Separate plaintiffs in two suits against the same truckers over a crash on Illinois Route 4 should have sued the man behind the wheel, according to the truckers.
They answered complaints from survivor Frances Grey and the estate of Mary Fuentes by filing third party complaints against Ignatius Grey.
Florida trucker Joel Jackson filed one against Ignatius Grey in the Fuentes case on Aug. 5.
His counsel Shannon Rulo of Wisconsin identified Ignatius Grey as Fuentes’s brother.
Rulo claimed Fuentes engaged in loud talking, physical interference, use of a phone, or other actions increasing risk in a moving vehicle.
According to the third party complaint, Fuentes distracted Grey and provoked a response that led to the accident.
The accident occurred on June 20, 2023 in St. Jacob Township of Madison County.
Jose Armando Fuentes of St. Louis County sued Jackson’s company at U.S. district court in February as husband of Mary and estate administrator.
His counsel Nathaniel Davis of St. Louis County wrote, “Jackson attempted to pass decedent’s vehicle on the left in the no passing zone.”
He claimed Mary’s death deprived Jose and their three children of love, society and support.
He named Falcon Transportation, Blue Diamond Transportation and Prairie State Carriers as defendants and classified Jackson as employee and agent of all three.
Frances Grey sued the same truckers on May 6 at Madison County circuit court.
Her counsel John Power and Samantha LaFata of Chicago claimed Jackson failed to keep a lookout, sound his horn, stay on the right side, or keep a safe distance.
The truckers removed the complaint to district court on the basis of diverse citizenship.
In the first suit, on May 23, Falcon, Blue Diamond and Prairie State filed counterclaims against Ignatius Grey.
Their counsel Ted Perryman of St. Louis County claimed he made “an unauthorized, uncontrolled, and improper left or U turn with his right turn signal engaged.”
He claimed if defendants should be found liable they were entitled to contribution in an amount commensurate with their relative degree of fault.
Grey retained Lawrence Hall of St. Louis who answered the complaint in July by stating Jackson failed to keep a lookout, react reasonably or operate in a prudent manner.
Hall claimed Grey was entitled to dismissal pursuant to the Joint Tortfeasor Act as a result of a settlement agreement with Armando Fuentes.
Rulo’s Aug. 5 counterclaim against Ignatius Grey asserted Jackson was entitled to a setoff against any judgment for the full amount of settlements before or after the filing of the suit.
Rulo claimed Mary Fuentes breached her duties to exercise due care for her own safety.
She claimed Fuentes had an opportunity to learn of possible danger and avoid it.
She claimed Fuentes assumed the risk of traveling in Ignatius Grey’s vehicle.
She also claimed Fuentes wore no seat belt.
“The risk of harm was not created by defendant but is inherent in the activity of traveling in a motor vehicle with a distracted driver like Ignatius Grey,” she wrote.
“In the alternative, defendant asserts the accident and the resulting injuries and damages were directly, proximately and solely caused by an Act of God.”
She claimed injuries and damages were occasioned exclusively by natural causes such as could not have been prevented by human care, skill and foresight.
Magistrate Judge Gilbert Sison presides over the first case and Senior District Judge Phil Gilbert presides over the second.
In June the truckers filed a motion in Sison’s case for consolidation of the cases.
As of Aug. 5 he hadn’t ruled on it.
This article was first published in Madison Record.
