Dominique H. Rogers

Power Rogers, LLP attorneys Larry R. Rogers Jr., James I. Power, and Dominique H. Rogers have secured a $229 million pre-trial settlement for a young man who suffered catastrophic spinal cord injuries in a construction zone collision — believed to be the largest pre-trial settlement for a single plaintiff in Illinois history and the largest of its kind in the United States.

The result was achieved in the face of a formidable liability defense. On December 18, 2022, the plaintiff, then a teenager, was a rear-seat passenger in a vehicle traveling approximately 71 mph in a posted 30 mph construction zone on Cermak Road near Kilbourn Avenue in Chicago. The vehicle entered an open lane, struck a gravel mound blocking westbound traffic, and was launched into the underside of a viaduct, crushing the roof above the plaintiff and leaving him an incomplete quadriplegic. From the outset, the defendants seized on the driver’s extreme speed, contending it was the sole proximate cause of the crash and that they bore no responsibility at all.

Through extensive discovery, the Power Rogers team built the case that the construction zone itself was a trap. The gravel mound had been placed in the roadway two days earlier as part of an AT&T utility lowering project involving Illinois Bell Telephone Company, LLC d/b/a AT&T Illinois and contractors JOSCO Construction Services, Inc., Archon Construction Co., Inc., and TSI. Hours before the crash, another vehicle knocked down the warning signs and arrow board, leaving the lanes exposed. The plaintiff established that the defendants abandoned the IDOT-approved Maintenance of Traffic plan, made unauthorized modifications that stripped away critical traffic control devices, improperly used a gravel mound as a roadway barrier, violated Chicago Department of Transportation work-hour requirements — and that the utility and its contractors held a non-delegable duty to keep the zone safe for the traveling public.

Damages were equally hard-fought. The defense life care plans assumed only 16 hours of daily attendant care and relied on the plaintiff’s 73-year-old grandmother to provide overnight medical care indefinitely — assumptions the plaintiff’s team dismantled given her age, health, and the absence of other caregivers.

“This was a hard-fought case from day one, on behalf of a teenager facing some of the most devastating injuries a person can endure,” said Larry R. Rogers Jr. “The defense had a story they believed would win this case outright — that the driver’s speed was the only cause and no one else bore any responsibility. Through years of relentless work, we proved that wasn’t true, and we proved what our client’s life will actually require.”

James I. Power added, “On paper, this is the kind of case that ends in a defense verdict. It became one of the most favorable settlements for an individual claimant in the history of this country because of the work, effort, and skill our team poured into every stage of this litigation. For a young man whose entire future was taken from him in an instant, nothing less would have been enough.”

The settlement resolves the case before trial against Archon Construction Co., Inc.; JOSCO Construction Services, Inc.; TSI; Illinois Bell Telephone Company, LLC d/b/a AT&T Illinois; the driver, Kyle Johnson; and Hertz, and secures the resources the plaintiff will need for a lifetime of medical care.

Larry R. Rogers Jr., Jonathan M. Thomas, and Dominique H. Rogers reached an agreement to settle on behalf of their client, a 23-year-old female, that was severely injured and suffered a traumatic brain injury and multiple orthopedic injuries as a result of a tractor-trailer vs. motor vehicle collision. Plaintiff pursued a cause of action against the tracking company, the cargo container owner, as well as the freight forwarder/broker. Plaintiff alleged that the trucking company was an agent of the freight forwarder/broker and that the freight forwarder/broker was negligent in the selection and retention of the trucking company Defendant. The case settled on the eve of trial for $61,550,000.00.