Kreisman Law Offices Professional Corporation
The plaintiff, William Kleronomos, filed a two-count complaint against William Sackmaster, claiming negligence in causing a 2014 vehicular crash in Chicago. Sackmaster’s employer, Aim Transfer & Storage, was also sued for vicarious liability. Kleronomos uncovered evidence in discovery that Sackmaster allegedly failed “multiple drug tests,” caused several other crashes, was rehired after being fired for “chronic drug use” and had repeatedly “blacked out on the road.”
But the defendant, Aim, argued that the set of new claims Kleronomos pursued against it in 2019 for compensatory and punitive damages, based on alleged willful and wanton misconduct in hiring Sackmaster (Count III of that Amended Complaint), letting him drive its truck (Count IV), and retaining him as an employee (Count V), were barred by the statute of limitations.
The relation back statute did not apply, according to Aim, because Kleronomos’s “employment claims are separate and distinct from the original negligence claims.”