Jeremiah Lacoille v. Joseph Defeo, et al.: A man who suffered 13 bone fractured when his car was rear-ended as he and friends helped a disabled vehicle on the Merritt Parkway has settled his lawsuit for just over $1 million.

On Oct. 8, 2011 at 12:43 a.m., Jeremiah Lacoille was headed north on Route 15 in Stratford near Exit 53. Lacoille, 32, was driving a 1995 Mazda. He was with two friends and they were returning from a trip to Atlanta.

Motorists in a van in front of them had run out of gas, explained Lacoille's lawyer, Jim Nugent, of Nugent & Bryant in New Haven. Because there is very little room to the side of the parkway, the disabled van was mainly in the right travel lane. Lacoille's friends got out to help the motorists and assisted them in pushing the van. Lacoille, who lived in New Haven at the time, slowly followed in the Mazda with its flashing lights on to warn drivers coming up from behind.