Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

Julie Sheridan injured her right shoulder, right knee, left arm and the back of her neck after she was involved in a three-car crash at the intersection of Ogden Avenue and River Drive in Lisle, Ill., in February 2010. After the crash, Sheridan refused an ambulance and did not receive medical treatment that day. Instead she drove 300 miles to her home in Union, Mo., and saw a doctor there for symptoms one day later.

She received pain and anti-inflammatory medication for her symptoms, which she said did not relieve her pain. An orthopedic surgeon who saw Sheridan in May 2010 tried but failed to discover her reported numbness, tingling and decreased strength.

The orthopedic surgeon testified during the trial that Sheridan had full range of motion in her neck and left shoulder, normal grip strength in her left hand, normal reflexes in her left arm and proper sensation throughout her left hand. The orthopedic surgeon could not identify the cause of her symptoms.

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On Nov. 21, 2010, Amelia Scott was driving her Grand Prix southbound on Interstate 57 in Marion County, Ill., when her car was hit by the southbound truck owned by EQ Industrial Services Inc. and driven by Warren Himes. Scott, 42, claimed a right shoulder injury that required rotator cuff repair surgery and shoulder manipulation under anesthesia. She also suffered a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery, permanent post-concussion syndrome, memory loss and aggravation of a back/neck pain and fibromyalgia.

Scott claimed she was unable to raise her right arm above her shoulder. She is on permanent pain management, which includes spinal cord stimulation and prescription medicine. She will need a future knee replacement surgery. Her past medical bills alone totalled $143,508. The expected future surgery may cost $45,000.

The defendant admitted liability before trial and conceded that Scott’s shoulder and knee injuries were related to the crash but disputed the nature and extent of the other injuries claimed by Scott. The defendants denied Scott suffered permanent memory loss, cognitive deficits, psychological damage or aggravation of her pre-existing neck and back pain, as she was actively undergoing treatment for those conditions before this incident.

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Chanttel Ortiz was 19 and seated in the rear passenger seat of a car driven by Luinis Sosa Rosa when an unidentified SUV allegedly cut off the car from the left. The driver, Sosa Rosa, veered to the right shoulder but saw a tanker truck parked ahead. Sosa Rosa braked, leaving about 90 feet of skid marks, but the left front of the car struck the tanker’s right rear corner.

The Sosa Rosa car was propelled across 40 feet of snow-covered grass and became wedged under the trailer of a second truck, which had stopped on a plant’s access road.

Ortiz suffered multiple injuries including injuries to her face that caused scarring and affected the function of her right eye. She also suffered a transverse process spinal fracture at C-5 and a fracture to her left, non-dominant wrist.

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In this case, which was settled as a confidential settlement, the plaintiff Ms. Doe was traveling on a northbound interstate highway when she stopped because of heavy approaching traffic. The defendant Roe, a commercial truck driver, rear-ended Doe’s car causing her to collide with the vehicle in front of her.

Doe suffered hand and cervical injuries and later underwent several surgeries, including a cervical fusion at C5-7.

Doe, a medical unit clerk, missed more than three months of work amounting to $25,000 in lost earnings. Her medical bills were $355,000. Doe, 51, has recovered fairly well from her injuries and surgeries.

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The Illinois Appellate Court has reversed a jury verdict of $3.6 million as being too speculative and without enough discovery. The unpublished order was issued remanding Nazmi Nomat’s automobile-injury case back to the Circuit Court of Cook County to determine again how much he should receive in damages in the case where the defendants admitted liability.

This time, however, the defense will be able to conduct more discovery and Nomat won’t be able to present an expert who testified about $1 million in lost wages.

In the new trial on damages, Nomat, who is now 49, will have to again attempt to prove damages resulting from the October 2009 automobile accident that he was involved in. Nomat suffered injuries to his lower spine and right ankle. Although Nomat was released from the hospital the same day of the crash, he subsequently saw a chiropractor and other physicians for neck, lower back, left shoulder and right ankle pain and treatment through March 2010.

