Mark C. Dewland P.C.

$25

Child Sex Abuse

The State of New Jersey awarded a historic $25 million in a trial verdict to a survivor of child sex abuse in the first case brought to trial under the Child Victims Act. The case was against the state’s Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS). The unanimous trial verdict found DYFS 99% liable for gross negligence through numerous failures to protect the plaintiff while in foster care, which exposed the survivor to vicious sexual abuse and revictimization.

$3

Personal Injury

Settlement for a construction worker injured in a fall due to a corporation's failure to maintain safety. 'This was a case of a corporation breaking its promises to keep workers safe and then blaming the worker when a preventable injury occurred,' David Schmid of Stark & Stark said in a news release on the settlement.

$3

Personal Injury

A settlement of $2.69 million was reached in a Middlesex County suit, O’Donnell v. Kabra, for a 52-year-old North Brunswick woman who was injured in a rear-end collision. Alicia O’Donnell was injured while traveling as a passenger in a vehicle being driven by defendant Alice Farnworth. On July 1, 2015, the two women were stopped at a traffic signal at the intersection of Aaron Road and Route 1 South in North Brunswick when a vehicle struck them from behind. Seema Kabra was driving the trailing vehicle, which was owned by Rakesh Kabra, who were both named as defendants. O’Donnell’s doctor opined that she suffered cervical and lumbar disk herniations and bulges as a result of the accident. And O’Donnell’s preexisting mental health condition was exacerbated by the crash, according to her counsel, Daniel N. Epstein and Michael Heck of Epstein Ostrove in Edison.

$2

Personal Injury

Teresa Carr, a 43-year-old New Brunswick resident, received a $2.25 million settlement following a two-day arbitration hearing for her slip and fall on ice as she was entering her workplace at Monarch Electric Co. in Cranbury.

$2

Personal Injury

In “Patel v. Pugliese,” a Middlesex County jury awarded $2.1 million on Dec. 12 to an Iselin woman who sustained neck, back and right knee injuries in a motor vehicle accident.

$2

Personal Injury

Jury award for a construction worker injured in a fall into a collapsed trench due to dangerous conditions. 'Thus, the trench was permitted to exist in a dangerous condition while subcontractor workers were active on the jobsite and in the vicinity of the trench,' the plaintiff’s attorneys said.