Brooklyn, New York.  MONIER LAW Personal Injury Lawyer, PHIL MONIER, obtained a $750,000 settlement during trial before the Honorable Justice Genine Edwards in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County.  The lawsuit was brought to obtain compensation for a Brooklyn woman who tripped and fell on a defective step while leaving her building.  The fall caused her to suffer lower back and ankle injuries.  As a result of the traumatic injury to her lumbar spine, she sustained a herniated disc.  Trauma causes the jell-like interior of a disc located between a pair of vertebrae in the spine to rupture through the hard cartilage exterior and press against the nerve, causing pain.  This serious injury to the soft tissue is permanent, unlike a bone fracture which usually heals without surgery.  The settlement was obtained prior to opening arguments by the woman’s lawyer, halting the trial.  The lawyer for the owner and managing agent of the building was prepared to argue that the property was in a reasonably safe condition, that some of the injuries were pre-existing and that she had since made a full and complete recovery.  The Brooklyn Jury was selected to hear and decide the issues in the lawsuit and consisted of three men and three women.  Following the settlement, PHIL MONIER commented that, “Our civil jury system really is remarkable.  A woman who was seriously injured as a result of a fall on defective property was able to obtain justice from the companies that negligently owned and managed this property.”