$9.1
MILLION TRAIN-CAR CRASH SETTLEMENT IS A STATE RECORD
(As reported in the Law Bulletin)
By Stephanie Francis Cahill
Law Bulletin Staff Writer
September 22, 2000
A
woman left with nerve and mild brain damage after the car
she rode in was hit by a freight train settled her personal
injury case Thursday, September 21, 2000, for $9.1 million.
According
to records maintained by the Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter,
the accord marks the state's highest reported personal injury
settlement involving a train-vehicle collision.
The
case stemmed from a March, 1998 accident in the west suburb
of Bloomingdale, when a car that carried plaintiff Hanifa
Ajmeri was hit by a train owned by the Illinois Central
Railroad Co. At the time of the accident, the train was
operated by the Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad Co.
According
to plaintiff lawyer Timothy J. Cavanagh, railroad crossing
lights were not visible at the time of the accident due
to blizzard-like weather conditions, and the crossing gate
for southbound traffic had been knocked down.
Cavanagh
said that police had notified Chicago Central about the
gate at least 45 minutes prior to the accident, but the
company did not inform Illinois Central dispatchers of the
situation.
As
a result of the accident, Ajmeri, then 42, suffered mild
traumatic brain injury, a perforated bladder, bruised lungs
and a crushed pelvis, which caused sciatic nerve damage
in both her legs, according to Cavanagh. Originally his
client was wheelchair-bound, Cavanagh said, but now can
walk with a cane.
According
to Cavanagh, Chicago Central violated federal transportation
rules by not informing Illinois Central of the downed crossing
gate. He believes that was a key to the settlement.
"Federal
safety policy requires the railroad to notify the engineer
and do a stop and flag, which means the engineer gets out
and uses a flag to stop all cars," said Cavanagh. "But
dispatchers for Illinois Central were not told of the call,
so the engineer and the conductor didn't know."
The
settlement was reached Thursday morning, September 21, 2000,
while counsel was picking a jury, Cavanagh said. The trial,
which would have been presided over by Cook County Judge
James P. Flannery Jr., was slated to begin that afternoon.
