On May 8, 2024, Stark & Stark shareholder Christopher P. Weidman secured a $1.2 million verdict from a Middlesex County jury on behalf of a 55-year-old woman who was severely injured in a December 2018 car crash. The verdict was approximately forty-eight times the size of the defendant’s final offer.
On the morning of December 17, 2018, our client, Barbara Brodniak, was involved in a two-car collision when a worker for Solterra Recycling Solutions, Inc., tried to cross Main Street in East Brunswick, New Jersey, on foot. Ms. Brodniak suffered injuries to her neck and lower back, which she alleged were caused by the Solterra worker negligently walking onto Main Street, causing Ms. Brodniak’s car to rear-end the car in front of hers due to a sudden stop to avoid the pedestrian.
After deliberating for two hours, the jury awarded Ms. Brodniak $1,200,000 in compensatory damages, less 35% after determining she was 35% negligent.
“Though Solterra claimed all along Ms. Brodniak was at fault for the collision, we knew they were wrong—and we were committed to uncovering the truth,” said Weidman, who focuses his practice on spinal injuries, wrongful death, and other catastrophic injury cases resulting from automobile crashes, products liability, and premise liability. “Thanks to our investigation, we were able to secure key favorable trial testimony from the person driving the car rear-ended by Ms. Brodniak. He testified that the Solterra worker stepped off the sidewalk directly into his lane of travel causing him to suddenly brake to a stop and that the Solterra worker did not look in that driver’s direction before stepping onto the road.”
Notably, the jury’s verdict came after the defendant’s final offer of $25,000. Thus, the verdict was approximately forty-eight times the size of the offer.
“Given the circumstances here and the fact that Ms. Brodniak rear-ended the vehicle in front of her, most attorneys would have rejected her case assuming there was no way to persuade a jury that she was less than 50% at fault, which our laws require in a civil case,” said Weidman. “But we felt strongly it was the Solterra worker’s actions that caused this car crash. The attorneys at Stark & Stark view our clients’ cases from every angle and turn over every rock to help uncover the evidence needed to prove the truth of the matter that other attorneys might have overlooked so that justice can be served and we can hold the wrongdoers who injured our clients accountable for their actions.”
The case is Barbara Brodniak v. Solterra Recycling Solutions, et al., No. MID-L-007411-20, in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County.
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