$12M verdict against NJ trooper who arrested stroke victim not unfair, judge rules

A $12 million verdict against a New Jersey state trooper who mistook a woman's stroke for inebriation, arrested her, and caused permanent disability will stand.

In a Friday decision, Superior Court Judge Thomas Vena rejected the state's assertion the jury was too harsh and said there would be no new trial or modified verdict.

“The Court is satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to support the verdict that the jury reached and that no reasonable mind could disagree with the outcome," the judge's decision said.

Jersey City resident Cheryl Rhines was beginning to suffer a stroke while driving to work on an October morning in 2017 and pulled over on the shoulder of a Newark highway, according to the lawsuit her mother filed on her behalf.

The lawsuit says Jennifer Albuja, the responding state trooper with just two years' experience, arrived 30 minutes later and deemed the incapacitated Rhines to be driving under the influence despite no evidence of alcohol use, no prior offenses and sufficient evidence of a stroke.

Albuja, according to the lawsuit, searched the vehicle and arrested her, taking her to the state police’s Somerville station instead of a hospital that was five minutes away from the highway. By doing this, according to the complaint, treatment was delayed by over two hours and even when EMTs were called, Rhines was still not being treated as if she was in medical distress, with her being shackled on the floor when they arrived.

Dennis M. Donnelly, Rhines' attorney, told the New Jersey Monitor in February that her now 56-year-old client suffered permanent consequences from the stroke. She had to leave her job and move in with her mother in Nashville due to developing a language disorder called global aphasia that prevents her from speaking or understanding the speech of others.

The initial verdict in January was $19.1 million before it was reduced to $11.5 million dollars. It has technically been further reduced to $11.2 million due to the easing of certain financial costs for Rhines.

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