Thanks, Carl!
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From: list
To: list
*** Member’s Message ****
Sender: Carl Weinberg
Date: 6/12/2026 8:54:49 AM
Hi Victoria,
Ive tried at least 2-3 cases to verdict before Judge Giacomo.
He is a gentleman and, for the most part, an excellent trial judge who lets lawyers try their cases.
My one qualification to that assessment has to do with his interpretation of hearsay in the sense that he has a propensity to allow what I call the Understanding Exception to the Hearsay Rule because he allowed plaintiffs counsel (Kramer Dillof) to put in their entire case on causation through the infant plaintiffs mother. The following is NOT a quote from a transcript but, just to give you an idea of what I mean, the questioning went something like this:
Q: What caused your childs injuries?
DEFENSE: Objection. Calls for expert opinion.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Q: Did you speak with Dr. ____ about the cause of your childs injuries?
A: Yes.
Q: What did Dr. ____ say was the cause of your childs injuries?
DEFENSE: Objection. Hearsay.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Q: After speaking with Dr. ____, what was your understanding of the cause of your childs injuries?
DEFENSE: Objection. Shes not an expert and any understanding she has is entirely based upon hearsay.
THE COURT: No, hes just asking for her understanding. Overruled.
A: My childs injuries were caused by Defendant doing _______.
The child never testified, of course, nor did she ever appear in court, while the mother was permitted to describe the childs conditions (e.g., difficulty walking without falling) and ascribe causation to the defendant.
Dr. ____s records, of course, did not bear out what the mother said she based her understanding on and the child later appeared at a posttrial proceeding and was merrily skipping around in the hallway before and after the hearing, without displaying any of the difficulties in balance or movement that the mother described.
Obviously, had the mother not been permitted to testify to what she implied were Dr. ____s opinions and the doctor had been required to testify himself, the doctor would have been subject to impeachment based on his records, which the plaintiff mother wasnt.
It was a long time ago and my recollection is admittedly not 100%, but I know the next time I had a trial assigned to him, I had a memorandum of law prepared on the issue, though I never had to use it.
As I said, though, thats one of my very few criticisms of Judge Giacomo, but I still recall it because (IMHO) it quite literally accounted for a plaintiffs verdict in a case that otherwise should have been DVd for lack of evidence on causation.
We subsequently settled the case for a fraction of the verdict so, to my chagrin, the issue was never resolved on appeal.
Best wishes, Carl
Carl D. Weinberg | SCHIAVETTI CORGAN DiEDWARDS WEINBERG & NICHOLSON LLP
711 Westchester Avenue, Suite 406 | White Plains, NY 10604 | www.schiavetti.com
Office: 914-946-0400 (ext. 4237) | Mobile: 914-217-8522 | cweinberg@schiavetti.com
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From: list
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2026 3:05 PM
To: list
Subject: Hon Willima GIacomo-Westchester Supreme
*** Member’s Message ****
Sender: Victoria Lombardi
Date: 6/10/2026 3:01:16 PM
One of my partners ahs been assigned to this judge. Any intel?
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