(West Orange, NJ, July 30, 2019) The morning commute for motorists coming down into the Newark area in New Jersey was all but normal today. Commuters are used to slow-moving traffic but motorists realized that today’s delay was different. Traffic came to a complete stop for over an hour.
A crash between a
Commercial Construction Van and a motor vehicle resulted ultimately in a multi-vehicle
crash by a Dump Truck which collided with a State Trooper SUV, an Ambulance and
a Fire Truck on the scene of the earlier crash.
The roadway was open
temporarily to allow the miles of backup vehicles to move off the roadway. In the interim, three New Jersey State
Troopers were transported to the hospital along with a number of civilians who
were involved in the accident. After the
backlog was moved, the roadway was closed and the task of reconstructing what
happened began.
A couple weeks ago NJAccident.com published an article urging the New Jersey Supreme Court to overturn a Workers Compensation Judge’s decision and an Appellate Division Three-Judge panel’s decision upholding the denial of temporary disability benefits to Volunteer Firefighter who was injured during a fire call but who was unemployed because she was caring for her ailing father. We are glad to report that the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the lower court decisions and awarded temporary disability benefits to Volunteer Firefighters Jennifer Kocanowski temporary disability benefits as urged by our article.
Supreme Court Summary
The New Jersey Supreme
Court summarized its decision in the Syllabus of its decision released on
February 19, 2019 as follows:
Jennifer Kocanowski was
a volunteer firefighter for seventeen years and was injured in the course of
her duties. Kocanowski applied for and was denied temporary disability benefits
because she did not have outside employment. In this appeal, the Court
considers whether volunteer firefighters must be employed to be eligible for
temporary disability benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act, N.J.S.A.
34:15-1 to -146.
Kocanowski served fifteen years at the Finderne Fire Department in the Township of Bridgewater. In addition to her volunteer work, Kocanowski usually had outside paid employment, including working as a nanny and home health care aide. Kocanowski took a six-month leave from volunteer firefighting after her father’s death to care for her ill mother and settle her father’s estate. She returned to volunteer firefighting around July 2014, but did not resume outside employment.
School Bus Crash Only 1 of 3 other Fatal Crashes on Route 80 in Mt. Olive New Jersey.
On May 17, 2018, Paramus School Bus Driver Hudy Muldrow, 77, after being the 2nd of 3 bus drivers who missed a turn off to his destination attempted to correct his error and avoid a delay in getting to his destination by going across three lanes of traffic to get to an Official Vehicle U-Turn area in the middle median on Route 80 in Mt. Olive New Jersey.
The driving maneuver was described as crossing in an almost perpendicular to the lanes of traffic on Route 80 to reach an Official Vehicle U-Turn in the middle median.
The pictures of the Paramus School District School bus on its side in the center median with its upper passenger area separated from the buses chassis which was in the roadway make it possible to visualize the horrific crash.
Many local schools will be open next week. According to a study by the Safe Kids, sixty-one children are hit by automobiles every day in the United States most often during the hours before and after school. It is not a coincidence that children being hit by automobiles peaks in September. September is the first month of a new school year.
The Safe Kids organization has some tips for Parents and Children walking to school: (more…)
If your friend recently had a baby, you may want to consider getting them a more practical gift, a TV Safety Strap. A safety strap can prevent a television from falling over and injuring a child. Every two weeks, on average, a child is injured and dies from an unsecured TV tipping over. Forty two percent (42%) of the injuries caused by TVs are in the bedroom and Twenty one percent (21%) are in the living/family room to children younger than 5 years old.
. A safety strap can prevent a television from falling over and injuring a child. Every two weeks, on average, a child is injured and dies from an unsecured TV tipping over. Forty two percent (42%) of the injuries caused by TVs are in the bedroom and Twenty one percent (21%) are in the living/family room to children younger than 5 years old.