137 Misc. 403 | City of New York Municipal Court | 1930
This is an application for leave to compromise an action for personal injuries instituted on behalf of an infant. The amount offered in settlement is $800 in the infant’s action and $100 for the parents’ loss of services. On April 7, 1928, the infant was struck by a taxicab, sustained a compound fracture of the skull, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he remained until April 16, 1928; thereafter he was under the care of a private physician, and continued to visit the out-patient department of the hospital for a number of months. No affidavit of the attending physician is presented, nor is there any explanation given for such omission. A transcript of the hospital records is not attached to the papers. There is presented an affidavit of a physician who
I shall require the following procedure to be observed in substance in every application made to me for the approval of the settlement of an action for personal injuries sustained by an infant: 1. The infant, the guardian and the attorney making the application shall attend before the court. 2. In the absence of exceptional circumstances the attorney for the infant will be allowed not more than thirty-three and one-third per cent of the total amount of the settlement to cover fees and disbursements. The allowance to the attorney for the infant will be determined on the basis of the entire amount obtained in settlement for personal injuries and loss of services, less what the attorney receives under his retainer in the loss of services action. 3. Where the amount obtained for the infant on the settlement, less the allowance to the plaintiff’s attorney, is under $150, the court, as a general rule, will permit it to be paid over to the guardian without a bond. Where such amount is over $150 it will be required to be deposited with the city chamberlain of the city of New York to the credit of the infant and subject to the further order of the court, or the court will authorize a joint deposit in a bank or trust company under section 980-a of the Civil Practice Act. Where the amount deposited with the city chamberlain is $300 or over, the court, with the consent of the guardian and the attorney for the infant plaintiff, will insert a provision in the order authorizing the city chamberlain to invest the amount deposited with him in guaranteed first mortgage certificates. 4. Where the application for the approval of a settlement is made by one who is not the attorney for the guardian, but who has been designated by the defendant or his representative for the purpose of presenting the application, the matter may be referred to the official referee for investigation and report. Whenever it is deemed advisable the court will order a physical examination by a physician of its own selection, to be