Practice Area Category: Truck Accidents
$5.1 million dollar settlement involving a truck accident that caused a wrongful death of a nurse.
While packing up his tools from a job on the side of Route 3 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a 65-year-old electrician’s work van was struck by a tractor-trailer, pushing the van into him and sending him over the nearby guardrail. The electrician hired Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. partner Garry R. Salomon who in turn proved the tractor-trailer driver’s negligence and won the client $3 million dollars from the trucking company.
Before the truck accident, the electrician was fixing the wiring of a billboard near MetLife Stadium. Two white work vans were parked on the shoulder of the highway right before the Hackensack River Bridge as the electrician and his co-workers finished their job. The Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., client claimed that his last memory before the accident was that he was about to open the rear door of the van to get a chain saw. It is his understanding that he was then struck by one of the parked vehicles that were hit by the 18-wheeler.
The defendant tractor-trailer driver claimed that when he saw the vans were stopped, he tried to move to the left. However, due to traffic and cars to his left, he could not move over quickly enough. The defendant driver also claimed that he attempted to slow down or stop his truck, but he eventually skidded into the back of one of the vans. All three workers were pushed over the guardrails.
Due to the crash, the electrician suffered injuries to his left leg, head, right leg, right foot, and chest. In his left leg, he suffered from an open tibia and fibula fracture and grade 2 compartment syndrome. Because of these injuries, the client underwent three operations during his initial hospitalization, a fourth surgery to remove the hardware implanted during the initial surgeries, and a fifth corrective surgery. X-Rays showed that the electrician suffered from a proximal fibula fracture in his right foot, which caused underlying pain and discomfort. The injured electrician also fractured at least one rib.
The fall over the guardrail caused the client to suffer a severe head injury, loss of consciousness, post-concussive syndrome, dysfunction of the left first division of the cranial nerve, and diminished vision. Post-accident, the client continued to suffer numbness and pain in his forehead and headaches.
The client’s economic damages were limited due to his work-life expectancy as he had passed retirement age. The electrician was an active husband, father, and grandfather. He enjoyed riding horses as a hobby. After years of hard work and physical therapy, he achieved his goal—with help from the settlement—to retire with his wife and buy a ranch and a horse in Wyoming.
Because the client was working at the time of the accident, Steven Cohen, the Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., Chairman of the Worker’s Compensation Section, filed an accompanying worker’s compensation claim and successfully handled that case separately.
Do you or someone you know have similar injuries or circumstances to this one? Our dedicated legal team of over 25 attorneys is here to help. Call now for a free case evaluation or reach out online and we’ll call you back.
Medical Term Glossary:
Fibula: the outer and usually smaller of the two bones between the knee and ankle
Fracture: the cracking or breaking of a bone
Tibia: the inner and typically larger of the two bones between the knee and ankle
X-ray: a photograph or digital image of the internal composition of a part of the body
Settlement for electrician injured by tractor trailer accident.
Back and psychological injures as result of tire rolling off rear axle of truck.
Our client was driving on Route 9 when he was rear-ended by a box truck in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The box truck driver hit two other vehicles before he struck the client’s car. Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., Partner Marc C. Saperstein filed suit in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County, alleged that the box truck driver had been negligent in failing to drive safely, and secured our client a $1,500,000 settlement.
Our client suffered injuries to his back, diagnosed as cervical herniated discs, lumbar disc bulges and annular tears. He also injured his arm, which was diagnosed as bilateral elbow tunnel syndrome and wrist median nerve entrapments. To treat his cervical spine, the client underwent multiple epidural steroid injections and surgery that included an open anterior cervical disc decompression, interbody fusion, cage screw stabilization, and local bone graft harvesting. For his lumbar spine, the man endured epidural steroid injections, and surgery consisting of open lumbar laminectomies, lateral recess anterior disc decompressions, and facetectomies. To treat his arms and wrists, he underwent a bilateral anterior transposition of the ulnar nerve. Our client also completed courses of physical therapy to treat his injuries and pain.
Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., retained medical experts to examine the client and prove he had permanent injuries. Partner Marc C. Saperstein retained a vocational expert and an economics expert to analyze the client’s future employability status and to determine his financial losses. Our experts found that the man’s injuries caused work limitations resulting in a loss in future earning capacity of several hundred thousand dollars.
Our experts’ reports helped Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., Partner Marc C. Saperstein in his fight to secure the client compensation for his injuries, pain, and suffering.
