Jury Awards Man $4.2 Million in Car Accident

An Essex County jury this week awarded a 52-year-old Hillside man $4.2 million in a lawsuit against automaker Nissan Automotive as a result of a July 2006 car accident, according to a published report.

Larry Clanton did his rehabilitation at the Kessler Institute in West Orange, according to a Thursday NJ.com report.

At the time of the accident, Clanton, a United States postal worker, was driving to the Shore, according to the report, when a 73-lb. runaway tire from a pickup truck headed in the opposite direction struck his Nissan Altima’s roof and cracked it. The roof pushed Clanton’s head forward, fracturing his neck as his chin pressed into his chest.

Clanton’s lawsuit argued the roof’s header panel – and the header panel in all Nissan Altimas made from 2002-2006 – is defective, improperly attached to the rest of the roof structure.

Clanton’s attorney, Cynthia Walters, argued the injuries could have been prevented had the header that forms the front of the roof been affixed to the sides of the roof’s steel skeleton, as is common in most cars.