$450,000

Case Details

This matter arises from a motor vehicle collision that took place on January 18, 2012 at or about 11:30 a.m. in Chicago, Illinois. Our client J.L. was driving a 2008 Hino Conventional flatbed tow truck southbound on Interstate 94 near Milwaukee Avenue when he came to a complete stop due to backed up traffic in front of his vehicle. The defendant was driving a 2001 Mack Ch Series semi-tractor trailer. He was on his way to Pontiac, Illinois with a load of refuse that he was going to deliver to the Livingston Landfill when he entered southbound I-94 at Division Street and proceeded to merge into the far right lane of traffic without slowing down. Although the traffic in the lane immediately to the left of the lane from which the defendant was merging into I-94 was at a standstill ahead of his semi-tractor trailer, he was travelling at 30 mph. When he entered the right lane of traffic and started to slow down he was 50 to 60 feet away from J.L.’s vehicle and travelling too fast to be able to bring his truck to a complete stop before colliding with our client’s vehicle. As a result, the defendants’ semi-tractor trailer rear ended J.L.’s tow truck at or about 30 mph. The force of the impact violently pushed J.L.’s tow truck forward into the rear of the box truck in front of him which was also stopped in traffic. As a result of the collision, J.L. suffered severe injuries to the lumbar spine and developed left leg radiculopathy which later required a lumbar laminectomy and subsequent surgery to clear an infection that developed in the surgical wound.