$6,850,000 Recovery in Wrongful Death Trucking Accident Case: Estate of Appio
Daryl L. Zaslow of Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow, LLP (Edison, Red Bank and Toms River) obtained a $6,850,000,000 settlement on behalf of the Estate of a 45-year-old man who was involved in a fatal trucking accident. On January 29, 2021, the Honorable Andrea I. Marshall, J.S.C. conducted a distribution hearing and entered an order approving the allocation of the wrongful death damages.
On September 6, 2017, at approximately 3:56 pm, Jason Appio was driving home from his job in Staten Island as a field technician for Verizon. He was in the right lane on State Highway 440 in Woodbridge when a Volvo tractor trailer owned by the Defendant Trucking Company crashed into the rear of Plaintiff’s vehicle. The Defendant Trucking Company had hired the Defendant Truck Driver as a CDL driver approximately 4.5 months before the accident. After the accident, toxicology report from the truck driver’s blood sample were positive for Xanax, Klonopin, and Clonazepam – all of which include common adverse side effects such as impaired judgment, drowsiness, fatigue, dizziness, unsteadiness, and disorientation. The investigating officers noted the truck driver was exhibiting all of these related side effects.
According to the multiple good Samaritans who tried to render to assistance to Mr. Appio, immediately after the accident he appeared deceased in his vehicle, and there was no evidence he was conscious after the accident. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his autopsy revealed a completed transected aorta, a fractured thoracic spine and blunt force injuries to the head and neck.
At the time of his death, Mr. Appio was a 45-year-old husband and father of three. According to Mr. Zaslow, the defense argued there was no evidence of any conscious pain and suffering and that Plaintiffs’ claims of economic loss were grossly inflated.
Mr. Zaslow continues to represent catastrophically injured victims of trucking accidents in New Jersey and across the country.