$450,000- Trucking Accident Settlement

Christopher DiGirolamo, a managing partner at Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi has worked to protect the rights of victims of car accidents, construction accidents, job injuries, and much more. This past week, however, he took things to the next level as he settled on a trucking accident pre-suit for an outstanding $450,000.

Christopher took on the case of the clients, a mother and her three adult sons who were traveling from Maryland back to their home in New York in a rented Hertz vehicle. Suddenly, it began to sputter and lose power crossing over the Delaware Bridge into New Jersey. The mother found it in her best interest to call Hertz for assistance; however, they acknowledged the issue but stated that they did not provide roadside assistance. As an alternative, they told her to drive the vehicle to their nearest station to provide the assistance necessary. The nearest station was 25 miles away from her location and the vehicle was continuing to show signs of malfunction, but she could not travel any faster than 20-25 MPH on the New Jersey Turnpike. Out of nowhere, the vehicle was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer, sending the vehicle over a guardrail, down an embankment, and flipping it over into a ravine.

The victims of the accident had injuries including knee sprain, herniated disc, disc bulges, a partially torn labrum in the shoulder, torn ligament in the left ankle and neck, and 26 forehead stitches. The injuries sustained and occurring incident were taken to court where the Defendant trucking company argued that Shakera was traveling too slowly in the right lane of the turnpike. Both Defendants in the case argued that Shakera had contributed to the collision the moment she didn’t exit the roadway and drove too slowly.

In the end, Christopher DiGirolamo was able to get the victims the compensation they deserved – $450,000. This was divided amongst the Canadian trucking company, VTL Express, Inc. and their driver, Eddy Sanial who paid $400,000 of that sum, and the Hertz Corporation, which paid $50,000.