New Haven County Courthouse. Photo: Google

A 48-year-old Cheshire woman who suffered neck, back and shoulder pain following a 2016 car crash in which her vehicle was rear-ended has settled her case for $365,000.

Plaintiff Marie Ann Acurantes hired Frank Bartlett Jr. of Bartlett Legal Group Injury Attorneys in Cheshire to handle the litigation.

Bartlett said Thursday he was able to secure the settlement in large part because his client’s job prospects suffered due to the injuries she sustained in the two-car crash on Interstate 91 in Middletown.

“One of the real driving factors in us getting the $365,000 settlement was that my client was set to start a new job as a nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital,” Bartlett said. “But the hospital rescinded the job offer because of lifting restrictions her orthopedic doctor placed on her.”

Bartlett called the June 24 settlement, which had a July 1 payout date, “very fair.”

“I think it took into account what she has gone through and the future need for surgery,” he said.

Acurantes is now a nurse in Middletown. where she works for the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. She missed about three months of work with the state as she healed from rotator cuff surgery on her left arm. She might need additional leave because doctors have also recommended she undergo a similar surgery on her other arm. She continues to see a chiropractor for pain in her neck and lower back.

Bartlett said Acurantes incurred $90,273 in medical costs.

According to the June 2018 lawsuit filed in New Haven Superior Court, Acurantes was slowing for traffic when defendant Jennifer Vitello’s 2007 Buick LaCrosse CX rear-ended her 2016 Jeep. Responding officers issued Vitello an infraction for following too closely, but did not cite Acurantes.

Representing the defendant insurer, Standard Fire Insurance Co., and its subsidiary, Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Co., is defense attorney Laura Warsawski of Cynthia M. Garraty Law Offices in Hartford. Warsawski did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

In court papers the defense argued Acurantes’ own negligence had caused the crash.

“She suddenly decreased the speed of her vehicle and stopped suddenly without first giving an appropriate signal, and thus failed to warn the vehicle following her own vehicle, by mechanical or manual means, of her stop, in violation of Connecticut General Statutes,” according to the answer and special defense to the complaint.

Bartlett had requested $375,000 for his client, while the defense made an offer of about $300,000 before the parties settled on $365,000.

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