Articles Posted in Evidence

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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.”

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United Parcel Service (UPS) has conceded it could not sue Material Handling Services (MHS) for contribution under the Illinois Joint Tortfeasor Contribution Act. This case stems from an incident involving Raichid Rafik, a UPS employee who was struck on the head by a 10-lb. metal disc that fell from an overhead package handling system.

Rafik sued MHS for negligence in designing and installing the warehouse machinery and UPS for spoliation in choosing not to preserve the evidence he needed to identify and sue the shipper for negligent packaging. UPS filed a cross-claim against MHS for subrogation, equitable and statutory.

UPS reasoned it was entitled to equitable subrogation and statutory subrogation under 740 ILCS 100/2(f) of the Illinois Contribution Act because (1) the damage it potentially owed for spoliation was equal to what Rafik could have recovered from the shipper, and (2) the shipper could have pursued a contribution claim against MHS.

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