Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

by

On Oct. 29, 2008, Jonas Zigmantas was driving a flatbed truck for trucking company A.V., Inc. The truck was traveling northbound on Illinois Interstate 294 around 9:30 p.m. Zigmantas stopped his truck because he was involved in a minor property damage crash with a Honda Accord, which was driven by Michael Hawkins, near mile marker 2.

The Accord had sideswiped Zigmantas’s truck. Instead of pulling the flatbed semi-trailer over to the shoulder of the four-lane highway, Zigmantas stopped in the third lane of traffic, got out of his cab to check damage to his truck, walked to the shoulder to see if Hawkins was injured and told him to call the police.

After some time out of the truck, Zigmantas got back in, but he did not move the truck to the side of the road or put out any reflective hazard warning triangles or flares behind his parked flatbed trailer.

Continue reading

by

A speeding truck leaving the Newhall Tunnel in Southern California apparently lost control, crashed into the center divider and came to a stop some 1,700 feet outside of the tunnel exit.  As other motor vehicles were leaving the tunnel, they braked and slowed down to avoid the crashed truck.  A series of chain-reaction collisions followed.  A fire broke out from one of the crashes and spread through the tunnel and to other stalled vehicles.

One of the individuals involved in this tragic crash was Ricardo Cibrian, a trucker who was trapped inside his truck in the tunnel and unfortunately died in the fire that reached his tractor. He was survived by his wife and two children.

This crash and fire resulted in more than 50 claims, including 3 death cases.  There were five personal injury actions and dozens of property damage claims.  All of the cases were consolidated into one.  Cibrian’s family claimed $1.2 million in economic damages, including past and future lost earnings.

Continue reading

by

The family of Paul Katuszonek has agreed to a settlement with Goldstar Foods Inc.  The case involved Officer Katuszonek, who was killed in a traffic accident in 2012.  The Katuszonek family brought a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming that the food distributor and long-haul trucking company that employed the driver was the cause of the fatal crash with the police officer.   

The driver of the truck was charged with vehicular manslaughter and  gross negligence, which is a felony.  He was also charged, as a truck driver, for driving more hours than allowed under federal law.  The truck driver was on the road for 23 hours with only 4 ½ hours of rest when the truck ran into the back of the officer’s vehicle at 55 mph. 

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), truck drivers who are over tired have caused more than 100,000 accidents on American highways and roads each year.  This results in approximately 40,000 injuries and 1,500 deaths.

Continue reading

by

On Dec. 1, 2008, Sarah Conway, Kathleen O’Toole and Mary Heidkamp were passengers in Joan Steenveld’s car when it was broadsided by the defendant, Lynnard McCullough, who was driving a tractor-trailer. All but Steenveld perished in the crash. Both of the vehicles skidded off a snowy, icy road.  Steenveld’s southbound car skidded over the center line in front of McCullough’s northbound truck; he was trying to avoid a head-on collision.  Steenveld steered to the right, driving into an empty field, but her car also went off the road again winding up in the truck’s path. 

The attorney for the estates of the deceased plaintiffs asked the Cook County judge to instruct the jurors that one or more of the defendants was liable to the plaintiffs.  It was alleged that either Steenveld or McCullough or both must have been driving too fast for conditions and thus, were liable for the deaths of the decedents.  The speed limit at the place of the crashes was 55 mph, although Steenveld testified she was going 35 mph. 

Two witnesses testified that McCullough’s speed was 40-45 mph.  In addition, there was an expert who testified that McCullough’s evasive maneuver was appropriate.  Without an objection, the Cook County trial judge granted a motion in limine that requested an order barring “any argument, evidence, reference or suggestion that anything other than the alleged negligence of the defendants caused or contributed to cause plaintiffs’ injuries.”

Continue reading

by

Ana Reyes was the owner of a motor vehicle and was the sole named insured.  She purchased auto insurance from American Access Casualty Co., and  the policy specifically said there would be no liability coverage for any accident in which she was operating a motor vehicle.

On Oct. 30, 2007, Reyes allegedly drove the Chrysler sedan she owned and hit two pedestrians, killing a 4-year-old boy and injuring his mother.

