Chicago Injury Attorney Blog

The family of Tabitha Carroll, a 32-year-old East Dubuque woman who died last October 31 after the family’s truck was pinned by a semi-tractor trailer against an Illinois Department of Transportation vehicle has filed their wrongful death lawsuit. The family’s Illinois personal injury lawyer also filed two personal injury claims related to the motor vehicle crash.

Carroll died from the injuries she sustained in the large truck accident. Her husband Randy and their 3-year-old son Gabriel suffered serious injuries. The tragic accident took place in Kane County.

According to the Illinois wrongful death lawsuit, truck driver Jeffrey Repec acted recklessly and negligently when he got behind the wheel of the truck while under the influence of marijuana. The 30-year-old trucker’s employer, Geils Farms, is also a defendant in the case. According to accident investigators, five of the 10 brakes on the truck were not adequate.

There are many reasons why truck accidents happen. While truck driver negligence or error is a common reason, there are steps that truckers can take to prevent injury accidents. Suggestions provided by Road Safe America include:

• Paying attention to the vehicles on the road
• Modify your driving according to current road conditions
• Make sure you are well rested before you get behind the wheel of a truck
• Decrease your speed when you are driving through or by work zones
• Keep a safe distance between you and other vehicles
• Make sure your vehicle is properly maintained
• Practice defensive driving

Wrongful death suit filed by East Dubuque family, THOnline.com, January 27, 2009

Road Safe America

Related Web Resources:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Federal Highway Administration

With so many motorists using cell phones on US roads, the National Safety Council is calling on lawmakers in the District of Columbia and all 50 US states to ban the use of cell phones and messaging devices while people are driving. The Harvard Center of Risk Analysis reports that about 636,000 auto accidents a year occur because a driver was talking on the phone or text messaging. 2,600 people die and 330,000 people are injured annually as a result.

Contrary to popular belief, the NSC says that the University of Utah researchers have studies showing that talking on a hands-free device is not safer than talking on a hand-held cell phone. In Illinois, localities are allowed to come up with their own laws regarding cell phone use by motorists. Chicago has a ban on hand-held cell phones while driving. The entire state, however, prohibits drivers younger than 19 and school bus drivers from using any kind of cell phone when operating their vehicles.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, a driver’s ability to safely operate a vehicle is seriously impaired when talking on the phone or text messaging because not only do motorists take their eyes off the road when operating their devices, but they can get so involved in their conversations that their concentration is not where it should be—on the road. According to a Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. survey of 1,200 drivers, 73% of the participants use cell phones when operating their vehicles.

Text messaging while driving is also a common habit, especially for teen drivers. Nationwide also found in January 2007 that 19% of drivers admitted to texting while driving.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that drivers who talk and text message on cell phones have a four times greater chance of becoming involved in an injury accident than motorists who don’t use these devices while driving.

National Safety Council Calls for Nationwide Ban on Cell Phone Use While Driving, NSC.org

Cell Phone Laws, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Related Web Resources:
Cellphones and Driving, Insurance Information Institute, October 2008

Illinois Cell Phone Laws, DMV.org

Continue reading "NSC Wants All US States to Ban Drivers from Using Cell Phones" »

In St. Clair County Circuit Court, two Monroe County women filed an Illinois truck crash lawsuit against Collins Industries and semi-truck driver Rusty Arnold White. Elizabeth M Lewis and Henrietta J Langbein say they suffered serious injuries from the January 9, 2007 truck crash. They are seeking over $200,000, plus costs.

The accident occurred on Illinois State Route 3 when White, who was towing a 48-foot flatbed trailer behind his semi-tractor, struck Lewis’s 1998 Mazda Protégé. Langbein was riding in Lewis’s car with her.

The women’s Illinois personal injury lawsuit contends that the women suffered serious and permanent injuries, as well as disability and disfigurement. As a result of their injuries, they claim they can no longer do their job or engage in certain activities. They also say they experienced mental trauma from the crash and have racked up medical expenses while getting treatment for their injuries.

