A hospital employee who was burned by chemicals when she was assaulted by a coworker, agreed to a $5.7 million settlement in her Bergen County suit, Cius v. Hackensack University Medical Center, on Jan. 25.

Magalie Cius, a patient care technician at Hackensack University Medical Center, was on duty on Feb. 7, 2022, when she was attacked by Nicholas Pagano, a traveling nurse who was assigned to the hospital. Cius and Pagano were working on the same floor but had no interactions before the attack, according to counsel for Cius, Bruce Nagel of Nagel Rice in Roseland. In the break room, Pagano struck Cius in the head with a wrench before throwing acid on her face, hands and arms, Nagel said. Pagano then fled the scene. Later that day, Pagano, 31, was found dead of an apparent suicide, according to Nagel and news reports.