Settlements are often limited by the total available insurance coverage. Insurance company adjusters and their lawyers often defend cases by claiming that a client was negligent and could have avoided being injured by arguing comparative negligence on the part of an injured client; or that their pain and suffering was caused by pre-existing medical conditions or prior injuries. Despite those defenses, the Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C, lawyers won their client’s injury claim. Each client’s case is unique. Results may differ because of different facts, circumstances and available insurance coverage.
Call us now for a free and confidential case evaluation. We are also available 24/7 online at our website, www.dsslaw.com.
Medical Glossary:
Annular Tear: An annular tear is a tear of something that appears ring shaped. It is usually referring to when the soft tissue disc that sits between a person’s bones in their spine is injured, causing the outer ring of the disc to tear. The outer ring is known as the annulus. A tear to the annulus, or an annular tear, causes the inside of the disc to leak. This can be called a herniated disc, or a ruptured disc, or even a slipped disc—they are all the same.
Bone Graft Harvesting: Bone graft harvesting is a surgical procedure that uses transplanted bone to repair and rebuild diseased or damaged bones.
Cage Screw Stabilization: An operation to put in place a hollow, tube-shaped device placed between adjacent spinal bones in spinal fusion surgeries to improve or enhance the fusion. The cylinder is made from metal, typically titanium, and is designed as a “cage” so the bone graft can be placed inside. This will allow a spinal fusion to occur between two vertebrae.
Decompression Surgery: Decompression surgery a procedure to alleviate pain caused by a pinched or compressed nerve. In medicine, decompression is obtained through removing or repositioning of a structure that is compressing another structure. This surgery is usually only recommended when non-surgical treatment has not helped in alleviating pain and symptoms.
Disc Bulge: Bulging discs are a condition in which the inner portion of a spinal disc remains contained in the outer portion of a spinal disc. The outer shell often becomes weaker, and the disc begins to bulge to one side of the spinal canal or flatten. Many experience bulging discs after an injury.
Epidural Steroid Injections: Epidural steroid injections are a minimally invasive procedure that can relieve neck, arm, aback and leg pain; delivers steroids via a needle. The steroid calms down the irritated nerve that is causing the pain and swelling. Relief from the injections typically last for three months or more.
Facetectomy: Spinal surgical procedure for treatment of severe pain caused by a pinched spinal nerve. The pain could result from narrowing or facet joints or disc herniation. The procedure relieves pressure and pain on spinal nerves.
Herniated Discs: Herniation describes an abnormality of the intervertebral disc that is also known as a “slipped,” “ruptured,” or “torn” disc. This process occurs when the inner core (nucleus pulposus) of the intervertebral disc bulges out through the outer layer of ligaments that surround the disc (annulus fibrosis). This tear in the annulus fibrosis may cause pain in the back at the point of herniation. If the protruding disc presses on a spinal nerve, the pain may spread to the area of the body that is served by that nerve. Between each vertebra in the spine are a pair of spinal nerves, which branch off from the spinal cord to a specific area in the body. Any part of the skin that can experience hot and cold, pain or touch refers that sensation to the brain through one of these nerves. In turn, pressure on a spinal nerve from a herniated disc may cause pain in the part of the body that is served by that nerve.
Laminectomies: A surgical operation to remove the back of one or more vertebrae, usually to give access to the spinal cord or to relieve pressure on nerves.
Median Nerves Entrapment: Affects movement and sensation in the hand. Caused by median nerve compression in the elbow, forearm, or wrist.
Spinal Fusions: Surgery to permanently connect two or more vertebrae in the spine, eliminating motion between them.
Subcutaneous Ulnar Nerve Transposition: A surgical treatment for ulnar neuropathy at the elbow; moving the ulnar nerve to a position where it is not irritated or pinched.
Heavy traffic caused an owner-operator truck driver to unexpectedly stop his 22-foot truck while entering a southbound tollbooth at Exit 14A on the New Jersey Turnpike. After coming to a complete stop and resting near the EZ-Pass booth for about one minute, the truck driver reached for a water bottle on the passenger side of his car. The next thing he remembers is briefly waking up in an ambulance and later again in a Jersey City, New Jersey emergency room. The business owner would soon find out that he was rear-ended by a fully loaded cement truck. He left the scene of the accident slipping in and out of consciousness.
The team of truck accident lawyers at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., assisted the truck driver and business owner who received a $1.5 million dollar payment from the cement truck company.
