Articles Posted in Car Accidents

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On Dec. 19, 2010, 38-year-old Paul Romano was driving southbound on Pulaski Street in the City of Chicago when the defendant, Kathleen Suchan, driving eastbound on 87th Street, went through a red light and crashed into the plaintiff’s vehicle. Romano was not treated by paramedics and did not go to the hospital after the crash. However, he went to a chiropractor three days after the incident with complaints of lower back pain in his legs. 

Romano contended that the collision caused a tear in his lower back, which was diagnosed by MRI three weeks after the occurrence. The MRI also showed a moderate degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine. 

The plaintiff was treated with 20 visits at a chiropractor and saw an orthopedic surgeon four times. He had not undergone any treatment for the condition since August 2011. Plaintiff had been hired to start a new job as a personal trainer just before the incident, but was unable to start the job because of his injuries.

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On May 8, 2010, James Choragwicki was driving southeast on Willow Springs Road in Willow Springs, Ill., when the defendant, Marek Szkodon, was traveling southwest in his car on Archer Avenue and went through a red light. This resulted in a T-bone collision with the front of the plaintiff’s vehicle striking the passenger side of the defendant’s vehicle.

The plaintiff, age 52, claimed the crash caused cervical strain and aggravation of his pre-existing lumbar degenerative disc disease. Choragwicki was not treated by paramedics at the scene and did not go to the hospital after the crash. He first sought medical treatment three days later when he went to his primary care physician complaining of neck, back and left wrist pain.  Physical therapy was prescribed by his doctor. 

Plaintiff began experiencing radiating low back pain into his right leg for the first time several weeks after the crash. He did have  pre-existing degenerative disc disease, which was without symptoms prior to the accident. Plaintiff underwent 4 months of physical therapy, receiving one epidural injection into his lumbar spine in December 2010 and made a full recovery by January 2011 with no complaints since that time. Plaintiff missed 4 ½ weeks of work as a UPS truck driver. 

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On Dec. 26, 2005, Leobardo Ramirez, age 36, was stopped on eastbound Cermak Road at a red light at Wentworth Avenue in Chinatown. He was rear-ended by the defendant, James Spalla, who contended he was going less than 5 mph at impact. 

Ramirez claimed that he suffered permanent discogenic low back pain (not operated on), with referred pain in his lower extremity. Ramirez claimed to have lost ten months of work as a high school janitor. 

The defendant Spalla, age 33, was a Chicago firefighter who had just gotten off his overnight shift at the Chinatown firehouse located on Cermak just west of where the crash took place.

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In 2003, plaintiff Amy Stanton was a passenger in a car driven by the defendant, Carolyn Rea. Stanton was injured and hospitalized after the car crashed. The driver of the other vehicle in the accident was uninsured. In October 2007 the case proceeded to a jury trial. The trial judge entered a verdict on liability against Rea on the issue of liability. The case was then submitted to the jury on the issue of damages wherein a verdict in the amount of $13,506.80 was entered. The trial judge then entered an added judgment in the amount of $4,501.44 for out-of-pocket expenses related to the bringing of the case through trial. 

The issue on appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court, Fifth District, was the adjudication of the health care providers’ liens. There was a total of $5,806.02 in medical liens. At the trial level, the judge applied the Illinois Health Care Services Lien Act (770 ILCS 23/1) as to the adjudication of the medical liens. It required that plaintiff’s counsel reduce attorney fees to 30% of the verdict. The Health Care Services Lien Act maximizes at 40% of the amount of the verdict to the payment of medical liens. This would allow a plaintiff to receive no less than 30% of the judgment or settlement.

The error in the case was that the trial judge, in an attempt to apply the Health Care Services Lien Act, did not consider the out-of-pocket expenses in making the calculation. That resulted in a zero recovery for the plaintiff after paying attorney fees, out-of-pocket expenses and the health care liens. 

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George Harris was a passenger seated in the rear third row of a 2004 Chevy Ventura van when he was returning home from work at Union Pacific Railroad with five others in his carpool. It was July 10, 2009, — a Friday during evening rush hour — and the van was traveling southbound on the Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstate 90/94) in the local lanes just north of 63rd Street. The van came to a standstill in traffic. 

