Articles Posted in Back & Neck Injuries

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On April 27, 2009, Daniel Fleck, a union sprinkler fitter employed by Global Fire Protection, was working at the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago. This work occurred during the MetraMarket construction project that was under way on the lower level. Fleck was 39 years old at the time. The construction project was headed by general contractor defendant, O’Neil Construction Co. The Ogilvie Transportation Center is located at 118 N. Canal Street in Chicago.

Fleck contended that he injured his lower back while he attempted to lift and install a 110-pound dry pipe valve at the construction site. While attempting this lift, Fleck was caused to re-herniate his lumbar disc, which required spinal surgery in 2010. Fleck was unable to return to work as a sprinkler fitter and is currently unemployed.

Fleck maintained that the customary industry practice for hoisting the sprinkler valve was to be done from an anchor in the ceiling, but O’Neil Construction prohibited Fleck from using a hoisting device to install the valve, which forced him to lift the heavy valve by hand.

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On July 11, 2008, Tenesha Martin, an employee of a railroad, was operating a forklift while unloading the truck’s trailer at Canadian Pacific Railway’s docking area in Chicago. The forklift fell off the loading dock when the unmanned truck, owned by the defendant Central Transport Inc., rolled away from the dock causing her to sustain disabling lumbar disc injuries.

The defendant, Soo Line Railroad, argued that the trucking company, Central Transport, was at fault, while the trucking company blamed the railroad. Both defendants argued that Martin was contributorily negligent for choosing not to exercise due care and caution.

The presiding trial judge allowed evidence of Martin’s marijuana use in 2010 based on her history, which was given to a psychiatrist in 2011.

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Jeremy Droege and his five family members, including his wife, his mother, and three children, ages 7, 5 and 3, were passengers in a car that was struck head-on by a truck driven by James Benson for J.B. Hunt Transport on Oct. 2, 2010. The Droege family was in a car traveling northbound on Route 29 in Sparland, Marshall County, Ill., when Benson’s southbound truck tractor, without an attached trailer, crossed the center line into the northbound lane and crashed head-on with Droege’s van near North Street.

Stephanie Droege, 32 and the wife of Jeremy, was the most seriously injured and remained hospitalized for 23 hours, while the other five plaintiffs were treated in the emergency room and released. She suffered cervical fractures at C-6 and C-7 with a closed head injury causing traumatic brain injury, leaving her at increased risk of epilepsy.

Jeremy Droege, 32, was the driver. He suffered a knee bone contusion and soft tissue neck and back injuries. His mother, Betty, 75, also suffered injuries. The three children, ages 7, 5 and 3, had only emergency room care but experienced emotional distress and nightmares after the crash.

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On Nov. 10, 2010, William Burke, an off-duty Chicago police detective, was driving eastbound on Foster Avenue in Harwood Heights, Ill., when his car rear-ended the car driven by defendant Marie Halling and pushed it into the rear of the plaintiff’s Jolanta Grzeda’s vehicle.

Grzeda was taken from the scene by ambulance to treat her injuries. She sustained cervical and lumbar strain/sprains with a disc herniation revealed on MRI films. She claimed $16,301 in medical expenses and $7,140 for lost time from her job for four months as a cleaning woman.

Burke disputed the nature and extent of Grzeda’s injuries and damages while Halling denied liability and contested damages.

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On Jan. 27, 2011, the defendant, 55-year-old Wayne Mallek, was driving eastbound on Signal Hill Road in North Barrington, Ill., during snowy weather. As Mallek went down a steep hill approaching a stop sign at Route 59, he realized he was not going to be able to stop in time due to the accumulation of packed snow on the road. Traffic traveling on Route 59 did not have any stop signs or traffic control devices at that intersection.

Mallek applied his brake hard, pumped the brakes and then swerved sharply to the right but his vehicle did not slow down or respond until he reached the intersection due to the steep decline.

As a result of that maneuver, Mallek slightly sideswiped a southbound box truck driven by the defendant Santiago Nava who was employed by Randolph Packing. Nava was in the scope of his employment at the time.

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In this case, the plaintiff Tabitha Wiggins and the defendant Sheila Bonsack were involved in an automobile collision that took place near the intersection of Logan Street and Route 149 in West Frankfort, Ill. The intersection is a 4-way intersection with traffic control devices in each direction. According to the record, the defendant, Bonsack, stopped to get gas after work and was then exiting Podge’s Service Station near the intersection by turning left out of Podge’s parking lot to travel north on Logan Street. In order to turn left onto northbound Logan, Bonsack had to cross two lanes of southbound traffic. Because traffic was heavy at the time, Bonsack sat for 2-3 minutes waiting for a break in traffic in order to exit.

