Garvey, Robert F.

Rudolf B. Radna has been an associate attorney at the Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C. since March 6, 2003. His responsibilities include preparing and responding to motions for summary judgment. A motion is a written request to a court. A summary judgment is a way of winning a case without a jury trial.
During his time at the Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C., Mr. Radna, in conjunction with the efforts of other attorneys at the Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C. successfully defeated several defense motions for summary judgment. He also, in conjunction with the efforts of other attorneys at the Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C., successfully obtained summary judgment for the firms' clients several times.

In addition, Mr. Radna has been involved with other types of motions, including defense motions following a jury trial seeking to retry the case unless the verdict was reduced. He has also worked on appeals, which is a proceeding to a higher level court asking it to change a lower level court's decision.

In one post-trial motion to reduce a verdict in excess of $10 million dollars or grant a new trial, it was Mr. Radna's responsibility to assist in the research and writing of the papers in opposition to the defendants' motion. These efforts were ultimately successful in negotiating a settlement that was favorable to the client.

In another case that was on the eve of trial, the defendants attempted to introduce a new argument concerning an immunity from suit due to New York's Workers' Compensation Law. Mr. Radna found the critical prior case that supported the trial court's decision not to permit the defense to introduce this argument at trial, since to do so would have been unfair, since this theory had not been previously addressed, and there was no opportunity to investigate it. This also led to a settlement that was beneficial to the client.

In another case involving a ladder accident, the defense sought to introduce videotape and photographs of a ladder at trial to attempt to show that it was the client's own fault that he had been injured. Mr. Radna assisted in preparing a motion to prevent these photographs from becoming evidence at trial, on the basis, among others, that there was no evidence that they were an accurate representation of the conditions surrounding the client's accident. This also led to a settlement that was beneficial to the client.

In another case where the client had been awarded summary judgment, the defendants appealed, claiming that because of various circumstances surrounding the accident, that the summary judgment should not have been granted. Mr. Radna assisted in opposing this appeal, which opposition was successful in maintaining the summary judgment. This led to a settlement that was beneficial to the client.

Mr. Radna's other responsibilities at the firm include conducting oral examinations prior to trial during depositions, and representing clients at discovery conferences at the court, which is how the investigation of cases is achieved. At one such conference, Mr. Radna noted that the deposition showed that the defendant driver denied being present at the accident and denied that his vehicle was involved; in response to this, Mr. Radna put a demand into the conference order asking for the name and address of a person who was living with the defendant at that time, as that person may have been the driver. Months later, when the defendant asked the court to dismiss the case based upon the defendant's claim that he was not the driver, this demand in the order was useful in showing that the defendant had not provided adequate discovery, and that the case should therefore not be dismissed.

Another project Mr. Radna has been involved with at the Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C. is a computer program that organizes summaries of court decisions, and permits the user to search for key words or phrases within those summaries.

Mr. Radna is a member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, and is a member of three NYSTLA committees, the No-Fault Committee, the Labor Law Committee and the Amicus Committee. He is also a member of the New York County Lawyers Association. He was admitted to practice law in New York State in March, 2002, and graduated from Fordham University School of Law in May, 2001.