Recent Successes

Adel & Pollack has countless success stories in the battle to get fair compensation.

• Nancy Adel & Barry Pollack win $1.2 million dollar jury verdict. A 65-year-old retired sculptor underwent prostate surgery and a sponge was left in his abdomen. The circulating nurse and scrub technician wrongly stated the count to be correct. The sponge was discovered 2 ½ years later followed by an unsuccessful attempt to remove it. Prior to discovery of the sponge, plaintiff had increasing pain that was diagnosed as related to the spine and had a microdiscectomy.
  
  The hospital denied liability, claiming that the nurses fulfilled their duty by counting sponges at the appropriate times in the appropriate ways. “Perfection” is not required, so they were not negligent just because they got the count wrong.
  
  The surgeon denied liability, saying that the nurses were to blame and that he did everything reasonably possible to prevent a retained sponge from occurring.Both defendants said plaintiff was not hurt and that all his ongoing pain comes from his degenerative back condition.After a 14 day just trial, the jury found the hospital liable for the nurses’ negligence and awarded our client $1.2 million dollars.
  
  
• Having a piece of roof fall on your head is not good for anyone. It is especially not recommended therapy for someone who has already suffered a previous brain trauma. Although the defendant in this case claimed that the injury was our client's fault, Adel & Pollack successfully established that the negligence of a subcontractor was the cause. This allowed a claim to be made for the full amount of our client's injury in the regular personal injury system, in addition to his Workers Compensation benefits.
  
  In order to recover from his injuries, this client needed serious rehabilitation that was definitely not available through Workers Compensation. He was unable to drive or to work. This in turn forced his wife to care not only for him but also for their children while maintaining her own busy work schedule. Barry Pollack and Nancy Adel arranged a present value settlement of $750,000. Through work with economics professionals, the recovery was structured to provide a lifetime payout of benefits to this client and his family.



• Have you ever walked across a street on a blinking "red hand?" A client of Adel & Pollack was hit while in the crosswalk by a left turning vehicle. The defense argued it should not have to pay anything because the Don't Walk light was blinking, even though the light was clearly green for our client's direction of travel!At her deposition, the defendant driver testified that she did not see our client until she was directly in front of her Mercedes - right in the crosshairs of the Mercedes emblem on her hood. The Mercedes "star" fractured the client's cheekbone.The defense tactics did not prevail but rather a settlement was obtained on the courthouse steps for 10 times the amount of the medical bills.




• Falls on unsafe surfaces yield Six Figure awards for injuries When there is less than a foot of difference in elevation between two levels in an outside area, the best solution is a ramp or one or two stairs, clearly marked with caution signs and contrasting paint. Careless property owners sometimes take shortcuts and avoid the safest way - and people are hurt as a result. Two recent cases deal with this important safety issue. In the first one, involving a walkway at a car dealership, the presence of a step was obscured by the black paint on the surface. Visiting other locations and taking pictures of steps with clear demarcations and warning signs, Adel & Pollack convinced the defendant to pay a fair settlement to our injured client - and to repair the unsafe condition at its location. The second case is still pending, and we are looking forward to similar results to improve our clients' lives and encourage businesses to provide safe conditions for all consumers.
  
  In another recent matter, our client slipped on wet concrete. Preliminary testing revealed that the concrete had adequate friction to be safe even when wet. However, the client slipped when she should have been safe so the investigation continued in order to unearth the cause of her fall. An in-depth examination of the surrounding surfaces demonstrated that the area of the fall was shaped to be a catch basin for debris that was hosed off the sidewalk. This resulted in the wet concrete being contaminated with elements that decreased the friction and unreasonably increased the risk of falls and injury.



• The defendant tour bus company did not want to pay full value to our clients, the 3 surviving children and the spouse of a 25-year old woman born in South Central Los Angeles. The driver of the bus torpedoed his vehicle directly into her Jeep Cherokee. The car had stalled and Mrs. Hodge was stranded in the middle of the freeway waiting for help. Before help could arrive, the crash with the bus resulted in her death. Yet the defendants wanted to blame the dead woman and her husband, our client, saying that the car wasn’t well-maintained; that it was the family’s fault that the car stalled; and that the woman should have gotten out of the vehicle after it stalled.

  Adel & Pollack did an intensive investigation and hired expert witnesses to recreate the cause of the Jeep’s failure and of the crash. Other experts were hired to calculate the economic and non-economic loss to the family from the death of this young wife and mother. The result was that we were able to demonstrate that the fault for this tragic loss was solely the defendants’ responsibility.

  By fully preparing our litigation strategy and taking all the steps necessary for trial preparation, Barry Pollack & Nancy Adel were able to settle this case at a mediation, in an amount that will create an education and support fund for all the children, allow the purchase of a house, and provide for their future economic security. In this way, the legacy of their mother will be preserved, and the cost will justly be paid by the insurance company for the defendant bus company that caused the loss.

• Truck jack-knives on country road directly in front of opposing traffic – trucking company initially denies responsibility but is convinced by Adel & Pollack to pay $2.2 million dollars to 48 year old ship’s cook whose leg was crushed when her car crashed into the side of the tractor-trailer



• Obstetrician blames patient for her inability to get pregnant after he performed fertility surgery – but the jury agreed with Nancy Adel’s closing argument and reimbursed the patient in the maximum amount allowed by law



• Family doctor delays treatment of patient for an hour while he waits for a specialist to arrive at the hospital – and jury agreed with Adel & Pollack that the delay killed the patient, the stay-at-home father of 2 small children, making it up to them with a million dollar verdict



• It is difficult to imagine a greater tragedy than death by electrocution. Adel & Pollack, as part of their injury accident practice, recently settled the case of a teenager who drowned in a pool as a result of faulty wiring. The parents and surviving sisters will never get over their loss, but their life’s path will be eased by the structured settlement that will provide them with psychological care throughout their lifetime and some compensation in their old age



• Major discount clothing retailer hassles managing employee – devised strategy to avoid termination and maximize compensation without litigation



• Insurance company attempts to dodge liability for major injury 2-vehicle crash – full compensation awarded at arbitration to young woman facing lifetime of neck and back disability



• Emergency room misdiagnosed significant disease – recovered maximum amount of general damages allowed under restrictive medical malpractice law (MICRA) plus an additional $425,000



• Landlord and homeowners association ignore complaints of poor lighting – Barry Pollack’s presentation brought a $110,000 jury verdict in face of pretrial settlement offer of $7,700



• Seller of property leaves dangerous cleaning agent on property - creation of substantial education fund for child who swallowed lye at family home

If you or a loved one is in need of legal assistance, call Adel & Pollack at (310) 443-4455 or submit an online questionnaire. The initial consultation is free of charge, and if we agree to handle your case, in most cases we will work on a contingency fee basis, which means we get paid for our services only if there is a monetary recovery of funds. In many cases, a lawsuit must be filed before an applicable expiration date, known as a statute of limitations. Please call right away to ensure that you do not waive your right to possible compensation.