JOANNE SCHLEY et al. v. NANCY T. DODD

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-4040-04T24040-04T2

JOANNE SCHLEY and RONALD SCHLEY,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

NANCY T. DODD, a/k/a NANCY E.

TAYLOR-DODD,

Defendant-Respondent.

___________________________________

 

Submitted January 9, 2006 - Decided February 6, 2006

Before Judges Lintner and Gilroy.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Burlington County,

L-661-04.

William T. DiCiurcio, attorney for appellants.

Margolis Edelstein, attorneys for respondent (Robert M. Kaplan and Lisa Datta, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

On March 6, 2002, plaintiff, Joanne Schley, was operating a vehicle when it was struck in the rear by a vehicle operated by defendant Nancy Dodd. Plaintiff and her husband filed a complaint for personal injuries and per quod damages on March 5, 2004. Defendant moved for summary judgment asserting that plaintiff failed to vault the verbal threshold under the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act (AICRA), N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8. The motion judge issued a written tentative disposition, granting defendant's motion. On March 4, 2005, following oral argument on defendant's motion, the judge entered summary judgment.

Finding plaintiff presented objective credible evidence that she sustained a permanent injury sufficient to withstand defendant's motion, the judge concluded that plaintiff's proofs did not establish that her injuries had a significant impact on her life to overcome the second prong subjective standard set by Oswin v. Shaw, 129 N.J. 290 (1992), as applied to AICRA.

While this appeal was pending, our Supreme Court decided DiProspero v. Penn, 183 N.J. 477, 506 (2005), holding a plaintiff need not show a serious life impact under AICRA. We note in passing that although contradicted by defendant's medical expert, plaintiff's experts, Dr. William Wolfe and Dr. Luis Cervantes, provided opinions that plaintiff's MRI, "though . . . of very poor quality," showed that she suffered from herniated discs at C3-4, C6-7, and L2-3, along with lumbosacral radiculopathy symptoms which are permanent. Accordingly, we summarily reverse and remand for further proceedings in light of DiProspero.

 

As Joanne Schley suffered the injuries for which she seeks damages, we refer to her as plaintiff.

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A-4040-04T2

February 6, 2006