113 New Jersey Cases Yield Recoveries over $1 Million
According to a study by the New Jersey Legal Almanac, 113 cases produced jury verdicts or settlements of $1 million or more during the period from August 1, 2012, to July 31, 2013.
The number is down from 127 cases for the same period in 2011-2012, but that doesn’t necessarily represent a trend. The number was 109 cases in 2010-2011.
- 39% of the cases involved motor vehicle accidents
- 19% of the cases were medical malpractice actions
- 18% of the cases involved workplace injuries
- 11% of the cases involved non-workplace personal injuries
- 5% of cases involved discrimination
The highest New Jersey recovery was in the case of Fermin v. Toyota Material Handling U.S.A. Inc. The case involved a workplace accident in Newark in which an employee became a quadriplegic after he was crushed by the forklift he was operating. The employee’s sister, who was also his caregiver, sued the manufacturer of the forklift and the case settled for $33.9 million.
The second-largest recovery, in Patterson v. Irvington Board of Education, involved an Irvington high school student who was left brain-damaged and paralyzed after being beaten by a fellow student at school. The teen who beat the student had been suspended the day before for fighting, but due to administrative errors was let back onto the school grounds. A jury awarded the injured teen $16.3 million, finding that the school board was negligent.
The third-largest recovery was in the case of Domalewski v. Hillerich and Bradsby Co. It involved a New Jersey teenager who was left brain-damaged after being struck in the chest by a line drive off a metal baseball bat manufacturer by a company called Little League Baseball. The ball struck him between heartbeats, sending him into cardiac arrest. He fell to the ground and stopped breathing, and his brain was deprived of oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes.
The family sued the bat manufacturer, alleging that the metal bats were unsafe because they made balls travel at much faster speeds than wooden bats did. The case settled for $14.5 million.
If you’ve suffered a serious personal injury in the state of New Jersey, please contact us through our online contact form or by calling us at (201) 928-0300. Our law firm has more than nine decades of combined experience helping individuals that have fallen victim to personal injuries.