M Construction Ltd. was doing utility construction, including digging a 9-foot trench to place pipes in the ground. The company’s foreman instructed employees to enter the trench to dig under a pipe. The unprotected trench collapsed, killing Rigoberto Tovar, an M Construction employee. He was just 25 years old and…
In January 2018, a blowout and well fire took place on a Pryor 1H-9 oil rig that trapped five men, including Josh Ray, 35, and Cody Risk, 26. The workers were trapped inside a so-called doghouse, which is a safe house within the rig that is designed to provide protection…
A Will County judge rejected Diana Angell’s attempt to use veil-piercing to overcome a mistake made in suing the wrong defendant. Her attorney sued Santefort Family Holdings LLC when she should have targeted an affiliated company known as Midwest Home Rentals LLC. Having done so, the circuit court judge dismissed…
James Richardson was seriously injured in an auto crash at 53rd Street and Western Avenue in Chicago, which resulted in a settlement for $1 million against Night Dream Inc. and Shaun T. Small. However, their Nevada-based insurer, Spirit Commercial Auto RRG Inc., was placed in liquidation before it funded the…
Robert Greenhill, the plaintiff, was a sprinkler fitter for a construction project when he was injured at work by a freight elevator. While he was entering the elevator, another passenger pressed the “door close” button and the elevator gate descended, striking Greenhill. The Illinois First District Appellate Court held that…
Gabriel Goncalves, a 12-year-old boy who was on the autism spectrum, was riding a school bus driven by Mark Hudovenko. During the bus ride, Hudovenko swerved at 45 mph, which was 15 miles over the speed limit. This caused the bus to leave the road and collide with a tree.…
Jacob Hourmouzus was a 17-year-old high school student when he attempted to rescue his dog, which had jumped into an irrigation canal under a metal footbridge on private property. As Jacob and the dog began to be swept away in the canal, he grabbed onto the bridge, which was electrically…
Juanita Marquez, 90, was a passenger in her daughter’s pickup truck. While the pickup truck was stopped in traffic, an SUV driven by a teenager, Aaron Dominguez, rear-ended the Marquez vehicle. The crash caused the Marquez vehicle to hit another vehicle in front of it. Marquez suffered a cervical strain…
Charles Jacobus, 55, was attempting to cross the street in order to catch a bus when the SUV driven by Shayla Randle struck him. Randle, a teenager, had obtained her driver’s license the previous day. Jacobus suffered multiple fractures and a frontal lobe injury. Jacobus spent 58 days in the…
Sean McFly, a 29-year-old student at the University of Florida, was heading to class from a campus parking lot. As he was walking in the crosswalk, a truck driven by Billy Harrison, a University of Florida employee, hit him. He suffered cervical disk herniation at C5-6 and C6-7 that resulted…