Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

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Jose Bedoya, 43, was exiting westbound Interstate 90 at Lee Street when his car was hit from behind while stopped at the end of the exit ramp.  Bedoya was rear-ended by the defendant, Tina Raya, who was driving her GMC Yukon SUV. 

The impact, according to Bedoya, was heavy and pushed his car several feet forward. He said his head jerked forward and back. Bedoya was taken by ambulance to Resurrection Hospital with complaints of neck pain.

Although the crash was on Sept. 19, 2009, it wasn’t until August 2010 that an MRI showed that Bedoya suffered a large herniated disc at C5-6 requiring a surgical disc replacement surgery that took place in November 2010. 

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Michael Harvey was riding his bicycle north on Ashland Avenue in Chicago in the right lane as he approached Foster Avenue.  It was Aug. 12, 2010 when Harvey, 26, claimed to be cut off by the defendant, Vanna Phillips, who was driving her car northbound making a sudden right turn directly in front of Harvey. The bicycle and car collided. On impact, Harvey was propelled into Phillips’ rear window which shattered. Harvey then landed on the ground. 

The crash took place at about 11 p.m. while both plaintiff and defendant were traveling from separate bars. Harvey suffered  cuts to his chin, upper lip and required 29 stitches with permanent scars. He also had lacerations to his left forearm that required nine staples with scarring. Harvey also suffered from permanent left forearm nerve damage and numbness with pain. He may require future surgery to repair the nerve pain and plastic surgery for revision of the scars. 

Harvey was an actor and claimed difficulty getting roles after the accident due to his scars. He is now working as a waiter.

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A Lake County, Ill., jury returned a $183,008 verdict in favor of Patricia Lewis, whose car was rear-ended by another vehicle at high speed. The crash took place on Nov. 7, 2008 on northbound Route 12 near Route 134 in Fox Lake, Ill.  The impact of the defendant’s collision with Lewis pushed her car ahead and triggered a five-car chain reaction.

Lewis, age 50, claimed that the impact and resulting injuries to her caused a herniated disk at C5-6 (neck) with radiculopathy into her right arm. She also claimed that she will need future neck fusion surgery. The Lewis claim for lost time from work as a medical administrator was barred by the court. Radiculopathy in the neck is often described as a pinched nerve. Some people complain that the neck pain radiates into the arm, like Lewis did in this case. 

Lewis’s husband testified that she had been his fishing partner, but she was no longer able to go boating after the crash because of her neck injury. The husband also testified that Lewis is now unable to cook family dinners, do normal household chores or do yard work. 

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The Illinois Appellate Court dismissed an appeal taken from the Circuit Court of Cook County. This case involved Isaiah DeLaCruz, who was hit by a car while crossing a Chicago street. An uninsured motorist was driving the vehicle that struck DeLaCruz. However, it was determined that the vehicle was used as a weapon to run over DeLaCruz, who later died of his injuries.

The plaintiff, Universal Casualty Co., had issued an insurance policy to Ana Ocampo, who was a relative of DeLaCruz. Universal claimed that because this incident was not an accident, but rather an intentional criminal act on the part of the motorist who struck DeLaCruz, it would not be responsible under its uninsured motorist coverage. 

Universal filed a declaratory judgment action in Cook County against the estate of DeLaCruz.In December 2011, the estate moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to §2-615 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure. In March 2012, the trial judge in the Circuit Court granted the motion to dismiss. In that decision, the judge granted Universal’s motion for leave to file an amended complaint and the court’s order noted that the dismissal was entered without prejudice.

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The Illinois Third District Appellate Court has held  that the large hardware chain Menards was entitled to insurance coverage under the automobile insurance policy issued to the insured, the customer, who was injured while a Menards employee loaded her car. 

In this case, Ruby Bohlen purchased gravel and bricks from a Menards store in Champaign, Ill.  She brought her car around to the loading area where her car was to be loaded by an employee of Menards. While the Menards employee was loading the bricks, Bohlen tripped and fell on debris near her car and was injured. 

Bohlen filed a lawsuit against Menards claiming that Menards was negligent in failing to provide a safe place for its customers.  As part of the complaint, Bohlen claimed that Menards chose not to remove debris from the aisles, sidewalks and other areas of the store. 

