$17.65 Million Verdict Against Trucking Company Whose Impaired Driver Caused Fatal Route 440 Pileup
After trial: No appeal or reduction had been publicly reported as of 2026.
Won by Lomurro Munson LLC.
A Monmouth County jury awarded John Fiore $6.5 million in compensatory damages and $11.15 million in punitive damages after a drug-impaired Highlight Motor Freight driver caused a multivehicle crash on Route 440 in Perth Amboy that killed another motorist and left Fiore unable to work.
What happened
On the afternoon of September 6, 2017, traffic on Route 440 south in Perth Amboy had slowed for road construction. A tractor-trailer operated for Highlight Motor Freight, a carrier based in Concord, Ontario, did not slow with it. The rig, driven by Aleksandr Isserovich, rear-ended a Hyundai Sonata, jackknifed, and struck more vehicles caught in the backup. The Sonata's driver, 45-year-old Jason Appio, died that day. John Fiore, driving one of the other cars, survived with injuries that ended his career.
Toxicology showed Isserovich had marijuana and a mix of benzodiazepines, including clonazepam and alprazolam, in his system. He pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and assault by auto and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Fiore worked as a heavy-equipment operator. The crash left him with a torn meniscus in his left knee, torn cartilage in his left hip, a herniated disc, and a fracture in his left hand that healed improperly. He could not return to his trade.
His civil case went to trial in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Monmouth County before Judge Kathleen Sheedy. Donald Lomurro, Jonathan Lomurro, and Matthew Schiappa of Lomurro Munson tried the case for Fiore. Liability for the collision was not contested, so the trial centered on the extent of Fiore's losses and on whether the company's own conduct warranted punishment. The Lomurro team presented evidence that Isserovich had lied on his job application and that Highlight Motor Freight hired him and kept him behind the wheel despite warning signs it never investigated.
On November 3, 2023, the jury awarded $6.5 million in compensatory damages. The case then moved into a separate punitive phase against the carrier, which brought in new defense counsel for that stage: the Law Offices of Michael K. Chong, replacing Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard and Smith from the compensatory phase. On November 9, the same jury added $11.15 million in punitive damages, bringing the total award to $17.65 million.
TopVerdict ranked the result the third largest jury verdict in New Jersey in 2023. It followed an earlier resolution for the family of Jason Appio, whose estate settled its claims for $6.85 million in April 2021.
The path to the Monmouth County courtroom was not direct. Court records show Fiore first sued Isserovich and the Highlight companies in federal court in the Eastern District of New York in January 2018. That case closed within months, and the claims proceeded in New Jersey state court instead. As of publication, no appeal or reduction of the verdict has been reported.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.New Jersey Law Journal (via TruckTok): Jury Awards $17 Million in Crash Involving Truck Driver Impaired by Drugs
- 2.TopVerdict: Top 10 Verdicts in New Jersey in 2023 (No. 3, Fiore v. Highlight Motor Freight Inc., $17,650,000)
- 3.CourtListener docket: Fiore v. Isserovich, No. 1:18-cv-00371 (E.D.N.Y., filed Jan. 18, 2018, closed June 19, 2018)
- 4.Klaproth Law: $17.6 Million Verdict in Multivehicle Crash Case Highlights Negligence and Punitive Damages
- 5.News 12 New Jersey: Tractor-trailer driver charged with DUI in fatal Rt. 440 crash
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