Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

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An Illinois personal injury lawsuit recently received a jury verdict of $4 million; the case involved an Illinois highway accident that left both the defendant truck driver and a little girl dead. The verdict was against a truck driver, Wayne Garfoot, and his trucking company, Garfoot Trucking, Inc. in The Estate of Santos v. Garfoot Trucking, Inc..

In January, 2005, Richard Santos was driving on Interstate 90 with his two-year old daughter, Amanda, in the passenger seat. The Santos’ vehicle was approaching an Illinois toll plaza when it was rear-ended by the defendant, Wayne Garfoot, who was driving a tractor-trailer truck. The truck drove over the car, crushing and killing two-year old Amanda. Garfoot also died as a result of the Illinois truck accident.

Amanda’s estate alleged that the defendant truck driver was driving too fast for conditions and did not maintain a safe speed as he was approaching the Illinois toll plaza. Because the defendant truck driver had died in the Illinois truck accident, an Illinois state trooper was called to testify as an accident reconstruction expert at the trial.

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In a recent Illinois personal injury lawsuit involving injuries sustained during an Illinois car crash, the Illinois jury returned a verdict of $500,000 in favor of the plaintiff. The case of Verhaegen v. Bill Smith Auto Parts, Inc. involved an elderly plaintiff, Harvey Verhaegen, who was struck by a tow tuck owned by Bill Smith Auto Parts, Inc. after his vehicle stopped in traffic. The Illinois auto crash verdict was reduced by 50% because the jury found that the plaintiff was 50% responsible for his own injuries.

When there is an issue of comparative fault or negligence, i.e. that the plaintiff’s own negligence also contributed to his or her injuries, Illinois juries are instructed to consider the degree of fault when coming to a decision on a personal injury lawsuit. If the jury finds that the plaintiff is more than 50% responsible then he or she is barred from receiving any reward. However, if the plaintiff is found to be 50% or less responsible for his or her own injuries, then the ultimate award is reduced by the percentage of responsibility. Therefore, in Verhaegen, the award was reduced by 50% because the jury found the plaintiff to be 50% responsible for his own injuries.

In order to determine each party’s degree of liability, the jury must carefully analyze the case facts. In this Illinois auto crash case, the 74 year-old plaintiff was driving on Illinois Interstate 74 when he stopped his vehicle suddenly in the outside lane of traffic. He later testified that the reasons for stopping his car were not clear to him; the plaintiff sustained head injuries and suffered cognitive defects as a result of the Illinois car accident.

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A 32 year-old woman who was killed on Halloween in 2008 when a tractor-trailer rear-ended her stopped truck on Route 47 in Huntley, Illinois. The Illinois wrongful death case was settled for $6.5 million, which included severe injuries for the woman’s husband and young son. Carroll, et al. v. Geils Farms, LLC, et al., No. 09 L 39 consolidated with No. 10 L 1222.

The wrongful death lawsuit that was filed in Kane County, Illinois, by the family of the woman, claimed that the driver of the tractor-trailer was under the influence of drugs at the time of the truck accident. The truck also was alleged to have been unsafe because it was over-loaded; it weighed more than 80,000 lbs. In addition, the vehicle’s brakes were out of adjustment and some of the brake pads were contaminated by oil and grease.

The owner of the truck was a farm known as Geils Farms. In addition to the 32 year-old woman, her husband and son were both badly injured.

The driver of the truck who was alleged to be under the influence of marijuana. He is now serving a 45 month sentence in Illinois state prison.

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In a recent Illinois auto accident case, a Cook County jury returned a verdict for $190,705 against two defendants who were responsible for the injuries suffered by a mother, Marie Tucker and her daughter Amy, age 8, who was in the back seat of the family car.

On July 8, 2006, the Tucker vehicle was stopped on Western Avenue in the City of Chicago just north of Berwyn Avenue. It was then that the Tucker car was rear-ended by the tow truck being driven by defendant Christopher Maness. The tow truck was owned and maintained by Hollywood Towing Inc. which was also a defendant in this case.

Marie Tucker, age 49, suffered a herniated disk to her lower lumbar spine. Amy, who was seat-belted in the back seat, suffered only minor injuries from the Illinois auto accident.

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The Illinois Appellate Court recently reviewed questions of insurance policy limits regarding an Illinois trucking accident. The Illinois truck crash involved a truck and three semi trucks who were all employed by the same company, Wayne Wilkens Trucking. The issue in Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Munroe, 7th Cir., No. 09-3427, was whether the relevant accident constituted one single claim or whether it was three separate claims.

The three tractor-trailers were driving in a convoy format, heading northbound on an Illinois highway. At the time of the truck accident the individual driver, Joshua Monroe, was driving southbound in opposing lanes of traffic. The second truck in the convoy was trying to pass the first truck, but veered back into line when he saw Monroe headed towards him. However, the driver of truck two did not do so fast enough and Monroe’s tractor-trailer hit the back of the second vehicle, which in turn caused Monroe to spin into truck three.

As a result of the Illinois truck crash, Monroe sustained severe burns and several broken bones. His claim against the three trucks’ employer, Wayne Wilkens Trucking, alleged that his injuries were the result of three separate acts of negligence on behalf of Wilken’s employees. It alleged that driver two negligently attempted to pass another vehicle when it was unsafe, that driver one failed to yield to the driver two, and that driver three was tailgating driver three. Monroe’s claim further alleged that because there were three separate acts of negligence that there should also be three different claims.

