MARK R. KRZYKALSKI, ET AL. VS. DAVID T. TINDALL
A-2539-14T3/A-2774-14T3(CONSOLIDATED)
Plaintiff commenced this personal injury suit against
defendant, whose vehicle rear-ended plaintiff's, as well as a
fictitious defendant, an unknown driver, who had cut across the
lane in which plaintiff was driving to make a left turn. The
trial judge permitted the jury to determine whether both
defendant and the unknown driver were negligent and, if so, to
ascertain their respective responsibility for plaintiff's
injuries; both were found negligent, and the unknown driver was
found 97% responsible. The court held that the trial judge
properly allowed the jury to apportion responsibility between
the known and unknown defendants, extending Cockerline v.
Menendez, 411 N.J. Super. 596 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 201
N.J. 499 (2010), which differed only because, in Cockerline, the
plaintiff had already settled with the UM insurer and thereby
fixed the unknown driver's contribution, and here no such
settlement was reached and no proceedings had occurred with
respect to the UM carrier.
Judge Leone filed a concurring opinion.
