Jury awards $55M to woman who lost both legs in interstate accident
The plaintiffs intend to file a bad-faith suit in the case after their insurance company repeatedly refused to tender its policy until shortly before trial.
A New Jersey jury awarded $55 million to a woman who had both of her legs amputated after she was hit by an 18-wheeler.
Following a two-week trial before Superior Court Judge Thomas Vena, the verdict was entered April 11 against Alert Motor Freight and Jersey City Transport, two related trucking companies in Cinnaminson, New Jersey, and the estate of truck driver Paul DePass of Belleville, New Jersey. Lawyers in the case said DePass died of cancer three years after the crash.
The lead defense lawyer said he expects the defendants to appeal the verdict.
The two trucking company defendants have $1 million in insurance coverage with Prime Insurance of Sandy, Utah, but counsel for the plaintiffs said they intend to file a bad-faith suit in the case after that company repeatedly refused to tender its policy until shortly before trial.
The suit was brought by Angel May Rider of Pennsville, New Jersey, now 28, a former coffee shop barista who is unable to work, uses prosthetic legs and has required daily assistance since the crash.
Rider was represented by Kevin P. O’Brien, Kristin Buddle and Tyler Stampone of Stampone O’Brien Dilsheimer Holloway in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, along with Emeka Igwe of The Igwe Law Firm in Philadelphia.
Pinned
Rider was driving south on Interstate 95 in Maryland on Dec. 21, 2018, when she struck a disabled vehicle that was stopped in her lane of travel, according to the complaint.
A short time earlier, another two-vehicle crash took place at the same location, with one of the vehicles leaving the scene.
Rider, assisted by the driver of the car she hit, exited her vehicle and stood on the shoulder of the road, next to the guardrail, O’Brien said. There, while she was talking to a 911 operator, an 18-wheeler came on the scene, could not stop in time and jackknifed on the wet pavement, before striking her.
Rider’s legs were severed when the truck pinned her against the guardrail, O’Brien said.
‘That got the jury pretty upset’
The jury found DePass and the two trucking companies were 100% at fault for Rider’s injuries.
Jurors awarded her $559,413 for past medical bills, $2.5 million for past and future lost wages, $25 million for future medical bills, $3 million for past pain and suffering, and $23.9 million for future pain and suffering.
Rider has undergone at least 15 surgeries since the accident, and her projected future expenses for prosthetic legs are high because prosthetics need to be replaced every three years, O’Brien said.
Prime and its defense lawyers took the position that Rider was partly at fault because she stood on the side of the guardrail closer to the roadway, rather climbing over to the other side, O’Brien said.
O’Brien said that was “a ridiculous argument,” and that in his summation before the jury he mocked that position, telling the jury “Kennedy should have ducked,” a nod to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“I think that was the highlight of their argument. That got the jury pretty upset,” O’Brien claimed.
The truck that hit Rider was under contract to haul appliances for General Electric. The suit brought claims against General Electric and a subsidiary, Haier U.S. Appliance Solutions, claiming they were negligent for using the trucking company defendants despite those firms’ poor safety records.
But GE and Haier were dismissed on summary judgment, according to court documents.
On three occasions, the first in 2019, Rider notified the trucking company defendants she would accept their insurance policy limits to resolve her claims against them, but they refused, although in 2021 they offered to settle for $150,000, but she declined, O’Brien claimed.
The defendants tendered their policy a month before trial, according to O’Brien.
“This case shows the importance of why policy limits demands are made at the appropriate times in cases—and the horrible financial consequences to the plaintiff when a carrier attempts to delay paying a valid catastrophic claim,” O’Brien said in an email. “Despite the fact that the defendant felt that liability was in dispute, even though the Police report put them at fault, the jury found the defendants solely responsible for the plaintiff’s harm, and did not find the plaintiff comparatively negligent.”
‘A very viable alternative’
The lead defense counsel in the case, Charles Gayner of Erlich Gayner in New York, said at the time Rider was hit by the truck that she was leaning against the guardrail and facing away from oncoming traffic.
“We wanted the jury to consider the prudence of positioning herself there, as opposed to a very viable alternative, which is to stand on the other side of the guardrail, which is not hard to get over, and then, also, to look in the direction of vehicles coming along,” Gayner said.
Gayner said the insurance company waited to tender its policy because it wanted to see the end of discovery to sense how the case would pan out.
In addition, the insurance company was hoping to prevail on a motion to have the case subject to the laws of Maryland, where the crash took place, because that state’s laws were seen as favorable to the defense. But when that motion was denied, the insurance company opted to tender its policy, he said.
‘The optics were very extreme’
Gayner added that the large verdict reflects sympathy that the jury felt toward Rider.
During voir dire, prospective jurors were asked if they could put aside sympathy for the plaintiff if evidence supported a finding for the defendant. Those who said no were excused, Gayner said.
Rider attended portions of the trial, without prosthetic legs and seated in a wheelchair. When she testified, the witness box would not accommodate her wheelchair, Gayner said.
“The optics in the courtroom were very difficult. The optics were very extreme—to have this young lady sitting in front of the jury for days, without legs. In fact, [on] one of the legs there’s no femur on the right side—it’s just a hip,” Gayner said.
“The sympathy factor associated with this case, for such a young woman who lost so much, was the highest that I could ever imagine,” Gayner said. “Even though jurors are instructed not to incorporate sympathy into their determination, you can’t take the human out of the juror. I think that can have an overwhelming effect on a jury.”