The business owner was propelled forward inside the car, causing him to hit his head against a hard object. He did not fully regain consciousness and become aware of his surroundings until he was being cared for by medical personnel. As a father, his first reaction was to have someone call his children, not to focus on himself. However, as time passed, he realized that he had suffered numerous injuries: accident-related hearing loss, a complex tear of the posterior horn in his knee, muscle tears in both shoulders, significant neck pain associated with left upper extremity cervical radiculitis, aggravated degenerative stenosis at C5-C6 and C6-C7 with bilateral foraminal stenosis, and a paracentral herniated disc. These injuries led the client to consult nearly 20 different doctors and undergo 5 different surgeries.
Before the accident, the client worked a job that required physical labor. He also enjoyed bike riding, walks, and spending time with his family, including his 5 grandchildren. The accident affected his ability to continue with that lifestyle. Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., partners Garry R. Salomon and Adam B. Lederman hired expert witnesses, including a forensic damages expert and an occupational assessment expert, to attest to the losses that the accident created for their client.
Because the client was working at the time of the accident, Steven Cohen, the Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., Chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Section, filed an accompanying Worker’s Compensation claim and successfully handled that case separately.
Medical Term Glossary:
Bilateral: having on or affecting both sides
Spinal Stenosis: one or more bony openings within the spine begin to narrow and reduce space for the nerves; puts pressure on the spinal cord
Multiple leg fractures requiring reconstructive surgery.
A pair of senior citizens from Antigo and Madison, Wisconsin suffered serious injuries when their RV was struck on the New Jersey Turnpike by an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer. After Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., partner Garry R. Salomon proved that the truck driver negligently hit the RV, the trucking company paid $1.08 million dollars to the elderly women.
Three retired siblings were vacationing along the East Coast in a white Dodge Ram Conversion RV. The two sisters were passengers while their brother drove. As the brother approached the toll plaza at Carney’s Point Township, he slowed the RV and pulled onto the shoulder of I-95 to look for his ticket to pay the Turnpike toll. While slowing down onto the southbound shoulder, an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer struck the bumper of the van, causing significant property damage and injuries to the passengers.
At the time of impact, one sister sat in the front passenger seat while the other sister sat on the bed in the back of the van. One sister subsequently died from complications of the motor vehicle accident while the other sister suffered serious injuries.
Along with the responding police department—the New Jersey State Police at Mt. Laurel—the accident called the attention of numerous emergency medical responders: the State Police at Moorestown Station, Deepwater Fire Company, Carney’s Point Fire Company, Pennsville Ambulance, Carney’s Point Ambulance, and South Star Air Rescue. The Moorestown Station police investigation attributed the accident to two factors. First, the Dodge van did not pull fully onto the shoulder before slowing down. Second, the truck driver failed to see the potential hazard ahead of him and properly react. However, Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., partner Garry R. Salomon hired an accident reconstruction expert, who concluded that if the tractor-trailer driver had been traveling with proper safety precautions, such as traveling at a safe distance behind the passenger vehicles, operating his vehicle within the posted speed limit, and making proper observations about the roadway in front of him, then the accident would not have occurred.
After the truck accident, the surviving sister woke up in the emergency room, unaware of what had happened. Not only did she learn that she lost her sister, but also that she too suffered several life-altering injuries. She suffered from respiratory failure, hip fractures, a skull fracture, a brain contusion, hematoma, a concussion, and a traumatic brain injury. She also entered a 6-day coma. While in the hospital, the motor home passenger underwent a tracheotomy and two surgeries to her abdomen to insert and remove a feeding tube.
Despite the surviving sister’s injuries and her battle with accident-related depression, she has made significant physical recoveries since the accident. Although she experienced some pain, she no longer required consistent use of a walker and, while less frequently than before the accident, continued to spend time with her friends and family.
The defendant trucker’s insurance carrier alleged that the acts of the van driver proximately caused the accident and that he was comparatively negligent. Despite these claims, the insurance carrier was forced to pay their entire insurance coverage. This case involved several claims against a limited insurance policy for personal injuries, wrongful death, and survivorship damages. Wrongful death damages are the economic losses suffered by the deceased’s dependent family members while the survivorship claim is for the conscious pain and suffering that an injured person endured before they died from the accident-related injuries.
Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., partner Garry R. Salomon. represented both sisters in action against the truck company. The parties to this action are protected by a qualified confidentiality agreement. Do you or someone you know have similar injuries or circumstances to this one? Our dedicated legal team of over 25 attorneys is here to help. Call now for a free case evaluation or reach out online and we’ll call you back.
