Understanding Liability: Invitees, Social Guests and Trespassers Under New Jersey Law

A 76-year-old woman was struck, lifted up and thrown to the ground by a school bus as it was making a turn within a parking lot. As a result, she sustained serious and catastrophic injuries including a lacerated spleen, pinched ureter (requiring a stent and surgery every six months), rib fractures, lumbar spine (lower back) fractures and multiple internal hematomas, among other injuries. A lawsuit was filed against the transportation company that owned the school bus, the driver of the school bus, the owner of the parking lot where the incident occurred, and the valet company who managed/operated the parking lot.  During discovery, and following mediation, the defendants offered a global settlement of $3,000,000 to resolve the matter without further litigation. 

A 53-year-old man was rear-ended by an Amerigas Propane Truck, resulting in serious and permanent injuries to his neck (including three cervical herniations and two cervical bulges). He underwent a two-level disc replacement surgery in his neck. While awaiting trial in Sussex County, Amerigas offered $385,000 to resolve the matter and avoid trial.

A 59-year-old woman was T-boned, resulting in a displaced fracture to her wrist. The fracture was operated on and left the woman with hardware in her wrist. The tortfeasor had a limited insurance policy of $15,000, which was quickly offered. A claim for underinsured motorist benefits was made against the injured woman’s insurance company, Allstate. Allstate offered an additional $275,000 to resolve the matter pre-trial. 

A 53-year-old woman was struck head on, resulting in two herniations in her cervical spine and post-concussive syndrome. She underwent a two-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Tortfeasor carried minimum policy limits with Esurance for $15,000, which was tendered following the surgery. The injured woman sought compensation under her underinsured motorist policy with NJM. NJM offered an additional $270,000 to resolve the matter pre-trial. 

An 81-year-old woman sustained two herniations in her lumbar spine when the tortfeasor’s vehicle failed to yield to hers, causing a front-end collision. The injured woman ultimately required surgical intervention in the form of a two-level lumbar laminectomy. A complaint was filed in Hunterdon County, and Allstate for the tortfeasor offered $220,000 to settle the matter without the need for further litigation. 

A 13-year-old student was injured at recess when he fell on a concrete septic cover located in the center of the school’s soccer field. Specifically, the young boy injured his left knee when the knee landed directly on the septic cover. Two separate surgeries were performed to repair the fracture, and significant ligament injuries that had occurred in the fall. A settlement with the school, in the amount of $413,500, was reached prior to attending binding arbitration.  

Obtained a $300,000 settlement for a minor child, who was seriously injured from a dog bite that occurred in Vernon, NJ (Sussex County). The client, who was supposed to be supervised by the dog owner, was ultimately attacked by a pitbull and sustained multiple facial lacerations and scarring. Initially, the homeowner's Insurance Carrier, Homesite Insurance Company, refused to accept responsibility for the dog attack and attempted to disclaim coverage under the homeowner's insurance policy. Laddey Clark & Ryan’s passionate and vigorous representation ultimately led to the carrier tendering its full policy limits to settle the matter.

19-year-old girl is rear-ended and had a herniation in her neck that will eventually result in surgery. The insurance company for the other driver, Mercury Insurance, claimed all of the spinal damage was due to old age and only made a minimal settlement offer. The jury was able to see how much the spinal damage and constant pain impacted the future for this young woman. 

A 14-year-old girl’s father ran a stop sign and collided with a passing car. She suffered a herniation in her neck, which harms her ability to play the viola. She had been a serious candidate at Julliard. The insurance company, Allstate, offered $7,500 pre-trial, which forced this case into the jury’s hands. 

A woman leaving work at 1 a.m. slipped on black ice in the parking lot outside of her office building, fracturing her ankle. She worked at an international company that conducted business at all hours of the day. The company that was hired to perform 24/7 monitoring of the property claimed it had no idea that people would be working that late and therefore should not be held responsible for re-freeze situations. We successfully argued that the snow and ice removal company, which received weather alerts every two hours, should have known that there was a re-freeze situation, and that it was well aware people worked in this office 24/7.

An elevator maintained by Schindler Elevator Corporation dropped and slammed to a stop in Stateline, Nevada, severely injuring one of the passengers. Schindler and its attorneys maintained throughout the case that it did nothing wrong despite the admissions of its own supervisors that it was not maintaining the elevators to the proper standards.

 A 72 year-old man slipped and fell on black ice outside a Wells Fargo Bank. He suffered a spinal injury and required emergency surgery that confined him to a wheelchair. Wells Fargo and the company it hired to clear ice from the property attempted to blame the victim, but we were able to convince the jury the ice was an ongoing condition caused by a poor drainage pipe. 

Аn 18-year-old woman was rear-ended on her way home from college and suffered a herniation in her lower spine. Her doctors said her injury would eventually result in a fusion surgery. The insurance company, New Jersey Manufacturers, offered only $50,000 to resolve the case before trial started. We were able to show the jury how the terrible injury to this young woman has dramatically altered her life, and the woman’s treating doctors showed how the damage to her spine is progressive. 

Schindler Elevator Corporation created false work reports claiming a secretary performed maintenance on an elevator at the Headquarters Plaza building in Morristown, NJ. The elevator eventually failed catastrophically, severely injuring the carpenter inside. The man will never work again and is now in constant pain from his injuries. This case was a retrial after a previous jury entered an award of $4,000,000 in the same case that Schindler was able to get reversed on appeal.