Articles Posted in Intersection Crash

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On Nov. 29, 2009, Steven Freimuth was driving his Jeep northbound on Route 12 at the intersection with Molidor Road in Volo, Ill. As he drove through that intersection he was broadsided by the car driven eastbound by the defendant, Dina Goehler. Route 12 at that intersection was a four-lane preferential highway with the right-of-way, in favor of Freimuth, while Goehler, the defendant, had a stop sign at the cross street. It was claimed that she chose not to yield the right-of-way to Freimuth.

Steven Freimuth was a 30-year-old comptroller who sustained soft tissue neck and shoulder injuries, plus he claimed severe psychological injuries including major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder and suicide attempts.

The defendant, Goehler, 81, argued that Freimuth was driving too fast for the conditions and he chose not to keep a proper lookout while coming over a hill. The police report showed that Freimuth did not report any injury at the scene, that he did not display any physical injuries and that whatever injuries he had were resolved shortly after the collision. As far as his psychological injuries, Goehler’s argument was that they were not related to this crash.

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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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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 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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On May 20, 2010, the plaintiff, Bernard Fay, 47, was stopped at a red light at an intersection in Skokie, Ill. Fay was waiting to make a right turn on red and pulled forward to see if traffic was clear before proceeding. However, the defendant, Elisa All, thought that Fay had turned and her car rear-ended his car.

Fay sustained a nondisplaced fracture of the coronoid process in his left jaw, which was not operated on, two fractured molars requiring a crown on one and a filling for the other, neck pain that required chiropractic care for one year and bulging discs at C5-C6 and C6-C7 with internal disc disruption requiring a future 2-level fusion. Fay lost time from his job as a stationary engineer.

The defendant, All, admitted liability but argued that Fay did not need the future neck surgery and that his disc pain was a diagnosis by exclusion based solely on subjective complaints. She also maintained that Fay told his chiropractor in June 2011 that he was 100% improved.

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On Jan. 26, 2011, 23-year-old Jerry Oswalt was riding his bike from one dog walking customer’s home to another, riding southbound on Sacramento Avenue near its intersection with Logan Boulevard. Oswalt claimed that he entered the intersection on a green light but was hit at the bike’s rear tire by the defendant’s eastbound car, which ran a red light. The defendant, Esther Fragoso, was claimed to have caused Oswalt to fall and strike his head on the road knocking him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, his head was bleeding and he staggered out of the intersection to a nearby grass median with his bike and laid down.

Oswalt, in addition to the concussion he suffered, sustained a six-inch cut to the right temple area above his eye, facial scarring, a tiny cortical fracture, right orbital hematoma, right knee pain and contusions.

Fragoso, 77 and retired, argued that she had a green light and that Oswalt went through a red light. She also said that her vehicle never made contact with Oswalt’s bicycle and that she saw him lose control of his bike on the wet, snowy pavement and fall to the ground.

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On Feb. 12, 2010, Sylvia Castillo was driving southbound on Ashland Avenue in Chicago when the defendant, Kidane Kuentu, ran a red light at the intersection while driving westbound on Taylor Street.  This caused a collision that injured Castillo.  Castillo, 33, was an assistant manager who sustained a fracture of the distal humerus in the right arm.  She received treatment at an emergency room and then later received chiropractic/physical therapy to rehabilitate her right arm. The defendant admitted liability, but contested the extent of the damages claimed by Castillo.

The demand to settle the case before trial was $175,000.  The offer to settle before the beginning of the trial was $30,000 made on behalf of Kuentu.  The jury was asked to return a verdict of $344,488 by Castillo’s attorney, Jeremy D. Lee.

The Cook County jury’s verdict of $74,487 was made up of the following damages:

  • $19,487 for medical expenses;
  • $27,000 for pain and suffering; and
  • $27,000 for loss of normal life;

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On Oct. 10, 2008, Joy Wyler, 51, was riding her motorcycle on Vollmer Road in Matteson, Ill.  Wyler was about to cross through the intersection at Central Avenue on a green light when the defendant, Ira Batt, made a right turn on a red light from Central. His car collided with her motorcycle, causing her injuries.  Wyler, who was an intensive care nurse at the University of Chicago Hospital, suffered a fractured right ankle and multiple fractures in her right foot, which required open reduction internal fixation surgery.

Wyler also developed post-traumatic arthritis and will require a future triple fusion procedure. She missed 13 months of work and will in the future miss an additional 6 months of work because of her surgeries and recovery.

Wyler argued that Batt did not yield the right-of-way at the intersection.  The defendant maintained that Wyler improperly changed lanes and chose not to keep a proper lookout.

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In a case that involved a “duty to settle” claim, the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a decision dismissing a claim made by the insured, Randy Powell against his auto insurance company, American Service Insurance Co. (ASI).  It was alleged in the lawsuit by Randy Powell that Katie Linares broadsided his van when he stopped in front of her vehicle and started turning left to make a U-turn.  Powell demanded the $20,000 limit of the auto policy that Linares had purchased from ASI.

ASI rejected the demand and Powell continued on to a jury trial, which returned a verdict of $47,951.  Linares assigned her rights against the insurer to Powell who then sued for breach of duty to settle against ASI.

According to paragraph 6 of the complaint, “Linares was operating her vehicle on northbound Medline Drive, a private street or corporate driveway, in Mundelein, Illinois, behind the van being operated by Powell, saw him make a left turn attempting to make a U-turn and stopping in front of the Linares vehicle either perpendicular or at a northwest angle to the northbound roadway, and, rather than apply her brakes or attempt to veer behind the van driven by Powell, veered directly into the van striking it broadside with a strong impact.”

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