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Melissa Van Orden, now 47, of Budd Lake was driving home from work on southbound Route 206 in Andover when an oncoming Volkswagen crossed the double-yellow center line and slammed head-on into her Hyundai Santa Fe shortly after 7 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2019, authorities said.
Both Van Orden and the Volkwagen driver, Enrico Stampone, now 27, of Totowa, were airlifted to Morristown Medical Center, responders said at the time.
Van Orden, whose right arm, both legs and hip suffered several fractures, needs a walker to get around, according to an New Jersey Law Journal report.
She was in a coma that Christmas, has required no fewer than 17 medical procedures, as well as skin grafts, since then and can't return to her hospital nursing assistant’s job.
Stampone, who was driving his parent’s Volkswagen, was cited for careless driving for the third time since he began driving, Van Orden’s lawyers told NJLJ.
They sued Stampone and his parents on behalf of Van Orden.
Including the amount already paid to repair damages to her SUV, Van Orden’s settlement totaled $1,490,123, the Law Journal reported.
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