PATRICIA SANDROW et al. v. ANTONIO MASTRULLO

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-3868-03T23868-03T2

PATRICIA SANDROW and STEPHEN

G. SANDROW, w/h,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

ANTONIO MASTRULLO,

Defendant-Respondent.

_______________________________________

 

Submitted September 28, 2005 - Decided

Before Judges Parker and Levy.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Camden County, Docket No. L-3307-02.

Joseph S. Chizik, attorney for appellant, Patricia Sandrow.

Tomlin, Hopkin & Ferrucci, attorneys for respondent (Sharon A. Ferrucci, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Plaintiff, who had been injured in an automobile accident in 1996, was in an automobile accident with defendant on June 9, 2000 and sued for injuries. On February 6, 2004, the court granted summary judgment for defendant dismissing all of plaintiff's claims for noneconomic damages based upon a finding that the injuries suffered by plaintiff in the second accident did not cause any additional significant impact on her lifestyle beyond the impact resulting from the injuries suffered in the first accident. The court made its decision based upon the requirements of the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act (AICRA), N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8(a), as interpreted by Oswin v. Shaw, 129 N.J. 290 (1992), which held, among other things, a plaintiff had to establish a serious life impact to recover noneconomic damages in cases to which the verbal threshold of AICRA applied.

The court's decision was rendered prior to DiProspero v. Penn, 183 N.J. 477, 481 (2005), in which the Supreme Court held that "an automobile accident victim who is subject to the threshold and sues for noneconomic damages has to satisfy only one of AICRA's six threshold categories and does not have the additional requirement of proving a serious life impact." Based upon that holding, a reversal and remand in this case is required.

 
Reversed and remanded.

(continued)

(continued)

2

A-3868-03T2

November 30, 2005