$2.5 Million Settlement for New Jersey Trash Truck Accident Case

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Top 20 Personal Injury Awards of the Year – Ten Honorable Mentions over $2.5 Million

DOE V. SOLID WASTE SERVICES INC.

trash-hauling company agreed to pay $2.5 million to a motorist injured in a crash with one of its tractor-trailers, settling a suit in Essex County.

[The motorist] was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike near Newark when the truck tried to move from the left to the right lane, hitting the left front of his car. The car struck a guardrail, turned 180 degrees, and lodged under the truck’s trailer.

[The motorist] sued Solid Waste Services Inc. of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and its truck-owning subsidiary J.P. Mascaro & Sons, arguing the truck driver negligently changed lanes when [the victim]’s car was in his blind spot.

[The motorist] suffered severe clavicle and left hip fractures and a ruptured urethra that resulted in incontinence and partial sexual dysfunction. [He] is still employed as an administrator in Jersey City, but has nerve damage in his left foot, which makes walking difficult, said his lawyer, Gabriel Lependorf, of Lependorf & Silverstein, P.C., in Princeton, who was assisted in the case by partner David Silverstein.

The defendants, represented by Stephan Fenster, a partner at Gallo Geffner & Fenster in Paramus, were prepared to contest liability and argue that [the victim] failed to undergo a medical procedure that might have mitigated his incontinence and sexual dysfunction.

The case had been listed for trial. The settlement was reached after two days of mediation with retired superior court judge Edward Seaman.

The defendants had a $1 million policy with Wausau Insurance of Wausau, Wisc., and an excess coverage policy with AIG of New York.

– NEW JERSEY LAW JOURNAL

The firm’s principals, Gabriel R. Lependorf and David E. Silverstein, have each been representing injured victims in the State of New Jersey for over thirty years.

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