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  • Paul Weingart, Debra Berley AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF WOODY MICHAEL ZALMAN v. Pv Holding Corp, Joseph Acampora AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LELAND ACAMPORATorts - Motor Vehicle document preview
  • Paul Weingart, Debra Berley AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF WOODY MICHAEL ZALMAN v. Pv Holding Corp, Joseph Acampora AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LELAND ACAMPORATorts - Motor Vehicle document preview
  • Paul Weingart, Debra Berley AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF WOODY MICHAEL ZALMAN v. Pv Holding Corp, Joseph Acampora AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LELAND ACAMPORATorts - Motor Vehicle document preview
  • Paul Weingart, Debra Berley AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF WOODY MICHAEL ZALMAN v. Pv Holding Corp, Joseph Acampora AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LELAND ACAMPORATorts - Motor Vehicle document preview
  • Paul Weingart, Debra Berley AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF WOODY MICHAEL ZALMAN v. Pv Holding Corp, Joseph Acampora AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LELAND ACAMPORATorts - Motor Vehicle document preview
  • Paul Weingart, Debra Berley AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF WOODY MICHAEL ZALMAN v. Pv Holding Corp, Joseph Acampora AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LELAND ACAMPORATorts - Motor Vehicle document preview
  • Paul Weingart, Debra Berley AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF WOODY MICHAEL ZALMAN v. Pv Holding Corp, Joseph Acampora AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LELAND ACAMPORATorts - Motor Vehicle document preview
  • Paul Weingart, Debra Berley AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF WOODY MICHAEL ZALMAN v. Pv Holding Corp, Joseph Acampora AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LELAND ACAMPORATorts - Motor Vehicle document preview
						
                                

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FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 47 1 Paul Weingart 2 you remember? 3 A. This was just a lot -- I 4 think it was just a lot of memory 5 exercises. Just memory exercises and 6 spelling. 7 Q. That was in St. Charles that 8 you saw the speech therapist, correct? 9 A. I believe so, yes. 10 Q. After you were released from 11 St. Charles, did you have any treatment 12 from any speech therapist? -- think was just 13 A. I had I it 14 occupational and physical therapies and 15 , home care. I don't remember if they did 16 speech therapy there, as well. 17 Q. Where? 18 A. At my house. I had home 19 care for about a month, as well. 20 Q. Which home care agency? 21 A. I think it was Catholic 22 Health Services. 23 Q. How often would the home 24 care come? 25 A. I think three times a week. Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 48 1 Paul Weingart 2 Q. When you left the hospital, 3 did you have any type of cast on any 4 portion of your body, casting or 5 immobilization? 6 A. Yeah. I had -- 7 MR. FELBERBAUM: You're 8 about Brook9 talking Stony 9 MR. PUZO: After he left the 10 hospital, Stony Brook Hospital. 11 MR. FELBERBAUM: Okay. 12 A. I was transferred in an 13 ambulance to St. Charles. That was -- I 14 believe that was via wheelchair. I mean, 15 I had braces on my leg, my foot, my 16 wrist, my neck. And there might be 17 others I'm not thinking of right now. 18 Q. What I'm asking is, your 19 left arm, was that immobilized through a 20 cast or some other brace or device? 21 A. I believe it was in a brace, 22 i yes. I had a special, I guess, molded 23 plastic that was molded to my hand. 24 Q. Did you have something 25 similar on your left leg? Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 49 1 Paul Weingart 2 A. I had something, I believe, 3 on my knee and on my foot. 4 Q. Your height and weight, was 5 it about the same before the accident as 6 it is now? 7 A. I gained about 30 pounds 8 after the accident, mostly just due to not as active as I was at all -- 9 being 10 Q. Okay. A. -- kind of bedridden. 