Bronx Jury Awards $36,398,000 to Injured Immigrant Worker in Hotly Contested Brain Injury Trial

Landmark verdict follows fierce liability dispute, competing medical testimony, and defense claims of unrelated, exaggerated, and overlapping injuries

Bronx, New York — April 2, 2026 — Proner & Proner announced that a Bronx County jury has returned a verdict of $36,398,000 in favor of plaintiff Honorio Rosario‑Silverio in the matter of Honorio Rosario‑Silverio v. PPC Commercial, LLC, et al., tried before the Honorable Wilma Guzman in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Bronx County. The verdict was rendered on February 4, 2026.

The jury awarded a total of $36,398,000, including $5,000,000 for past pain and suffering, $20,000,000 for future pain and suffering, $10,000,000 for future medical expenses, $468,000 for past lost earnings, and $930,000 for future loss of earnings.

The case arose from a serious workplace accident on October 14, 2017, at a Foodtown supermarket in the Parkchester section of the Bronx. Mr. Rosario‑Silverio was working for his employer, a non‑party to the lawsuit, installing a commercial rack refrigeration system in the store’s basement. A metal plate had been placed over the basement stairway to create a makeshift ramp so the heavy refrigeration components could be moved downstairs.

According to the evidence presented at trial, ordinary cooking oil was applied to the ramp so the equipment would slide more easily into the basement. Plaintiff contended that the oil was supplied at the direction of the supermarket owner to speed up the work. While positioned at the top of the ramp to guide the equipment, Mr. Rosario‑Silverio slipped due to oil on his shoes and fell down the incline, suffering serious injuries.

Liability was sharply contested. The defense denied that the supermarket owner was present when the work was performed and insisted that all means and methods were controlled solely by plaintiff’s employer. The defense also offered testimony that Mr. Rosario‑Silverio was injured because he chose to walk up the ramp instead of using the adjacent staircase.

What initially appeared to be a minor injury—Mr. Rosario‑Silverio was treated and discharged from Jacobi Hospital with four stitches to his forearm—developed into a complex catastrophic injury case. Over time, he was diagnosed with significant shoulder and cervical spine injuries requiring surgery and a mild traumatic brain injury.

The defense presented a neurologist and neuroradiologist who claimed that Mr. Rosario‑Silverio had sustained no brain or neck injury, that his examinations were normal, and that he was capable of returning to work.

The case was further complicated by a subsequent accident in 2020, which the defense argued caused overlapping injuries and showed that plaintiff was seeking double recovery. Defendants called the treating orthopedic surgeon from the 2020 accident, who testified that before that incident, Mr. Rosario‑Silverio had reported doing well and having returned to work.

Despite these challenges, the plaintiff’s team presented extensive expert medical evidence linking Mr. Rosario‑Silverio’s traumatic brain and orthopedic injuries to the 2017 fall in the Foodtown basement. Plaintiff’s brain‑injury expert testified that advanced DTI MRI imaging and NeuroQuant analysis objectively confirmed brain trauma and placed Mr. Rosario‑Silverio at increased risk for early dementia. A neuroradiologist corroborated those findings, and plaintiff’s treating cervical spine and shoulder surgeons testified that the surgeries were necessitated by injuries sustained in the 2017 accident, not the later event.

Throughout the trial, the defense repeatedly attacked Mr. Rosario‑Silverio’s credibility, emphasizing that he was undocumented, paid off the books, and had not accurately reported all of his earnings for tax purposes. The defense also argued that any serious injury was limited to the initial laceration to his forearm. Nevertheless, the jury returned the largest premises‑accident personal injury verdicts in Bronx County in more than seven years. It is the largest personal injury verdict in New York on record ever for an individual undocumented immigrant worker.

The case was tried by Mitchell Proner and Daisy Koch of Proner & Proner.

“This verdict reflects the jury’s recognition that serious brain and orthopedic injuries are real and life‑altering, even when defendants try to dismiss them as minor, unrelated, or the product of a later incident,” said Mitchell Proner, trial counsel for the plaintiff. “The defense highlighted his immigration status, his off‑the‑books earnings, and a subsequent accident, but the evidence showed that what happened in that supermarket basement permanently changed Mr. Rosario‑Silverio’s life.”

Proner & Proner continues to represent victims of catastrophic personal injury, traumatic brain injury, construction and workplace accidents, premises liability, and motor vehicle negligence throughout New York.

Media Contact:
Mitchell Proner, mproner@prolaw1.com. (917)751-4926
Proner & Proner

CASE INFORMATION

County of Bronx
Honorio Rosario-Silverio v. PPC Commercial, LLC. and 1489 Food Corp., d/b/a Foodtown Supermarket,
Case No. 31210/2017E