FAMILY
FILES SUIT OVER I-55 ACCIDENT
(As reported in Daily Southtown)
By Jennifer
Martikean
February 14, 2001
The
family of a woman killed in an accident on Interstate 55
near Joliet last month filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday
against the Salvation Army.
Jill
Henry, 49, of Chicago, died in the accident that also killed
10 other people when a Salvation Army van slid across I-55
and collided with a semi truck head-on Jan. 26. Her son,
Michael Henry of Blue Island, is pursuing the lawsuit on
behalf of his mother's estate.
The
lawsuit alleges that the van's driver was negligent in not
properly controlling the van on the road. Henry's attorneys,
Kurt D. Lloyd and Timothy J. Cavanagh, also are seeking
to have all the evidence from the crash preserved and not
destroyed.
"This
was an absolutely tragic collision," Cavanagh said.
"The Salvation Army driver was traveling too fast for
conditions. Had he been driving at the speed that conditions
allowed this collision would never had happened."
This
is the second lawsuit filed against the Salvation Army as
a result of the deadly accident. The mother of Shawanda
Cross, a 24-year-old who died two weeks after the accident,
also field a wrongful death lawsuit against the Salvation
Army earlier this month.
Telephone
calls made to Salvation Army officials for comment on the
lawsuit were not returned.
