Legal News

$995,000 Settlement For Victim of Crash with Drunk Driver

A motorist who claimed he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a collision with a drunken driver accepted $995,000 on Sept. 18 in his Middlesex County suit, Wilds v. Bonner.

Melvin Wilds was turning left onto Westfield Avenue in Rahway on May 23, 2012, when hit by a car driven by James Bonner, who was cited for driving while intoxicated and other traffic offenses, says plaintiff lawyer John Vlasac Jr. of Vlasac & Shmaruk in Metuchen. The suit claimed he was driving too fast and should have stopped when he encountered Wilds’ vehicle.

Wilds, now 57, a retired police officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, alleged he suffered a traumatic brain injury; lacerations to his liver, spleen and left lung; a fractured left rib; and cognitive problems and memory loss.

Bonner’s lawyer, John Fearns of Lamb, Kretzer, Reinman & Roselle in Jersey City, confirms the settlement.

— By Charles Toutant / Courtesy of New Jersey Law Journal