A Wheaton, Illinois man who struck a Geneva teenager and left her to die by the side of the road has reached a $265,000 personal injury settlement with the family of the girl. Tiffany Baier was walking on the edge of a road on July 2, 2003 when she was struck from behind by a car driven by Jason Janega, who did not stop or call for help. While Baier’s death was ruled an accident, her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2004 and claimed that Janega was not looking out for pedestrians and thus careless.
A Daily Herald story said that Baier was walking home on the side of the road because there were no sidewalks in the direction that she was heading. A witness reported the accident and Janega’s car to police, and Janega was apprehended some two hours later at his Wheaton home. Janega pleaded guilty to one count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident in January 2004 and was sentenced to four months in the Kane County jail’s work release program, 48 months probation and 200 hours of community service.
The Daily Herald story added that Janega never went to trial in criminal or civil cases involving the accident, and thus never publicly stated when he exactly left the scene of the accident or what he was doing in the two hours between the accident and his arrest. Authorities believe that the accident was not alcohol-related.
Under the terms of this personal injury settlement, the Baier family will get $170,097 after legal fees. This money will be allocated to Tiffany Baier’s parents, Theresa and David, as well as her adult brother Anthony and younger sister Courtney, who was 12-years old at the time of the fatal accident. The story added that the $265,000 wrongful death settlement is $15,000 more than the cap on Janega’s insurance policy. Tiffany Baier was a 2002 graduate of Geneva High School.
The Hammond City Council recently approved the second and final installment of a personal injury settlement that has been described as one of the city’s largest settlements. Janine Daniels will now receive the final $132,500 of her $265,000 settlement with the city. Daniels incurred nearly $100,000 in medical bills for injuries that she sustained to both legs, her right arm and hip after her car collided with a city dump truck in 2004.
An online Northwest Indiana story detailed the circumstances surrounding Daniels’ car accident injuries. Personal injury attorney Richard Komyatte claimed that his client, Daniels, was heading westbound and didn’t have stop sign when a city dump truck rolled out into the intersection to make a turn after either failing to stop at a stop sign or yield the right of way. Komyatte added that Daniels swerved her car to avoid contact with the dump truck before striking it.
Hammond defense attorneys claimed that Daniels was at least 50 percent responsible for the car accident because she was exceeding the legal speed limit and not paying attention. They added that the city’s truck driver, Juan Martinez, would have been able to complete the turn without incident if Daniels was doing the speed limit. Daniels and the city came to the $265,000 settlement last May.
A female employee of a Beaumont, Texas retirement home has filed a personal injury lawsuit against her employer for the injuries that she suffered at work. A story in today’s The Southeast Texas Record details the case of Cornelia Williams, who works at the Clairmont Beaumont retirement home. Williams claims that she was injured on October 5th as a result of the retirement home’s negligence while she was performing her work duties. Williams also alleges in her petition that the retirement home does not carry workers’ compensation insurance.
Specifically, Williams has sued Summit Care Texas, LP, which operates as Clairmont Beaumont. She claims that the defendant caused her injury, which is not detailed in the story, because it did not adequately provide her with the necessary tools, training, safety equipment, and staffing and support to do her job. Williams is seeking a wide variety of damages, including mental anguish, past and future medical expenses, physical pain and disability, and the loss of earning capacity and enjoyment of life.
This Texas personal injury lawsuit was filed in the Jefferson County District Court and has been assigned to Judge Donald Floyd in the 172nd District Court. We’ll keep you updated on any more details and developments with this personal injury case.
A Portland, Oregon woman has filed a personal injury lawsuit on behalf of her son and against the Lake Oswego School District for an incident during a youth league basketball game two years ago. Therese Heaton has alleged that the District was negligent when it didn’t provide adequate protection for her son Nicholas Rhodes, who she said suffered a concussion and traumatic brain injury when he hit his head on an unpadded wall during the basketball game.
Specifically, The Lake Oswego Review detailed how this Oregon personal injury lawsuit explained how now 14-year-old Nicholas jumped up to block a shot during a fifth-grade basketball game when he lost his balance, fell headfirst into the unpadded, cement wall behind the out-of-bounds line and was immediately knocked out unconscious. Heaton added in the personal injury lawsuit that her son now suffers from a permanent injury that impacts his balance, hearing, vision and cognition
According to the personal injury lawsuit, the district should not have allowed children to even play on the court without first providing a safe environment and putting pads on the walls to lessen physical impact. In addition to the school district, the Lake Oswego Community School, Youth Basketball Association and Traveling Basketball Association were respectively listed as defendants. Heaton is seeking $13,000 in medical and other expenses and an additional $500,000 in non-economic damages, according to documents described in the story.
