Following nearly two weeks of trial, the family of Bruce Pepe, of Burlington County, has recovered $950,000 in damages for his death on June 18, 2005. The family filed a lawsuit alleging that Mr. Pepe was caused to lose control of his motorcycle when he attempted to merge from the center lane into the left lane of I-295 northbound near milepost 16.6. An investigation by the New Jersey State Police concluded that a defect in the roadway, consisting of a 4" elevation of the left lane over the adjacent center lane, was the cause of the accident. The decedent, who was 54 years of age and employed as a truck driver by Sussex Wine Merchants, was survived by his wife, Catherine, and adult children Alison and Matthew. 

 

The Pepe family was represented by Alan M. Feldman and Edward S. Goldis of the Feldman Shepherd firm in Philadelphia (www.feldmanshepherd.com). In preparing the case for trial, Feldman and Goldis discovered that the New Jersey Department of Transportation had known about the road defect for 5 years, and had frequently described it as a significant safety hazard, particularly to motorcyclists.  Notwithstanding many discussions about the need to repair the defect, nothing was done until 2 years after Pepe’s death. Requests by some Department of Transportation employees for a warning sign to at least advise motorists of the dangerous condition and to urge them to stay in their lane were similarly never acted upon.

 

At trial, the Department of Transportation claimed that Pepe had a blood alcohol content over the New Jersey legal limit of .08. Other evidence, however, indicated that the blood specimen had been contaminated and that Pepe was not intoxicated or otherwise impaired at the time of the accident. A settlement between the parties was reached immediately before closing arguments were delivered to the jury on July 23, 2009. The trial was conducted by The Honorable Anne McDonnell, Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division.        

 

 

Contact:

Alan M. Feldman

Feldman Shepherd

25^th floor

1845 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

215-567-8300