FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

BURLINGTON COUNTY JURY AWARDS
$175,000 FOR CAR CRASH INJURIES
(Judge Mold’s Verdict to $210,000)

A Burlington County Jury awarded $175,000 to Michelle Kapp of West Deptford who was injured in a car crash that occurred on Church Road in Mt. Laurel in January 2005.

Ms. Kapp, a Registerd Nurse who works for Visiting Nurses, suffered a severe and permanent aggravation to a previously injured low back disk that subsequently required surgery and multiple hospitalizations for continued and increased pain. Louis DeVoto of Rossetti & DeVoto, PC in Cherry Hill represented Ms. Kapp.

Ms. Kapp was returning to work at the time of the crash when she stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Church and Birchfield Road when she was rear-ended by Mark Gally of Southampton, New Jersey. Her car was totaled and defendant Gally’s fault for causing the crash was not in dispute.

Because Ms. Kapp was on company time when the crash occurred, she had to be treated by the employer’s worker’s compensation doctor. She treated for several weeks but was discharged back to work despite telling the doctor she had continued pain and symptoms. No tests were ordered until Ms. Kapp returned back to the same doctor four months later, now in severe and worsened pain. MRI tests were then ordered a month later that confirmed the worsening of the low back condition. Her spinal nerves were totally impinged by the bad disk. She was referred to Jefferson hospital where surgery was performed to remove a portion of the disc and retrieve disk fragments that had migrated to different areas of her back.

The major dispute was what, if any permanent damage did the crash do to the already injured spine of Ms. Kapp.

The defense argued that all of Ms. Kapp’s problems were the natural progression of her prior condition and that she did not suffer any permanent aggravation. They claimed that her failure limited post-accident treatment (two weeks) and the fact that the MRI was taken six months after that made attributing the worsening to the accident impossible. Plaintiff’s attorney Louis DeVoto countered the defense position by showing that the limited treatment was not the fault of plaintiff but that of the worker’s compensation doctor who discharged the plaintiff after only two weeks. He further countered that Ms. Kapp complied with all medical recommendations upon discharge including taking the prescribed medications and doing physical therapy at home.

“At trial, we then were able to show through the different MRI’s that were taken over the prior three years that a severe and permanent worsening occurred in the back after the crash,” stated DeVoto. “According to our medical expert, “there was no other reason for the sudden worsening to have occurred absent the crash especially given the plaintiff’s young age of 36 at the time of the crash.”

The verdict was modified after the crash to $210,000 by Judge Fratto to account for lost wages and medical expenses incurred by the plaintiff as a result of the aggravated condition. The added wage and medical expenses will not go to the plaintiff but will reimbursed directly to the workers’ compensation carrier.

DeVoto stated that the “jury was only allowed to award damages for the amount of permanent worsening caused by the crash and could not award any damages for injuries that pre-existed the crash. My client was happy with the jury’s verdict and feels that it represents fair compensation for the harm that she has been caused.”

The case was tried before the Honorable John Fratto, JSC in Mt. Holly from January 13 to January 15, 2009. The jury returned its verdict after deliberating for two hours.

Plaintiff’s Attorney Louis J. DeVoto, Esq. Cherry Hill, NJ

Plaintiff’s Medical Expert: Gregory Maslow, MD Marlton, NJ

Defense Attorney: Dorine Sirota, Esq. Wall, NJ

Defense Expert Stanley Askin, MD Langhorne, PA