A
$6.5 million settlement has been made involving a crash
more than two years ago in which a Dickson City woman died
and her husband was seriously injured. The wreck occurred
when a tractor-trailer hauling garbage here from New Jersey
struck their pickup truck when exiting the North Scranton
Expressway. Attorney Robert Munley said $5.5 million of
the settlement will go to Edward Zawacki 65, of 219 Oak
St., Dickson City, who has been in a comatose state since
the accident An award of $1 million was made in the death
of Zawacki’s wife, Vivian, who died in the crash. The settlement
was reached several months ago, said attorneys for the Zawackis,
but was not finalized until Friday. Settlement talks began
after the case was scheduled to go to trial last spring
before Lackawanna County Court Judge Canon O’Malley. The
case stems from a highly publicized accident Jan. 4, 1990,
on North Keyser Avenue near the North Scranton Expressway.
A tractor-trailer operated by Denis Perez, 33, of 217 52nd
Street, West New York, N.J., slammed broadside into the
Zawacki vehicle as the rig left the North Scranton Expressway.
The Zawackis, who were returning home after attending St.
Ann’s Novena, had just gone through a green traffic signal
on Keyser Avenue when their vehicle was struck by the tractor-trailer.
The impact drove their vehicle into a metal pole supporting
the traffic signal. Munley said state police found none
of the brakes on either the tractor or trailer were in adjustment,
indicating they had not been adjusted or repaired for a
long period. Shortly after the accident, Gov. Robert Casey
launched a statewide crackdown known as Operation Trashnet
to make safety inspections of vehicles hauling out-of-state
garbage to landfills in Pennsylvania. Perez, who was charged
with vehicular homicide but was acquitted by a Lackawanna
County jury, was hauling garbage from Passaic County, NJ.,
to the Empire Landfill in Taylor. Perez was one of four
defendants in the civil action Munley flied on behalf of
the Zawackis. The major defendant, however was Pen Pac,
a Totowa, N.J., trucking firm that owned the trailer Perez
was operating and contracted with Perez to haul garbage
to Empire. Other defendants included JLB Leasing, another
New Jersey firm that was an intermediary in hiring Perez
and Robert Bolus, also known as Bolus Eastern Leasing Company
which supposedly made repairs to Perez’s vehicle. Munley
said Edward Zawacki has been in a coma since the accident.
He has been treated at Community Medical Center and the
Hillcrest Home, New Milford. He currently resides at Abington
Manor. Because of his special needs, Munley said, Zawacki’s
care costs in excess of $500 per day.
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