Practice areas: Personal Injury, Civil Litigation, Medical Malpractice; view more
Licensed in New York since: 2000
Education: Brooklyn Law School
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2020 - 2025 Call today:
917-997-5117
Free Consultation Varcadipane & Pinnisi P.C.
28 Liberty St39th Floor
New York, NY 10005 Visit website
Dawn Marie Pinnisi is a founding member of Varcadipane & Pinnisi P.C., which has law offices in Manhattan and Paramus, New Jersey.
Nationally recognized as one of the top trial attorneys in the country, Ms. Pinnisi has more than two decades of legal experience, and provides unmatched advocacy and support to clients throughout the greater New York City metro area who have suffered serious injuries or lost loved ones due to someone else's negligence or wrongdoing.
Ms. Pinnisi is considered one of New York’s top injury and medical malpractice attorneys, as she has been selected to the Super Lawyers list in 2020.
Over the course of her career representing the rights and entitlements of innocent accident victims and their families, Ms. Pinnisi has recovered millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for those adversely affected by motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, defective products and other preventable tragedies. She has also gained a reputation as a staunch advocate for children victimized by bullying and those who have suffered severe injuries at birth.
Ms. Pinnisi has a track record of substantial verdicts and settlements for her clients, including $3,500,000 recovery for an infant that sustained Erb’s Palsy as a result of a doctor’s malpractice.
Ms. Pinnisi’s law firm has successfully represented many clients involved in business, commercial or contract disputes.
From her success, Ms. Pinnisi has earned a membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and The National Trial Lawyers voted her among the Top Trial Lawyers in the United States. She has also received a Best of the Bar designation along with other top rankings and endorsements from her peers.
A 1996 graduate of St. John's University, Ms. Pinnisi obtained her Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School in 1999. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and she is an active member of The National Trial Lawyers Association and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association as well as other local, state and national legal organizations.
Practice areas
Personal Injury - General: Plaintiff, Civil Litigation: Plaintiff, Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice: Plaintiff, Professional Liability: PlaintiffFocus areas
Animal Bites, Assault, Birth Injury, Brain Injury, Construction Accident, Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury - Plaintiff, Premises Liability - Plaintiff, Slip and Fall, Trucking Accidents, Wrongful Death
- 50% Personal Injury - General: Plaintiff
- 20% Civil Litigation: Plaintiff
- 20% Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice: Plaintiff
- 10% Professional Liability: Plaintiff
First Admitted: 2000, New York
Professional Webpage: https://www.vpattorneys.com/dawn-m-pinnisi
Bar / Professional Activity
- New Jersey State Bar , 1999
- New Jersey State Bar Association , 2025
- New York State Trial Lawyers Association - active member since 2000, 2025
- New York State Bar , 2000
- United States District Court, Eastern District, 2000
- United States District Court, Southern District, 2000
Verdicts / Settlements (Case Results)
- Dawn M. Pinnisi obtains a $2 Million settlement for a New York City car accident victim. The Plaintiff's car was hit in the rear as she was stopped in Manhattan causing neck injuries that ultimately required a cervical fusion surgery. , 2025
- Dawn M. Pinnisi obtains a $5 Million NYC Medical Malpractice Settlement where a surgeon chose not to take the time to do a complete and thorough consultation and instead performed an unnecessary surgery which left a 54 year old man with serious and permanent injuries., 2024
- Dawn M. Pinnisi successfully secured a $1 Million settlement on behalf of the estate of a man who was the victim of medical malpractice and wrongful death at a hospital in New Jersey., 2024
- Dawn M. Pinnisi successfully secured a $2,500,000 settlement on behalf of a Brooklyn home health aide who sustained serious personal injuries. The injuries required two cervical fusions and bilateral shoulder surgery. The incident occurred when the aide was rear-ended by a truck in Newark, New Jersey. The case was litigated in the Essex County Superior Court of New Jersey and reached a settlement prior going to trial in March 2023., 2023
- Dawn M. Pinnisi successfully secured a $3.25 Million settlement on behalf of the estate of a 48-year-old husband and father who was a victim of medical malpractice and wrongful death. Among the allegations in this matter were that the physician’s assistant failed to recognize the signs and symptoms of a cardiac event and failed to act accordingly; and that the medical doctor failed to supervise the physician’s assistant which is a violation of NY law., 2023
- Dawn M. Pinnisi secures a settlement which is expected to pay out over $3.5 million to an infant who sustained Erb’s Palsy as a result of negligent labor and delivery at a Brooklyn hospital., 2018
- Dawn M. Pinnisi obtains a $750,000.00 settlement on behalf of a victim of medical malpractice. In this lawsuit, it was alleged that a general surgeon failed to provide his patient, the plaintiff, with the findings of a CT Scan taken at a Brooklyn, New York hospital causing a significant delay in the diagnosis and treatment of left urothelial cancer. Ms. Pinnisi hired an expert urologist who opined that as a result of the surgeon’s failure, his patient suffered the loss of her left kidney., 2015
- Dawn M. Pinnisi obtains a $1 Million Dollar settlement on behalf of a ten month old infant whose right ring finger was partially amputated by a defective stroller. On May 11, 2010 by the entrance to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, the infant plaintiff’s right ring finger got caught in the defective handlebar hinge of a Kolcraft Contours Option four wheeler stroller, model # ZL005, causing her to sustain a traumatic partial amputation of the finger. Ms. Pinnisi hired an engineer to perform an inspection of the stroller which revealed that the infant plaintiff’s injury was caused by a scissoring mechanism present in the stroller’s handlebar hinge which created two forms of mechanical hazard: a pinch point hazard which results in a crush injury and a shear point hazard which results in a cutting injury, making the stroller unreasonably dangerous and unfit for its intended purpose. The expert engineer opined that had Kolcraft simply put a guard or protective cover over the hinge, the infant plaintiff’s injury would have been prevented. After receiving the engineer’s findings, Ms. Pinnisi immediately contacted the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and obtained a recall of the subject model stroller.http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2012/Strollers-Recalled-by-Kolcraft-Due-to-Fingertip-Amputation-and-Laceration-Hazards/An action was commenced and litigated through to the trial phase. After jury selection, Ms. Pinnisi obtained a $1 million dollar settlement, a portion of which was put into a structured settlement on behalf of the infant that is expected to pay out over $4 million dollars throughout her lifetime., 2015
- Dawn M. Pinnisi obtains a $600,000.00 settlement on behalf of 2 Long Island Railroad Workers who were forced to work in unsafe workplaces. In this lawsuit, it was alleged that the Long Island Railroad failed to provide their employees with a safe place to work in violation of the Federal Employer’s Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.S. §51, et seq. resulting in the carjacking, kidnapping, robbery and assault of one railroad worker and the robbery of another railroad worker, both occurring at the East New York Long Island Railroad station in Brooklyn, New York. Ms. Pinnisi hired a security expert who concluded that the crimes perpetrated against both railroad workers were foreseeable and preventable; that the railroad was on notice that the area of the East New York station was dangerous and located in a crime ridden neighborhood; and that none of even the simplest things used to deter criminal activity, such as better lighting, more personnel, secured parking for employees, surveillance cameras and police presence, were done by the railroad. In the expert’s opinion, the failures of the railroad to have any security system in place whatsoever despite having actual notice of the dangers of the East New York station, proximately caused the incidents and injuries to their employees. As a result of these lawsuits, the Long Island Railroad implemented safety procedures to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future., 2013
Educational Background
- B.A. St. John’s University, Magna Cum Laude
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2020 - 2025