Medical Term Glossary:
Contusion: a region of injured tissue or skin in which capillaries have been ruptured; a bruise
Fracture: the cracking of breaking of a bone
Traumatic Brain Injury: an injury that affects how the brain works
Tracheotomy: an incision in the throat made to relieve an obstruction to breathing
Depression: a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think, and how you act
A New Jersey State Trooper pulled over a speeding driver on Route 80, when he was suddenly rear-ended by a tractor-trailer truck driver. Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. Partner Samuel L. Davis proved that both the speeding driver and the truck driver were operating their vehicles negligently, and won our client, the trooper, a $1.072 million settlement.
The trooper began his shift on Route 80 in Denville Township, New Jersey, at 5 AM. At about 5:25 AM, the accident happened.
Interstate 80 has a speed limit of 65 miles per hour. The trooper spotted a Toyota Corolla speeding at 85 miles per hour. The state trooper pulled onto the highway and activated his camera, emergency flashing lights, and siren, and set hot pursuit after the Toyota. The Toyota went back and forth between the left, center, and right lanes before finally pulling onto the right shoulder. However, the driver didn’t leave enough space for the state trooper to pull in behind her, causing him to stop while partially in the right lane and partially on the shoulder.
While investigating further, an 18-wheeler rear-ended the trooper after he stopped between the lane and shoulder. It was later proven that the truck driver had more than enough time to change lanes and avoid hitting him. The collision caused the officer injuries to his back, neck, head, and legs, and he was taken by ambulance to Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, New Jersey. His injured spine suffered stenosis and radiculopathy at the L5-S1 level. To treat his back, he underwent epidural steroid injections and an anterior lumbar interbody fusion. Our client went to physical therapy for several months but continued to struggle with back pain. He also suffered a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) that caused him post-traumatic headaches and migraines.
Samuel L. Davis, a Founding Partner at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., hired medical practitioners to serve as expert witnesses. They authored narratives and provided written and oral testimony that helped Davis prove the permanent nature of the client’s injuries. The firm also hired a vocational specialist to calculate the financial damages suffered by our client. The specialist determined that the client had suffered a loss in earning capacity of several hundred thousand dollars.
The firm also hired a commercial transportation specialist as an expert witness, who found that the truck driver showed a pattern of negligence. Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR), motor carriers are required to keep logbooks of their worked hours and to perform pre-trip inspections of their vehicle. The expert discovered that the driver had not kept a log of his hours in the seven days leading up to the accident. She also learned that the truck had a defective braking mechanism. She opined that a competent driver would have found the defective brakes in his pre-trip inspection, so the driver should have known or would have known about the brakes. These two violations showed that the driver consistently did not follow common industry practices. The expert’s conclusion helped Samuel L. Davis prove the driver’s negligence.
Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., Partner Sam Davis sued the trucking company and Toyota driver in the Morris County Superior Court. He won our client a $1.072 million settlement as compensation for his injuries, pain, and suffering.
Settlements are often limited by the total available insurance coverage. Insurance company adjusters and their lawyers often defend cases by claiming that a client was negligent and could have avoided being injured by arguing comparative negligence on the part of an injured client; or that their pain and suffering was caused by pre-existing medical conditions or prior injuries. Despite those defenses, the Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., lawyers won their client’s injury claim. Each client’s case is unique. Results may differ because of different facts, circumstances, and available insurance coverage.
Call us now for a free and confidential case evaluation. We are also available 24/7 online at our website, www.dsslaw.com.
Medical Glossary:
Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion: Surgery to permanently connect two or more vertebrae in the front of the lumbar spine, eliminating motion between them.
Epidural Steroid Injections: Epidural steroid injections are a minimally invasive procedure that can relieve neck, arm, back, and leg pain; delivers steroids via a needle. The steroid calms down the irritated nerve that is causing the pain and swelling. Relief from the injections typically lasts for three months or more.
Radiculopathy: Doctors use the term radiculopathy to specifically describe pain, and other symptoms like numbness, tingling, and weakness in your arms or legs that may be caused by an injury causing pressure on the nerve roots. The nerve roots are branches of the spinal cord that carry signals to the rest of the body at each level along the spine. This term comes from a combination of the Latin word “radix,” which means the roots of a tree, and the Latin word “pathos,” which means a disease. This disease may be caused by direct pressure from a herniated disc in the lumbar spine that causes irritation and inflammation of the nerve roots. Radiculopathy may create a pattern of pain and numbness that is felt in your arms or your legs in the area of skin supplied by the sensory fibers of the nerve root, and weakness in the muscles that are also supplied by the same nerve root. The number of roots that are involved can vary, from one to several, and it can also affect both sides of the body at the same time.
Stenosis: a narrowing or constriction of the diameter of a bodily passage or orifice esophageal stenosis