“No Cause” for New Jersey Partner Christopher Marcucci

After two-days of testimony in an intersectional collision case where Chris Marcucci represented a driver who testified two large utility trucks illegally parked blocked his view of the approaching plaintiff vehicle, the jury found the Plaintiff did not sustain a permanent injury, failed to surmount the verbal threshold, and returned a verdict of “no cause.”

Plaintiff settled with the owner of the utility vehicles prior to trial. At trial, plaintiff testified: “I was doing fine, I was feeling fine …” before the accident and, during cross-examination, the plaintiff testified the reason she did not see our client’s vehicle before the accident was not that it was obscured by the utility trucks, but because as she was driving, she was looking straight ahead and never looked to her left. Our client testified through a Gujarati interpreter, that the utility trucks parked to his right blocked his view, he observed one car pass from his right to his left and at that point he proceeded into the intersection and was involved in the collision with plaintiff’s vehicle which he never saw before the impact.

Plaintiff alleged low back, neck, right shoulder, and head injuries were sustained resulting in emergency treatment, chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, orthopedic evaluation and lumbar MRI testing which revealed a disc herniation at L5-S1 and disc bulges at L4-5 and L3-4. At trial the Judge found Chris’ Motions in limine compelling and precluded testimony from Plaintiff’s chiropractic expert concerning re-aggravation of an earlier injury and the potential for surgery, however, permitted testimony regarding permanency.

The jury returned a verdict attributing 55% of the liability to our client; 35% to the utility truck owner, and 10% of the liability to Plaintiff, however, the jury further concluded the plaintiff had not demonstrated through objective medical evidence that she had sustained a permanent injury as a result of the accident, voting 7-0 in favor of dismissing plaintiff’s case.