An apartment tenant who claimed he sustained spinal injuries resulting from a fall in the snow and ice-covered parking lot at his complex settled his Middlesex County case, Kolenovic v. Hillcrest Associates, on Oct. 28 for $1.75 million.

On Jan. 24, 2016, Kolenovic was a tenant at the Hillcrest Village Apartments in Clark owned by Hillcrest Associates. Hillcrest Associates had previously sent a snow-removal memo instructing Kolenovic and all tenants to remove their cars from the parking lot following a snowstorm so Hillcrest could clear away snow and ice, according to Nicholas J. Leonardis of Stathis & Leonardis in Edison, who represented Kolenovic.

As Kolenovic was walking through the parking lot to remove his car as instructed, he slipped and fell on snow and ice in the parking lot, he claimed in the suit.

Hillcrest disputed liability, contending they did not have sufficient time to complete their snow and ice remediations, according to Leonardis.

Kolenovic contended that Hillcrest had told all tenants to move their cars, and he was removing his car as he was instructed to do for the benefit of the defendant, according to Leonardis.

The suit claimed that, as a result of the fall, Kolenovic suffered disc herniations at L4-S1 and aggravation to preexisting, age-related disc degeneration in the lumbar spine. Kolenovic required a multi-level lumbar fusion surgery, while his right knee sustained a torn medial meniscus from the fall, requiring right knee arthroscopy, according to Leonardis.

Leonardis acknowledged that MRI imaging confirmed preexisting, age-related degeneration in several levels of Kolenovic's lower back.

Hillcrest's orthopedic surgeon contended that Kolenovic's need for back surgery was a result of the preexisting condition. Kolenovic's own medical expert testified during discovery that Kolenovic had some level of age-related degeneration, but it was  the disc herniations from the fall, on top of the degeneration, that caused the need for fusion surgery, according to Leonardis.

Before the fall, Leonardis said Kolenovic, who is now 62 and living in Jamesburg, worked part-time in his son's pizzeria located in Jamesburg.

Leonardis said he did not pursue a wage-loss claim on the case since Kolenovic was in between jobs at the time of the accident.

"The guy was hurt pretty badly," Leonardis said in a phone call. "The surgery did what it was supposed to do. The doctor did as good a job as he could. Nonetheless, Mr. Kolenovic has significant disabilities."

"Anything that would require him to bend is difficult. Flexibility is an issue. He was a bakery pizzeria guy. At this point, he's pretty much not working. He does some light work as best as he can. But he is very limited. The career he did have, he no longer does. He is no longer a baker," Leonardis said.

The parties settled on Oct. 28, with Hillcrest agreeing to pay $1.75 million.

Gino Mecoli and Steven A. Jenks Jr. of Reilly McDevitt & Henrich in Cherry Hill represented Hillcrest Associates. Mecoli did not return a call.

"We pursued damages from his injuries and he had in excess of $300,000 in medical bills," Leonardis said. "We see a lot of fusion cases. Even when a doctor does these surgeries, [patients] run the risk of injury in the future due to degeneration of the adjacent segment breakdown of the spine due to age."

— Suzette Parmley