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Man Impaled In Fall on Forest Hills Post Wins $50,000

Claimed He Tripped On Crack In Sidewalk

A Queens Supreme Court jury has awarded $50,000 to a residential health aide who was allegedly impaled in a freak accident on a Forest Hills street.

In his lawsuit, Alisher Zakhidov claimed that he went to 64-35 Yellowstone Boulevard so a client could visit a relative on June 1, 2007. After a few hours in the building, he decided to take a walk alone to get some fresh air, but when he got to the sidewalk, he tripped on a crack. He then fell onto a post that was sticking from an iron fence and his neck and jaw were impaled, leaving a seven-millimeter laceration along the inside of his mouth.

Zakhidov, a native of Uzbekistan, underwent reparative surgery during a five-day hospital stay, but he asserted a 85-percent loss of his sense of taste and residual scars on his neck.

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He sued the building’s owners, Boulevard Tenants Corp. and Plaza Realty Investors Inc., and the property management company, Algin Management Co. Inc., charging insufficient illumination and a failure to fix the dangerous sidewalk condition.

The defense disputed that Zakhidov fell. Michele Schuster, an attorney with the Law Office of Margaret G. Klein in Manhattan, suggested that the injury might be a knife wound. She noted that the plaintiff did not call for help immediately after the alleged incident and admitted to drinking cognac afterwards.

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Zakhidov responded that there was a delay because of his poor English skills. He said that he extricated himself from the post and returned to the apartment, where he drank some cognac while waiting for a relative who could translate to show up and take him to the hospital. (Schuster responded that the cognac would have caused tremendous pain to an open wound.)

After a six-day trial in front of Judge Allan B. Weiss, the jury deliberated for roughly five hours before awarding Zahkidov $50,000 for his pain and suffering.

His lawyer, Howard A. Suckle of Suckle Schlesinger in Manhattan, appealed, arguing that the award in inadequate. He had asked the jury for $1 million.

“It was a tough trial, but really interesting,” said Schuster.

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