Slowinski Atkins, LLP obtains highest verdict at $33 million

Slowinski Atkins, LLP obtained the highest verdict in 2014 for an automobile negligence action with an award of $33,652,953.16 on June 10, 2014. The plaintiff was struck by defendant’s vehicle as a pedestrian on her way to catch a bus to work on December 11, 2009 on Broad Street in Bloomfield, New Jersey. At the time of the accident the plaintiff was unresponsive, bleeding heavily from the left side of her head, and lying in the center of the roadway. She was transported to UMDNJ Medical Center where she remained in a coma for several months and then transferred to Kessler Rehabilitation Center in West Orange, New Jersey where she stayed for about eight months, until October 2010. She had suffered multiple skull fractures and multiple cranial surgeries were necessary. A tracheostomy was necessary as she could not breathe on her own. The plaintiff came out of the coma but was unable to speak, walk, stand or feed herself. She ultimately passed away due to complications arising from the accident. At the time of the accident she was 42 years old and the mother of two young children. A Board Certified internist, Henryk Cioczek, M.D., Ph.D, testified on behalf of plaintiff. The case was heard before the Honorable Michelle Hollar-Gregory in Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, in Essex County.