Articles Posted in Damages

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The family of a 7-year-old boy who died in a boating incident on the Chicago River will receive $31 million. This settlement is reported to be the highest reported Illinois settlement for the wrongful death of a minor. This is according to the Illinois Jury Verdict Reporter.

Mariana M. Ochoa sued Heidelberg North America, its subsidiaries Heidelberg Materials Midwest Agg Inc. and HM US Services LLC and Captain Kenneth L. Stubbs in the Circuit Court of Cook County on behalf of the estate of the minor child, her son.

The lawsuit stated that Victor Lobato Ochoa died in 2020 after the motorboat capsized in which he was a passenger. The Ochoa boat was hit by a series of river wakes in the Chicago River’s south branch. This occurred in a “no-wake zone.” The wakes were caused by a towboat driven by Captain Stubbs; the towboat was pushing a barge, according to the 6th amended complaint. Both the towboat and the barge were operated by Heidelberg.

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The Illinois Supreme Court held that it lacked appellate jurisdiction to review a trial court order because the order was not final. In this matter, the plaintiff, Clifton Armstead, was a semi-truck driver working for a Pennsylvania-based company. Armstead was injured in Illinois by another semi-truck operated by Derrick Roberts. Armstead filed a workers’ compensation claim with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor, which led to the signing of an agreement settling the workers’ comp claim.

The agreement stated that Armstead suffered from a right knee strain but no other injuries.

Armstead concurrently filed a negligence action in Grundy County, Ill., against Roberts and his employer, National Freight. The trial court granted a partial summary judgment in the defendant’s favor, determining that the workers’ compensation agreement included a judicial admission precluding Armstead from asserting injuries other than a right knee strain. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed.

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Zoe Rosenthal, 53, was walking in a crosswalk at an intersection. Charles Davignon turned left in his vehicle at the intersection and hit Rosenthal, knocking her to the ground. Sadly, she died of her injuries two days later.  She was survived by her two adult daughters and a granddaughter.

Her daughters, on behalf of her estate, sued Davignon, alleging he negligently operated his motor vehicle and chose not to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

The lawsuit also claimed that Davignon Real Estate Agency and Davignon Property LLC were vicariously liable for Davignon’s negligence because he was in the course of his employment at the time of this incident.

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A jury awarded Waukegan-based Atturo Tire Corp. a $110 million verdict for damages related to deceptive trade practices and tortious interference by a multinational competitor.

After a five-day trial, a federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago found Toyo Tire Corp. and Toyo USA Corp. liable for unfair competition, defamation, unjust enrichment, deceptive trade practices, and tortious interference with Atturo’s business.

The jury found Toyo told Atturo’s existing and prospective customers and manufacturing partners that Toyo owned a trade dress right in Kayo’s Open Country Mountain Tire and that Atturo infringed upon it with its Trail Blade M/T tire.

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Jia Huan Xu was crossing the street in a pedestrian crosswalk at a Brooklyn intersection when she was struck by a New York City Transit Authority bus. The bus was turning left from the opposite direction.  She was just 15 years old at the time.

The bus stopped while one of the vehicle’s front tires was on her left thigh. It took fifteen minutes for the bus to be lifted off her. Xu suffered severe degloving injuries necessitating multiple surgeries, including skin graft procedures.

She continues to suffer from physical limitations. She sued the New York City Transit Authority alleging that the bus driver chose not to yield while she was in a pedestrian crosswalk.

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Before the Illinois Supreme Court handed down its decision in Peach v. McGovern, there were differing Illinois Appellate Court cases about whether an expert was needed to testify about a photograph of post-accident vehicle damage before it could be admitted into evidence. The Peach decision held that expert testimony is not required to admit post-accident vehicle photographs and settle this conflict in the law.