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Twenty-two-year-old Bryan Widstrand was driving into a parking garage at Concordia University in River Forest, Ill., when 19-year-old Paige Kecseg backed out of a parking spot and hit the passenger side of Widstrand’s car. Widstrand contended that the impact caused him to suffer herniated discs at C5-6 and C6-7. In addition, he complained of headaches, neck/back and shoulder pain as well as numbness in his right forearm and two fingers. He also claimed the accident-related injuries caused him to become dependent on pain medicine resulting in rehabilitation at MacNeal Hospital for drug dependency.

The defendant denied that she was negligent and argued that the plaintiff was speeding. Kecseg contended that there were inconsistencies in Widstrand’s testimony at trial and denied that he was injured. She pointed to the fact that the plaintiff had gone on numerous trips since the accident, including two visits to Europe and a mountain hiking trip one month prior to the trial. 

This case was a one-day “stipulated facts” trial with Judge Michael Panter of the Circuit Court of Cook County. The judge read the medical treatment summary to the jury. The attorney for Widstrand reported that he asked the jury for approximately $150,000 while the defendant’s attorney reported that the plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for a verdict of $209,637. The offer to settle before trial was $4,350 with a demand to settle at $100,000.

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The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a decision by a Cook County trial judge. Krysztof Emiljanowicz, a truck driver, agreed to act as a contractor for SSTS, Inc. On May 12, 2004, Krysztof signed an agreement in which he agreed to transport freight for SSTS in his semitrailer. 

SSTS said that its policy required truck contractors to have their equipment inspected, to carry only SSTS freight while under contract with SSTS and to place decals on their vehicles showing that they were authorized to operate. 

Later that same day, Krysztof was on his way to pick up a friend; they planned to ride together in Krysztof’s truck to a mechanic for a check-up. Before starting the new job, and on the way to the mechanic, Krysztof crashed into a vehicle driven by Barbara Kawacki-Horowitz.

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On June 8, 2009, the defendant, Andrew Frank, was making a right turn from southbound Campbell Avenue in Chicago turning onto westbound Roosevelt Road when he hit the plaintiff bicyclist, Tyrone Butler. Butler was riding eastbound in the westbound lanes. Butler, a 51-year-old janitor, said he rolled over the hood of the defendant’s car after being hit. 

Butler said that he sustained a blunt head injury, an avulsion fracture of the left orbital rim, headaches, blurred vision, multiple facial lacerations and abrasions that required 22 stitches and strains to his cervical and lumbar spine.

Butler’s medical bills totaled $21,734. The plaintiff’s injuries and medical treatments were stipulated to and offered to the jury as facts consider in deliberations. 

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David Solis, 19, was sitting on the hood of his car, which was stopped on the shoulder of eastbound Peterson Avenue at the off ramp of Interstate 94 (Eden’s Expressway) when the defendant, a 66-year-old doctor, rear-ended his car. Solis suffered multiple injuries to his back that were all treated conservatively with physical therapy and injections. He lost 13 weeks of work as a Federal Express shipping laborer.

The defendant admitted liability. However, the defendant argued that the plaintiff’s medical treatment was connected only to a degenerative disc disease and not this incident. The defendant also contended that there was proof that Solis had a pre-existing degenerative disc disease because it showed up on an earlier MRI. Any of the recent medical care that plaintiff received, the defendant alleged, was not related to this crash because there was a 3-year gap in medical treatment.

The jury, however, agreed with the plaintiff that he was injured to the extent he claimed and returned a verdict for $204,814, which included $41,993 for medical expenses and $3,031 of lost time from work.

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In a February 2010 lawsuit filed by the plaintiff, Sandra Relf, it was alleged that Joseph Pre Jr. was negligent when their vehicles crashed in February 2008. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office could not serve Pre with a lawsuit, so Relf filed a motion to appoint a special process server to deliver a service of summons to Pre. However, he died in April 2008. When Relf learned of Pre’s death, she filed a motion for leave to appoint a special administrator for Pre’s estate.

The trial judge approved the motion to name the special administrator of Pre’s estate. However, at the same time, Pre’s family opened a probate estate for him in August 2008, four months after the appointment of the special administrator. Because the estate already existed at the time Relf filed her lawsuit, the estate asked the judge to rule that the lawsuit was void. The estate argued that the appointment of a special administrator was improper because Pre’s family received no notice of it.

The response by plaintiff Relf was that she didn’t know that Pre had passed away when her lawsuit was filed. However, the trial judge granted the estate’s motion to dismiss and an appeal was taken.

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