NJ Turnpike lawyer horror story triggers outbreak of indignation

A lawyer for the New Jersey Turnpike, William B Ziff managed to provoke some wild headlines today: "NJ ADDS INSULT TO INJURY: SUES TRAGIC CRASH KIN" and "NJ Turnpike officials sue crash victims".

"Disgraceful and obscene" and "the most outrageous thing I have seen in a long time" were comments from lawyers of those sued.

"Mrs Ryan must have bled on the roadway surface while she was being crushed by tons of bricks, and they want to charge her husband for the cleanup," said lawyer Jeffrey Lisabeth who represents the widower Allan Ryan in the gruesome crash on the Turnpike in August 2006 that killed his wife Norma Ryan, 37 of Voorhees NJ.

Immediately he heard - from the New York Post which has the story first - what he'd done, the Turnpike lawyer Ziff rushed to the court house and cancelled the suit. A Turnpike spokesman said it was a clerical error and apologized.

It was a legal trawl. They have a legal clerk get the names of everyone mentioned in the police report of the accident and file suit against everyone on the scene for cleanup expenses. Such legal trawls are the result of aggressive efforts to recoup costs and are encouraged by automobile insurance policies that routinely cover the costs of such claims.

COMMENT: An example of mindless litigating to be sure. And terrible PR.

But since all the signs are it was a genuine mistake by the Turnpike's lawyers, that no one ever intended to sue the victims and their families, and they moved immediately they realized what they had done to cancel the suit, the indignation is overblown.

The fuss in the press was contrived to by the victims' lawyers to get themselves some cheap publicity. It was a publicity stunt.

BACKGROUND: It was a horrible accident. It happened at 1:30pm Aug 14 2006 in the northbound lanes on the far northern end of the New Jersey Turnpike about 5km (3 miles) before the George Washington Bridge where there are express and local lanes roadways in both directions. Going northbound it is just after I-80 has merged with I-95 at Fort Lee Rd, Exit 70, numbered by the mile markers along I-80. The 12 lanes of this section of roadway carry about 300k veh/day.

A tractor trailer driver carrying bricks to New York in the northbound inner lanes failed to apply his brakes in time to avoid slow traffic, swerved into the shoulder lane in an attempt to avoid the rearender but hit the guardrail bounced back into travel lanes. His truck pushed a Nissan Altima under the trailer of another truck crushing it, and killing three of four occupants. The trailer of bricks then overturned raining bricks on a Toyota SUV driven by Mrs Ryan, two of her children and a woman friend aged 64. Mrs Ryan died and her two children and the friend were seriously injured but recovered.

It took 6.5 hours before the accident scene was cleared. Traffic was backed up for about 10 miles.

The crash scene is an untolled end section of highway well beyond the final northern toll plaza of the Turnpike. It is sometimes affected by backups from the PANYNJ toll plazas up ahead.

The truck driver who was unhurt pled guilty to careless driving and paid a fine.

TOLLROADSnews 2007-12-17