Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

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In this case the parties fought over the insurance policies arising out of the wrongful death of Daniel Zacha, an employee of S&S Service Co. Mr. Zacha was driving a tractor-trailer owned by Coca-Cola Enterprises back to the S&S garage for repairs; in the process, he caused a head-on crash with the driver of a minivan, which resulted in that driver’s death.

Under the Illinois Vehicle Code, insurance companies are generally required to extend protection under liability policies to persons who are driving insured vehicles with express or implied permission of the owners.

The Illinois Supreme Court explained the statutory requirement of the Illinois Vehicle Code naming it “omnibus coverage,” which means “primary liability is generally placed on the insurer of the owner of an automobile rather than on the insurer of the operator” – unless a statutory exception applies.

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A Cook County jury has found in favor of Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Group Inc., Illinois Harvey-Davidson Sales Inc. and Nissin Brake Ohio Inc. after the death of a husband and wife who were killed in a motorcycle accident on May 23, 2006.

The husband and wife, G.R. and S.R., were traveling northbound on Houbolt Road in Joliet, Ill., on a green light when a southbound car driven by an uninsured motorist made a left turn in front of them to access the eastbound Interstate 80 entrance ramp. A collision occurred that killed both G.R. and S.R.

The husband was operating a 2005 Harvey-Davidson 1200R Sportstar Motorcycle. He sustained multiple traumatic injuries and died a short time later in the emergency room. His wife, age 57, died at the scene of the crash. The couple had no children.

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On Memorial Day 200, M.P. was severely injured when her car was hit by a sheriff’s officer who was driving his car at about 75 mph through a red light on the Midlothian Turnpike. M.P. suffered partial paralysis and has since lived in a nursing home. She is paralyzed below her neck and unable to speak. The crash killed M.P.’s passenger.

Approximately 90 minutes after the crash, a blood exam revealed that M.P. had exceeded the legal limit of alcohol. M.P.’ s lawyers argued that her body was still absorbing the alcohol when the blood test was done and that her intoxication level was lower at the time of the crash. Cook County countered that M.P. was eliminating the alcohol at the test time, so her alcohol content was actually higher at the time of the crash.

The lawsuit was brought by M.P. against the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, but the trial judge excluded evidence of M.P.’s alcohol consumption. In that jury trial, it was found that M.P. was 25 percent responsible for the crash, but the jury awarded her $26.8 million.

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Rhonda Williams was an employee of Superior Air Ground Ambulance Service and was driving an ambulance when her vehicle crashed into a car driven by the plaintiff, Karen Wilkins. Williams was taking a patient on a non-emergency basis to a nursing home. The ambulance was not using its emergency lights or sirens at the time.

Deposition testimony showed that the crash took place at westbound 95th Street in Oak Lawn, Ill. At that intersection, there were three west-bound lanes. The ambulance was in the outside right lane. The traffic on the left and center lanes had stopped for a red light. The right lane had no stopped traffic because it was primarily used as a right-turn lane.

Just before the crash, Wilkins was turning left from the eastbound lanes of 95th Street. Wilkins proceeded past the left and center westbound lanes before she was hit by the ambulance. According to some testimony, the ambulance driven by Williams did not stop for the red light. Wilkins suffered brain injuries from the crash.

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A recent Illinois Appellate Court decision provided additional clarification regarding the admissibility of photographic evidence. At issue was whether or not a judge had correctly allowed photographs taken at the scene of an accident to be admitted into evidence during a Cook County personal injury trial. The appellate court ruled that judge had and upheld the jury verdict in Patricia Williamson v. Luis Morales, 2012 IL App. (1st) 110324-U.

Williamson involved a 2006 car accident in which the defendant Luis Morales rear-ended the plaintiff Patricia Williamson’s vehicle. And while Morales admitted to having caused the accident, there was some debate as to the extent of Williamson’s injuries. Williamson refused treatment by paramedics at the accident scene, but then did head to the Christ Medical Center Emergency Room just one hour later. And even though her x-rays did not show any fractures, she continued to experience pain and treatment with a chiropractor for four to five months following the accident.

When Williamson brought her personal injury claim against Morales he denied that the car accident was responsible for the extent of Williamson’s injuries and her lost time from work. And when Williamson’s attorney attempted to produce photographs from the accident scene as a way to demonstrate the severity and nature of the car accident, Morales’s attorney objected on the basis that they were not relevant and could not be introduced unless in conjunction with expert testimony. The court agreed and stipulated that the photographs could not be introduced unless the defendant first opened the door to their submission.

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Typically, if a driver has received a ticket for causing a car accident, they will likely be found guilty by a jury. However, in a recent DuPage County lawsuit, the jury found in favor of the defendant driver even though she had pled guilty to a traffic ticket related to the auto accident.

The car accident occurred in May 2006 on 63rd Street in Downers Grove, Illinois. The plaintiff driver’s vehicle was stopped at the time. And although the defendant driver began to slow down, she then incorrectly decided that the plaintiff’s car had begun to move forward. Consequently, the defendant failed to slow down in time to avoid the accident and ended up hitting the back of the plaintiff’s car.

The 53 year-old plaintiff then brought a personal injury lawsuit against the defendant driver, in which he claimed that the car accident had resulted in permanent medical problems. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed he was now suffering from myofascial pain syndrome, a chronic pain disorder. As a result, the plaintiff stated that he was left with constant pain and permanent impairment and disability; the lawsuit sought compensation for both his past and future medical expenses.