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On Oct. 17, 2011, Margaret Baumrucker was walking to work when she was hit by a taxicab in a crosswalk at the intersection of Oak Park Avenue and Windsor in Berwyn, Ill. Baumrucker, 60, was a psychiatric nurse and sustained a rotator cuff tendinopathy and glenoid labral tear/shredding in her left shoulder, which was unoperated. She will require periodic physical therapy treatment for the rest of her life. At trial, Baumrucker presented $25,641 in medical expenses and 13 weeks of lost time from work totaling $22,100. She is now retired.

Baumrucker asserted that the defendant cab company, Express Cab Dispatch, was willful and wanton in its failure to properly vet and clear the defendant taxi driver Luis Leal before hiring him as a one of its drivers, including its failure to check his prior driving record and investigate his employment background. The cab company also chose not to provide any training for him after he was hired.

Leal started working for Express Cab just a couple of weeks before this occurrence, and he reportedly had a bad driving record. The defendants admitted negligence, but denied willful and wanton misconduct and denied that the plaintiff was permanently injured.

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Marilyn Kayman was injured in a car crash on Jan. 30, 2009 in which her car was struck from behind by the car driven by the defendant Janice Matthews Rasheed. Kayman went to the emergency room at Hinsdale Hospital shortly after the crash but was discharged the same day. She continued to have neck pain and other symptoms.

Kayman visited her family practice physician on Feb. 4, 2009. She was subsequently referred to an orthopedic surgeon and was treated between 2009 and 2012. At the recommendation of the orthopedic surgeon, Kayman underwent physical therapy and was also prescribed medical devices to use at home to help alleviate her pain.

Kayman filed a lawsuit against Rasheed claiming the accident had caused her neck and back pain, headaches and other symptoms. Rasheed admitted negligence in striking Kayman’s car, but disputed the extent to which the 2009 collision caused Kayman’s alleged injuries.

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A driver of a tractor-trailer owned by J.M. Leasing was traveling on an interstate roadway where the conditions were poor because of snow. The tractor-trailer driver passed a slow-moving vehicle in the right lane. When the truck driver attempted to return to the right lane at about 55 mph, he lost control of the vehicle and the truck jackknifed. The plaintiff in this case, Christopher Spunar, was driving a sedan on the highway and was able to stop in time in front of the jackknifed truck. However, another tractor-trailer operated by Arthur Medeiros for Medeiros Trucking Inc. crashed into the Spunar vehicle. Yet another tractor-trailer driven by L.W. Miller Transportation also collided with the Spunar sedan.

 

Hope Spunar, 70, a passenger in Christopher’s vehicle, suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a traumatic brain injury and fractures to her neck at C2, her coccyx and her sacrum.

 

Her medical expenses were $85,000. Christopher Spunar, who was in his 50s at the time, suffered a fractured sternum, a bulging disk at C5-6 and a fractured clavicle among other injuries. Another passenger in the Spunar vehicle was Nicholas Spunar, 18, who suffered a hematoma, a fractured rib and a closed-head injury resulting in post-concussion syndrome.

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Jimmy Garcia, a 67-year-old retiree, had a history of subdural hematoma and skull fracture, which had caused him temporary cognitive impairment.

Garcia was crossing a city street in a crosswalk when a floral truck owned and operated by George Seretis struck him after turning left out of a parking garage.  Garcia suffered a fractured rib cage and severe skull fractures, which caused intracranial hemorrhages and a traumatic brain injury.

He underwent emergency brain surgery and later received extensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation. He now suffers hearing loss and attends a therapy center with cognitive impairments. Garcia sued the floral business and Seretis, alleging Sereits chose not to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian in the crosswalk or identify what was in front of his van to avoid the collision.

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On Nov. 13, 2007, Daniel Ruschke was walking southbound across Route 38 at the intersection with 3rd Street in Geneva, Ill., when he was hit in the crosswalk by the defendant’s car as it turned left from southbound 3d Street onto eastbound Route 38. Ruschke, 64, maintained that he sustained medial meniscus and lateral meniscus tears in his right knee with aggravation of pre-existing arthritis in the knee, which resulted in the need for arthroscopic surgery.

Ruschke also claimed a permanent right ankle injury. At trial Ruschke’s attorney submitted $28,078 in medical bills into evidence. Ruschke also cited an emergency appendectomy as part of his claimed injuries, but this was disproved during the discovery portion of the case.

The defendant admitted negligence and conceded plaintiff’s arthroscopic knee surgery was proximately caused by the accident.

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