$737,500 for Injuries as a Result of Auto Accident

$737,500 for Auto Negligence
November 16, 1998

Goodhart v. Foss: A Raritan man who suffered scalp cuts and internal bleeding when a tractor-trailer ran a red light and hit his car will receive $737,500 under a settlement reached Nov. 9.

Robert Goodhart, 47, will receive $737,500 from Thomas Foss of East Machias, Maine, who was driving the tractor-trailer. The case was settled after conferences before Somerset County Superior Court Judge Helen Hoens.

The accident occurred on Jan. 30, 1996, as Goodhart was driving on First Avenue in Raritan across Route 202. Foss’ tractor-trailer sped through a red light, hit Goodhart’s car on the driver’s side and then again on the rear driver’s side. Goodhart’s car rolled over several times from the and Goodhart was thrown from the car.

Goodhart spent the next five days at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he received 100 stitches for a scalp cut that was 22 centimeters long and two to three centimeters wise. Goodhart suffered bruises, a blunt injury to his left side, post-concussion syndrome and a lumbar spine.

Goodhart’s attorney, David Mazie, a partner in a Livingston law firm, says Goodhart continues to suffer from depression, anxiety, a reduced mental processing rate and severe neck and back pains as a result of the accident.

Mazie says Foss was liable for the accident, in light of the speed with which he was traveling and his "reckless and careless manner."

Foss’ attorney, Michael Andolino, a partner with Little Falls’ Garrabrandt & Andolino, contends that Goodhart’s injuries would not have been as severe and he would not have been thrown from the car if he had been wearing a seat belt.

Mazie says he was prepared to call an accident reconstructionist to testify that Goodhart’s seat broke from the force of the impact and that he would have been ejected even if he had been wearing a seat belt.

-- By Matt Ackermann