Family Sues After Deadly Sinkhole Kills NJ Woman

CARTERET, NJ — The family of a local woman who died after a sinkhole opened up on Middlesex Avenue last year is suing the borough, Middlesex County, Woodbridge Township and the Middlesex Water Company.

In a wrongful-death lawsuit filed on April 8, the family of Shelly Malbranche said that she died after a sinkhole materialized near a water main on/around Middlesex Avenue (also known as “Prologis Way”) in July 2025.

Malbranche, a Carteret resident, was 36 years old at the time of the incident, the suit says. Her brother, Evan, and her father, Enois, filed the lawsuit as administrators of her estate.

According to the complaint, on July 26, 2025, at 1:12 a.m., Malbranche was driving on Middlesex Avenue after dropping off her friend at her home in Hackensack when her vehicle collided with a fire hydrant.

At the time of the crash, Malbranche was talking on the phone with another friend, the suit said.

She described the collision to him and told him that she was able to take off her seatbelt and leave her vehicle.

Shortly after this incident, the complaint alleges that a “massive sinkhole” opened up, and water came rushing out as the hydrant detached from the water main.

In the complaint, the family alleges that once the sinkhole opened up, the sidewalk around the fire hydrant collapsed, and Malbranche likely fell into the hole.

The suit further alleges that a whirlpool was created, and that Malbranche was “likely repeatedly struck by sidewalk debris, due to the fast-moving water.”

Once first responders arrived, they found Malbranche’s car partially submerged in the sinkhole and found Malbranche herself deceased, with her body floating in the sinkhole that was estimated to be about 15-16 feet long by first responders, the complaint said.

While trying to inhale oxygen, the suit said that Malbranche inhaled dirty water, mud and debris instead.

As she was asphyxiating from the lack of oxygen, the complaint further states that she experienced pain due to multiple bruises and scrapes on her body.

According to the suit, her autopsy notes cerebral congestion and edema and brown fluid present in her gastric contents and tracheobronchial tree.

Her official cause of death was listed as mechanical asphyxia with drowning.

“Ms. Malbranche died a slow and agonizing death, trapped in water or debris that prevented her from breathing,” the complaint states. “She was found without clothing on her body, likely due to the fast-moving water.”

At the time of the incident, the complaint alleges that the road was “in a dangerous and defective condition,” due to a leak in the nearby water main that had existed for “a sufficient period of time” to undermine the road’s foundation.

This rendered it “structurally unsound and prone to collapse,” the complaint states, and thereby rendered the road unsafe for ordinary travel and created an "unreasonable risk of harm to persons lawfully using the roadway."

The lawsuit alleges that the Middlesex Water Company, Middlesex County, Woodbridge Township and Carteret Borough had “ample opportunity” to inspect, correct, repair, or warn of the condition of the water infrastructure and/or road but failed to do so.

In emails to Patch, spokespeople for Middlesex County and the Middlesex Water Company both declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

Patch has reached out to Woodbridge Township, Carteret Borough and an attorney representing the Malbranche family for comment as well. This article will be updated if a response is received.

Evan and Enois Malbranche are seeking compensatory, consequential, incidental and punitive damages, alongside interest, attorney’s fees, cost of suit and other relief the court deems just.

According to the complaint, Shelly has been remembered as “a beloved daughter, sister, friend, girlfriend, and sorority sister to many individuals who grieve her loss."