For Woman Struck by Car

March 23, 2015 – Andrew O’Connor settled a hit pedestrian case for $1.65 million.  Ruth Vincent was struck by a car because a street light wasn’t working.  Ruth, then 18, suffered closed-head injuries, a broken femur, lacerated femoral artery and bilateral fracture at L5 after she was hit by a car in Union on Oct. 19, 2008. Since the accident, she walks with a limp, is partly paralyzed on the left side, has weakness in her left arm and suffers cognitive problems. At the time of the accident, Vincent was attending community college and working in a store, but has not worked or continued her studies since then, according to Mr. O’Connor.

Vincent was hit while walking in a crosswalk across an on-ramp to Route 78, which was in the midst of a widening project at the time of the accident, according to the suit. Visibility was poor because the nearby street light wasn’t working.

Union Paving and Construction agreed to pay $200,000, while HBC Construction agreed to pay $900,000 and the state of New Jersey agreed to pay $550,000. The state agreed to settle just before the March 23 trial date and the contractor defendants reached their agreements with the plaintiff a few weeks earlier.