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Dennis Donnelly: 19.1 million verdict - negligence of a state trooper failing to detect a driver having a stroke

$19.1M Verdict: 'Most Accurate Settlement Demand I Ever Made'

The state trooper thought the driver was drunk and failed to see she was having a stroke.

January 30, 2025

By Charles Toutant

 

What You Need to Know

  • Suit claims the trooper was negligent for failing to detect the driver who suffered a stroke.
  • Jury awarded $19.1 million.
  • The award was reduced to $11.5 million based on the chance that the plaintiff would have been injured even without a delay in treatment.

A jury in Essex County, New Jersey, returned a $19.1 million verdict in a suit alleging a state trooper failed to recognize signs of a stroke in a driver. But the award was reduced to $11.5 million based on a partial apportionment of damages to a pre-existing condition.

Plaintiff Cheryl Rhines, 48, was driving from her home in Jersey City to her job as a senior marketing executive at BASF in Florham Park, New Jersey, on Oct. 17, 2017, when she experienced symptoms of a stroke, her lawyer Dennis Donnelly said.

Rhines managed to pull onto the shoulder of the road, where her car hit a guardrail. A state trooper who responded, Jennifer Albuja, concluded Rhines was intoxicated, and placed her under arrest. Albuja's error led to a 2-hour delay in diagnosis and treatment for Rhines, who survived but now has difficulty speaking and understanding what others are saying, Donnelly argued.

Rhines' suit against Albuja and the state was tried for four weeks before Judge Keith Lynott. Her lawyer Donnelly is with Sarno da Costa D'Aniello Maceri in Roseland, but he took Rhines' case when he was with the Donnelly Law Firm, also of Roseland. The jury's gross verdict of $19.1 million on Wednesday consisted of $5 million for pain and suffering, disability, impairment and lost enjoyment of life; $1.6 million in lost income; $6.5 million in future medical care and $6 million for emotional distress. Jurors concluded that 60% of the injury resulted from the trooper's negligence. The verdict was reduced 40% to account for the chance that an injury would have occurred even with an earlier diagnosis and treatment, bringing the award to $11.5 million, Donnelly said.

When Rhines' vehicle was stopped on the shoulder of Route 95 in Newark, an employee of the State Department of Transportation checked on her and then called police, Donnelly said. Albuja responded and found Rhines speaking incoherently, according to video from the trooper's body-worn camera, Donnelly said. The trooper asked Rhines multiple times if she had used any drugs or alcohol recently, and Rhines said no, Donnelly said. 

The site of the traffic stop was roughly a 5-minute ride from University Hospital in Newark, which is a Level 1 trauma center and designated emergency stroke center. But instead of taking Rhines there the trooper transported her to the State Police barracks in Somerville, which resulted in the two-hour delay in treatment, Donnelly argued.

A sergeant who was at the state police barracks when Albuja and Rhines arrived at the trooper barracks testified that he took a look at Rhines, who needed help to walk from the car to the building, and said "call the EMTs," according to Donnelly, who represented the plaintiff along with Alexandria Loprete of Fredson Statmore Bitterman in Woodbridge. Albuja, who had less than two years' experience, was trained in recognizing strokes at the state police academy, and prompt treatment of strokes makes a big difference in the outcome, Donnelly said.

Albuja and the state were represented by Adrian Moncur of Scarinci Hollenbeck in Little Falls. Moncur emphasized Albuja was facing great danger when responding to Rhines on the shoulder of the highway because of the vehicles speeding past, Donnelly said. In addition, Moncur emphasized that Albuja is not a doctor, and that there was no indication from the call summoning her to the scene that there was a medical problem, according to Donnelly. Moncur also asserted that an officer from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who was fixing a flat tire on a vehicle nearby and came to the assistance of the trooper, never suggested Rhines was having a stroke, according to Donnelly.

"Five years ago, I demanded $10 million to settle the case—that was the most accurate settlement demand I ever made. They could have saved themselves a couple of million bucks and a trial and all this time, but they never really responded appropriately. We had mediation. They offered a million dollars, which was an insult, and which, we told them, was an insult, and they never changed during this entire trial, although I think the trial was going very well, and they had the opportunity to, but they didn't," Donnelly said.

Moncur did not respond to a request for comments. A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, Allison Inserro, declined to comment.

 

$19.1M Verdict: 'Most Accurate Settlement Demand I Ever Made'

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