Michael Maggiano Esq. - Fort Lee, NJ

Michael Maggiano, the founder and senior partner of Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi, has specialized in all areas of motor vehicle collisions from auto to trucking and bus accidents as well as train wrecks for over 45 years now! He has worked as part of the trial team in the largest construction accident case in New Jersey and perhaps U.S. history. He was counsel in the In re Amtrak Train Disaster of 2015. He has handled high profile cases around the country in all areas from inadequate motel and hotel security cases, to mishandling of bodies and medical malpractice, achieving seven and eight-figure recoveries routinely. He was awarded the New Jersey Association for Justice Gold Medal Award. Received the Professor Clapp Lecturer Laureate by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal education. Received the “Mel” Award for achievements in Civil Litigation by the Melvin M. Belli Society. Received a Life Time Achievement Award from Chicago Kent College of Law as one of the most highly recognized alumni in its one hundred and twenty-five year history. He has been called in as lead trial counsel by many lawyers around the country as he is known to be able to try any type of personal injury successfully and has the documented track record to prove it. He is widely acknowledged by his peers as one of the top trial lawyers in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. He has tried cases throughout this area as well as various other states of the United States.

Maggiano is licensed to practice law before all State and Federal Courts in New Jersey and New York. He is also licensed to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States Certified as a civil trial attorney by the Supreme Court of New Jersey and the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

Maggiano’s education includes a Bachelor of Science Economics from Fairleigh Dickenson Univirsity in 1970. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor with Honors in 1974 from IIT-Chicago Kent College of Law with a class rank of 17 in a class of 160.

As far as public appearances go, Maggiano has spoken at dozens of conventions and seminars around the country on legal topics and continues to do so actively. His topics range from the intricacies of legal techniques and strategies to specialized medical situations. He has appeared on both local and national television on various topics in the law. His cases and trials have been reported both in the general media and legal reporting journals. He has also had dozens of his articles published about winning for the injured in leading legal journals.

Maggiano is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and an Advocate Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is a past President of the New Jersey Association for Justice and the Melvin M. Belli Society, which is a highly select society of trial lawyers and barristers with notable members throughout the world.

Rival attorneys speak on behalf of Maggiano and say that he consistently displays a depth of knowledge and understanding of medical and complex legal issues that make him an effective force in any courtroom. Known for his thoroughness and exacting approach, Maggiano has achieved a string of seven and eight-figure verdicts and settlements for clients, some of the survivors of those who had given their lives for someone’s negligence.

Founded in the late 1940s and incorporated in 1976, the New Jersey Association for Justice (NJAJ) is headquartered in Trenton, New Jersey. NJAJ is a statewide association of over 2,700 members in private practice and public service, paralegals, law clerks, law students, and law school graduates not yet admitted to the bar. NJAJ is dedicated to protecting New Jersey’s families by working to preserve and strengthen the laws for safer products and workplaces, a cleaner environment and quality health care.

In 1989, Michael Maggiano was voted President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, New Jersey Affiliate. With a vision for the association to advocate for the rights of so many injury victims without a voice in Trenton, Mr. Maggiano raised funds to move the association offices to State Street in Trenton, appoint a full-time lobbyist and create one of the most influential consumer advocate groups in the state through NJAJ PAC.

Over the years, Mr. Maggiano has testified and advocated in both assembly and senate hearings on legislation impacting on the rights of consumers and the injured. Mr. Maggiano has been active over the years on national issues, as well as a staunch supporter of the American Association for Justice Leaders Forum. The American Association for Justice’s (AAJ) Leaders Forum is a dynamic group of member firms that help the AAJ fulfill its mission every day. Leaders Forum firms support the AAJ’s work to protect the civil justice system by providing the resources necessary to inform the public and educate members of Congress on dozens of issues crucial to individuals and families, such as forced arbitration, limits on justice for devastating and debilitating injuries, medical negligence, inadequate insurance minimums, environmental toxins, and accountability for dangerous and deadly products.

The AAJ Leaders Forum level of support is vital to the American Association for Justice. The commitment of such firms as Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi means that the association can pursue its vibrant and effective efforts to protect the civil justice system.

