Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

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Ana Reyes was the owner of a motor vehicle and was the sole named insured.  She purchased auto insurance from American Access Casualty Co., and  the policy specifically said there would be no liability coverage for any accident in which she was operating a motor vehicle.

On Oct. 30, 2007, Reyes allegedly drove the Chrysler sedan she owned and hit two pedestrians, killing a 4-year-old boy and injuring his mother.

The Jasso family, who were the injured mother and fatally injured child, had uninsured motorist coverage with State Farm Insurance Co.  The question for the Illinois Supreme Court in this case was the dispute between American Access and State Farm as to whether public policy as established under §7-317(b)(2) of the Illinois Vehicle Code serves to block insurance companies from excluding coverage for a policy’s sole named insured. With Justice Thomas Kilbride dissenting, the Illinois Supreme Court concluded “an automobile liability insurance policy cannot exclude the sole named insured since such an exclusion conflicts with the plain language of Section 7-317(b)(2) and, therefore, violates public policy.”

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Leroy Walker Jr. was working as a flagman for Curran Contracting on May 1, 2008. He was directing traffic on Route 173 near Lorelei Drive in Zion, Ill.  Walker was standing in front of a construction site where a new Super Wal-Mart store was being built.

The defendant, Steven Kruglar, was driving westbound on Route 173 when Walker stopped traffic to allow construction vehicles to enter and exit the driveway to the construction site.

Walker alleged in his lawsuit that Kruglar accelerated without being given permission to proceed and attempted to go around a semi-truck turning into the entrance.  At that time, Kruglar’s vehicle struck Walker’s right wrist and arm.

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A $41,418 jury verdict was entered by a DeKalb County, Ill., jury for Victoria Polastrini, who on Jan. 10, 2008 was stopped in a line of cars at a red light on southbound Sycamore Road (Route 23) at Dresser Road in DeKalb, Ill.  When she was stopped, her car was rear-ended by the defendant, Anthony Edds, who was using his cell phone at the time. 

Ms. Polastrini, 47 and a homemaker, suffered a neck strain, whiplash, left ulnar nerve injury that required nerve transposition surgery, cervical disc herniation with radiculopathy, and a left shoulder strain. She accumulated $44,461 in medical bills she claimed were related to her injuries.  The defendant, Edds, 23, admitted negligence.

Before trial, the demand to settle the case was $100,000.  The defendant offered $35,000 to settle. 

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On March 25, 2011, Lance Wright, a 50-year-old bicyclist, was on a public sidewalk heading southbound past a Walgreens store at its parking lot at 5431 S. Harlem Ave. in Chicago, Ill. The bike he was riding collided with the defendant’s car as it was leaving the parking lot. Wright argued that he was riding along the lot’s driveway when the defendant, John Holcomb, drove his car into the left side of Wright’s bike. 

The impact of the bike and the car threw Wright into the hood of Holcomb’s car, injuring Wright’s back and shoulder.

Holcomb drove Lance Wright to the hospital. Lance sustained a herniated disc at L3-4 and L4-5 and underwent two series of lumbar injections to help with his pain.  Surgery was recommended at a cost of $51,847. 

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The number of highway deaths in the United States in 2012 rose to 33,561.  This was an increase of more than 1,000 deaths from 2011.  This data was provided preliminarily by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The same report of data from NHTSA revealed that the number of deaths of occupants in large trucks and semi-trailer trucks increased substantially for the third consecutive year.  The increase was 8.9% in 2012 from the previous year. 

According to NHTSA information, there were 697 large truck occupant deaths that occurred in 2012. That was a 20% increase in fatalities of large truck occupants from 2011. 

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On Feb. 19, 2009, Georgene Paz was eastbound on Palatine Road at Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, Illinois, when she was rear-ended by 41-year-old Richard Ahlman. Paz, age 52, drove herself to Central DuPage Hospital right after the crash complaining of lower back and neck pain.

She continued to treat with her primary care physician and received physical therapy for lower back pain radiating into her right leg through mid-April 2009.

Paz argued that her  back pain and radiating symptoms continued and were ongoing when she slipped at work and landed on her rear-end in July 2009, which  resulted in another emergency room visit and more physical therapy.

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A Cook County jury has determined that Brelinda Walker, age 58 and retired, was traveling northbound on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and while waiting to make a left turn on westbound Adam Street was hit from behind by the defendant, Adam Riley, age 21. Those facts were straightforward.  The jury also had to consider the medical evidence and the parties’ testimony about what each believed had occurred in this car crash.

Walker contended that the impact from the crash caused her cervical and lumbar disc aggravations, requiring emergency room care, MRIs, chiropractic treatment and epidural injections into the cervical and lumbar spine.  She claimed that the crash drastically changed her normal life.

The defendant Riley admitted liability in causing the impact. However, he also maintained that Walker merely sustained neck and back strains, which required only a visit to the emergency room, MRIs and 6-8 weeks of physical therapy. 

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Sarah Burns, 29, left work early on June 22, 2010 because she was not feeling well and had a migraine headache. She was driving her car northbound on Route 53 in Palatine, Ill., around 12:40 pm, when she was forced to merge into the adjacent lane in front of defendant’s Lazaro Jimenez’s minivan due to a lane closure for road construction. 

Right after the merger of the two vehicles, Jimenez, 75 and a retiree, rear-ended Burns’s car. Burns and Jimenez disputed the force of the impact. Burns testified that it was a high-speed impact, while Jimenez stated at trial that it was a low-speed crash.

Photographs of both vehicles were admitted into evidence, which showed only minor damage with small scratches to the front of Jimenez’s minivan and a dent to the rear of Burns’s car.  Jimenez reportedly had $2,111 in property damages, while the Burns car had $3,079 in property damage.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has published recent data showing that the number of large trucks (those weighing more than 10,000 lbs.) involved in deadly crashes has risen. In 2011, 3,608 trucks were involved in fatal crashes. The 2011 numbers are an increase of 3 percent from 2010 and a 12 percent increase from 2009.

In the United States, 3,757 individuals died in large truck crashes in 2011. More than 80,000 were injured in truck-related crashes.

Even though the numbers are rising, truck drivers or professional drivers abide by the traffic and highway laws in most cases. More than 83 percent of truck drivers compared to 65 percent of drivers of other passenger vehicles use their seat belts. Truck drivers are much less likely to be drinking alcohol when driving than other motorists. 

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The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a decision made by a Cook County Circuit Court judge regarding a twice-filed injury case.

Michael Fiorito and Joseph Bellocchio were involved in a traffic collision on Oct. 19, 2001. Fiorito was injured and hired a lawyer to sue Bellocchio. 

In August 2003, the attorney for Fiorito filed a complaint against Bellocchio in the Circuit Court of Cook County but never told Fiorito about it.  A year later, Fiorito fired his first lawyer and hired a new one.  The second attorney was unable to determine if the first attorney had filed a lawsuit and so filed a second one on his own in October 2003. 

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