROM BEHIND - WRONGFUL DEATH.
U.S. District Court, Southern District of NY
This case involved a 68-year-old woman who was
riding her bicycle westbound on West 29th Street,
a one-way, single lane roadway, between 9th and
10th Avenues in Manhattan, at approximately
noon on a weekday. The Postal Service has large
facilities on either side of the street and Postal
vehicles are permitted to parallel park on the left
side, but no parking is permitted on the right side.
The plaintiff contended that the defendant Postal
Service created a dangerous condition when a
large postal tractor-trailer backed into a bay on
the left side of the street, obstructing both the
sidewalk and a portion of the right side of the
roadway as well. The plaintiff maintained that a
bottle neck was created, forcing the decedent to
move towards the center of the roadway as she
approached. The plaintiff contended that a second
Postal truck, which was approaching the decedent
from behind, impacted her and threw her to the
ground before running her over, causing fatal
injuries. The decedent had worked as a Special
RefereeforNYStateSupremeCourtandhad
recently left with the intent of setting up a private
mediation service. The defendant denied that the
plaintiffsversionwasaccurate,contendingthat
two non-party eyewitnesses had indicated that the
decedent suddenly lost her balance as the truck
passed her and that there was no contact between
the truck and the decedent until the decedent had
fallen to the ground and was run over by the right
rear wheels of the postal truck. The plaintiff
countered that even if these witnesses made
accurate observations (which the plaintiff did not
concede), the defendantsdriverwas,
nonetheless, causally negligent by unsafely
passing her, and the defendant was further
negligent in creating the dangerous bottleneck on
the roadway, resulting in the decedent being
struck. The defendant contended that the plaintiff
was comparatively negligent.
After a bench trial under the Federal Tort Claims Act,
the magistrate found the United States of America
100% at fault for the happening of this accident. The
Court then awarded $701,740 for past loss of earn-
ings, $68,235 for past loss of social security benefits,
$273,393 for past lost pension benefits, $51,067 for
past household services, $13,632 for funeral ex-
penses, $1,718,595 for future loss of earnings over
8.78 years, $307,834 for future loss of social security
benefits over 13.66 years, $1,015,118 for future lost
pension benefits over 13.66 years, $146,934 for future
34 SUPPLEMENTAL VERDICT DIGEST
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