New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

An Upper Township woman whose two daughters were killed in an accident with a state trooper car has settled with the state for two million dollars. The settlement brings to an end Maria Caiafa's civil lawsuit against Trooper Robert Higbee, as well as the New Jersey State Police.

The litigation relates to the car accident that that killed Caiafa's teenaged daughters Christina and Jacqueline, in September 2006. Higbee was allegedly driving without his lights and siren when he ran a stop sign, and crashed his car into the girls' van. Higbee has been charged with vehicular homicide, and is due to due to face trial in April. The reluctance to drag the civil litigation process out made Caiafa, she says, settle with the state even though criminal culpability for the trooper has not yet been established.

According to the state, the civil settlement is not an admission of criminal culpability, and there was no admission of wrong doing. The case has raised controversy over the criminal prosecution, with many in the state police believing that a civil settlement was appropriate, but criminal prosecution sends the wrong message to thousands of troopers who are out on the streets every day doing their duty.  A representative of the New Jersey State Police's Union commented that  there was never recklessness on the part of the trooper involved and that is why the proper way to handle the matter was through the filing and ultimate settlement of a wrongful death law suit. In the civil lawsuit the Plaintiff would have to prove negligence which is a much lower degree of culpability than the recklessness standard that would be required in the criminal court.   

Why File a Claim After an Accident?

Our civil justice system is a viable means to hold a negligent driver accountable for the pain and suffering, trauma, as well as financial losses he has caused the victim and their family. A civil lawsuit ultimately places a dollar value on a victim's losses in an accident, and takes into account not just the economic losses the victim has suffered like medical bills and lost wages, but also non-economic losses, like pain and suffering, loss of consortium, anguish, loss of companionship etc. While economic losses like medical and hospitalization expenses, lost wages, etc. can be calculated, non-economic losses like pain and suffering, are harder to quantify. 

Compensation in an accident will include both economic as well as non economic losses, and that's why it's important to talk with an experienced accident lawyer before you make a claim. Your Monmouth and Bergen County car accident lawyer will likely rely on past precedents and other factors to decide on a claim value for your losses. If you have been injured in an accident, contact a New Jersey car accident attorney at my office, to answer your questions about compensation.

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• "Delay, deny, defend" is the battle cry for the auto insurance industry to protect their multi-billion dollar empire. In a recent report filed by CNN's Drew Griffin, he uncovered that this practice is rampant among the nation's auto insurance companies when people are injured in what insurance representatives consider a "minor impact" auto accident.   New Jersey attorneys representing persons who have suffered injuries in auto accidents have long experienced first hand these tactics of the nation's largest insurance companies.  Throughout the past decade I have represented many individuals that were involved in what the insurance company deemed a "minor impact" and as a result of the accident they suffered serious permanent injuries such as a herniated disc. Many times the injuries were so debilitating that after multiple steroid injections, extensive narcotics usage, physical therapy and chiropractic care, spinal surgery became the only option.   The suffering was very real.

 

 

• The auto insurance companies do not want the public to understand the most important of Newton's Laws on Physics.  Energy does not dissapear, it is transmitted to the impacted vehicle and hence to the occupants.  Often times at trial, after years of delays from the insurance company,  defense counsel will blow up a photo of the impacted vehicle that does not show significant property damage. A strategy frequently successful in having jurors draw an inference that the injuries claimed by the plaintiff are either untrue or if true they must have been from some other cause unrelated to the auto accident.  The CNN news story referenced above did an excellent job exposing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to insurance companies doing whatever it takes to put corporate profits above the interests of those very individuals they are supposed to help.  
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  • In New Jersey when you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, your medical bills are supposed to paid for through the PIP, Personal Injury Protection benefits of the injured persons' insurance company without regard to who caused the accident.  So in New Jersey,  the medical benefits through PIP coverage follows the person and not the vehicle.  However, the policy of denial often times happens through the issuance of a medical treatment cut-off or denial letter on the basis that the patient has reached MMI or maximum medical improvement.   This frequently occurs without consulting the treating physician or without even examining the patient.  Often the denial will be on the reccomendation of a physician advisor review.  This means that a physician of like specialty will review some of your medical records and decide for your insurance company, while being paid by that insurance company if you should be cut-of from further treatment regardless of what you may be feeling.  The system is driven to maximize profits by minimizing costs of medical care to insurance companies own insureds.  To add insult to injury, these corporate profits aren't even passed onto the consumer in the form of auto insurance rate reductions.  The PR spin shall continue........Blame the lawyers for your exorbitant auto insurance rates. It works each year after year along with the deeply ingrained favorite phrase of the insurance corporate elite ..."TORT REFORM".   
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  • Please read the CNN article linked above and I invite all who are interested or who have personal stories to tell to respond to this post. 
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