Jury Awards Limerick Woman $4.46M in Injury Case, Blue Bell Firm Argues Case

A Montgomery County jury has awarded a Limerick woman more than $4.46 million in compensation for injuries suffered in a 2005 car accident, according to a press release distributed this evening by the woman's law firm.

According to Blue Bell law firm Mayers, Mennies & Sherr, Christina Tarca was injured in December 2005 when the car she was driving was rear-ended by a van driven by Irvin Johnson, then an employee of Norristown Ford, now defunct.

Tarca and her husband, Dumitru, filed suit against Johnson and Norristown Ford in October 2007. According to the firm, court papers state that Johnson was looking at a delivery schedule that had dropped to the floor of the van when the van struck Tarca's car at an intersection in Whitpain.

Tarca was airlifted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for treatment. The firm said she later required neck surgery and developed a "debilitating pain syndrome" known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD).

According to the firm, Tarca and her family immigrated to the United States in 1990, following the Romanian revolution that overthrew dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.

"Unable to speak English, the couple learned trades, secured jobs, built a house and worked hard to send their children to college," the firm said.

The firm said the accident has left Tarca with "constant burning and aching in her arms and legs and a hypersensitivity that causes her to have excruciating pain when touched."

The jury rendered its verdict Tuesday at 7 p.m., awarding Tarca $4,464,565,60 in damages.

"The money will not bring back my health," Tarca said when reached by telephone on Friday. She expressed gratitude for her legal counsel and declined further comment.

According to a report in The Legal Intelligencer, the jury award is the fourth largest verdict or settlement in Montgomery County in the last decade.

Judge Gary Silow presided over the six-day trial.

Following the trial, a motion for delay damages was filed. That motion seeks an additional $507,000 in interest.