Dennis Bellovin specializes in the representation of children who have suffered significant health problems as a result of lead paint poisoning. Some of the lead paint settlements Mr. Bellovin has won for our clients are among the highest in the State. He also handles other serious personal injury matters including construction and automobile accidents.
Recent Cases
• Settled a lead poisoning case for $2,250,000 in Bronx County involving a child who was two years old when he was diagnosed with a high lead level. Our office was retained to handle this matter after the child had already turned eighteen years of age. Inasmuch as the building involved was owned by The City of New York, we had to first make a successful application to the Court to serve a late Notice of Claim. He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and had difficulty in school in Virginia which is where he moved at a young age.
• Settlement of $850,000 on behalf of a boy in the Bronx who was two years old when diagnosed with an elevated blood lead level. There was a significant issue raised by the defendant - building owner as to whether the lead exposure was from the child’s apartment since the health department only issued one violation. The infant was experiencing speech delays.
• A construction accident case pending in Queens County was settled for $3,750,000 on behalf of a 33 year old man. He was injured when a cinder block wall that had been erected fell on his right foot causing a severe crush injury that eventually led to an amputation of most of his right foot. The defendants were the owner of the building, the general contractor and the masonry contractor.
• A Labor Law case pending in Nassau County was settled for $1,310,000. The 33 year old plaintiff was a painter who was on a ladder which slid and fell to the ground causing him to fracture both wrists, his nose and sustain a serious facial laceration. He had surgery on both wrists and his nose.
• Settlement in the sum of $2.6 million was reached for a 42 year old man and his wife as a result of the plaintiff’s fall from the roof of a building under construction due to the lack of appropriate safety devices. The plaintiff was rendered a quadriplegic. The case was pending in Nassau County. This case presented a great challenge since the defendant-property owner was not insured. The settlement was paid by the third party defendant - employer due to the grave injury sustained by the plaintiff but only after it was demonstrated that the uninsured property owner had significant assets that could be attached if a judgment was obtained against it.
Public Action
A 1974 graduate of Hofstra University Law School, Mr. Bellovin was admitted to the State Bar of New York in 1975, and has been practicing personal injury law for more than 30 years. He is admitted to practice before the state bars of Florida (1982) and New Jersey (1984).
He is admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York as well as the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He is a member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, and has served as a director of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association.
