Articles Posted in Pedestrian accidents

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Corzon Espano, an accountant in her 60s, was standing at the corner of an intersection waiting for a traffic light to change before she was about to cross the street. When the light signal showed “walk,” she entered the crosswalk and was abruptly hit by a turning garbage truck driven by Raymond Morell, who worked for the City of Torrance, Calif.

Espano unfortunately suffered a traumatic brain injury and multiple orthopedic injuries including a crushed knee. She underwent several surgeries and procedures, including open reduction internal fixation of the right tibia, skin grafting, and debridement of her lower right leg.

It is possible that she may later require a leg amputation due to her high risk of infection. The Medicaid lien through the state of California totaled $100,000.

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During the discovery of this lawsuit, Scarlett Palm argued that she was entitled to the medical records of defendant Ruben Holocker based on the exception to the physician-patient privilege for “action brought by or against the patient . . . wherein the patient’s physical and mental condition is an issue.” 735 ILCS 5/8-802(4).

She was injured when she was struck by the vehicle driven by Holocker when she stepped into a crosswalk. Palm invoked the “at issue” exception based on evidence that, in the 20 years before Holocker allegedly injured Palm, he was involved in seven or eight auto accidents; he also accumulated a dozen traffic tickets; and, because of his diabetes, he had to submit a physician’s “letter of approval” to qualify for a driver’s license.

The trial court agreed with Palm and granted her motion for permission to subpoena Holocker’s records from his physician — identified by the Illinois Appellate Court as “Dr. Nau” – and the Illinois secretary of state.

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Samuel Kim was riding his skateboard in Cerritos, Calif. As he entered an intersection on a green light and began crossing at the crosswalk, Arsham Baltayan, who was driving a car in the scope and course of his job with a car dealership, turned right into the intersection on a red light. Kim was unable to stop in time and struck the right passenger side of Baltayan’s vehicle.

Kim was just 14 years old at the time and was not wearing a helmet. He was thrown to the pavement and suffered a traumatic brain injury. The brain injury has resulted in personality and behavioral changes.

When he reached the age of majority, he sued Baltayan and the automobile dealership claiming that Baltayan was negligent in choosing not to keep a proper lookout and yield to a skateboarder with the right-of-way in the crosswalk.

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In this incident involving a cab and pedestrian, three weeks after Express Cab Dispatch Inc. and Express Cab Company Inc. (collectively, Express Cab), leased Luis Leal a taxi cab, he struck a pedestrian, the plaintiff, Margaret Baumrucker.  She was walking to her job at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Ill. Although Leal was driving at a slow speed, he knocked Baumrucker to the ground injuring her left shoulder.  She had years of physical therapy and, according to her physician, the shoulder injury is permanent and likely will cause her pain and restrict some activities for the rest of her life.

Baumrucker sued Express Cab, alleging negligence and willful and wanton entrustment of the cab to Leal. Baumrucker sued Leal for negligence and argued that Express Cab acted recklessly by choosing not to thoroughly check Leal’s driving record, which would have shown that while living in another state he had been convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2000 and ticketed for speeding more than 85 mph in 2010. Express Cab conceded that Leal was negligent and Baumrucker was injured, but contested the extent of her injuries and the allegations that Express Cab acted willfully and wantonly by entrusting the cab to Leal.

After a jury trial, a verdict was returned in favor of Baumrucker and signed a verdict for $897,740.81, which included $397,740.81 in compensatory damages plus $500,000 in punitive damages.

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Shirley Malcolm, 89, was using a walker while moving through a retail parking lot at 1090 State St. in Lemont, Ill. It was April 28, 2016 when she was hit by the SUV driven by the defendant, Janice Kasper, as the car slowly backed out of a parking spot.

The impact knocked her down, injuring both of her hands. She was transported from the scene by an ambulance to Palos Community Hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured left index finger and a fractured right middle finger.

Both of her fingers were placed in splints for eight weeks after which she required three and a half months of occupational therapy to regain the use of her injured fingers.

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Jessica Ferrer and her companion, Katherine Winslow, were injured when a taxicab driven by Tesfamariam Okbamicael struck the two of them as they crossed the street. Okbamicael worked for Yellow Cab, which owned the taxicab.

Ferrer brought this lawsuit against Okbamicael and Yellow Cab alleging that the driver, Okbamicael, was negligent and that Yellow Cab was vicariously liable for the driver’s negligence under the doctrine of respondeat superior.

Ferrer also alleged that Yellow Cab was liable for her injuries suffered in the crash under the theories of direct negligence (negligence as a common carrier) and negligent entrustment, negligent hiring, supervision and training.

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A Champaign County, Ill., jury entered a $9.87 million verdict for severe injuries suffered by Patricia Marxmiller.  Marxmiller, 59, worked for a medical clinic in downtown Champaign. After returning to work at the end of her lunch hour, she parked her car in a lot at the corner of an intersection. She walked to the corner and began crossing in the marked crosswalk. At about the same time, the Champaign-Urban Mass Transit District (MTD) bus began entering the intersection from the cross street. When she had walked about halfway through the intersection, the bus turned right and hit her.

Marxmiller suffered severe injuries to both legs. She was admitted to a nearby hospital in critical condition and underwent surgery to amputate her left leg above the knee. She spent a month and a half in the hospital and endured extreme physical and psychological pain. When the doctors advised her that in order to save her right leg, she would likely face serious complications and no guarantee that the multiple surgeries would be successful, instead, Marxmiller opted to have the left leg amputated below the knee. Her past medical expenses totaled $666,600.

Before this horrendous incident, Marxmiller enjoyed her job, walking on a daily basis for exercise and playing with her grandchildren. She is now only able to walk short distances with the use of prosthetics and a walker and often uses a wheelchair. She has left her job with the clinic where she was working. Marxmiller often has periods of deep depression because of the physical and psychological limitations she now endures.

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Sam Eddins was 81 and used an electric wheelchair to get around. He was in the process of crossing a street at a crosswalk in a controlled intersection. The defendant Eileen Jagger was driving her sedan when she turned left and crashed into Eddins in his wheelchair. Eddins suffered injuries including head trauma, shoulder dislocations and limb fractures.

He was taken from the scene to a nearby hospital where he later suffered cardiac arrest and died. His medical expenses totaled $879,900. He was survived by 3 adult children.

The Eddins family sued Jagger and her husband claiming that her choosing not to keep a proper lookout was the reason and the cause for the crash and subsequent injuries and death of Eddins.

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Gilberto Rebollar was 40 years old when he was struck and killed by a Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority train (Metro). He was walking through a pedestrian crossing at the time of the incident. Rebollar suffered traumatic brain injury, foot amputation, dislocated left shoulder and fractures. His medical expenses were $175,000.

Rebollar was a cook at the time of the accident.

The lawsuit was filed against Metro, the transit authority, claiming that its train operator had been speeding and chose not to avoid impact with a pedestrian, Rebollar.

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A Cook County, Ill.,  jury has found that the Double Tree Hotel Chicago was not negligent when its hotel shuttle bus improperly transported the plaintiff, Mary Larkin, to the upper level terminal at O’Hare Airport by dropping her off on an expansion joint in the roadway, which was unsafe. As a result, Larkin fell and sustained a trimalleolar fracture of the right ankle, which required open reduction internal fixation surgery followed by a second procedure to remove some of the hardware.

The hotel asserted that Larkin failed to watch where she was walking. She had filed an earlier claim against the City of Chicago, which settled with her for $55,000.

The jury in this case, however, sided with Double Tree Hotel Chicago and found it not negligent or a cause of Larkin’s injuries.

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