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A recent Cook County work site injury lawsuit was settled for $3.375 million; Ortiz v. Cato Karabegovic, et al., No. 06 L 006651. Contributing to the settlement were two trucking companies, a truck driver, and a railroad company.

The plaintiff, Ortiz, was a mechanic working at a railroad yard on Chicago’s South Side. While working on the defendant Karabegovic’s truck, Ortiz was severely injured after being dragged for 30 feet underneath the moving truck. As a result of this incident, Ortiz sustained multiple fractures and severe nerve damage to his leg, which left him with a permanent foot drop. The 33 year-old Ortiz is no longer able to work as a mechanic as a result of the injury
However, there was some debate regarding who was liable for the plaintiff’s injury and to what degree the plaintiff contributed to his own accident. Issues of contributory fault are important in Illinois personal injury lawsuits because if the defense can prove that the plaintiff was more than 50% at fault then any judgment entered against the defense is reduced by the degree of plaintiff’s negligence. For example, if a jury returned a $100,000 verdict but found that the plaintiff was 40% negligent, then the jury award would be reduced by 40%, leaving the plaintiff with $60,000.

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Oftentimes, when we think of life-changing truck accidents in Illinois, we think of rollovers or jack-knife accidents. However, a standard Illinois rear-end trucking accident can also lead to drastic changes to drivers’ and passengers’ lives. The case of the plaintiff truck driver in Shinaberry v. KA Bulk Transport d/b/a Klemm Tank Lines, et al., 06 C 5947, illustrates this point.

In Shinaberry, an out-of-state truck driver was struck by another truck in an Illinois rear-end trucking accident. The plaintiff was stopped at a red light when he was struck from behind by another Illinois truck. Following the accident plaintiff sustained some low back pain, which was initially diagnosed as a lumbar strain.

However, after the plaintiff’s back pain continued he was referred for additional treatment. It was at this time that he was diagnosed with a lumbar disc bulge, lumbar stenosis, and S1 radiculopathy. At this point, the seemingly simple Illinois rear-end collision caused the plaintiff to undergo surgery to repair his injuries, including a spinal fusion. After the operation the plaintiff underwent some physical therapy to improve his mobility.

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A Chicago area brick layer settled his Cook County personal injury case with a semi-truck driver after his vehicle was struck by the defendant. It was alleged that the Cook County trucking accident occurred when defendant improperly took a left turn in front of the plaintiff’s vehicle when the defendant truck driver’s vision was obscured by the weather conditions and the way the roadway curved.

The plaintiff suffered an acetabular fracture in the Cook County truck accident. The acetabulum is the socket part of the pelvic bone that connects the femur to the rest of the pelvis.

Recovery of such an injury can be long and difficult. Patients are often required to keep weight off their hip for up to three months. Long-term effects are also not uncommon. Patients commonly suffer from hip arthritis, and even need hip replacements later in their lives.

The plaintiff is now disabled and unable to return to his usual work. The Chicago trucking accident case was settled on the plaintiff’s behalf for $2 million.

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The final chapter of a long debate regarding whether the Illinois Vehicle Code’s “omnibus coverage” applies to commercial truckers was recently decided upon by the Illinois Supreme Court. The Court’s held in Zurich American Inc. Co. v. Key Cartage, Inc., No. 107472 (Oct 29, 2009) that Illinois commercial vehicles are covered under the Illinois Commercial Transportation Law, a statute governing commercial vehicles, and not the Illinois Vehicle Code. Therefore the omnibus coverage clause under the Illinois Vehicle Code does not apply to commercial vehicle insurance.

The Illinois Supreme Courts decision overturned the Illinois Appellate Court’s previous decision in the Illinois trucking accident case which asserted that the Illinois Vehicle Code did in fact apply to commercial vehicles.

In Zurich, the issue at stake was whether Zurich, a company insuring a trucking company, or West Bend, an insurer covering the leased commercial vehicle, was responsible for providing coverage. The case facts were that Franklin Truck Group, insured by West Bend, had leased a vehicle to Rose Cartage Services, insured by Zurich. Rose Cartage loaned this vehicle out to an affiliated company, Key Cartage. One of Key Cartage’s drivers was operating this truck when he was involved in an Illinois truck accident that left one dead.

Zurich’s insurance policy had a reciprocal coverage provision that stated that they would only cover Rose Cartage employees and that they would not extend coverage to anyone using the truck with expressed or implied interest if that person did not also insure the vehicle’s owner. In response, West Bend contended that this reciprocal coverage clause violated the Illinois Vehicle Code that requires insurance companies to provide “omnibus coverage”, i.e. coverage to any driver that has the expressed or implied permission of the insured to use the vehicle.

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A Chicago driver settled his Illinois personal injury case with an Illinois electric company after his van was struck by the defendant’s vehicle. The defendant had ran a red light at the Chicago intersection of W. Taylor St. and S. Clinton St., causing the Illinois trucking accident.

The operator of the van, the plaintiff, sustained cervical and lumbar spine damage that required multiple-level fusion surgery. The defendant who ran the red light at that intersection argued that the plaintiff’s injuries were due to a prior Illinois auto accident. However, this did not preclude his employer from settling the case and compensating the plaintiff for his injuries.

The electric company settled the case with the plaintiff for $2.1 million. However, according to the report of the settlement, there was a statutory lien on the case for $433,000. Because the plaintiff was working at the time he was entitled to and received Illinois workers’ compensation. The lien was waived, which was also reported in the settlement.

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