Articles Posted in Rear-End Crash

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On Sept. 12, 2008, Garfield Teddy was driving a semi-tractor-trailer westbound on Route 36 in Tuscola, Ill. He was stopped at a red light at Main Street when his truck was rear-ended by the defendants’ westbound tractor-trailer rig.

Teddy was 56 years old at the time and maintained that the impact of the crash caused numerous injuries including a herniated cervical disc, which required surgery. He also claimed to have developed pneumonia, which led to multiple hospitalizations. Teddy incurred $225,575 in medical expenses.

The defendant truck driver, Gary Miller, admitted that he briefly took his eyes off the road while checking his passenger side rear-view mirror as he was about to change lanes. When he looked in front of him he saw that the plaintiff’s truck had stopped and he slammed on his brakes but was not able to stop in time.

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Rosalina Dionisio, 62, was driving home from work on the highway when her car suddenly lost electrical power. She was able to drive the car to the far right lane, but as she attempted to pull her car off the road, she discovered that the overgrown bushes took up most of the shoulder. That left her very little room on the shoulder and off the highway. Although she pulled off the road as far as she could, half of her car still was on the highway.

About 9 minutes after she stopped her car, another motorist, Stephen Taylor, moved into the right lane to exit the highway. Allegedly he saw her car ahead of him but failed to realize that part of the car was in his lane. Taylor’s car struck Dionisio’s car while travelling at 70 mph.

As a result of the crash, she suffered multiple injuries, including brain hemorrhaging, a spinal fracture at T2, fractures to her pelvis, sacrum, ribs and left humorous of her arm. She also had pulmonary contusions, a lacerated kidney and a torn left rotator cuff. Dionisio underwent open reduction internal fixation of the spine, pelvis and arm.

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On June 9, 2011, Giuseppina DiFranco, 50, was driving eastbound on Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, Ill. DiFranco was rear-ended by defendant Constance Kusar whose car was then pushed into the vehicle in front of her car.

DiFranco, an administrative assistant, claimed that the collision caused her cervical radiculitis, thoracic outlet syndrome and soft tissue injuries to her neck, back, right arm and right knee. She claimed to have expended $29,111 in medical expenses.

The defendant, Kusar, stipulated to negligence but denied that the plaintiff, DiFranco, was injured or that she was injured to the extent that she claimed.

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Nasrath Sawa-Malik, 52, was driving northbound on Interstate 55 (Stevenson Expressway) on June 18, 2010 when her car was rear-ended by a car driven by the defendant, Terry Cornwell, which struck Sawa-Malik’s car at a high rate of speed.  The impact caused Sawa-Malik to crash into the vehicle ahead of her.

The plaintiff sustained soft tissue injury to her neck and back.  She underwent injections recommended for pain.  Sawa-Malik maintained that before this car crash and her injuries, she accepted a contract to work as an Arabic interpreter for a U.S. defense contractor at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Sawa-Malik said she was about to start the new job at the time of the crash but was unable to do so because of her injuries.

Cornwell admitted liability, but argued that Sawa-Malik could not prove her lost income for the translator job that she had never started.  Cornwell did not attend the trial.

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