Truck Driver Run Over by Bus Accepts $6.95M for Leg Injuries, Vision Loss

Lugo v. New Century Travel, et. al.

New Jersey Law Journal

201 N.J.L.J. 917 September 20, 2010 An ALM Publication

Top 20 Personal Injury Awards of the Year

Truck Driver Run Over by Bus Accepts $6.95M for Leg Injuries, Vision Loss

Lugo v. New Century Travel: A man who lost part of his leg and most of his eyesight after being run over by a bus was paid $2 million on Aug. 16 on a total $6.95 million settlement of his suit.

Francisco Lugo, of Bensalem, Pa., was injured Sept. 10, 2007, at the Valero gas station on Route 541 in Westampton, where he rented a parking space for the truck he drove as a second job, says his lawyer, John Vlasac Jr. of Vlasac & Cassidy.

Lugo, then 34, was walking toward the truck around midnight when the bus, owned by New Century Travel and driven by King Kwong Mok, both of Philadelphia, struck him, trapping his right leg under the front tire.

Still conscious, he was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where he spent 40 days and had his right leg amputated above the knee, requiring him to wear a prosthetic.

The blood loss damaged his eyes, leaving him legally blind in one and partly blind in the other and able to see shapes but not details. The one-time mechanic and truck driver can no longer read, drive or work, though there was no lost wage claim, say Vlasac. No longer capable of living on his own, he had to move back in with his parents, adds Vlasac.

The case settled at a July 27 conference with Burlington County Superior Court Judge Marc Baldwin, aided by mediation with retired Middlesex County Assignment Judge Robert Longhi, now with Mandelbaum Salsberg Gold Lazris & Discenza in New Brunswick.

The bus company’s carriers, Liberty Mutual Insurance and General Star Insurance, paid $1 million and $3.95 million, respectively, on Aug. 3 and 13.

Harleysville Insurance, the carrier for gas station operator APCO Petroleum Inc., paid the remaining $2 million. Lugo alleged the lighting at the station was poor with at least one burnt-out bulb and trucks allowed to park so that they blocked the light, in violation of a local zoning resolution governing use of the property.

Michael Marone, of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter in Morristown, for APCO, confirms the settlement. Dana Argeris, of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin in Cherry Hill, who represents New Century.