Michael Williamson was driving a gasoline tanker truck when he died on April 23, 2003, after a truck driven by Arthur Asher crossed into oncoming traffic on an Illinois highway. The two vehicles collided, and both men died as a result of the crash. The truck company that owned the Williamson truck…
A federal court jury entered a $393,750 verdict for the plaintiff, Carmen Santillan, 47, who was driving her SUV westbound on Interstate 90 in Chicago when her car was rear-ended by a semi-tractor-trailer driven by the defendant, Daniel Ducharme. Ducharme was employed by Martin’s Bulk Milk Service, Inc. The crash, on…
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Travelers Insurance Co. alleging that it misled injured individuals in car accident cases against Travelers’ insureds. The case, filed in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County by Sabrina Roppo, alleges that when she was injured in a car…
In 2007, Illinois amended the Wrongful Death Act to add language saying, “including damages for grief, sorrow and mental suffering.” The language was added to the description of available wrongful death damages. According to this Chicago federal court case, Hammond v. System Transport, Inc., the Illinois legislature’s intentions in amending…
The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago found that an injured motorcyclist’s husband’s statement was an admissible statement for the jury to hear and not barred as hearsay. The man told a state trooper that although his wife was severely injured, she said to him: “I’m sorry. It’s not the trucker’s…
A flatbed tractor-trailer driver was assigned to load and deliver 7,000-pound concrete barriers. The barriers were being loaded into rows onto the driver’s trailer. The truck driver was standing next to his trailer strapping down the first row of barriers when a crane operator was loading the second row. As the crane…
A federal court jury in St. Louis found that the driver of a tractor-trailer, Ilija Kuresevic of Fort Worth, Texas, was responsible for the crash in the early morning hours of Feb. 26, 2010 in Effingham County, Ill. The injured party, George Reaves Jr., a St. Louis County truck driver,…
The Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision by the district court judge regarding the burden of proof in a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) case. Ronald Williams was a substitute U.S. Postal Service letter carrier who had parallel parked his truck to visit a friend. …
An Illinois truck accident case was reviewed by the Illinois Appellate Court to determine whether or not the trial court had erred in its delivery of jury instructions and whether the jury had awarded too much damages. However, after reviewing the case facts, the appellate court upheld the trial court…
Jeffrey Elder, 43, was brought to the emergency department at Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet, Ill., with severe chest pains. The emergency department physician, Dr. Andrew Zwolski, determined that Elder was not having a heart attack. However, he did order a CT scan, which showed a dilated…