Fraud by plaintiff attorneys

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

PATRICIA GERESSY and PATRICIA GERESSY
AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF
THOMAS A. GERESSY, JEANNETTE ROTOLO
and JOHN WILLIAM ROTOLO, and JILL M. JACKSON
and THOMAS M. FARRELL,

Plaintiffs,

– against –

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION,…

Jack B. Weinstein, Senior District Judge:
.

2. Application of Law to Facts

National publicity followed the announcement of the jury verdict in December of 1996. See, e.g., Diana B. Henriques, Big Jury Award in Injury Case Over Keyboards, N.Y. Times, December 10, 1996, at D1; Jon Auerbach and Laura Johannes, Digital Equipment Loses Verdict on Carpal Tunnel, Wall St. J., Dec. 10, 1996, at B4. The news of Ms. Geressy’s nearly $5.3 million verdict against defendant reached Gary S. Gevisser, Chief Executive Officer of Sunmed, Inc. (formerly known as Injury Evaluation Consultants (IEC)) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The information struck Mr. Gevisser as particularly noteworthy because, before the litigation had been commenced, doctors from his company had examined Ms. Geressy, prepared a medical evaluation on her condition for The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (the IEC Report) and, contrary to the jury finding at trial, had determined that her ill health was unrelated to her work. See Affidavit of Kenneth J. King, sworn to March 25, 1997 ¶¶ 10, 11, Exhibit A (King Affidavit). Mr. Gevisser contacted Digital Equipment Corporation to explain his knowledge of the Geressy case and his company’s own information regarding Ms. Geressy. See King Affidavit ¶ 11. Defendant then subpoenaed the IEC Report and filed the instant motion for a new trial based on discovery of this evidence.