$41.1 Million Verdict for Downstate Lawyer Whose Unmonitored Blood Thinner Led to a Catastrophic Stroke

Quentin Ravizza, a tow truck driver for District Recovery, Inc., was inspecting the engine of a 1997 Kenworth T800 tow truck in Summit, Illinois, on January 23, 2012, when a gust of wind estimated at 35 miles per hour slammed the truck's hood shut on his head. He suffered a fractured skull and the loss of his right eye. A Cook County jury found that PACCAR, Inc., the truck's manufacturer, had negligently designed and manufactured the truck without an adequate hood blowback safety system, and that District Rebuilders, Inc., the company that serviced the truck, had failed to maintain or replace the missing safety cable and hook. The jury awarded $10 million in compensatory damages against both defendants and $10 million in punitive damages against PACCAR alone, a $20 million verdict, allocating 70 percent fault to PACCAR, 25 percent to Rebuilders and 5 percent to Ravizza. The trial court later reduced the compensatory award against PACCAR to $9.5 million, and the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed that figure but vacated the punitive damages, finding no proof that the specific safety device blamed for the design defect was actually on the truck when Ravizza was hurt.

A Cook County jury awarded Jean Frigo $7,775,668.02 after finding that Silver Cross Hospital and Medical Center negligently credentialed a podiatrist who cut through her infected diabetic ulcer during bunion surgery, an error that led to a bone infection and the amputation of her foot. The podiatrist, Paul Kirchner, had never met the hospital's own criteria for surgical privileges and settled with Frigo separately for $900,000 before trial. The trial court credited that settlement against the verdict, entering judgment against Silver Cross for $6,875,668.02. The Appellate Court of Illinois affirmed in full in 2007, in a decision credited with establishing negligent credentialing as an independent cause of action under Illinois law.

A Cook County jury awarded $4.7 million to the family of Georgia Tagalos, a 49-year-old woman who suffered fatal brain damage after emergency room staff at St. James Hospital of Olympia Fields could not secure her airway during a severe asthma attack. The jury found the hospital and its attending physician, Dr. Perry Marshall, liable, while clearing a resident physician of wrongdoing. The Illinois Appellate Court, First District, affirmed the verdict in full in 2015, holding the hospital vicariously liable for Marshall's conduct because he was the hospital's apparent agent in the eyes of a patient who came to its emergency room for general care.

A Cook County jury awarded Betty Kunz $3.2 million in 2005 after finding Little Company of Mary Hospital liable for a nurse's error that put the kidney-toxic antibiotic gentamicin on her nursing-home transfer form when she was 75. She suffered permanent kidney failure and needs dialysis for life. The jury cleared the nursing home's doctor and the other defendants. In 2007 the Appellate Court affirmed liability and ordered a new trial limited to past and future medical expenses.