The association established the Leaders Forum more than a decade ago to ensure that every person has access to justice, even when up against the most powerful corporate interests. Leaders Forum firms such as Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi PC make a difference, enabling the association to communicate its message of accountability and protect every American’s right to the Seventh Amendment.

Mr. Maggiano has spoken throughout the United States for the rights of injury victims who, without such a voice, would never be heard in Congress or the Halls of Justice.

The following provides more details about the numbers awards, honors, distinctions and recognitions Michael Maggiano has received throughout his illustrious legal career.

Case Results

Maggiano and partner, Christopher DiGirolamo were co-counsel with the Plaintiffs’ Trial Team in the In Re Tropicana Garage Collapse Litigation that brought a $101,000,000.00 recovery to the workers and families of workers injured and killed in one of the nation’s largest construction disasters. Other case results include…

$1,125,000.00 to man assaulted by employee of a Banquet facility suffering laceration to face, fractures to leg and wrist, followed by an episode of deep vein thrombosis during recovery and a pulmonary embolism treated with medication. Client was a Operating Room Tech and suffered six months of disability and reduced work hours in the OR because of chronic leg pain.

$1,875,000.00 to woman suffering neck and back injuries in an automobile collision losing her opportunity to start a career as a chef. During surgery to her cervical she suffered an injury to her vocal cord impairing her ability to speak and swallow causing her to speak in a raspy voice.

$600,000.00 to 65 year old educator who tripped and fell on public sidewalk suffering a Closed head injury, shoulder, neck and back injuries causing her to take her retirement from her career and lost her confidence in driving and venturing outside the house without the company of her husband.

$10,000,000 • Motor Vehicle Accident …to a government worker on assignment in South Africa who was thrown from the vehicle he was riding as a passenger and alleged to have not been wearing his seatbelt which resulted in severe brain injury causing significant disability in the use of his legs and hands as well as visual impairment. We were able to argue that the use of a seatbelt in the facts of this case would have resulted in similarly severe if not worse injuries and perhaps death.

$7,000,000 • Motor Vehicle Crash …to a 23-year-old alleged to have been running across a four-lane highway in the middle of a block and against a green light when struck by an oncoming motorist. She suffered brain injury resulting in severe cognitive and motor impairment and a speech defect, leaving her totally disabled and dependent on caregivers.

$6,200,000 • Motor Vehicle Crash …to a commercial truck driver who was struck by another truck driver while pulled off on the side of the road, resulting in disabling brain injury.

$5,500,000 • Inadequate Security …Gunshot wounds to the abdomen and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to a room invasion in a motel

$4,500,000 • Personal Injury …Closed Head Injury and PTSD in a train wreck.

$3,350,000 • Burn Injury …to a young woman who in 2000 suffered severe burn injuries when the car she was riding in ignited in flames following a rear-end impact caused by a drunk driver. Learn more about how MDL handled this case.

$2,500,000 • Motor Vehicle Crash …for a 23-year old waitress who was when riding as a back seat passenger of a drunken driver. She suffered injuries when her host driver crashed into the rear of a stopped tractor-trailer parked on an approach ramp to a bridge due to a flat tire.

$2,500,000 • Motor Vehicle Crash …to a middle-aged tax preparer injured when a New Jersey Transit Bus struck his car in the rear after exiting the Lincoln Tunnel requiring two back surgeries following diagnoses of aggravation of pre-existing stenosis and a herniated disc leaving him permanently disabled from his career and in need of Life Care Plan.

$1,900,000 • Motor Vehicle Crash …Closed Head Injury in a car rollover.

$1,700,000 • Motor Vehicle Crash …for a 50-year old housewife injured when her car was hit in the rear while stopped a traffic light.

$1,170,000 • Motor Vehicle Crash …for an elderly couple suffering multiple injuries in an auto accident and aggravated by injuries suffered a few months later in a subsequent auto accident.

$1,061,392 • Motor Vehicle Crash …to a 42-year old truck operator and auto mechanic who suffered ulnar neuropathy, bulging lumbar disc, torn meniscus right knee, and post-traumatic stress disorder when he was struck by a tow truck backing up during a job thereby ending his two occupational careers.

