Jose Maclovio, an 18-year-old farmworker, was riding home in a van driven by Ramiro Tadeo-Lazaaro.
A vehicle driven by Craig Brewer rear-ended the van as it was stopped at a railroad crossing. Maclovio suffered a burst fracture at C5, which required an emergency surgery. Sadly, despite this treatment, Maclovio suffered partial quadriplegia.
He sued Tadeo-Lazaaro, Brewer and the van’s owner alleging negligent operation of the defendants’ vehicles.
Shane Denil was driving his Mazda Miata when his car was rear-ended by a box truck driven by Andrew Bassett. Denil suffered a concussion and herniations to his cervical and lumbar spine. He underwent cervical disk surgery, a lumbar radio frequency ablation, and a lumbar laminectomy, which resulted in medical expenses totaling $470,000.
He sued Bassett, alleging that he chose not to keep a proper lookout, which caused the rear-end crash. The lawsuit did not claim lost income.
The defendant argued that Denil had a pre-existing back and neck injury that was exasperated by this crash. However, before trial the parties settled for $1 million.
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 and a right shin injury, as well as hip and arm pain. She now requires a cane for walking and has become generally less independent than she was before this crash.
Marquez sued Dominguez, alleging negligent operation of his SUV. She did not claim past medical expenses. Dominguez admitted he had been using his cell phone at the time of the collision and conceded liability during the trial.
A truck driver, the plaintiff, Joseph Streetman, was operating a Penske truck on a highway when he was rear-ended by a pickup truck that had just been rear-ended by a tractor-trailer driven by Walto Hendricks. Hendricks was driving for his employer, Gardner Trucking.
Streetman, 77, was taken by ambulance to an emergency room where he was evaluated and released. He was later referred to an orthopedic surgeon and underwent a cervical fusion, lumbar laminectomy, and shoulder surgery.
Streetman had medical expenses that totaled $415,000. He also had a claim of lost income of $55,000.
Joao Junior’s car was stopped in a line of three vehicles when a car driven by Sharon Graham rear-ended the last vehicle in the line. Junior, whose car was destroyed, received treatment for a cervical strain after the crash. He was diagnosed with a herniated disk in his neck and underwent surgery more than a year after this incident. Junior is now 60 and continues to suffer pain related to this incident.
Junior offered to resolve the case with the defendant Graham’s insurer for the policy limits of $100,000. The insurer, however, initially offered $14,500, which Junior rejected.
Junior then sued Graham, alleging that she had caused the crash while under the influence of prescription and non-prescription drugs. The lawsuit did not claim lost income.
David Lee Johnson, an employee of Universal AM-CAN Ltd. and Louis Broadwell LLC, was driving a truck owned by his employers above the speed limit while on a suspended license. Johnson crashed his vehicle into a Jeep in front of him driven by the plaintiff, James Denton.
The crash pushed Denton’s car into a semitrailer tractor truck. Denton eventually managed to crawl out of the rear passenger window, but he suffered multiple traumatic injuries, including severe nerve and spinal damage. He required nine surgeries that were not altogether successful. His injuries have left him with a neurogenic bladder and he is unable to work. Denton also was required to see a counselor for depression and anxiety.
The driver of the truck, Johnson, had nine traffic-related offenses in the seven years before applying to work at Universal as well as four counts of felony reckless aggravated assault when he tried, with a wooden club, to break the headlights of the car occupied by four women who he claimed were tailgating him.
Jorge Amparo was traveling on an interstate highway in rainy conditions during heavy traffic. Evans Delivery Co. driver Jose Ayala was operating an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer in the roadway’s middle or left lane while he was talking on his cellphone.
As Amparo stopped for traffic in the left lane, Ayala’s tractor-trailer rear-ended his vehicle, causing it collide with another vehicle in front of him.
Emergency workers used the Jaws of Life to extract Amparo who was taken to a nearby hospital. He underwent a discectomy to treat a herniation at L5-S1 and required physical therapy and rehabilitation.
The appeal in this case comes out of a jury’s verdict in favor of the plaintiff, Lanisha Blockmon, who was special administrator of the Estate of Walter Blockmon III. On July 11, 2014, Blockmon was driving on I-80 near the city of Country Club Hills, Ill., when his vehicle was hit from behind by the vehicle driven by the defendant, Jakobi McClellan. Blockmon died from his injuries. After his death, Lanisha Blockmon filed a 5-count fourth amended complaint in the Circuit Court of Cook County naming McClellan, Vector Marketing Corp. and Cutco Corp. as defendants.
Vector Marketing sells and distributes cutlery and other kitchen equipment manufactured by Cutco. The lawsuit alleged that in July 2014, McClellan, the defendant, was a sales representative for an agent of Vector and Cutco, and that at the time of the incident, McClellan was traveling between sales calls in his role as a Vector sales representative.
McClellan admitted that at the time of the incident he was using the mapping and GPS functions on his cell phone to check the location of his next sales call and to determine how late he was running, and that he was not looking at the road.
Scott Stevenson, 52, was driving his utility van on a busy interstate highway when his vehicle rear-ended a broken-down truck that had been stopped in the middle lane for fourteen minutes.
Stevenson died from the injuries he sustained in the impact of the vehicles. He had been a self-employed plumber earning about $120,000 per year. Stevenson was survived by his wife and adult daughter.
The Stevenson family sued the truck driver, Richard Delcore, and Simpson Group Inc., which leased the truck and employed Delcore.
Johnny Williams, 67, was operating his tractor on a roadway when a dump truck driven by Rubin Harvey for Oxford Construction Co. rear-ended his tractor at a high speed. The impact caused Williams to be thrown off the tractor and into a ditch. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, multiple fractures and other injuries.
Williams spent six weeks in a hospital before being transferred to a rehabilitation facility. He now requires 24-hour care and suffers from memory loss and seizures.
He had earned approximately $15,000 per year and incurred $1.2 million in medical expenses.
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