11 12 Q. And so you're still 30 13 pounds heavier now than you had been 14 before? 15 A. I managed to lose some of 16 the weight. 17 Q. After you got out of 18 St. Charles, were you able to walk with 19 the assistance of a walker, cane, 20 crutches, or were you still in a 21 wheelchair? 22 A. I was in the wheelchair for 23 some time. 24 The way my house was set up, 25 I could only really navigate between a Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 50 1 Paul Weingart 2 couple of rooms. I would have to do a 3 1 transfer sometimes to the walker, which 4 , was very hard to use for me, mostly 5 because with the walker you typically use 6 both hands. I was only able to use one 7 hand. 8 So I had my arm hoisted up 9 on, I guess, a pad (indicating). So I 10 was using a walker with one hand and one 11 leg hopping over to the bathroom, where I 12 had a separate toilet that I used for 13 assistance, and then the shower where I 14 also had this bench. 15 MR. FELBERBAUM: He's 16 indicating the left arm. 17 MR. PUZO: Correct. 18 Q. After you were discharged 19 from St. Charles, did you go back to 20 Stony Brook for follow-up visits? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. How many months would you 23 say you went back to Stony Brook to be 24 evaluated and take a look at everything 25 that was going on? Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 51 1 Paul Weingart 2 A. From the same doctors or -- 3 Q. No. Just Stony Brook 4 Hospital. 5 A. I didn't go back to the 6 hospital. 7 Q. Okay. 8 1 A. But I went to continue visit 9 . the doctors who saw me and treated me in 10 their offices. Some were on Stony Brook 11 or were part of the Stony Brook 12 University Medical Center. 13 Q. And Dr. Divaris, is he one 14 of them? 15 A. Yes. I saw him just a week 16 ago. 17 Q. Did he perform surgery on 18 your leg, if you know? 19 A. I don't recall, but I 20 1 believe he did. 21 Q. Did he also do the surgery 22 for your wrist? 23 A. No. I believe that was 24 Dr. Gelfand. 25 Q. How about the carpal tunnel, Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 52 1 Paul Weingart 2 i was that Dr. Gelfand or someone else? 3 A. I believe so. 4 Q. So Gelfand did the left arm 5 and the left wrist? 6 A. I believe so. 7 Q. Is Dr. Gelfand with Long 8 Island Bone and Joint, do you know? 9 A. I don't believe so. I think 10 that's Dr. Rena you're thinking of. 11 MR. FELBERBAUM: I think, if 12 you want me to give it to you -- 13 MR. PUZO: Yes. 14 MR. FELBERBAUM: -- it's 15 Stony Brook Surgical of East 16 Setauket. 17 Q. Is Dr. Divaris in the same 18 group as Dr. Gelfand? 19 A. Their offices are located in 20 the same area. I'm not sure if they're 21 part of the same group. 22 Q. Fair enough. 23 Did you begin treating at 24 Long Island Bone and Joint, as well? 25 A. Yes. Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-40.40 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 53 1 Paul Weingart 2 Q. And was that mainly for your 3 neck and back situation or -- 4 A. Yes. I'm pretty sure. I 5 might get -- there are so I many doctors, 6 might get the offices mixed around here 7 and there. But I believe that was 8 Dr. Rena for my neck and back. 9 1 Q. R-E-I-N-A? 10 A. I think it's R-E-N-A. 11 Q. We're talking about three 12 separate doctors, Dr. Divaris, 13 Dr. Gelfand and Dr. Rena, correct? 14 A. Yes. There was also 15 Dr. Ryan who worked with Gelfand. And 16 then Gelfand ended up moving his 17 practice. So I ended up seeing 18 Dr. Gantz, G-A-N-T-Z, who took his place. 19 Q. Were they treating you with 20 regard to your left arm and wrist? 21 A. Dr. Gelfand, Dr. Ryan and 22 Dr. Gantz was all left wrist. 23 Q. And Dr. Divaris was more 24 looking at the leg? 25 A. Yes. That's correct. My Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 54 1 1 Paul Weingart 2 left foot and left leg. 3 Q. And Dr. Rena was more of the 4 neck and back? 5 A. That's correct. 6 Q. Did you also have physical 7 therapy at some other location? 8 A. I did. 9 Q. Where was that? 10 A. I went to physical therapy 11 at Kings Park Physical Therapy, Main 12 Street Physical Therapy. That was with 13 Bob Triano. 