A Gloucester County woman who was severely injured and now requires ongoing care because of a 2018 accident involving a volunteer firefighter who was racing to a fire had a $4.6 million settlement in her case approved.

Gloucester County Superior Court Judge Samuel Ragonese Jr. approved the settlement, including the plaintiff attorneys' petition for an enhanced fee, on Oct. 11 in the case, Baker v. Campbell, according to electronic court documents. The case settled in principal earlier this year.

Plaintiff Melinda Baker, then 56, was involved in an accident in late afternoon on Jan. 26, 2018, in Wenonah, according to her lawyer and a police report. She was driving through town in a 2005 red Dodge Neon and came to a stop light. The light turned green, and she began proceeding through the intersection of Route 45 and Parkville Station Road.

That's when defendant Richard Campbell Jr., a volunteer firefighter with the Wenonah Volunteer Fire Co., was racing to a fire in his personal car, a 2012 white Ford Focus that was equipped with flashing blue lights, for which he did not have a permit but which he was actively using at the time, according to the police report. Campbell failed to stop at a red light at the same intersection and crashed into the front of Baker's car while she was halfway through the intersection, the report said.

When an emergency medical team arrived at the scene, Baker was trapped in her vehicle, and paramedics had to extricate her. She was taken to Cooper University Hospital, said her lawyer, Brian Fritz of Fritz and Bianculli in Mount Laurel.

Before the accident, he said, Baker was living and working as a missionary in Malaysia, where she helped women formerly victimized by sex trafficking transition back to normal life.

Erin Thompson of Birchmeier & Powell in Tuckahoe represented the Wenonah Fire Department. Thompson was not immediately available to comment.

Eric Robinson of the Law Offices of Debra Hart in Mount Laurel represented Campbell on his personal insurance policy of $100,000. Robinson had no comment.

Baker sustained life-threatening injuries from the accident, including multiple bone fractures to her neck and ribs, and she was hospitalized at Cooper from Jan. 26 to Feb. 9, 2018, followed by inpatient rehabilitation and occupational and physical therapy at another facility for months, according to the suit.

Kristy McCabe, also of Fritz and Bianculli in Mount Laurel, who co-counseled the case with Fritz, said Campbell was cited for careless driving, failure to obey a traffic signal and creating a risk of a motor vehicle crash. She also stated that the officer investigating the scene of the accident also found Campbell to be in violation of Title 39:3-54:12, which provides that "Nothing contained herein is intended to grant to any member of the volunteer fire department any privileges or exemptions denied to the drivers of other vehicles, and such members displaying emergency warning lights shall drive with due regard for the safety of all persons and shall obey all the traffic laws of this state."

The parties settled during discovery on July 31 at a full-day mediation with Eugene McCaffrey, a retired Gloucester County Superior Court judge.

Of the $4.6 million settlement, $4.5 million was paid for by Tri-County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund and Municipal Excess JIF, and $100,000 came from Palisades Insurance, Campbell's personal auto policy, according to the plaintiff attorneys.

Baker uses a wheelchair and a chair lift to move inside her home in Mantua. Fritz said she uses a cane or walker to walk around, but she can't drive or turn her head laterally because of neck fusion treatment. She needs daily assistance with routine tasks, he said.

"This settlement agreement gives Melinda Baker a financial safety net that she desperately needed in the aftermath of a horrific accident that decimated her body and destroyed her quality of life," Fritz said in a phone call. "Considering all the care she will need for the future, we wanted to maximize the value of the case to make sure she had the provisions necessary to meet those care needs and be able to adequately face the challenges the future holds for her, as well as be able to enjoy life as much as possible."