Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

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An Illinois jury awarded $1.7 million to the surviving family members of a man who was hit by a semi-tractor trailer; Estate of Edward Kolodzik v. Cesar Castillo, VBD Transport, Inc., MLP Transport, Inc., No. 04 L 3715. While the decedent, Edward Kolodzik, survived the crash, he died five years later, allegedly from complications arising from the Illinois trucking accident.

The Illinois trucking accident occurred on Illinois Interstate 39/90 near Rockford, Illinois. Kolodzik was driving his car when he was struck by a Mack semi-tractor trailer driven by Cesar Castillo. Kolodzik suffered from a traumatic brain injury and right shoulder and lower back musculoskeletal injuries. As a result of these injuries, the 49 year-old Kolodzik became disabled and dependent on pain medication to relieve his severe shoulder and lower back pain.

A personal injury lawsuit was brought against the truck driver and his employers for their liability in Kolodzik’s injuries and resulting medical condition. When Kolodzik died five years after the truck accident, his wife and five minor children further alleged that his death was a result of his poor health and medical condition following the highway accident.

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A Cook County jury entered a $600,000 verdict in the auto accident lawsuit of Joseph Barbin v. United Parcel Service Inc. and Jorge D. Hernandez, No. 07 L 12572. While it is not unusual for a court to rule in favor of the plaintiff in a rear-end accident, what is unique about Barbin is that the accident was caused as a result of the defendant driver’s failure to obey emergency vehicle traffic laws.

The plaintiff had been hit by the defendant driver while waiting at an intersection for an ambulance to pass. Joseph Barbin was approaching the intersection of North Ave. and First Ave. in Melrose Park when he noted an ambulance approaching with its siren and lights activated. Barbin joined a line of two other vehicles in waiting for the ambulance to pass. However, it was while Barbin was waiting for the ambulance to pass that he was rear-ended by Jorge Hernandez.

Hernandez was driving a UPS package car at the time of the rear-end accident. The impact of Hernandez’s truck with Barbin’s vehicle caused not only severe whiplash, but also resulted in a herniated disc in Barbin’s cervical spine. Barbin underwent a fusion and discectomy surgery at the C4-5 level, but will need future surgery above and below the C4-5 spine in order to repair his cervical spine.

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The Winnebago County personal injury lawsuit of Candice Martlett and Jonathan Martlett, a minor v. Jennifer Fuller, 09 L 68, is yet another example of a defendant driver admitting liability for a car accident, but denying the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries. However, despite the defendant driver’s denial of the plaintiff’s injuries, the Illinois jury returned a $98,000 verdict in favor of the plaintiffs.

The car accident took place in a Winnebago County intersection. Twenty-seven year-old Candice Martlett was driving with her young son, Jonathan. Martlett had stopped at a red light, but then proceeded to drive northbound through the intersection when the light turned green. As Marlett entered the intersection, eighteen year-old Jennifer Fuller was driving westbound through the same intersection.

Fuller hit Marlett’s vehicle, causing the intersection car accident. Following the car crash, Candice Marlett suffered from knee and back pain; her son was fortunate enough to only suffer from some bruises. Marlett’s knee pain continued for some time following the accident and was eventually diagnosed as a knee contusion with scarring under the fat pad of her patella, or knee cap. Marlett underwent cortisone injections and physical therapy, but eventually required arthroscopic surgery to repair her knee injury. In addition to the medical bills Marlett accrued following the car accident, she was also forced to miss a year of work as a certified nurse’s assistant.

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Most car accidents are fender-benders, i.e., they result in some property damage to the vehicle and fairly mild injuries to passengers. This is because many accidents take place at slower speeds, e.g., when a vehicle is slowing down, or speeding up from a stop. However, the faster a car is going, the greater the risk for injury. This is why highway accidents are often much more tragic than intersection accidents.

Yet drivers to not need to be traveling in excess of 55 mph in order to do severe damage. In the Illinois personal injury case of Christopher Clark v. Creed D. Tucker, 07 L 96 (Champaign County), a driver rear-ended another car while driving 40 mph. The force of the impact caused the the first car to propel not one, but two more cars forward, making it not just a two-car accident, but a four-car accident.

