Stephen James Murphy

Personal Injury Attorney with Top Results – 3 of the 5 Highest Settlements in NY State for 2016
Stephen J. Murphy began handling civil cases for plaintiffs in March of 2005 with the firm of Block & O’Toole after a successful career as a Brooklyn Homicide Prosecutor. Mr. Murphy has always been a lawyer who has a reputation for being fearless and his courtroom skills have consistently set him apart from other lawyers. 
Mr. Murphy handles a wide range of cases including labor law and construction accidents, tractor trailer and truck collisions, wrongful death, premises liability, medical malpractice and motor vehicle cases.
With 12 years in civil practice and 20 years overall as a trial attorney, Mr. Murphy has an extremely impressive body of work, regularly returning verdicts and settlements in excess of a million dollars. He has amassed over $250,000,000 in results for his clients during that time period, including well over $40,000,000 in settlements every year from 2013 to 2016. As a result, lawyers throughout New York State refer their most serious cases to Mr. Murphy and his firm.
2016 . . .  3 of Top 5 Largest Results in New York State!
Mr. Murphy was the lead trial lawyer on the 2nd ($9,975,000), 3rd ($7,400,000) and 5th ($5,500,000) largest settlements in the entire state of New York for 2016, according to the  New York Law Journal  and the  Jury Verdict Reporter .  The publication also recognized Murphy for posting the 10th and the 18th largest settlements in the state.  Murphy had more reported million dollar results in 2016 than any other attorney in New York State.
[Read about the 2016 Successes:   http://nylawyer.nylj.com/adgifs/specials/2016-1214SS-TopSettlements/2016-1214SS-TopSettlements.html ]
‘The Good Samaritan Case’
Mr. Murphy, along with his colleague Daniel O’Toole, persuaded a Suffolk County jury to return a record-setting verdict of $32,756,156 on behalf of a 60 year-old man in a traumatic brain injury case. The verdict, covered extensively by the local media, is the largest negligence verdict ever in Long Island and was featured in a cable television documentary entitled “The Good Samaritan.” In addition, the result was also recognized by the New York Law Journal as the second highest negligence verdict in New York State for 2007 and one of the top 100 verdicts that year for the entire United States.
‘10th Largest Settlement in 2014 for the Entire United States’
Mr. Murphy and his partner David Scher were able to recover $8,800,000 for a female pedestrian who sustained neurologic and orthopedic injuries in a collision. The landmark result was hailed by the ‘National Law Journal’ as the 10th highest settlement in the entire country for 2014. It also was the 4th largest settlement in New York State during 2014. This marks the 3rd time in seven years, and second year in a row, that one of Mr. Murphy’s results was included among the top 50 results in the entire country by the ‘National Law Journal.’
Three of the Top 25 Results in All of New York State in 2015
Mr. Murphy was the lead lawyer on three different cases which were recognized by the New York Law Journal in their Top 25 Settlements for the 2015 year. The results that appeared in the New York Law Journal included the #5 Settlement ($7,525,000), the #13 Settlement ($4,600,000) and, finally, the #25 Settlement ($3,200,000) in all of New York State. Mr. Murphy was the only attorney in New York State who appeared in the Top 25 Results on three separate cases.
Other Notable Results:
Mr. Murphy has successfully negotiated a $15,500,000 settlement for a client who sustained a traumatic brain injury. He also was able to persuade two insurance carriers to pay $9,950,000 to avoid a trial in Buffalo in a case where a young woman sustained an above-the-knee amputation. Mr. Murphy recovered $7,500,000 from the City of New York in a pedestrian accident case. He also was able to persuade an insurance company to pay his client, a union sheet metal worker, $7,400,000 on the eve of trial for back injuries he sustained in a construction site fall. Mr. Murphy has long been a fierce advocate on behalf of construction workers and their families. In another construction case, he fought and recovererd $5,500,000 for an injured electrician who sustained a brain injury after falling from an extension ladder. Recently, Mr. Murphy was able to successfully negotiate a $7,525,000 settlement for a family after a devastating accident where a mother and a 7 year-old boy were killed and a $9,950,000 settlement for an upstate woman who lost her leg in a work accident.
In Queens County, Mr. Murphy recently convinced a jury to return a verdict of $5,585,000 for an undocumented worker who sustained back and wrist injuries in a construction accident. He also convinced a large insurance company to pay $4,600,000 out of $5,000,000 in insurance coverage for an injured Rigger who sustained neck and back injuries. Mr. Murphy also secured $3,925,000 for an injured worker that tried to help a truck driver who was stuck at a railroad crossing. The truck was struck by a locomotive while the plaintiff was trying to assist the truck driver, resulting in serious orthopedic injuries to the plaintiff. This result was also listed by the ‘National Law Journal’ as one of the Top 50 Settlements in the United States in 2013.