Plaintiffs attorney Leslie McPadden said her client's straight talk, grit and determination in a slip-and-fall case helped cement a $145,000 settlement.

"My client was a go-getter, a hard worker, who put in 70 hours a week or more, and a tough and credible woman," said McPadden, a Waterbury-based solo practitioner. "My strategy was to highlight her and her credibility. Just keep the focus on her. Having the mediator and claim representative hear her story in her New Jersey accent and seeing her mannerism and how this whole thing affected her during the four-hour Zoom mediation made a big difference in the case."

The firsthand account from 62-year-old Fort Lee, New Jersey, resident Phyllis Rosenstein was powerful, and drove the settlement with defendant Lynwood Place LLC, her attorney said.