At about 4:36 p.m., just before the split with the Skyway entrance, the van was in the third lane from the left.  The two left lanes were for entering the Skyway entrance, 1,200 feet ahead. 

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On Sept. 21, 2010, Wayne Vroman claimed that his car was hit by a vehicle owned by Midwest Groundcovers, LLC, and driven by Judy Wenciker, a Midwest employee.  Two months later, Vroman filed a negligence lawsuit against Midwest and Wenciker. 

On Jan. 10, 2011, the defendants’ lawyer filed a motion to preserve certain evidence in the case. Submitted as evidence for this hearing were records of e-mail correspondence between the defendants and plaintiff’s counsel in which plaintiff’s counsel asserted that an agent of the defendants had stipulated to liability.

In response, the defendants maintained that the person who had allegedly stipulated to liability had no authority to do so. The defendants also said that the person was an agent for Midwest’s insurance carrier, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co. The defendants’ motion to preserve the evidence was granted. 

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Benjamin Faught rear-ended Luis Gavino’s car on southbound Interstate 94 in Deerfield, Ill., in the early morning hours of Oct. 3, 2009.  The impact caused the plaintiff’s car to spin several times and crash into a cement median strip.

Gavino, 57, sustained a posterior tibialis tendon tear, located on the inner side of the ankle and aggravation of pre-existing arthritis in his left ankle. This required surgery to the tendon and an ankle fusion. Gavino also had a neck, shoulder and back soft tissue injury.

The defendant, 22-year-old Benjamin Faught, admitted to consuming seven vodka drinks prior to the crash. He pleaded guilty to a charge of DUI. The defendant admitted liability, but evidence of alcohol intoxication was permitted pursuant to the plaintiff’s agreement to withdraw a punitive damage claim as part of the high/low agreement.

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Bicyclist Christopher Olsen, 25, was riding his bike northbound on Dearborn between Monroe and Madison streets in downtown Chicago. He was traveling in the right curb lane when the defendant’s northbound Lexus Sedan made a right turn directly in front of him as he was trying to enter a parking garage. The defendant, Richard Galla, testified at trial that he was heading to a Loop theater with his wife and two grandchildren.

This incident occurred before the Dearborn Street bike lanes were segregated onto the west side of Dearborn.

Before the impact, Olsen braked but contact was made sending him flying over the hood of the Galla car before he hit the ground. Olsen sustained a non-displaced fracture of the radial head in his right elbow. He had five months of chiropractic care for the elbow and neck soreness. One year later, he developed cubital tunnel syndrome of the right hand as a result of the radial head fracture. This required a surgical procedure.

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The Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision by the district court judge regarding the burden of proof in a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) case.

Ronald Williams was a substitute U.S. Postal Service letter carrier who had parallel parked his truck to visit a friend.  The plaintiffs in this case, David Furry and Diane Nye, were driving by that home when their vehicle collided with the parked U.S. Postal Service truck, which was driven by Williams.

Furry and Nye testified that they did not see the postal truck before the impact. Williams, realizing that regardless of the outcome, he would be fired for the use of his truck to visit a friend, offered Furry $500 not to report the incident.  

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Kristen Beauford was on her bicycle in the northbound bike lane at 100 S. Halsted in Chicago.  The defendant, Nicolas Kapsoulos, was driving his car away from a Starbucks at that Chicago Greektown location.  As Kapsoulos attempted to make a left turn onto northbound Halsted, he struck Kristen, who was on her bicycle. The car knocked her off her bike and onto the adjacent sidewalk. 

Ms. Beauford, 22, suffered a torn medial meniscus of her knee and a bulging back disc at the lowest level, L5-S1. She underwent epidural steroid injections and physical therapy.

Ms. Beauford lost 3 days of work as an office assistant. The defendant, Mr. Kapsoulos, admitted his negligence.  The issue at trial was the nature and extent of the plaintiff’s injuries. Before trial, Ms. Beauford made a demand to settle the case for $65,000. The offer made by the defendant was $994. 

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