$1,061,392 • Motor Vehicle Crash …to a 42-year old truck operator and auto mechanic who suffered ulnar neuropathy, bulging lumbar disc, torn meniscus right knee, and post-traumatic stress disorder when he was struck by a tow truck backing up during a job thereby ending his two occupational careers.

$10,000,000 • Medical Negligence …to a middle-aged widow suffering spastic quadriplegia, partial blindness, and brain injury as a result of the failure to diagnose a pulmonary embolism following a knee replacement procedure. To read more about this case click here.

$3,350,000 • Medical Negligence …to an automobile accident victim whose brain injury was undiagnosed by the emergency room physician. Subsequent emergency surgery failed to prevent significant brain damage which required prolonged rehabilitation and cognitive therapy and requires the assistance of a walker.

$2,900,000 • Medical Negligence …to a diabetic male who suffered significant visual impairment following pancreas transplant surgery. Maggiano argued that the surgery carried substantial risks and was not necessary as the patient would have been served well with an insulin pump and avoided the risks and injury suffered.

$2,000,000 • Medical Negligence …to a young man who in his senior year of high school football, after undergoing a surgical rod repair of a displaced tibia/fibular fracture, was the victim of medical negligence by the late diagnosis of a known complication of the surgery known as compartment syndrome, resulting in the loss of all tendons and muscle of his calf as well as osteomyelitis.

$1,500,000 • Medical Negligence …to a gastric bypass patient who suffered serious complications of a gastric leak which was not timely diagnosed.

$1,500,000 • Medical Negligence …to the three surviving adult children of a high school vice-principal who suffered a late diagnosis of an Abdominal Aortic Dissection which caused the patient to code on administration of anesthesia during emergency surgery once the diagnosis was finally made, which left him with a severe anoxia causing substantial brain injury and eventual death.

$900,000 • Medical Negligence …to two children of a 35-year-old woman who suffered cardiac arrest under anesthesia due to failure to diagnose congestive heart failure by her treating physicians and the anesthesiologist, all of whom cleared her for gall stone surgery despite signs pointing to an underlying heart condition.

$1.5 Million • Medical Malpractice …to an 85-year-old widower for the loss of his 65-year-old wife due to severe injury of the popliteal artery and vein of the leg during left total knee replacement surgery causing massive loss of blood resulting in shock, liver and acute renal failure with resultant metabolic acidosis.

$850,000 • Medical Negligence …to a 54-year-old salesman for foot disability due to unnecessary tarsal tunnel surgery by the podiatrist.

$600,000 • Medical Negligence …to a middle-aged single woman who suffered dislodgement of dentures into the throat during an oral medical procedure. Medical and nursing staff failed to remove the partial removable denture and not releasing the denture that was dislodged during the procedure.

$600,000 • Medical Negligence …to a man suffering severe aggravation of Tourette’s syndrome and nerve damage when a nurse negligently injected demerol into his radial nerve rather than his deltoid muscle following surgery.

$500,000 • Medical Malpractice …to a young man who while unconscious following pilonidal cyst surgery was caused to fall from operating table while unconscious, suffering tears of his labrum resulting in termination of his high school sports.

$500,000 • Medical Negligence …to the mother and father of an adult female daughter who died following a plane flight of a pulmonary embolism from taking of birth control pills prescribed even though her chart was red-flagged against birth control pills. We contended that this needless death, this loss of a young life was a family loss and the result of system errors brought about by failures in the system of the defendant’s medical practice due to simple management carelessness. This was a serious preventable adverse event.

$3,200,000 • Construction Accident …to a 35-year-old ironworker who fell from a steel frame building under construction due to the failure of the general contractor to provide a safe workplace which included supervision for the use of safety equipment and guide wires.

$2,600,000 • Construction Accident …to widow and child of a deceased dock builder injured during a pile driving operation. Defendant Developer and General Contractor placed blame on employer of a deceased worker who could not be sued because of the Worker Compensation Statute that says you can not sue your employer. We proved that even though the employer was negligent, the Developer and GC had to primary duty of safety on the job site to protect all workers from the cost-cutting unsafe practices of their employers.

$800,000 • Workplace Safety …to an electrician who suffered flash burns when he plugged in a meter to read the electric usage of a shopping mall tenant