Glass Company Will Pay $1.1 Million Settlement

A Joliet glass company will pay $1.1 million to a Chicago woman injured when a pickup truck being driven by one of its employees rear-ended her Plymouth Voyager van as it was traveling northbound on Joliet Road in Romeoville on Sept. 30, 1994.

Corboy & Demetrio in Chicago brought the suit on behalf of Linnea Koenig, now 48, of Chicago. She was injured when a Ford truck being driven by Adrian Alonso, then 21, an employee of Safelite Glass Corp. in Joliet, hit the rear of her van as she was stopped to make a left-hand turn near the popular White Fence Farm Restaurant. The force of the collision pushed Koenig's van into the oncoming southbound lanes, where it collided with another car, killing that driver.

Koenig suffered fractures of her right wrist, left knee, left ankle and collarbone, as well as several broken ribs. She required surgery and underwent physical therapy.

Numerous witnesses to the collisions stated that the defendant was driving recklessly, at a high rate of speed, weaving in and out of traffic and was following too closely shortly before his truck hit Koenig's van.

The suit, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, was settled before the Honorable Donald J. O'Brien.