The second highest automobile negligence award in 2013 was recovered by John Vlasac Jr. and Boris Shmaruk of Vlasac & Shmaruk in Metuchen: $4.35 million in an Essex County suit over claimed neck and back injuries in a New Jersey Turnpike crash.

Vanessa Naranjo alleged she was driving north in Newark on Jan. 14, 2011, when her car was struck in the rear by a car driven by Daniel Colon and owned by his employer, Sanofi-Aventis US of Bridgewater.