A school bus driver who suffered severe neck and back injuries in a crash while on the job received a $2 million settlement in her Essex County suit, Haynes v. Reese, on Sept. 11.

Lisa Haynes was operating a school bus on Forest Avenue at Oradell Avenue in Paramus on Dec. 11, 2014, when she collided with a van driven by Harlin Reese and owned by Wood Artisans/Norwood Kitchens. Reese went through a red light before striking the left side of Haynes' school bus, said John Keefe Jr. of the Keefe Law Firm in Red Bank, who represented the plaintiff along with the firm's John Gregory Jr.

Haynes felt pain in her back immediately after the crash but did not go to an emergency room until two days later, Keefe said. She was found to have extensive damage to her cervical and lumbar spine, and required multiple procedures and surgeries, the suit claimed. She was diagnosed with chronic cervical and lumbar strain, cervical radiculopathy, cervical stenosis with aggravation, aggravation of preexisting lumbar degenerative disc disease, and a cervical herniated disc at C5-C6.