$______ VERDICT - PREMISES LIABILITY - HAZARDOUS PREMISES - FAILURE TO WARN - FAILURE TO WARN PATRONS IN EXTERIOR TENT SPORTS BAR OF DANGEROUS WEATHER - THUNDERSTORM CAUSED TENT TO FAIL - 58-YEAR-OLD DECEDENT WAS STRUCK BY FAILING TENT STRUCTURE AND KILLED.

• Pages: 8-9

Lawrence F. Bernstein, M.D. from Pittsburgh, PA.

Defendant’s psychiatry expert: Henry W. Lahmeyer,

M.D. from Northfield, IL.

Rebecca Ruiz, as Independent Administrator of the

Estate of Ivette Ruiz, deceased vs. Phoenix Care Sys-

tems, Inc., Willowglen Academy-Illinois, Inc., et al.

Case no. 2012 L 5; Judge David Jeffrey, 03-17-16.

Attorneys for plaintiff: Tara R. Devine, Elizabeth R.

Olszewski, John A. Mennie of Salvi Schostok &

Pritchard P.C. in Waukegan, IL. Attorneys for

defendant: Robert J. Kopka and Sheila N. Osei of

Kopka Pincus Dolin in Chicago, IL.

COMMENTARY

This is reported to be the largest wrongful death verdict in

Stephenson County. The plaintiff’s counsel advises that the com-

plaint included a willful and wanton claim; however, the judge

struck this cause of action at the time of trial. Illinois does not per-

mit the award of punitive damages for a wrongful death case.

The plaintiff, the sister of the decedent, was Hispanic and a transla-

tor was utilized during the trial. The jury was composed of mixed

males and females, none of whom were Hispanic.

The defendants attempted to blame the psychiatrist for the side ef-

fects of medications that the plaintiff’s decedent had been placed

on as the cause of the decedent’s fall and resulting death. However,

the psychiatrist they blamed died one-year prior to the trial and

the defendants failed to depose the psychiatrist anytime during the

discovery phase. The defendants did not have the psychiatrist’s tes-

timony and she did not have the ability to defend herself from their

allegations at trial. The plaintiff’s counsel maintained that this was

a fabricated defense and was not deemed to be relevant during the

initial investigation by the facility immediately after the decedent’s

death as the psychiatrist was not blamed at that juncture for the

decedent’s death. It did not become an issue until much later when

the defendants’ attorneys became involved in the litigation. The

plaintiff’s counsel argued that this defense was fabricated and was

not a viable defense to the allegations made by the plaintiff.

With regard to the issue of damages, the defendants attempted to

demonstrate that since the patient was a longtime resident at both

the defendant’s Illinois facility and the Wisconsin facility prior to

that, that the damages suffered by her family as a result of her

death were minimal to non-existent. In actuality, the plaintiff was

able to successfully demonstrate to the jury that the patient’s family

had a very consistent, close and interactive relationship with the

patient. She often went home for birthdays and holidays and went

out for meals with family members. There was a consistent commu-

nication between the patient and her family. The plaintiff’s attor-

ney likened the relationship between the decedent and her family

to the relationship between parents and their college child to dem-

onstrate that simply because the patient resided away from the

family’s home, she was still loved and very much a part of the fam-

ily and her loss would be significant to her family members. The

jury’s award of damages indicated its agreement with the evidence

presented to them regarding the familial relationship that existed.

The judgment is final as there was a confidential high low agree-

ment in place between the parties. Consequently, there will be no

appeal.

$2,400,000 VERDICT – PREMISES LIABILITY – HAZARDOUS PREMISES – FAILURE TO

WARN – FAILURE TO WARN PATRONS IN EXTERIOR TENT SPORTS BAR OF

DANGEROUS WEATHER – THUNDERSTORM CAUSED TENT TO FAIL – 58-YEAR-OLD

DECEDENT WAS STRUCK BY FAILING TENT STRUCTURE AND KILLED.

St. Louis County, MO

In this negligence matter, the plaintiff alleged that

the defendant was careless when a temporary

tentstructurefailedasaresultofaseverestorm

and collapsed. The plaintiff’s decedent suffered

fatal head and neck injuries and died. The

defendant denied liability stating that it had no

warning prior to the incident.

The 58-year-old decedent was a patron at the defen-

dant’s sports bar. On April 28, 2012, the decedent

was among other patrons who were inside a 40 foot

by 60 foot tent that had been erected next to the bar

to increase its customer capacity. A severe thunder-

storm caused the tent to fail and collapse. As a result

of the tent’s collapse, the decedent suffered fatal

neck and head injuries. Other patrons were also in-

jured in the collapse. The plaintiff brought suit against

the defendant alleging negligence. The plaintiff al-

leged that the defendant was negligent in failing to

warn the patrons to exit the tent when the storm was

coming. The plaintiff contended that the defendants

knew or should have known of the hazardous weather

and the danger it presented to their customers. The

defendant testified that they had continuously moni-

tored the weather and the evidence demonstrated

that the storm steadily moved toward the defendant’s

location over a period of at least three hours prior to

the tent collapse.

The defendant denied the allegations and main-

tained that the weather came on suddenly and with-

out any warning. The defendant maintained that it

was unaware that a storm was in the area.

The matter proceeded to trial over a period of six

days.

The jury deliberated for approximately four and one-

half hours and returned its verdict in favor of the plain-

tiff. The jury awarded the sum of $2,400,000 in

damages.

REFERENCE

Plaintiff’s meteorology expert: William Dannevik,

Ph.D. from St. Louis, MO.

Shelley Goodman, as surviving spouse of Alfred

Goodman, deceased vs. Kilroy was Here LLC. Case

no. 1222-cc-02822; Judge John Riley, 03-14-16.

Attorney for plaintiff: Gregory L. Shevlin of Cook,

Ysursa, Bartholomew, Brauer & Shevlin, Ltd. in

Belleville, IL.

8 SUMMARIES WITH TRIAL ANALYSIS

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