School district attorney Peter Mersereau said that the district will contest some of Rhodes’ injuries and his mother’s allegations. Specifically, the district alleges that Rhodes’ injuries were caused in part due to his own negligence because he did not look out for his own safety during the game. The district claimed that it was not liable because Rhodes signed a medical consent and release of liability form in order to play in the game.
The story did add that Mersereau and Heaton’s attorney David Sugerman both said that they expect the lawsuit to be settled out of court within a couple of weeks. This trial is set to begin on May 15th. We’ll keep you updated on any developments with this Oregon personal injury lawsuit.
After much hard work on its behalf, the Poughkeepsie Journal recently obtained documents revealing that a man who alleged police brutality against two Beacon, New York police officers was awarded a $48,000 personal injury settlement this last January. Samuel Parker received the settlement as part of a federal lawsuit in which he claimed that police officer Shawn Barry held him up at the city’s police station house so that officer Frank Pompilio could punch him. The story said that both sides agreed to the settlement and detailed how Pompilio denied wrongdoing in previous interviews.
Court records detailed that Parker was taken into custody when he was 17 years old on January 8, 2003. He was charged with misdemeanor counts of possessing a weapon and controlled substance, and resisting arrest. He later reached a guilty plea to disorderly conduct and paid a $60 fine. The story said that the majority of Parker’s claim was paid by the city’s insurance carrier and that the city paid a $5,000 deductible.
Parker’s police brutality lawsuit was one of four against the Beacon PD. Barry is no longer with the Beacon PD and is now a member of the Village of Walden Police Department. Pompilio is on medical leave from the Beacon PD.
Of further interest, the Poughkeepsie Journal had to jump through hoops to get the documents about this case from the city. After seeking copies of the settlement agreement and other related documents under the state’s Freedom of Information Law, the city denied the request and said that it couldn’t do so because its lawyer had retained the documents. Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, disagreed and said that whoever had the documents was irrelevant since the city of Beacon was bound by the Freedom of Information Law to disclose the records.
After the newspaper filed an appeal, the city received copies of the document from the city’s insurance agent. Journal Executive Editor Stuart Shinske said that he was glad the city released the documents but maintained they should have been released regardless of who possessed them.
A California jury recently awarded a $667,000 personal injury verdict to an elderly Turlock woman who was involved in a 2005 head-on collision caused by a teenager. 73-year-old Nell Mathis Fortner required two surgeries on her leg after a car driven by then-17-year-old John Henry Kamps Schollenberg turned right, veered into an oncoming lane and hit her car. While Fortner and her California personal injury attorney Frank Zumwalt made a $400,000 settlement offer to State Farm, which held the auto insurance policy for Schollenberg, the company declined and decided to go to trial. This proved to be a bad move for State Farm as the jury awarded Fortner an additional $267,000 at the end of the six-day trial.
The car accident occurred on January 13, 2005. At the time, Fortner was an in-home maid and on her way to care for a chemotherapy patient. Fortner was driving north of Modesto when Schollenberg, coming from the opposite direction, made a sharp right turn, veered into her lane and struck her vehicle head-on. Authorities estimated a 50-mph impact as Fortner was going 20 mph and Schollenberg was traveling 30 mph. While cited for traveling in the oncoming lane, Schollenberg was not prosecuted since officers did not do an accident reconstruction to prove he was recklessly speeding.
According to Zumwalt in an online story from the Modesto Bee, Fortner suffered a leg injury that has left her crippled, handicapped and impaired, and that the accident ultimately relegated her life to having a good meal and “hobbling around to doctors’ appointments.” He added that his client could no longer straighten her leg and now walks with a limp because of the accident. Schollenberg’s attorney, George Arata , could not be reached for comment but Zumwalt said in the story how his opposition tried to argue that some of Fortner’s injuries were from a pre-existing condition.
Late last week, a Hoboken jury awarded a man $11.6 million for the personal injuries he suffered in a strange 2004 accident. After breaking his foot in 1999, Michael Brady suffered from a severe chronic pain syndrome called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. While being transported by an ambulance in 2004 for physical therapy for his worsening condition, Brady fell down and broke his foot again when an ambulance driver swung the vehicle’s door into this crutches. Since that injury, Brady has been confined to a wheelchair, according to his personal injury attorney William L. Gold in a Journal Staff story.