14 Q. When you went to physical 15 therapy at Main Street Physical Therapy 16 in Kings Park, what portions of your body 17 did they perform physical therapy on? 18 A. My left foot, my left leg, 19 and my left wrist. 20 Q. In terms of how the medical 21 bills were paid, did you have health 22 insurance or health insurance through 23 your employer? 24 A. I do not have health 25 insurance through my employer. Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 55 1 Paul Weingart 2 Q. Do you have health 3 insurance? 4 A. I do. 5 Q. Who do you have that with? 6 A. That was with Oscar at the 7 time. 8 Q. What's Oscar? 9 A. It's a health insurance 10 company. 11 Q. Okay. 12 A. And I bought it myself. 13 Q. Were medical bills submitted 14 to Oscar? 15 A. I believe some were, yes. 16 MR. PUZO: Off the record. 17 (A discussion was held off 18 I the record.) 19 Q. Physical therapy, when did 20 you go? During what period of time did 21 you go? 22 A. I started physical 23 -- therapy 24 Q. I should specify, at Main 25 Street Physical Therapy in Kings Park. Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 56 1 Paul Weingart 2 A. I started physical therapy 3 at Main Street Physical Therapy in Kings 4 Park in April, I want to say. 5 Q. 2016? 6 A. Correct. 7 Q. How long did you go for; how 8 many months? 9 A. I went for two months for 10 sure, and then I started working again 11 and I would go back whenever I was home. 12 Q. The initial two months, how 13 many times did you go per week? 14 A. Three times per week. 15 Q. And then after that more 16 sporadically? 17 A. Yes. That's correct. 18 Q. What type of therapy, 19 specifically, did they do for you? 20 A. It was hand therapy. 21 Q. I mean what did they do? 22 How did they do the hand therapy? Did 23 they move it, manipulate it, put stuff on 24 it? 25 A. They would move it. They Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 57 1 Paul Weingart 2 would manipulate it. And I think it's 3 called mold device. I'm not sure if 4 that's correct. 5 Q. You stick your hand in 6 something? 7 A. The same thing. I didn't 8 stick my hand in anything. But yes, like 9 the warming or cooling or what have you. 10 There was various exercise, 11 twisting and movement, range of motion 12 exercises that I would have to do. And I 13 would take them home with me to complete 14 multiple times a day, especially when I 15 wasn't going to physical therapy. 16 I was very adamant about 17 this in trying to get better, as best I 18 could. 19 In addition to the wrist 20 there was also strengthening activities 21 that I would do with my leg and my foot, 22 as well. And same type of situation 23 where they worked on range of motion and 24 strengthening. 25 Q. Did you have any therapy for Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 58 1 Paul Weingart 2 your neck or back at Main Street Physical 3 Therapists in Kings Park? 4 A. I didn't. 5 Q. Any of these places perform 6 any type of therapy for your neck or your 7 back? 8 A. No. 9 Q. No chiropractic treatment I 10 imagine? 11 A. No. 12 Q. Leland Acampora and Woody 13 Zalman, these two people you knew for how 14 long? 15 A. I knew Woody since I was in 16 kindergarten, and Leland I met in middle 17 school. 18 Q. Did Leland move away from 19 Long Island at some point? 20 A. He did. 21 Q. When was that? 22 A. I don't know the exact time, 23 but he moved to California at some point 24 after I graduated from college. 25 Q. What college did you go to? Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 59 1 Paul Weingart 2 A. I went to University of 3 Buffalo. 4 Q. When did you graduate? 5 A. 2011. 6 Q. What did you study? 7 A. Media study, production. 8 Q. Leland Acampora, what type 9 of work was he doing, if you know? 10 A. I don't know. 11 Q. Did he go to college? What 12 did he do? 13 A. I don't believe he went to 14 college. But I'm not sure. I know he 15 was some -- he told me in doing something 16 firefighting or some type of outdoor 17 stuff. That was basically the gist of 18 it. 19 Q. Did you keep in contact with 20 him in the year or two previous to this 21 accident? 22 A. Randomly. 23 Q. Nothing regularly? 