The car at fault for the rear-end accident was being driven by 81 year-old Creed Tucker, a retired judge from the Champaign County district. The first driver he hit was 16 year-old Christopher Clark, whose car was completely totaled as a result of the multiple car accident. The force of the impact pushed Clark’s car forward into the next car, which then pushed into the car in front of that. Clark filed a personal injury lawsuit against the former judge in an effort to recover damages for the injuries Clark sustained following the car crash.

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In law, if you don’t agree with a lower court’s ruling, you have the option of appealing your case to a higher court. However, just because you file an appeal does not mean you will be happy with the outcome. In the product liability lawsuit of David Show, et al. v. Ford Motor Co., Nos. 10-2428 and 10-2637, the trial court had entered a summary judgment that effectively dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim. The plaintiffs appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which in turn declined to review the product liability lawsuit.

The lawsuit sprung from an Illinois rollover accident in which the two plaintiffs, David Show and Maria Federici, were injured. At the time of the auto accident, the two plaintiffs were riding in a 1993 Ford Explorer, which rolled over after being struck by another vehicle. The plaintiffs both suffered personal injuries as a result of the rollover accident and subsequently brought an Illinois product liability lawsuit against Ford Motor Company for its supposed negligence in designing its Ford Explorer.

The basis of the plaintiffs’ claim was that Ford had chosen to defectively design and produce their Explorer, making it an unsafe vehicle for consumers. In order to show that the SUV was unsafe, the plaintiffs offered up the fact that it had rolled over in their accident and was therefore unsafe. They testified that as consumers they would have expected the car to not rollover in an accident.

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An Illinois Supreme Court ruling in a product liability lawsuit confirms that manufacturers are not required to guard against every risk to the consumer. The verdict in Dora Mae Jablonski v. Ford Motor Company, No. 110096, reversed a $43 million judgment in a 5-0 vote.

Jablonski was filed as a result of a rear-end car accident involving Dora Mae and John Jablonski. The couple was traveling in their 1993 Lincoln Town Car when they were struck by a Chevrolet Lumina that was traveling at 60 mph. The impact of the collision was such that it propelled a pipe wrench laying in the truck of the Jablonski’s vehicle through the trunk walls and into the nearby fuel tank. The punctured fuel tank caused the car to catch fire, leaving John Jablonski dead and Dora Mae severely burned.

Dora Mae and her son brought a product liability lawsuit against Ford Motor Company, alleging that it had negligently designed a defective and dangerous fuel tank system in its Lincoln Town Car. According to the plaintiffs’ theory of liability, the design of the Town Car’s rear fuel tank system left it susceptible to puncture or being damaged during a rear-end collision.

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In auto accident lawsuits, it is somewhat common for the defendant driver to admit liability, but still dispute the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries. However, somewhat less typical is for the defendant driver to dispute the degree to which surviving family members suffer in the event that the plaintiff driver died in the car accident. Yet this is what happened in the McHenry County lawsuit of Estate of Patrick Harder, deceased v. Morgan Nooraee, 08 L 54.

The motorcycle accident at issue in Harder took place on Route 14 in Crystal Lake, Illinois. At the time of the accident, the 44 year-old Patrick Harder was driving his motorcycle along Route 14 when Morgan Nooraee turned his vehicle in front of Harder. The two vehicles collided and Harder was killed on impact.

A wrongful death lawsuit was then filed against Nooraee on behalf of Harder’s closest surviving kin, i.e., his eight year-old son. And while Nooraee unequivocally admitted liability for the motorcycle accident and Harder’s death, he argued over the extent which Harder’s death affected his surviving child. Harder did not live with his son, nor was Harder the primary financial caregiver for his child. Therefore, the defense argued that Harder’s son should not be allowed to benefit from his death.

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While a Cook County jury awarded almost $3 million to a bicyclist hit by a dump truck, the verdict was reduced by 50% for what the jury found to be the bicyclist’s responsibility in her own accident. This bicycle-auto accident verdict suggests that even though bicyclists are more vulnerable than cars or trucks, they, too, must share the responsibility for maintaining a safe roadway environment. Lucyna Kubisztal Smith and Danny Smith v. Suburban General Construction, Inc. and William S. Chase, 07 L 6481.

