A woman who suffered injuries of the cervical spine when her car was struck from behind by a New York City garbage truck has agreed to a $3.7 million settlement in her Morris County suit, Diamante v. City of New York.

Violetta Diamante was traveling north on Route 23 in West Milford on July 7, 2015, when her vehicle was rear-ended by a New York City sanitation truck that was operated by Thomas Delgrosso. The impact caused Diamante's car to strike the rear of the vehicle in front of hers, said plaintiff lawyer Andrew Renda of Renda & Voynick in Cedar Grove.

Diamante, now 50, underwent four internal reduction, internal fixation surgeries after the accident to treat disc disruption and disc herniation of the cervical spine, which caused ongoing pain, said Renda. Some of the surgeries had to be performed a second time because the fusion failed, he said.

Diamante worked as a paralegal but was unable to continue working after the fourth surgery. She claimed a future wage loss of $976,000.

The settlement was reached on July 15, after two mediation sessions with former Superior Court Judge Eugene Codey, now with Connell Foley in Roseland.

Renda was assisted by his partner, John Voynick Jr.

The city and Delgrosso were represented by Andrew Turkish of Clausen Miller in Florham Park and Marc Pakrul of the City of New York Law Department.

Turkish confirmed the settlement and said if the case had gone to trial, the plaintiff would face a challenge on causation and damages.