Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

by

A Los Angeles County jury entered a verdict in favor of the family who died in a fiery crash with a semi-trailer truck on Thanksgiving 2009. 

The Asam family was on its way from California to Oregon to visit relatives for the Thanksgiving weekend.  Kylie Asam, who was 9 at the time, and her 11-year-old brother, Blaine, managed to escape from the family’s SUV after it was hit from behind by the semi-trailer truck on Interstate 210.

Kylie and Blaine unfortunately saw their parents and an older brother get burned alive after the vehicle they were trapped in caught fire. 

Continue reading

by

Marbella Smilovitz, 51, brought her car to the defendant McGrath City Honda for repairs to fix a flat tire.  It was July 31, 2010.  The dealership is located at 6720 W. Grand Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 

The McGrath employees brought Smilovitz to her car in the service area to show her the flat tire while her car was raised up about 6 feet on a hydraulic lift.  Smilovitz then asked an employee to lower the car so she could take out her cell phone from the center console. She stood next to the car as it was being lowered. One of the employees of McGrath claimed that he was standing next to Smilovitz and planned to get her phone for her once the car reached the floor. However, she started stepping toward the car before the lift had fully reached the ground and her left big toe was pinched under the arm of the metal hydraulic lift. 

Smilovitz sustained a degloving injury to the tip of her big toe with loss of skin and toenail requiring skin grafting. There was permanent scarring on the end of her toe. She had $63,977 in medical expenses.

Continue reading

by

On June 3, 2008, the plaintiff, Richard Girden, who was a right side rear-seat passenger in a Land Rover, was stopped on southbound Route 59 at 119th Street in Will County, Ill.  Another vehicle, driven by Fidel Ramirez, was stopped behind the Land Rover.  The Girden vehicle had been stopped for about a minute when the defendant Kathryne Niswonger’s vehicle drove into the rear of the Ramirez vehicle, pushing it into the Girden Land Rover.

At the time of the impact,  Girden, 50, was seat-belted and facing to his left lane with his two-year-old granddaughter, who was in a car seat in the middle of the back seat. His hips and shoulders were turned to his left. His right leg was extended under the front passenger seat. 

At the time of the crash, there appeared to be no damage to the Land Rover. Girden denied injury to the police at the scene.  However, two hours later, Girden experienced pain and pulling in his right hip when he tried to pick up his granddaughter. 

Continue reading

by

Cynthia Madden was killed by a BNSF train after her car stalled on the railway crossing in May 2007 near Moline, Illinois.  The Madden family brought a lawsuit against the railroad claiming negligence, specifically that the warning indicators for the train approach had all occurred fewer than 20 seconds before the train reached the crossing. It was alleged that the shortfall was in violation of federal safety regulations.

After a hearing, the magistrate judge ruled that the plaintiff had not made out a prima facia case of negligence and granted summary judgment in favor of the railroad. The Madden family appealed.

The appellate court noted that an event recorder at the crossing recorded all the warning indicators triggering about 30 seconds before the incident.

Continue reading

by

The amendment to the Illinois Vehicle Code expands the existing ban on e-mailing while driving.  The new act goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2014. The law prohibits the use of all electronic communication devices while driving with a few narrow exceptions. 

Except for hands-free telephone use, GPS navigation, CB and Ham radios and emergency situations, Illinois drivers will be prohibited from using electronic communication devices.  This would obviously include handheld mobile telephones, texting and e-mailing. 

The new law reads this way:  A person may not operate a motor vehicle on a roadway while using an electronic communication device.  The Public Act 98-0506  originally contained words at the end of the current act that read: “. . . to compose, send or read an electronic message.” The way the law is written now, there should be no confusion.

Continue reading

by

On Jan. 11, 2010, Vinayak Dravid was driving eastbound on Golf Road in Skokie, Ill., when the defendant Anila Amin pulled out from a parking lot at 3337 W. Golf Road. Amin was attempting to turn left and go westbound, causing the crash with a plaintiff’s car.  The impact resulted in both cars spinning and then making a second contact with each other. Both of the vehicles were a total loss. 

Dravid, 46, and a professor at Northwestern University, maintained that the crash caused him aggravation to his previously diagnosed herniated discs at L4-5 and L5-S1. Dravid said the impact and force of the crash reawakened his symptoms and increased the intensity of his pain. Surgery was recommended prior to the crash, but Dravid elected to deal with the pain and claimed his back had been largely without symptoms in the months just before the crash.

After the collision, Dravid underwent additional physical therapy and an injection. Surgery was again recommended by his doctor, but this time by a different neurosurgeon. 

Continue reading

by

On Jan. 14, 2010, Anthony Rossi was driving eastbound on 95th Street in Oak Lawn, Ill.  The corner of his car was hit by a semi-tractor-trailer truck on the same eastbound 95th Street driven by the defendant, Steven Groft, as he was changing lanes.  The crash caused Rossi’s car to spin out of control. 

Rossi, age 28, refused to be taken to a hospital by ambulance, but later drove himself to the emergency room at Christ Hospital.  The defendants defended the case, arguing for limiting the severity of Rossi’s injuries.

Rossi maintained that he suffered a ligamentous cervical injury (whiplash), facet joint syndrome, aggravation of cervical spondylosis and chronic neck pain, which required a series of facet and trigger point injections and nerve ablations. Rossi had applied for a job as a Cook County Correctional Officer. He was not hired. Rossi claimed that his injuries from the crash prevented him from being hired by the County.  He is now unemployed and a stay-at-home father.

Continue reading

by

Jennifer Wells, age 27, was a pedestrian crossing at Pulaski Avenue and 52nd Street in Chicago. She was heading westbound at the northern-most stoplight standard of the intersection. She believed it was the location of the crosswalk.  It was rush hour at the time of the incident, and traffic was stopped at a red light for both northbound and southbound Pulaski.

In walking across the intersection, Wells had reached the far curb lane when she was grazed by the defendant Dorota Belzowska’s southbound car causing fractures to both of her feet and ankle. She also suffered other soft tissue injuries. She was forced to take two months off work as an accountant. 

Wells’s doctor testified at the trial that her injuries took place both when she was struck by the car and when she twisted away in an attempt to avoid being hit by the defendant’s car. 

Continue reading

by

On July 31, 2008, a multi-car collision occurred in which the car driven by Gregory Mlot rear-ended the vehicle in front of him driven by Michael Dervin.  Wendy Palacios was a passenger in Dervin’s car.  It was alleged that the Dervin vehicle then rear-ended the vehicle in front of him, a Jeep driven by Lavita Gayle. 

Palacios filed a lawsuit for her injuries against Mlot, his employer, DMD Services, and Dervin. Dervin then filed a lawsuit for his injuries against Mlot and DMD Services. The cases were consolidated. 

In the answer filed by Mlot and DMD Services, they raised affirmative defenses of Dervin’s contributory negligence. 

Continue reading

by

The family of a woman who died when her Toyota Camry suddenly accelerated and crashed, despite her efforts to stop it, has sued the Toyota Motor Corp. In opening statement the attorney for the plaintiff’s family asked the jury to return a verdict in excess of $20 million.

This case involves the death of Noriko Uno, who died in her Camry in 2009. This is the first case of this sort to go to trial in state court. The case was filed in Los Angeles County, Calif.

Toyota had recalled millions of its vehicles worldwide after it was reported by its drivers that some of its vehicles were surging without notice. The company has agreed to pay $1 billion in other related lawsuits.

Continue reading