The bicycle-truck accident occurred in June 2007 at the intersection of 86th Avenue and 111th Street in Palos Hills. The 49 year-old Lucyna Smith had been riding her bicycle on the sidewalk along the 111th Street, but then entered the crosswalk in order to cross 86th Avenue. At the same time, the 29 year-old William Chase was driving a dump truck along 86th Avenue. Chase failed to see Smith and ended up not only running her and her bicycle over, but then continued to drag her under the dump truck for an estimated 30 to 50 feet.

Smith sustained multiple fractures, including those to her pelvis, sacrum, lumber spine, and cervical spine. The damage to her cervical spine aggravated her pre-existing cervical arthritis and required a spinal decompression and fusion surgery across five different levels. Smith’s doctors predict that she will also require a hip replacement in the near future as a result of the intersection accident. In addition, she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and subsequent depression. Smith brought a personal injury lawsuit against Chase for her injuries and lost time from her job as a housekeeper. In addition, her husband brought a separate loss of consortium claim for the loss of service and companionship of his wife.

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It is relatively rare for a car accident lawsuit with no eyewitnesses to go all the way to trial if neither party admits liability, mainly because it runs the risk of turning into a he said, she said type of scenario. Yet the Illinois bike accident lawsuit of Eric M. Bettag v. Douglas J. Mackie, 09 L 8162, seems to be an exception to this rule – not only did the personal injury lawsuit go to trial, but the jury entered a $269,000 verdict in favor of the injured plaintiff.

The case revolved around a 2007 accident that occurred at the Oak Park intersection of Lake Street and Euclid Avenue. Eric Bettag was riding his bicycle northbound on Euclid Avenue when he was struck by Douglas Mackie’s SUV. Mackie was driving westbound on Lake Street at the time. Both Bettag and Mackie claimed that they had a green light and that the other party had run a red light. However, considering that the parties were driving at perpendicular paths, it would be impossible for both to have had a green light.

Again, typically if both parties claim the right of way, the dispute is settled by an unbiased eyewitness. However, there were no eyewitnesses to the early morning bike accident and therefore no one to collaborate either Bettag’s or Mackie’s statements. While there was limited testimony regarding the circumstances of the accident itself, here was much to say about the extent of Bettag’s injuries following the Cook County bicycle accident.

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As the temperatures begin to cool in Chicago, every Illinoisan is aware that winter is just a few short months away. And with midwest winters come more dangerous driving conditions, e.g., icy roads, slick snow, and dangerously low temperatures. The Illinois personal injury lawsuit of Ponto v. Levan arose out of just such dangerous road conditions – the defendant driver hit the plaintiff after sliding on an ice patch. What is interesting about the Ponto lawsuit though is that it gave rise to Levan v. City of Dixon, a third party lawsuit in which the defendant driver blamed not the winter weather for the ice patch, but the City of Dixon itself.

In February 2008, Denise Ponto was driving along Route 2 in Dixon, Illinois when Dale Levan’s vehicle crossed the lane of traffic and crashed into Ponto’s vehicle. As a result, Ms. Ponto sustained a comminuted knee fracture and needed to be airlifted to Rockford’s St. Anthony Hospital for treatment. A comminuted fracture occurs when a bone is broken in several places, which then requires an open reduction internal fixation surgery with the insertion of screws and plates to help fix the broken bones in place. Ms. Ponto’s treatment was further complicated by her development of deep vein thrombosis, i.e. blood clots, and cellulitis, a skin infection caused by bacteria. As a result of the lengthy treatment, Ponto missed five months from her job as a bartender.

Ponto filed a personal injury lawsuit against Levan in which she claimed damages for the injuries she sustained after his truck skidded into her lane of traffic. And while Levan admitted he was drunk at the time and was at fault for the car accident, he felt the City of Dixon was also at fault. Levan contended that the ice which his car skidded on was the result of a broken City water main. The defendant then filed a third party claim against the City of Dixon for its part in causing the auto accident and Ms. Ponto’s injuries.

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