A $1.06 million settlement was paid on Feb. 4 in Donoso v. Universe Transportation Corp., a Hudson County injury suit filed against a bus company by a passenger who fell while in transit.

On July 24, 2017, plaintiff Lourdes Donoso boarded a small private transit bus owned by Universe Transportation Corp. of Fairview and driven by company employee Justino Basora at 69th Street and Bergenline Avenue in Guttenberg. After boarding the bus with her daughter, the bus began moving before she had taken her seat, and then stopped abruptly, causing her to fall backwards onto her back and sustain back and neck injuries, said her lawyer, Luis Martinez of LaBarbiera & Martinez in North Bergen.

The bus traveled 12 more blocks before Basora heeded passengers' calls to stop the vehicle, and after stopping,  Basora, currently 64, of New York, was arrested for driving on a suspended license, according to Martinez.

Donoso's suit claimed she sustained injuries requiring pain injections, a laminectomy that was not successful, and ultimately surgical implantation of a spinal stimulator, Martinez said, adding that Donoso, currently 42, continues to have pain.

In a settlement reached Dec. 15, 2019, following mediation with retired judge Mark Epstein of Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst & Doukas in New Brunswick, Universe, insured by Topa Insurance Co., agreed to pay its $250,000 personal injury protection limit, as well as another $805,830, according to Martinez.

The parties were through discovery and had a May 2020 trial date. The defendants had no expert and didn't appear to contest liability, Martinez said.

Thomas Licata of Malapero, Prisco, Klauber & Licata in Paramus, representing the defendants, confirmed that the case settled but declined to comment further.

— David Gialanella

$750K Condemnation Verdict in Union

399 Route 22 LLC v. Department of Transportation: A Union County jury awarded $750,000 on Jan. 22 to the owner of a used car dealership whose property was subject to a partial condemnation action by the state Department of Transportation. The state sought to expand its right of way by acquiring a strip of land that was 300 feet long, and ranged from one to five feet deep, that fronted on U.S. Route 22. Prior to trial, the state offered $94,000 and the property owner sought $1.08 million for the land, said Timothy Duggan of Stark & Stark in Lawrenceville, who represented the landowner.

The condemned property amounted to 1,100 square feet or 0.02 acres, but the property owner claimed the taking severely reduced the property's value because the dimensions of the remaining property and the placement of a building meant the property's tenant, a used car dealership, could no longer park a row of vehicles facing the highway, Duggan said.

The case was tried for five days before Union County Superior Court Judge Robert Mega. At trial, the state's lawyers argued that the property owner should not be reimbursed for losing the ability to display cars along the front of the property because the property owner never received the town's approval to do so, according to Duggan. The amount of property that was taken was negligible, but the inability to display cars along the roadside reduced the property's value by 15%, Duggan claimed. The property was used as a car dealership for more than 40 years, and cars had been displayed along the front of the property that entire time, Duggan asserted.

Deputyt Attorneys General Nonee Wagner and Alexander Falciani represented the state. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Lee Moore, confirmed the verdict and the amount of the state's offer.

— Charles Toutant

No Cause in Burlington Bad Faith Case

Izin v. GEICO: A Burlington County jury on Dec. 19, 2019, returned a defense verdict in the case of a GEICO policyholder who claimed the insurer committed bad faith in delaying payment of a claim.

According to counsel, in June 2017, plaintiff Hasan Izin submitted a property damage claim to his insurer, Geico Indemnity Co., after rear-ending a vehicle in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In December 2018, Geico paid the property damage amount of $11,505.22. Izin and his wife, plaintiff Senel Izin, a named insured, claimed that Geico delayed processing the claim. The Izins sued Geico Indemnity, a subsidiary of Government Employees Insurance Co.

The Izins, who were residents of Burlington County, presented a claim to Geico in March 2017 and then withdrew that claim. The claim was resubmitted in June 2017. Geico sought to investigate whether there was ride sharing of the vehicle, since it was registered in New York with taxi and limousine plates. The Izins claimed that they were not using the vehicle for ride sharing at the time of the accident. Their counsel argued that Geico did not process the claim within 30 days as required by New Jersey law.

A Geico claims adjuster testified that she had attempted but failed to set up an examination under oath, to confirm the findings of Geico's investigation. The Izins' expert opined that GEICO's actions constituted egregious bad faith and violated the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act. The defense maintained that there was no delay in processing the Izins' claim and that the situation had been handled appropriately. Any perceived delay was due to the Izins' failure to disclose that Hassan Izin had gotten a commercial policy with another insurer for the purpose of using the vehicle for ride sharing, the defense maintained.

The Izins sought to recover $18,897.63 in damages. The court bifurcated punitive damages. After a four-day trial before Superior Court Judge Aimee R. Belgard, the jury by a 7-1 vote found that the Izins failed to prove that there was no valid reason for Geico's processing delay, or that Geico knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that no valid reasons supported the delay.

The plaintiffs were represented by Mark J. Hill of Mark J. Hill & Associates; Geico, by Darren C. Kayal of Rudolph & Kayal in Manasquan.

*Editor's Comment: This report is based on information that was provided by defense counsel. Plaintiffs' counsel did not respond to the reporter's phone calls.

— Adapted from VerdictSearch reports