The Jasso family, who were the injured mother and fatally injured child, had uninsured motorist coverage with State Farm Insurance Co.  The question for the Illinois Supreme Court in this case was the dispute between American Access and State Farm as to whether public policy as established under §7-317(b)(2) of the Illinois Vehicle Code serves to block insurance companies from excluding coverage for a policy’s sole named insured. With Justice Thomas Kilbride dissenting, the Illinois Supreme Court concluded “an automobile liability insurance policy cannot exclude the sole named insured since such an exclusion conflicts with the plain language of Section 7-317(b)(2) and, therefore, violates public policy.”

Continue reading

by

Adam Nowak was installing electrical equipment at an energy plant when a crane hook fell about 60 feet from an overhead crane, which struck and killed him. Mr. Nowak was an electrician working for Matrix Service Co., and he was installing electrical equipment at the Veolia Energy’s Schuylkill Steam Plant. 

The lawsuit for the wrongful death of Mr. Nowak was brought by his wife, Michele Nowak, and filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The defendants in the case included Veolia, which owned the crane, and Permadur Industries, which was contracted to do repairs and annual inspections of the crane. Another defendant in the case, Kenny Construction Co., was the contractor of Mr. Nowak’s employer. 

The lawsuit alleged that Veolia was negligent for choosing not to correctly maintain the crane’s limit switch, which was designed to prevent “two-blocking,” a design feature that is used when a crane hook is raised too high. In this case, when the crane hook was raised too high, the cable holding the hook snapped and the hook fell to the ground, killing Mr. Nowak. 

Continue reading

by

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has stated that U.S. truck and bus regulators are not taking steps to prevent serious safety hazards before fatal crashes.  The NTSB claims that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has known about deficiencies in bus company practices before some fatal crashes but took no steps to correct them.  The government agency, FMCSA, has known about these deficiencies before the deadly fatal accidents, but did not take any action to shut down carriers until afterwards.  The National Transportation Safety Board chairman said in a statement that some are under investigation by the agency. 

The report said that there has been a long period of time, maybe years, that the FMCSA has chosen not to take action against some bus companies despite repeated safety citations.  The report also reinforced the fact that the FMCSA did nothing to take some of the buses off the road. 

The chairman of NTSB, Deborah Hersman, said in a statement that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration needs to crack down before crashes occur, not just after high visibility events.  Ms. Hersman also stated that poorly performing bus companies were on the FMCSA’s radar for violations, but the federal regulators didn’t take any action and allowed these bus companies to continue operating.

Continue reading

by

The number of highway deaths in the United States in 2012 rose to 33,561.  This was an increase of more than 1,000 deaths from 2011.  This data was provided preliminarily by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The same report of data from NHTSA revealed that the number of deaths of occupants in large trucks and semi-trailer trucks increased substantially for the third consecutive year.  The increase was 8.9% in 2012 from the previous year. 

According to NHTSA information, there were 697 large truck occupant deaths that occurred in 2012. That was a 20% increase in fatalities of large truck occupants from 2011. 

Continue reading

by

Illinois law provides for losses suffered when an Illinois insurance company goes bankrupt, is liquidated or cannot meets its obligations.  The Illinois Insurance Guarantee Fund is available to step in when an insurance company fails.

In this case, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed and remanded a decision written by the Fifth District Appellate Court in the case of Roy Dean Rogers II. Rogers, age 18, was struck by a car driven by John Winterrowd in 2009.  Roy died as a result of this incident and his injuries.

Winterrowd was intoxicated at the time.  Rogers’s parents received in settlement two insurance payouts.  One was for $26,550 from Winterrowd’s insurance company and another $80,000 was received from the Rogers’s own automobile insurance company.

Continue reading

by

Three-month-old Emma Takacs developed a poor appetite. She had a fever that was in excess of 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Emma’s mom and dad took her to a hospital’s emergency room where a nurse documented Emma’s abnormal vital signs and fussiness.

An emergency department doctor, Duane Siberski, M.D., examined Emma. Dr. Siberski diagnosed an ear infection.  Emma was discharged with a prescription for an oral antibiotic and her parents were given instructions to take her to see a pediatrician, if needed.

A few days later, Emma was found to be lethargic and her skin was cool to the touch. Emma’s parents brought her to another hospital where she was diagnosed as having bacterial meningitis, a hypoxic brain injury and hydrocephalous.  Hydrocephalous is a medical term for what is known as “water on the brain.”  The condition is one in which an abnormal accumulation of cerebral spinal fluid lodges in the ventricles or cavities of the brain. It can be caused by and is connected with the bacterial meningitis that results in an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and the spinal cord. That tissue is called “meninges.”  Acute bacterial meningitis is a very serious condition.

Continue reading