Gold added that Brady’s daily living activities were severely impaired because of the second injury, which has also required him to have a full-time aide at his home. The story added that Phoenix-based company Multicare Ambulance was held responsible for Brady’s personal injuries.
Gold said in a press release that the original verdict from the eight-person jury was $14.5 million. Specifically, the original verdict had $5 million going to Brady for his pain and suffering and another $7 million for his future care costs. The jury also awarded $2.5 million to Brady’s wife. The press release added that the total amount was reduced by 20 percent, to the final $11.6 million, for comparative negligence.
Brady had originally broken his foot in an accident on a New York subway in 1999. He collected workers’ compensation as the RSD caused severe pain around the original injury. However, Gold said that his client’s RSD spread to his arms and all over his body after the second injury. Consequently, Gold said that Brady can’t use his left hand, which he described as basically turning into a claw. You can learn more about Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy at the RSD Advisory Board Blog.
A Stapleton, New York man who was injured in a 2005 car accident has settled his personal injury lawsuit for $100,000 with the man who hit him. 43-year-old William Johnson suffered severe right knee injuries requiring hospitalization and arthroscopic surgery when his car was struck by a vehicle which rolled through a stop sign.
A Staten Island Advance story said that Johnson was driving to Port Richmond on February 3, 2005 when the car driven by defendant Alexander J. Adelman rolled through the stop sign and hit Johnson’s vehicle in an intersection. Johnson later sued Adelman in the state Supreme Court in St. George. Johnson’s New York personal injury attorney Michael Bush said that Adelman’s insurance carrier paid his client the policy limit.
The city of Newark reached a $3.6 million personal injury settlement yesterday with a man and three women who were struck and injured by a stolen SUV that was fleeing from police in July 2001. A Star-Ledger story said that then 19-year-old Curtis Berry was paralyzed when the stolen SUV ran into a telephone pole and a group of pedestrians when trying to avoid hitting a compact car. Berry’s mother Violet and two other women, Jessica Pemberton and Desiree Chester, were also injured while 17-year-old teen Crystal Lee was killed in the accident.
Under the terms of this personal injury settlement, Curtis Berry will receive $2.075 million after attorney fees and costs. Violet Berry, Pemberton and Chester will each receive $150,000. The Newark City Council approved the settlement with an 8-0 vote.
At the time of the accident, Newark police said they were pursuing three car thieves during a 10-mintue, high-speed chase. This incident occurred a week before 46-year-old Patricia Tarmell was struck by a stolen Lexus being pursued by police during a 100 mph high speed chase. The story added that these two incidents caused the Newark Police Department to change its chase policy.
Following this settlement, Corporation Counsel Aney Chandy said the city didn’t admit liability and believed that the officers did nothing wrong. Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said that the question of whether these officers followed Attorney General chase guidelines was presented before a grand jury that ultimately decided to not bring charges.
Back in mid-January, The Injury Blog detailed how a California woman died hours after ingesting huge amounts of water during a radio station contest to win a Nintendo Wii, and here’s the latest developments in this tragic case. The Sacramento County district attorney’s office announced on Monday that no criminal charges will be filed against radio station 107.9 The End or any of its employees. A KCRA.com story said that the family of the deceased victim, Jennifer Strange, filed a wrongful death complaint seeking punitive, emotional and economic damages with the Sacramento County Superior Court in late January.
28-year-old Jennifer Strange died January 12th hours after drinking nearly two gallons of water during a morning radio contest for the Nintendo Wii video game system. Strange did not win the contest and was found dead later that day in her Rancho Cordova home. A preliminary coroner’s report detailed symptoms of water intoxication, and the Sacramento County district attorney’s office shortly began to investigate whether possible criminal charges could be filed in this case.
While listeners to the morning program actually called the radio station saying that people could die from this stunt (listen to the disturbing audio right here), District Attorney Jan Scully said the facts and circumstances of this event do not support the filing of an involuntary manslaughter charge. Scully added that Jennifer Strange was an adult who voluntarily participated in the contest, knew what it was about, and could have stopped or discontinued her participation at any time.
Scully further said that there were no observable indications or symptoms that Strange required serious medical attention at the time. The district attorney’s office found that DJs interviewed Strange on the air without any difficulties. If such an emergency was observably present, the statement from the district attorney’s office indicated that the station employees would have been required to seek or provide medical aid to her. The attorney for Strange’s family, Roger Dreyer, said he was not surprised by the district attorney’s decision to not file criminal charges.