Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

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In August 2005, Trustgard Insurance Co. and G.A. Crandall & Co. came to an agreement that allowed Crandall to sell certain types of Trustgard insurance. The terms of the agreement specified that as a condition precedent to any lawsuit, the dispute must be first submitted to arbitration.

The parties’ agreement specified that the demand for arbitration must be made within one year of the dispute and that failure to make the demand on time, in writing and in a specified time period, would result in a waiver of any claim centered on the dispute.

In 2008, Richard Lombardi insured his 1995 Dodge with Trustgard automobile insurance purchased through Crandall. Lombardi’s policy had a limit of $100,000 in coverage for each accident.

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In April 2010, the plaintiffs Rose Schurer and Andrea DeVivo were driving westbound on Lawrence Avenue in Norridge, Ill., when an oncoming van crossed the center line and struck their vehicle. The eastbound van was driven by the defendant, 56-year-old Pawel Pawlowska.

The plaintiff, Schurer, suffered four fractures in her right leg and ankle, which required surgery. The second plaintiff, 42-year-old DeVivo, sustained a fractured pelvis requiring surgery. She later developed arthritis resulting in a total left hip replacement.

The plaintiffs Schurer and DeVivo maintained that Pawlowska was acting as a volunteer agent of the Catholic Bishop of Chicago (Archdiocese of Chicago) at the time of the crash because he was driving to a church to perform non-profit electrical work with installation of materials he recently purchased using the church’s tax-exempt status.

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On March 11, 2011, Veronica Thomas was a passenger in a taxi cab heading eastbound on Jackson Boulevard in Chicago’s Loop when the defendant cab ran a red light on southbound State Street and struck the plaintiff’s cab, which she was riding in.

As a result of the crash, Thomas, 39 at the time, sustained a neck injury, which was claimed to require a future 3-level cervical fusion, a shoulder injury, right arm numbness, thumb injury and memory problems. She spent $24,177 in medical expenses related to her injuries.

The defendant driver, Tony C. Piattoni, also a cab driver, said he was stopped at the red light at Jackson Boulevard when he saw the light a block ahead at Van Buren Street turn green and mistook it for his traffic signal. The defendant cab driver admitted negligence but contested the extent of the injuries claimed by Thomas. The defense also denied that Thomas will require a future fusion surgery.

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Takata Corp. is headquartered in Japan and manufactures millions of airbags installed in American vehicles. The company has agreed to recall 33.8 million airbags. That number doubles the already massive recall.

A consent agreement was entered into between Takata and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). There is a federal class action injury lawsuit pending in the Miami Federal District Court related to the defective airbags.

The agreement with NHTSA and Takata was reduced to an agreed order in the federal district court class action case. There are 10 automobile manufacturers that installed Takata airbags. According to a recent Chicago Law Daily Bulletin report, 17 million of those vehicles with Takata airbags are in the United States.

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It has long been law in Illinois that, “a judgment against two or more defendants, whether in contract or tort, was indivisible, and could neither be vacated by a trial court or reversed by a reviewing court as to one defendant alone, even though it was not erroneous as to the others, “ Chmielewski v. Marich, 2 Ill.2d 568 (1954).

In this wrongful death case, Carolina Casualty Insurance Co. (CCIC) argued it was justified in dropping the estate of Joseph Sperl and Thomas Sanders as defendants in a Will County interpleader case.

CCIC covered $1 million in liability coverage to Dragon Fly Express and DeAn Henry, who were claimed to have caused the car crash that killed Sperl and Sanders, seriously injured William Taluc and injured several others. There was also a significant amount of property damage as a result of this collision.

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On July 14, 2009, the plaintiff Evaristo Hernandez, a 39-year-old truck driver, was driving a 63-foot semi-tractor-trailer during his employment for Transforce Trucking. After Hernandez finished his deliveries that day, he began driving back to his truck yard and was traveling eastbound on 31st Street in Chicago when he stopped for a red light at Western Avenue. That intersection is a T-intersection. Hernandez put on his right turn signal to show that he was about to make a right turn.

At this intersection, 31st Street has only one lane for eastbound traffic plus an adjacent bicycle lane to the right in which cars are not permitted to drive.

The defendant, Gina Valenzio, was eastbound in her SUV and approached Hernandez’s truck from behind. Instead of stopping behind Hernandez, Valenzio drove her SUV into the bike lane along the right side of the Hernandez truck in order to make her right turn.

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A jury in Georgia entered a $150 million verdict to the family of a four-year-old child killed in a Jeep Grand Cherokee that exploded and burst into flames after being rear-ended. The verdict was entered against Chrysler, which is the manufacturer of Jeeps. The trial took place in Decatur County, Georgia. The jury concluded that Chrysler acted with reckless disregard for human life in selling the family a 1999 Jeep with a gas tank mounted behind the rear axle.

The Jeep was being driven by the boy’s aunt when it was hit from behind by a pickup truck in March 2012. The fuel tank leaked, engulfed the Jeep in flames and killed the young boy.

This verdict came down nearly two years after Chrysler compromised with the Federal Safety Agency. Chrysler agreed to a scaled-down recall of some of the older model Jeeps that have rear-mounted gas tanks. The gas tanks were placed in these Jeep models in a way that provides little protection when hit from behind; this makes them susceptible to punctures and deadly fires.

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In a case involving injury to James and Theresa Denton, who were injured by an 18-wheeler truck in Indiana, the trial court allowed the application of Illinois law, but the Illinois Appellate Court reversed finding that Indiana law applied.

James Denton was injured in Indiana when his car was hit by the truck operated by Lee Johnson, a resident of South Carolina, who was hauling a load in his truck, which originated from Illinois to South Carolina. He was working for Michigan and Delaware companies.

The defendants included Universal Am-Can Ltd., Universal Truckload Services Inc., Louis Broadwell LLC and the truck driver, David Lee Johnson. The defendants argued that Indiana law applied because Denton was injured in the final stage of a chain reaction of intermediate collisions that started when a now-deceased Indiana resident, George Kallis, drove northbound in the southbound lane of Interstate 65 in Jasper County, Ind.

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A Cook County jury found that that the defendant Jacqueline Greer was negligent in causing injury to Rosa Medina when Greer’s car broadsided Medina’s car at the intersection of Division Street and Waller Avenue in Chicago. Medina did not have a stop sign at that intersection.

The plaintiff was treated for only soft tissue injuries to her neck, back and both shoulders. She alleged that Greer ran a stop sign. Medina’s medical bills totaled $13,685. The defendant claimed her view was obstructed by the sun and a sign in the corner. Greer argued that Medina was contributorily negligent and was responsible for the crash.

The defendant’s attorneys made no offer to settle the case before this jury trial. Adam D. Shapiro of Benjamin & Shapiro represented Rosa Medina at trial and expertly presented her case to the jury, who agreed that Greer was responsible.

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On March 25, 2011, Patricia Anderson was a passenger in a taxi driven by the defendant Chouaib Sadix, who was driving westbound on Grand Avenue in Chicago. As the cab approached Central Park Avenue, other westbound cars were stopped for a red light. The cab passed those vehicles on the right side by traveling in the curb lane, which Anderson contended was a parking/bus lane.

In the meantime, another driver was attempting to make a left turn from eastbound Grand Avenue into a CVS parking lot at 3552 W. Grand Ave. The driver of that car, Robert Andino, turned between two stopped westbound vehicles and crashed into the cab in the curb lane.

Anderson, 60, suffered aggravation of a pre-existing partial thickness rotator cuff tear, which caused it to progress to a full thickness tear and required arthroscopic shoulder surgery.

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