Their complaint accuses White of negligence due to his failure to control his large truck, maintain a proper lookout, slow down his vehicle to avoid causing a crash, drive at a slower speed, stop in a safe manner, keep enough space between him and the car in front of him, and stay in his own lane. The woman say Collins Industries failed in its duty of care because one of its employees did not drive in such a manner that would prevent the truck crash from happening.

Illinois Truck Crash Cases
Large truck crash cases are harder to pursue than motor vehicle claims and lawsuits against car drivers or motorcyclists. It is important that your Illinois truck crash lawyer is familiar with state and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations and knows what questions to ask and what evidence to look for when investigating your case.

Companies that own large truck companies are experts when it comes to minimizing their liability. A good Illinois truck crash lawyer will know what evidence to look for and how to examine a trucker's log and other records to determine what caused the truck collision.

Monroe County women sue over auto accident, The Record, December 23, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Collins Industries

At least 36 people sought medical attention at local hospitals for injuries they sustained in an Illinois bus-truck accident on Interstate 39 on Wednesday night. Peoria Charter Coach President Bill Winkler says the motor vehicle crash occurred when the tractor-trailer jackknifed in front of the bus, causing the vehicles to collide.

The charter bus was carrying a group of Chicago high school students and their chaperone. 10 ambulances reportedly arrived at the crash scene. 13 students were treated at St. Margaret's Hospital in Spring Valley. 23 other students were treated at Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru.

Tractor-Trailer Accidents
Colliding with a tractor-trailer can lead to serious injuries. Tractor-trailers are large vehicles that often carry heavy loads or transport huge quantities of hazardous substances. In 2007, 413,000 large trucks were involved in US motor vehicle crashes, resulting in 4,808 deaths and at least 100,000 injuries. 4,006 of those killed were not even riding in the trucks when these truck crashes happened.

One reason that the other parties involved in large truck crashes are more prone to serious injuries than truck occupants is that trucks are so heavy (large trucks have a gross vehicle weight rating above 10,000 pounds) and massive in size that pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and the occupants of other vehicles involved are at a disadvantage in terms of physical protection. Even passengers of large buses, where seatbelts are not a requirement, risk serious injury during a large truck collision.

The impact of a large bus colliding with a large truck or any other vehicle may throw bus passengers from their seats or cause a rollover crash that can result in serious injuries, such as spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries, for bus occupants.

Minor injuries after bus, truck collide in Ill., AP, December 4, 2008

Dunlap students aboard bus that crashed on I-39, December 3, 2008

Related Web Resource:

2007 Truck Safety Fact Sheet, NHTSA

Continue reading "Illinois Motor Vehicle Crash Involving Tractor-Trailer and Bus Carrying Chicago Students Injures at Least 36 People" »

A woman who sustained serious back, neck, wrist, shoulder, hip, chest, and body injuries in a February motor vehicle crash is suing the truck driver and the company he was working for at the time of the crash for personal injury. Onnie Randolph filed her Illinois motor vehicle crash lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court.

According to Randolph's Illinois personal injury complaint, a truck driven by defendant Bill Hixenbaugh struck the vehicle she was riding in on 20th street. The traffic crash occurred in St. Clair County on February 8, and Randolph claims that she and Hixenbaugh were driving their vehicles in the same direction when he veered his truck outside his lane and struck her.

She is accusing Hixenbaugh of negligence, driving too fast, failure to keep a careful watch, failure to drive carefully, failure to control his truck, failure to sound his horn before the accident, failure to slow down or stop, and driving without a license. Randolph is also suing Phil Schwartz and Sons for personal injury. Hixenbaugh was employed by the Illinois corporation when the accident happened.

Randolph says that as a result of her injuries, she accrued medical expenses and lost wages because she took time off from work. She is seeking a judgment over $100,000, plus legal fees and other relief.