According to Bonsack, an unidentified man in a red truck came to a stop in the southbound lane closest to Podge’s and left a gap between his truck and the two cars in front of him that were stopped at the red light at the intersection. The driver of the red truck waved Bonsack through. Bonsack proceeded slowly, but Wiggins’ car crashed into the front of Bonsack’s car at that moment.

Wiggins was 15 at the time of the accident and was driving on a driver’s permit. Her mother was in the passenger seat. Wiggins was approaching the traffic light at the intersection and noted that it was red in her direction. She was applying her brakes when Bonsack’s car came out into her lane, resulting in the crash. Wiggins had testified that she was “going the speed limit or under “’cause it was a stop light.” She estimated that she was traveling at 20 mph or less. The airbags in Wiggins’s vehicle did not deploy on impact.

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On Feb. 20, 2010, 73-year-old Bonnie Elzinga was driving eastbound on 159th Street in Markham, Ill. She was passing by the Canterbury Shopping Center at Kedzie Avenue and 159th Street. At that moment, the defendant, Bose Ijoala, drove his car northbound from the shopping center and was about to make a left turn onto 159th Street when he struck the passenger side of Elzinga’s car.

Elzinga was retired at the time. She suffered soft tissue injuries in aggravation of arthritis in her back, knees and right shoulder. She also suffered soft tissue injuries to her head, ribs and chest.

Her medical treatment included two months of physical therapy, one month of chiropractic care and pain medication. She maintained that she had been an active senior citizen prior to this crash, but her injuries had a significant effect on her lifestyle.

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Theodus Williams was driving a fully loaded dump truck owned by Valvano Construction when he lost control of the vehicle on a two-lane highway. This caused a crash with another car, which in turn rear-ended an SUV in which Holly Ann Cuchwara was riding. After being rear-ended, the SUV hit a utility pole before it came to a stop. Cuchwara, 38, suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured spine, closed-head injury, a broken ankle and a corneal abrasion. Cuchwara now suffers from headaches, chronic pain and fatigue.

Cuchwara and her husband sued Williams, claiming that he was negligent in his driving. The lawsuit also claimed that Valvano Construction and its corporate management had chosen not to maintain and inspect the dump truck that Williams was driving. The Cuchwaras claimed that the dump truck was not roadworthy due to the defective steering system and faulty brakes. Cuchwara did not claim lost income or past medical expenses.

After a jury trial, the jurors entered a verdict of $10.1 million and a finding that Williams was 30% responsible for Cuchwara’s injuries. The verdict would be paid by those defendants according to the jury’s percentage splits. The Cuchwara family was represented by attorneys Joseph A. Quinn, Jr. and Michael A. Lombardo III.

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On Oct. 8, 2009, Kristin Gosell was driving northbound on the Willow Road exit ramp from Interstate 294 when the defendant, 42-year-old Hope Lerman, ran a red light on eastbound Willow Road and T-boned the driver’s side of Gosell’s car. Both cars were totaled in the high-speed crash. Gosell was trapped inside her car for 20 minutes until the Glenview Fire Department personnel could extract her from the vehicle.

She was taken by ambulance to Glenbrook Hospital where she was treated and released. However, Gosell, 39, sustained herniated discs at C3-4 and C5-6, soft tissue injuries to her neck, back and ribs and bruising to her chest and stomach. She underwent physical therapy, was treated by a pain specialist and first saw an orthopedist, Dr. Jay Levin, in October 2012. She had presented evidence of $34,851 for her medical expenses and also claimed lost time from her job as a teacher.

Dr. Levin testified that Gosell’s disc condition was permanent, but she was not a candidate for follow-up surgery.

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On May 11, 2009, Manuel Banuelos was driving a dump truck through a construction zone on northbound Interstate 94 in Lake County, Ill., when he attempted to turn into a construction site a quarter-mile north of Illinois Route 176. At that point, Banuelos was rear-ended by a semi-tractor-trailer driven by the defendant Dezell Kelley, pushing Banuelos’ truck into a ditch causing his serious injuries.

Banuelos claimed that he had slowed down in advance of his turn, that his flashers were engaged and signs were present warning drivers of a flagger ahead and the trucks were entering and exiting this highway.

Two witnesses confirmed that Banuelos had slowed and his flashers were on. Banuelos was 39 years old at the time of the crash. He sustained a herniated L5-S1 disc that required a discectomy and fusion, a torn meniscus in his right knee that required arthroscopic surgery and a herniated C5-6 disc requiring treatment and future fusion surgery, all leaving him unable to return to work as a truck driver.

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