Top 10 lawsuits that cost N.J. taxpayers most in 2014
By Christopher Baxter | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
TRENTON — The state paid out $78.8 million in taxpayer money last year to resolve lawsuits filed against it, an increase of $6.1 million from 2013 and the most since at least 2006, according to records obtained by NJ Advance Media under the Open Public Records Act.
That amount, however, was eclipsed by the more than $346 million the state brought home through litigation, a $42 million increase from 2013, records show. More than half came through a settlement related to the clean-up of the polluted Passaic River.
The state paid out in cases ranging from medical malpractice to train accidents and State Police trooper misconduct. Below is a list of the 10 largest payouts last year, as well as a database of every case in which the state handed over taxpayer money:
$10 million: Angelique Marlene Delaney Baker vs. Jean Dalme and NJ Transit
Angelique Marlene Delaney Baker sued in 2011 in state Superior Court in Essex County alleging her purse got stuck in a door of an NJ Transit bus in East Orange. She freed herself from the strap, the lawsuit said, but fell underneath the bus, which crushed her arm, legs and pelvis. She suffered serious injuries that require ongoing care.