24 A. No. 25 Q. When was the last time you Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 60 1 Paul Weingart 2 had seen him before February 2nd, 2016? 3 A. I'm not sure. Probably 4 months to a year prior. 5 Q. Would that have been on 6 another occasion where he came back to 7 Long Island? 8 A. I did visit him in 9 California once. It was some point after 10 maybe a year or two. He was there for a 11 while and I came to visit him. 12 Q. Okay. 13 A. It was for -- I think it was 14 friend's Thanksgiving. And then I did a 15 road trip down to the Pacific Coast 16 Highway and met another friend down you 17 in LA. 18 Q. How would you describe your 19 relationship with Leland? How close were 20 you basically? 21 A. We talked. We drifted apart 22 in high school. And then I didn't really 23 talk to him through college. Maybe like 24 one of the last years in college I 25 started talking to him again. Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 61 1 Paul Weingart 2 I believe that's when his 3 mother passed away. And then he moved 4 away and we just kept in contact 5 randomly. Mostly talking about music. 6 We were both into music a lot. 7 Q. How about Woody Zalman, 8 where was he living just before this 9 incident happened? 10 A. Woody was working in China, 11 and he was back, I think he needed to 12 come back to the States to get his visa 13 renewed for China. 14 Q. How would you describe your 15 relationship with him? 16 A. I knew Woody well. We 17 weren't the closest of friends, but I 18 knew him fairly well. 19 Q. When was the last time he 20 was on Long Island before these events? 21 A. I don't know. I'm sorry. 22 Q. How long was he away in 23 China for? 24 A. It seemed like a while. It 25 seemed like almost a year. But again, Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 62 1 Paul Weingart 2 I'm not sure of the exact time frames. 3 Q. What type of work was he 4 doing in China, if you know? 5 A. He started to go there, I 6 believe it was to teach English. And 7 then he wound up doing import/export for 8 like a Japanese meat, I think. I think 9 that's what it was. 10 Q. Did he go to college? 11 A. Yes, he did. 12 Q. Where did he go? 13 A. University of Vermont. 14 Q. Graduate, if you know? 15 A. I believe he did. 16 Q. Did either of these two 17 individuals have a wife or a family or 18 kids? 19 A. They did not have kids. 20 They both had girlfriends. 21 Q. When was the last time the 22 three of you were together before the 23 date this accident happened? 24 A. I don't know. 25 Q. Was it months, years, weeks? Veritext Legal Solutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 63 1 : Paul Weingart 2 t A. I don't know, honestly. 3 Q. Who was the closer friend? 4 Was it like you and someone else and then 5 the third guy came later, or who was 6 closer, if you know? 7 A. I don't know. I'm sorry. 8 Q. There was a point in time on 9 the evening of the incident the three of 10 you were together. You had mentioned 11 earlier that you were picked up from your 12 home? 13 A. Correct. 14 Q. What do you recall about the 15 arrangements that were made for that 16 night to get together? 17 A. It was Woody and Lee in the 18 car. They came to pick me up. I got in 19 the car. We talked about in my driveway 20 hey, what do you guys want to do. Let's 21 go get some food, maybe a drink. 22 I mentioned to Lee, I told 23 him that Uber was around town. They just 24 came to Long Island. So if you guys 25 wanted to go out and get drinks that we VeritextLegalSolutions 800-567-8658 973-410-4040 FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 27 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/27/2020 Page 64 1 Paul Weingart 2 could always use that as a safe ride, and 3 I'd go grab your car in the morning if 4 need be. 5 And Woody agreed. He said 6 he could stay at his house, vice versa. 7 And so started the night off just going 8 for some food and having a drink. 9 -- excuse me -- Leland was the Woody 10 designated driver. 11 Q. And where was Leland staying 12 while he was in from California? 13 A. I'm not sure. Sometimes he 14 would stay with his grandparents. Other 15 times he didn't want to intrude on them 16 and so he would