Case Results

We are pleased to report that after 3 years of hard-fought litigation with Medtronic a settlement was reached totaling $268 million dollars in compensation. This agreement was reached after the pending litigation had encountered serious federal preemption hurdles which resulted in cases being dismissed or stayed. This proposed settlement was designed to avoid the uncertainties and risks associated with the federal and state court appeals.

With his vast experience in the area, a firm attorney was appointed to the Plaintiff's Steering Committee in Medtronic, Inc. Sprint Fidelis Leads Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 08-1905 and the settlement would not have been possible with his help.

If you have questions regarding a Medical Malpractice case and would like to have the support of a knowledgeable law firm, contact Rheingold, Giuffra, Ruffo & Plotkin LLP today for a consultation. Contact us online today.

The firm represented hundreds of clients with defective internal cardiac defibrillators and helped successfully negotiate a settlement on their behalf.

As part of the Plaintiff's Steering Committee, our firm represented hundreds of claimants who had defective internal cardiac defibrillators manufactured by Guidant in the Guidant Multidistrict Litigation. The investigation would lead to criminal charges on the corporation and the government ultimately fined Guidant $296 Million and ordered 3 years of probation for the company.

Guidant failed to report safety violations to the Food and Drug Administration regarding some of their defibrillators and it wasn't until two doctors reported the defects to the authorities that the devices were recalled because of product defect. There were 7 deaths associated with the recalled defibrillators.

Have you or someone close to you been harmed by a defective medical device? Please contact us today online to speak with an experienced New York medical device recall lawyer. Our law office is conveniently located in a brownstone in Midtown Manhattan located at 113 East 37th Street.

As part of the Plaintiff's Steering Committee a firm attorney successfully won compensation for thousands implanted with recalled defibrillators.

A firm attorney was appointed to the Plaintiff's Steering Committee for the Medtronic Internal Cardiac Defibrillator Litigation. He and the attorneys at Rheingold, Giuffra, Ruffo & Plotkin LLP LLP worked with firms around the nation in bringing about the $118 million settlement for defective Medtronic internal cardiac defibrillators. Over the course of our investigation, it became apparent that not only were these devices defective but that in some of the devices there was another defective component that was being used in other internal cardiac defibrillators, the Medtronic Sprint Fidelis lead.

A settlement was reached for both the defective defibrillator and the defective leads totaling over $380 million dollars in total compensation.

If you have been injured by a defective drug or medical device contact one of our attorneys today.

We recently tried and won a case on behalf of three young siblings who ingested lead-based paint from their apartment, resulting in the diminishment of his or her cognitive functions.

The evidence established that the apartment building the children grew up and lived in contained 58 sites that had been identified as a site of lead-based paint, each constituting a violation of a building code. The law specifies that any dwelling constructed prior to 1960 must be presumed to have lead-based paint, and it is the landlord's responsibility to remove any such peeling paint from any area that is inhabited by children that have not yet reached age 7. Because of the ingestion of the lead-based paint and the lead that had deeply penetrated their bones, the children underwent chelation therapy. Each child suffers from the residual diminishment of his or her cognitive functions and has suffered impairment of his or her ability to learn. Their IQ scores are consistent with those displayed by mentally retarded children, and all will be confined to special education classes. One child in particular suffers a residual behavioral disorder that necessitates daily, supervised assistance, and any potential offspring of that child would bear an increased risk of suffering cognitive impairment, mental retardation, and lead-based contamination of their bones.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs in the amount of $21 million. J. G., an infant by her m/n/g E. G., and E. G., Individually; J. R. and M. R., infants, by their m/n/g M. R., and M. R., Individually v. 824 South East Boulevard Realty Inc.

Contact Rheingold, Giuffra, Ruffo & Plotkin LLP today for a free consultation and understand your rights. Don't be taken advantage of by those who are negligent in your care. 

A Bronx jury awarded $20,000,000.00 to our client, a 10-year-old girl dropped downstairs out of her stroller by a security guard in the building where she lived with her mother. Rheingold, Giuffra, Ruffo & Plotkin LLP LLP, Partner Thomas Giuffra, was trial counsel for the family and obtained the verdict after a three-week trial.

The child, Imani Santiago was just four days old and was being carried in a stroller by a security guard at a shelter in the Bronx. Because the stroller was heavy, the security guard jerked the stroller to get a better grip. To the horror of her mother, Jeninlee Reyes, following just steps behind, Imani fell out of the stroller, landing headfirst on the concrete steps. After Imani proceeded to roll down three more steps, her hysterical mother scooped her up and rushed her to Jacobi Hospital.

At Jacobi, a CT scan was performed which demonstrated a bleed to the surface of the baby’s brain. After 36 hours, the baby was discharged from the hospital, with her parents praying that their daughter’s bleed was nothing to worry about. Only time could tell. Unfortunately, as soon as Imani started going to school, it became evident that she was having difficulties learning. She was just starting out and was already so far behind. That’s when the family retained a lawyer.

On June 26, 2013, exactly 10 years after the fall, Thomas Giuffra commenced the Trial in the Bronx Supreme Court, before the Honorable Mary Ann Brigantti-Hughes, J.S.C. The Jury would hear testimony from Imani’s teachers from the last three years and learned that while Imani tries hard in school, she “just can’t get it”, and was significantly delayed in her abilities. The Jury learned from Plaintiff’s neurologist and neuropsychologist that the brain bleed was the cause of her problems. These experts specifically noted that the particular area of the brain bleed was responsible for the specific deficits that Imani exhibited, while the rest of Imani’s brain appeared to be functioning normally. The Jury was also given estimates by an expert regarding the loss in earnings that she would sustain as a result.

The Defense lined up a team of experts to challenge Imani’s case and offered numerous alternative theories to explain Imani’s delays. The Defense even tried arguing that the security guard should never have been carrying up the stroller in the first place and therefore argued that his employer should not be on the hook for his negligence.

The Jury apparently saw right through the Defense’s efforts at avoiding responsibility. After less than an hour of deliberations, the Jury emphatically returned a unanimous verdict finding that the security guard was in fact acting on behalf of his employer and that Imani’s injuries were caused by her tragic fall. The Jury then awarded Imani the total sum of $20,000,000.

Settlement in a medical malpractice action for a child who suffered brain damage at birth.