Eli B. – Hotel Slip & Fall Accident
“Both of my grandmothers are amazing cooks, and they show love with food so I figured the best way to show love is to cook. I’m originally from Israel. I live in Brooklyn, New York. I was a prominent chef in a major hotel in the city, biggest hotel in the city, serviced the UN. So we cook all kinds of food, between African, to European to Japanese to French. It was living a dream. It was the best thing I’ve ever done. ”
“The day of the accident we serviced two weddings at the same time. One of my chefs, my cooks came to me and said, “I’m missing some items for hors d’oeuvres.” Crossing the mezzanine level to the kitchen, there is an ice machine leaking ice on the floor. I Stepped on the ice, flew down the stairs and lights out. I remember that I was vomiting, and I remember that I could’t walk so someone took me to the dressing room in the basement. I remember laying down on the floor in the basement and I remember being helped to go out of the hotel. They claimed that I never worked there, they don’t know me, and that’s it.”
Eli’s Wife: They made it as if nothing happened. They hide the evidence. They pretended like, he-nothing.
“I came home not knowing what happened to me. My mother in law saw me all swollen so she took me to the doctor that immediately sent me to the hospital and had X-rays, and they found that my neck was broken and back was broken, By then I already had brain damage and other complications.”
Eli’s wife: He came out of the hospital not remembering nothing. He didn’t know who I am, he didn’t know who anyone is. I had to sit him and explain to him what was going on.
“I became depressed. I became ashamed. I became a burden for my wife and kids. I went to many lawyers, and all the lawyers told me we can’t do nothing with it. Until I went to Buttafuoco, to Daniel Buttafuoco and told him my story, and he said “you know what? If there is a will there’s a way. God sent you to me for a reason. I will help you.” He came back after a week with an answer and a plan.”
Dan: This was an almost impossible case. The reason for that was because it presented with what is known as a workers compensation defense. He was working in a place where he was hurt and you can’t sue your employer because workers compensation is your sole remedy. But the problem with that is that it is not very much. We managed to get around that by separating the building from the employer.
“The hotel did not want to answer the lawsuit and they tried to dismiss it for many years. And all I asked for was my comp days, vacations days until I could come back to work. And then they claim, we don’t know you. you never worked here. With Buttafuoco Associates, he took a private investigator to prove that I worked there. He was able to prove that the hotel changed the ice machine that was leaking the next day after I fell down. He was able that someone fell there before me, and the hotel refused to fix it. And we started talking about real money.”
Dan: After years of litigations we settled the case for multiple millions of dollars. So we were very happy we were able to alter his life for the better. And the family is doing well, very happy to hear that, very satisfying.
“Life now is amazingly good, I don’t have any stress. Not financial. Is a blessing in disguise.”
Eli’s wife: Life Is calm, is quiet. I mean there is some cooking going on and a lot of hiking although he can’t hike for a long time because of his back. But we do the most of it.
“I cherish the time. I like to be with my wife, I like to be with my kids. I like to live life. I was happy to meet Daniel Buttafuoco and all his great people. I feel a deal of gratitude to him and all of his associates. I feel loved and I want to share that love back.”