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When someone has been in a major car accident, their injuries are oftentimes fairly obvious and not contested by either party. However, if the car accident is a relatively minor fender-bender, the injuries are often not as obvious or as immediate. Smaller accidents tend to result less in broken bones and more in soft tissue injuries, such as ligament strains, muscle strains, etc. However, these soft tissue injuries can still result in large medical bills and have permanent effects on the injured party.

In a recent DuPage County car accident lawsuit, the plaintiff received $277,000 for a ligament tear in her wrist. This verdict was delivered despite the fact that the plaintiff failed to seek medical attention for her wrist injury until about a month after the actual car crash. In addition, her claimed injury was at the site of a prior work injury, for which she had already undergone multiple surgeries.

The accident in question occurred on Rowling Road (Route 59) in Addison, Illinois; Rowling has just one lane of traffic in each direction with a wide, paved shoulder on either side. Prior to the accident, the plaintiff driver was making a right-hand turn onto a residential roadway; meanwhile, the defendant driver was attempting to pass the plaintiff on the right shoulder. The plaintiff reported that she saw the defendant driver on the shoulder and quickly turned left in order to avoid a major collision. However, there was a glancing blow between the two vehicles, which fortunately only resulted in minimal damage.

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We often tell new teenage drivers that “driving is not a right, it’s a privilege,” in an effort to impress on them the many responsibilities that come with driving. When we get behind the wheel we need to be conscious of driving in a way that ensures our safety as well as that of other drivers and pedestrians. It is for this reason that we commit to memory many rules, e.g., the pedestrian always has the right of way, or reduce speed in a school zone. The failure to follow these rules increases the possibility of a car accident occurring.

A recent Cook County jury was asked to analyze a personal injury lawsuit involving a pedestrian and a car. The plaintiff was a student at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois, and was leaving his school when the car accident occurred. The case was filed by a teenage boy who was hit by a driver while walking across the street to get a ride. As a result of the pedestrian car accident, the teenager sustained a severe leg fracture, requiring surgery and the placement of four screws. And while the boy eventually made a full recovery, it was not until his family had amassed over $35,000 in medical bills.

The defendant car driver was issued a ticket for traveling over the 20 mph posted speed limit and for failing to yield to a pedestrian. The driver freely admitted that he was going 5 to 10 mph over the posted school zone speed limit. However, despite this admission of guilt, the Cook County jury found in favor of the defendant driver.

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An Illinois employee who was involved in a car accident during the course of his employment sought to recoup payments from both his employer’s workers’ compensation policy and its car insurance policy. When the insurance company denied his claims, the employee filed a lawsuit in order to recoup those costs. And while the Illinois Appellate Court allowed some of the plaintiff’s claims, it denied others in Burcham v. West Bend Mutual Insurance Co., 2011 IL App (2d) 101035.

In 2007, the plaintiff, Curtis Burcham, was driving a truck for his employer, P&M Mercury Mechanical Corporation (P&M), when he was struck by an uninsured motorist. Burcham sustained multiple injuries from the truck accident and had to undergo several surgeries. Because the accident occurred while Burcham was working, his employer, P&M, paid for his medical expenses and lost wages out of its workers’ compensation policy. To date, P&M has paid $490,000 for medical expenses, more than $100,000 for temporary-total incapacity, and continues to pay $925 per week based on Burcham’s 2/3 weekly wage.

P&M also had an uninsured and underinsured motorist policy through West Bend Mutual Insurance Company. Since the other driver involved in Burcham’s truck accident was not insured, he sought to receive additional payments from West Bend under P&M’s truck insurance policy. However, West Bend denied the claim, citing a provision in its policy that it “will not pay for any element of loss if a person is entitled to receive payment for the same element of loss under any worker’s compensation, disability benefits or similar law.” West Bend’s position was that since Burcham was already receiving workers’ compensation payments for the truck accident that he was not entitled to any money from West Bend’s uninsured motorist policy.

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As a general rule, pedestrians have the right of way; however, this does not mean that the driver is always at fault. While car drivers have a duty to look out for pedestrians in a designated crosswalk, they do not have the same duty to watch for pedestrians on a designated roadway. In the Cook County personal injury lawsuit of Hashi Said v. Mamoudou Barry, 09 L 5973, the jury found in favor of the car driver, not the pedestrian.

Hashi Said was the pedestrian in this scenario. Said, a taxi cab driver, had parked his cab at a taxi holding area located at O’Hare airport. The taxi holding area is a designated area where cabs line up; it includes an area at the roadside where the cab drivers can socialize and take breaks. At the time of the pedestrian-car accident, Said was walking in the parking lot area when he was hit by a cab being driven by Mamoudou Barry.

The force of the collision caused the 33 year-old Said to sustain a left knee fracture and a tear to his left lateral meniscus. Said was out of work for ten months while he underwent three separate surgeries and physical therapy. And despite all his medical treatment, Said will likely need a knee replacement in the future.

Said filed a personal injury lawsuit against Barry, in which he alleged that Barry had caused the pedestrian accident by driving at an unnecessarily high speeds. According to Said’s theory of liability, if Barry had not been driving at those high speeds, then the auto accident would not have occurred. Said was seeking reimbursement for his medical expenses, pain and suffering, and payment of his $72,793 workers’ compensation lien.

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