Car accident/photo by Dmitry Kalinovsky/Shutterstock.com

A woman injured when she struck a protruding guardrail on an Interstate 80 access ramp in Paterson settled her Passaic County suit, Garris v. City of Paterson, on May 4 for $3.55 million.

On the evening of June 17, 2017, Judith Garris, 58, was driving near the intersection of Beckwith Avenue and Lewis Street in Paterson, turning onto an on ramp to I-80, when she struck the guardrail with the right side of her car. She sustained spinal,  shoulder and knee injuries, and was hospitalized, later undergoing two-level fusion procedures at the cervical and lumbar level, according to her lawyer, Edward Capozzi of Brach Eichler in Roseland.

The guardrail was apparently damaged from a prior accident and protruded into the roadway. The suit originally named the state, county and city before it was learned that it was the city that was responsible for the stretch of road on which the accident occurred, Capozzi noted. Garris contended that a nearby resident had repeatedly notified government authorities of the dangerous guardrail, but the issue was not addressed, he said.

Initial court filings from the city contended that Garris' own negligence was the cause of the accident. During expert discovery, though, the defendants didn't strongly contest liability or the injuries, said Capozzi, who handled the case along with Corey Dietz of the same firm.

Garris still has issues with mobility and is likely to require further surgery, Capozzi said.

According to court documents, the defendants made an offer of judgment in the amount of $2.15 million earlier this year. That offer was rejected, Capozzi noted.

The parties went through mediation sessions with Raymond Reddin of Hall Booth Smith's Saddle Brook office, a retired Superior Court judge, and settled during a phone session on May 4. The trial date had been postponed to September because of COVID-19 court closures, Capozzi said.

In the settlement, the city agreed to pay $545,000 directly, and its excess carrier, Lloyd's of London, agreed to pay $3,005,000, according to Capozzi.

Jonathan Marotta of Sciro & Marotta in Paterson, who represented the city, didn't respond to a request for comment. Neither did Shanna Torgerson of Gallo Vitucci Klar in Hackensack, the excess carrier's appointed defense counsel. A Paterson city spokeswoman didn't respond to emails seeking information.