Trucking and Transportation

Schaer Defeats a Motion for a New Trial Before a NJ Appellate Court

Zarwin attorney, Theodore Schaer successfully defended a plaintiff’s attempt for a new trial before the New Jersey Appellate Division of a case he successfully handled close to two years prior.

Plaintiff had filed a complaint in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Hudson County asserting that the defendant bus driver negligently drove a commercial bus on JFK Boulevard in Jersey City, colliding with a parked car in which the plaintiff was sitting causing serious and permanent injuries. Plaintiff alleged that the bus driver was so negligent and careless in driving the bus that it caused him to swerve into plaintiff’s car. Plaintiff also alleged that the Bus Company failed to properly train its driver.

Zarwin attorney, Ted Schaer tried the original case before Judge Barry Sarkisian in October of 2013. The driver testified that he had swerved into the parked car after he was cut off by a phantom vehicle that fled the scene. Schaer argued that the driver made the wise and safest decision to swerve the vehicle in order to avoid the vehicle that suddenly came into his lane of travel. The jury found in the bus companies’ favor on negligence and on permanence of the alleged injuries.

The plaintiff filed a Motion for a New Trial immediately following the trial. Debra Goldstein filed opposition to the Motion. The trial judge agreed and denied the requested relief. Plaintiff subsequently filed an Appeal, arguing that the weight of the evidence was against the jury’s verdict. Goldstein filed opposition to the appeal and appeared at oral argument in January of 2015, arguing that the Motion for a New Trial was properly denied.

On July 10, 2015, the Appellate Division affirmed the Trial Court’s decision and agreed that the Motion for a New Trial should have been denied. The Appellate Court determined that there was simply nothing apparent in the record warranting the conclusion that the jury reached an unjust result.

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