Truck Accident Lawsuits
With some truck crash cases involving liable truckers, there may be more than one defendant that can be held responsible for personal injury. Other defendants may include the trucking company, the truck leasing company, the owner of the truck, the truck shipper, the truck manufacturer, and other responsible parties.

Missouri woman files injury suit over auto accident, Madison Record, November 17, 2008

Working Together Increases Truck Driver Safety, RoadSafeAmerica.org

Continue reading "Injured Woman Files Illinois Motor Vehicle Accident Lawsuit in St. Clair County" »

In Cook County Circuit Court, the Chicago parents of Kevetta Davis, a 19-year-old Southern Illinois University student who died on September after being struck by a truck on Interstate 57, are suing VHI, Viacom, 51 Minds Entertainment, and truck driver Dennis Hernandez for wrongful death.

Davis and another 19-year-old woman were killed when a box truck, driven by Hernandez and carrying sound equipment for the “Rock of Love Bus” reality program, drove over a median near West Frankfort and struck the car that the two women were riding in. The accident happened after Hernandez allegedly fell asleep at the wheel.

Davis’s parents, Kevin and Brenda, are accusing Hernandez of negligent operation of his truck, causing a collision with another motor vehicle, failure to slow down to prevent a collision, failure to yield the right of way to traffic coming from the opposite direction, operating a truck without a valid license, and other allegations.

Truck Accidents
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study notes a number of associated factors that can lead to truck crashes, including:

• Fatigue
• Problems on the road
• Brake problems
• Prescription drug use
• Speeding
• Driving faster than current road conditions
• Drunk driving
• Driver inattention
• Jacknifing
• Driver error

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says that over 750 people are killed every year and over 20,000 victims are injured in truck accidents involving truck driver fatigue.

Suit filed over death in crash with VH-1 truck, Chicago Sun-TImes, October 18, 2008

Parents of Woman Killed In VH1 Truck Accident Sue, WBBM780.com

Rock of Love Bus Suffers a Tragedy, VHI Reality World, September 30, 2008

Related Web Resources:

The Large Truck Crash Causation Study, FMCSA

Rock of Love, VH1

Continue reading "Parents of Chicago Woman Killed in VHI Truck Accident File Illinois Wrongful Death Lawsuit" »

The family of a 22-year-old college student that died in an accident with a semi-trailer truck in Kendall County in April 2004 has reached what may be a record wrongful death settlement in the Illinois county. The $2.8 million wrongful death settlement will be paid to the family members of Shannon M. Orr, who died after a Jewel-Osco truck rear-ended her car in Na-Au-Say Township.

The crash caused Orr’s vehicle to ram into the cement truck in front of her. Her car caught on fire, and she died from her injuries. The defendants in the wrongful death lawsuit were Albertson’s, Jewel Food Stores, Logistics Co, American Procurement, and Peter Desuno.

Truck Accidents
Pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and the drivers and passengers of cars are at a disadvantage if they were ever to become involved in a motor vehicle crash with a tractor-trailer, a semi-truck, a garbage truck, an 18-wheeler truck, or another large truck.

Often, truck accident victims—if they survive—are left to cope with catastrophic injuries. It doesn’t help their situation that trucking companies are prepared to deal with injury claims and lawsuits and know what steps to take to minimize liability for any role they (or one of their truck employees) may have played in causing the accident. In Illinois, a good Chicago truck crash lawyer can protect your rights to obtain the maximum recovery for your injuries or the wrongful death of your loved one.

Common causes of truck accidents:

• Speeding
• Drunk driving
• Overloaded truck
• Driver fatigue
• Negligent operation
• Mechanical problems or truck/product defects

$2.8 Million Settlement in Fatal Crash, SuburbanChicagoNews.com, July 30, 2008

$2.8 million settlement in 2004 death of woman whose car was hit by Jewel truck, Chicago Tribune.com, July 30, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Center for National Truck and Bus Statistics