Car collision causes vehicle to strike telephone pole: Failure to heed stop sign: Brain injury: Facial fractures: Settlement

Law Reporter, Aug 1999

Car collision causes vehicle to strike telephone pole: Failure to heed stop sign: Brain injury: Facial fractures: Settlement.

Arkoulakis v. Miller, N.J., Middlesex County Super. Ct., No. MID-L-6675-96, Feb. 10,1999.

A car broadsided Arkoulakis's vehicle, causing it to strike a telephone pole. Arkoulakis, 31, suffered a mild brain injury, fractured clavicle, broken rib, and facial fractures. Her medical expenses totaled about $41,100. A self-employed corporate brochure designer who had earned about $9,000 annually, she has been unable to return to work.

Arkoulakis sued the driver, alleging failure to heed a stop sign.

Defendant argued plaintiff had been negligent for failing to observe the oncoming car when she entered the intersection. Defendant also alleged plaintiff's injuries were not permanent and that she would not suffer future economic loss because she could still meet her pre-accident earning potential.

The parties settled for $1.5 million.

Plaintiff's experts included Jonathon Silver, neuropsychology, New York, N.Y.; Mariusz Ziejewski, biomechanical engineering, Fargo, N.D.; Steven Schorr, accident reconstruction, Abington, Pa.; and Keith Cicerone, neuropsychology, and George Kopidakis, reconstructive/plastic surgery, both of Edison, N.J.

Defendant's experts were James Pascuiti, vocations, and Jacob Jacoby, neuropsychiatry, both of Springfield, N.J., and David Mahalick, neuropsychology, Newark, N.J.

Plaintiff's Counsel:

*Bruce H. Stern, Princeton, N.J.

[ Comment: For other cases alleging failure to heed a stop sign, see Campbell v. Turner, 41 ATLA L. Rep. 48 (Mar. 1998), and Gasaway v. ECK Miller Transp. Corp., 37 ATLA L. Rep. 166 (June 1994). *Martin H. Levin and *Virginia M. Buchanan, both of Pensacola, Fla., represented plaintiffs in Campbell. *Gerald R Stahl and *Joel M. Boyden, both of Grand Rapids, Mich., represented plaintiffs in the Gasaway case. ]

[Documents in Campbell and Gasaway are available through the Court Documents section in the back section of this issue, courtesy of plantiffs' counsel.]