Plaintiff Injured in Two Accidents Settles Suits for Total of $865,000

A man whose injuries at a department store were aggravated by a parking lot accident months later agreed on Feb. 17 to a $515,000 settlement, bringing his total recovery to $865,000 in consolidated suits, Funt v. Keehn Landscape Contractors.
Bruce Funt of Fair Lawn had already had both knees replaced when, on March 21, 2011, he allegedly tripped and fell on a wrinkled, raised carpet tile in the Nordstrom department store at Garden State Plaza in Paramus.
The resulting abrasion to his left knee caused an infection a few weeks later that required removal of the prosthesis and insertion of a spacer while the knee was treated with antibiotics until the infection cleared and a new prosthesis was implanted, says his lawyer, Richard LaBarbiera of LaBarbiera & Martinez in North Bergen.
On Nov. 23, 2011, only a few weeks after that process was complete, Funt was hit by a pickup truck owned by Keehn Landscape Contractors of Hackensack as he walked across the parking lot of Jalapenos Mexican Grille in Glen Rock. He was struck in the left leg, causing another infection in the same knee to develop three to four weeks later and had to go through the same process again, says LaBarbiera, who adds that the new infection was a different strain from the first one.
Funt, now 63, also allegedly injured his neck, back and elbow.
Separate lawsuits against Nordstrom and Keehn in Bergen County Superior Court were consolidated.
Nordstrom settled for $350,000 last fall through mediation with retired Superior Court Judge Mark Epstein, and Keehn agreed on Monday to pay $515,000, according to LaBarbiera.
Nordstrom’s attorney, Paul Clark of Wade Clark Mulcahy in Mountainside, confirms the settlement. Keehn’s lawyer, Frank Viscomi of Viscomi & Lyons in Morristown, did not return a call.

A man whose injuries at a department store were aggravated by a parking lot accident months later agreed on Feb. 17 to a $515,000 settlement, bringing his total recovery to $865,000 in consolidated suits, Funt v. Keehn Landscape Contractors.

Bruce Funt of Fair Lawn had already had both knees replaced when, on March 21, 2011, he allegedly tripped and fell on a wrinkled, raised carpet tile in the Nordstrom department store at Garden State Plaza in Paramus.

The resulting abrasion to his left knee caused an infection a few weeks later that required removal of the prosthesis and insertion of a spacer while the knee was treated with antibiotics until the infection cleared and a new prosthesis was implanted, says his lawyer, Richard LaBarbiera of LaBarbiera & Martinez in North Bergen.

On Nov. 23, 2011, only a few weeks after that process was complete, Funt was hit by a pickup truck owned by Keehn Landscape Contractors of Hackensack as he walked across the parking lot of Jalapenos Mexican Grille in Glen Rock. He was struck in the left leg, causing another infection in the same knee to develop three to four weeks later and had to go through the same process again, says LaBarbiera, who adds that the new infection was a different strain from the first one.

Funt, now 63, also allegedly injured his neck, back and elbow.

Separate lawsuits against Nordstrom and Keehn in Bergen County Superior Court were consolidated.

Nordstrom settled for $350,000 last fall through mediation with retired Superior Court Judge Mark Epstein, and Keehn agreed on Monday to pay $515,000, according to LaBarbiera.

Nordstrom’s attorney, Paul Clark of Wade Clark Mulcahy in Mountainside, confirms the settlement. Keehn’s lawyer, Frank Viscomi of Viscomi & Lyons in Morristown, did not return a call.