In its holding, the Peach decision expressly overturned DiCosola v. Bowman, 342 Ill.App.3d 530, 538 (1st Dist. 2003) and Baraniak v. Kurby, 371 Ill.App.3d 310, 317-18 (1st Dist. 2007) and held that the proper analysis had been appropriate in the cases of Ford v. Grizzle, 398 Ill.App.3d 639, 648 (5th Dist. 2010), Fronabarger v. Burns, 385 Ill.App.3d 560, 565 (5th Dist. 2008), Jackson v. Seib, 372 Ill.App.3d 1061, 1071 (5th Dist. 2007) and Ferro v. Griffiths, 361 Ill.App.3d 738, 743 (3d Dist. 2005).

In the Illinois Supreme Court decision in Peach, the Court ruled that the question of whether the photographs were admissible depended on whether they were relevant, and that relevancy is tested in light of logic, experience, and accepted assumptions about human behavior. Peach, Id. ¶ 26 (citing Boykin v. Estate of DeBoer, 192 Ill.2d 49, 57 (2000)).

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Christopher Novus Davis, 20, was admitted to Chester Mental Health Center in Chester, Ill., which is about 60 miles southeast of St. Louis. Shortly after he arrived, he was allegedly confronted by a group of security aides in the dining room for standing without permission after being seated for breakfast.

Davis was placed in handcuffs and, once off camera, he was pulled to the ground, shoved, punched and kneed in the face, according to the court documents.

Davis filed a lawsuit in 2013 against Lucas Nanny, Tom Nordman, Josh Rackley and Terry Steward. He was represented pro bono by Sidley Austin LLP’s attorneys Daniel A. Spira, Julie Becker and Elizabeth M. Chiarello.

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Andrea Laing, 23, was walking northbound along a sidewalk platform at a Portland, Ore., “Max” light rail station. She crossed the eastbound tracks to board a stopped westbound train and was struck by an out-of-service eastbound train that was entering the station.

Laing suffered facial and rib fractures; internal injuries, including injuries that required the removal of her spleen; a severed left leg and skin injuries. Her medical expenses were $800,000 and she missed approximately five months from her job as a retail worker earning $12 per hour.

Laing sued TriMet, the rail system’s operator, and Gabe Sutherland, the train operator of the eastbound train. It was alleged that Sutherland had chosen not to sound a four-second audible warning as the train approached the platform. It was also maintained that Sutherland elected not to apply principles of defensive driving in the operation of the train.

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Sherri Miyagi, a dentist, was visiting a Walgreens pharmacy when she was injured by a hand truck operated by an employee of the defendant, Dean Transportation Inc. Dr. Miyagi filed a complaint, alleging negligence and respondeat superior against the defendant, Dean. Before the start of the jury trial, Dean admitted its negligence and a trial was held on the issues of causation and damages to the four elements of negligence.

Following the trial, the jury signed a verdict in favor of Dr. Miyagi for $2.4 million in noneconomic damages, $300,000 for past medical expenses, and $7.3 million for future medical expenses.

The defendant, Dean, filed a post-trial motion, seeking judgment notwithstanding the verdict, a new trial on all issues, a new trial on damages only, or in the alternative, a remittitur of all but $5,703.68 of the future medical expenses awarded by the jury. The trial court denied defendant’s request for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for a new trial. The trial court did, however, grant defendant’s request for a remittitur, but in the amount of $3.65 million, which represented 50% of the jury award for future medical expenses.

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A 24-year-old pastry chef, Emily Fredericks, rode her bicycle from her apartment to her job at a restaurant in Philadelphia in November 2017.  As she approached an intersection, a garbage truck driven alongside her by Jorge Fretts, an employee of the waste disposal company Gold Medal Environmental, prepared to make a right turn across her path.

About 40 feet from the intersection, Fretts had passed a road sign telling drivers to “Yield to Bikes.”

Fretts chose not to yield or even check his surroundings and made the turn without using his turn signal. The truck struck Emily’s bike, knocked her to the ground and ran over her, crushing her chest. She died from her injuries.

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