Articles Posted in Back & Neck Injuries

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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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G3 Enterprises, a wine and beverage packaging and transportation company, had a long-term subhauling contract with Sun Valley Express Transport Inc. Sun Valley in turn contracted with Velazquez & Sons Trucking Co. to haul grapes using G3’s trailers. Velazquez & Sons assigned its new driver, Juan Velazquez, to do the job, which was coordinated and dispatched by G3.

As Velazquez was driving a big rig, hauling G3‘s double trailer on the highway, he crashed into a charter bus driven by Jimmy Duncan. The bus then crashed into attenuator barrels before becoming trapped between the big rig and the wall of an overpass. Rescue workers had to use the Jaws of Life to evacuate injured passengers of the bus.

Duncan, 50, was rushed to a hospital’s emergency department suffering from pain, nausea and dizziness. He was diagnosed with chest and abdominal contusions and neck and low back strain. However, the X-rays showed narrowing of Duncan’s spinal canal, which caused compression of the spinal cord and nerve roots at C6-7, narrowing of the space between L2-3 and L3-4 vertebrae, with pockets of air between the disks. The impact of the crash also aggravated Duncan’s pre-existing spinal injuries from which he had undergone two prior surgeries.

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A 56-year-old woman, Shirley Walker, who was wheelchair-bound, was receiving transportation services from a company known as LocoMotion. LocoMotion was a county-subsidized bus service. While the wheelchair was being loaded onto the transportation van by a mechanical lift, she found that she had been left alone and unattended. Walker released the chair’s brakes believing that she would roll onto the van. But the wheelchair rolled backward and it fell off the lift. She fell with the wheelchair, which resulted in her suffering a fractured neck.

After the incident, Walker was paralyzed from the neck down until her unfortunate death. She was just 56 years old.

The Walker family brought a wrongful death lawsuit that claimed that LocoMotion’s owner was responsible for choosing not to strap Walker’s wheelchair onto the lift or stand behind her as she rolled onto the van. Before the case went to trial, the matter was settled for $500,000.

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On June 4, 2008, 70-year-old Edward Wasik, a retired school teacher, was a customer at Ridgeway Chevrolet, an automobile dealer located in Lansing, Ill. Wasik was walking behind the service bays in the service department when he was struck by a car backing out of the service bay.

The car that hit Wasik was driven by the defendant, Barry Boer, a mechanic at the dealership. Boer was operating another customer’s car, but apparently was looking forward while moving in reverse. Boer struck Wasik with that customer’s car, injuring him.

Wasik sustained injuries to his lower back, ribs and left knee, which resulted in arthroscopic surgery, physical therapy and continuing injections to the left knee as well as physical therapy to his back.

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On Nov. 11, 2007, Daniel Heimbrodt was driving eastbound on Highway C in Burlington, Wis., when his car collided with the vehicle operated by Robert Jones, which was traveling northbound on Highway U. Jones had a stop sign at the intersection while Heimbrodt did not.

Jones erroneously believed that Heimbrodt had a stop sign. Heimbrodt, 20, was injured in the crash. He suffered a herniated disc at L4-5 with immediate pain and developing radiculopathy, which required physical therapy, pain injections and acupuncture as well as pain medication. Future surgery was recommended. Heimbrodt lost four months of work as a heavy equipment operator. His lost time from work totaled $41,088.

Heimbrodt did return to work full time after the four months off, but he has not missed any time since then; however, he claims he may need to change careers to a less physically demanding position.

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Patricia DeBoo, 61, was shopping at Menard’s when she was struck in the head by a bathroom vanity that was inadvertently pushed off a high shelf by a Menard’s employee. The worker was operating a forklift in an adjacent aisle and attempting to bring down some merchandise from the high storage shelf.

DeBoo alleged in her lawsuit that she suffered a cervical end-plate fracture3 at C-6, right sternoclavicular injury at L4-5, facet arthropathy and sacroiliac joint injury, which resulted in more than $44,000 in medical bills.

The defendant admitted liability, but argued at trial that only the spinal fracture and sternoclavicular injury were related to this incident. The defendant maintained that the low back injury was not related to this accident.

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On Feb. 27, 2008, Michelle Eells, 39, was driving eastbound on Route 38 toward DeKalb, Ill., when an oncoming westbound pickup truck driven by the defendant, Dustin Grinstead, crossed the centerline near Kishwaukee Community College and crashed into her vehicle. The eastbound vehicle driven by Wayne Domin, who was working for Sysco, was driving behind Eells and subsequently rear-ended Eells’s car following the first impact between Eells and Grinstead.

Eells claimed that she injured her neck, back and right arm and hand, which resulted in three surgeries. She had an excision of ganglion cyst on the right hand/wrist and injection for DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis, right elbow surgical release of radial nerve entrapment and radial tunnel syndrome and cervical fusion, which occurred in September 2010. Eells also claimed that she can no longer work as a dental hygienist and is currently unemployed. She had claimed medical bills amounting to $167,582. She also claimed lost time from work at $111,691 and future lost time.

Eells sought to hold the defendants Grinstead and Domin/Sysco 50% each at fault. Grinstead had an automobile insurance policy limit of $100,000. According to the law, if Domin/Sysco was found at least 25% at fault they would be jointly liable for all of the damages.

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James Fregeau was involved in two different and separate motor vehicle crashes.  Both cases were consolidated for discovery and trial.  The first crash took place on April 22, 2009 when a car driven by the defendant, Anthony Foster, rear-ended a vehicle, which then pushed into Fregeau’s car, injuring him.

The second crash took place on Dec. 4, 2010, when the car driven by defendant Dina Whittier rear-ended Fregeau’s car on southbound Interstate 57 near 167th Street in Markham, Ill.   In that case, both cars spun out and a second impact with each other occurred.

Fregeau, 27, claimed that he suffered spinal sprains and an aggravation of facet joint arthropathy,  which required emergency room visits, doctor visits, CT scans, MRIs, bone scans, physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, facet blocks and future facet ablations.

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Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson was injured in 2012 at the Seminole Indian Tribe Casino when he fell from the back of its stage at the Tribe’s South Florida casino. 

Robinson was appearing at a fundraiser for the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.  When Robinson, 76, was on the stage, he fell 12 feet at the back of the stage where it had no back railing. 

The attorney representing Robinson, Jack Hickey, indicated that a settlement demand of $9.9 million would end the threatened lawsuit.  The Seminole Indian Tribe Casino has immunity protection, which generally limits damages to no more than $200,000 for an individual who is injured at its facility. 

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James R. Fregeau was involved in two separate rear-end motor vehicle crashes within 20 months.  In both cases his car was rear-ended by another vehicle.  Fregeau filed two separate lawsuits that later were consolidated for discovery and trial. 

The first crash took place on April 22, 2009 when the car driven by defendant Anthony Foster rear-ended a vehicle in front of him that was then pushed into the Fregeau car.  The second crash took place on Dec. 4, 2010 when the car driven by defendant Dina Whittier rear-ended Fregeau’s car on southbound Interstate 57 near 167th Street in Markham, Ill.  In that case, the Fregeau and the Whittier car spun out and a second impact occurred when they struck each other.

As for the first crash, Fregeau was 27 years old and claimed he suffered spinal sprains and aggravations of a facet joint arthropathy, which required emergency room visits, doctor visits, CT scans, MRIs, bone scan, physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, facet blocks and future facet ablations. 

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