Corboy & Demetrio Obtains $10.6 Million Settlement for Toll Worker Killed by Truck

Corboy & Demetrio has obtained a settlement of $10.6 million in the wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of Vincenzo Petrella, the 39-year-old Illinois Tollway worker who was killed while helping a trucker with a disabled semi-trailer on Interstate 88 near Aurora on Jan. 27, 2014.    

Mr. Petrella left behind a four-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter, and wife, Sandra, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of her husband’s estate.   She was represented by Corboy & Demetrio Co-Founder Thomas A. Demetrio.

Two of the defendants were Renato Velasquez, the commercial truck driver who struck the vehicles which caused a chain-reaction crash that caused Petrella’s death, and DND International, the Illinois trucking company that employed Velasquez.

Velasquez fell asleep at the wheel and is serving a three-year prison sentence after being convicted of impaired driving via fatigue and operating his semi in excess of the maximum number of consecutive hours a commercial driver can spend behind the wheel.

A third defendant, CRST, paid $10 million of the settlement because Corboy & Demetrio, through discovery, uncovered evidence that the trucking brokerage company controlled the method and manner in which the truck was being operated.  Corboy & Demetrio argued that CRST was just as responsible for the tragedy because of the control it exhibited over the truck and its driver.

“Enzo’s death is a profound loss to Sandra and her children.  It was important to the Petrella family that all responsible were held accountable in the hope that tragedies like this may be prevented in the future,” Demetrio said.

It was the hard work of Hon. John A. Ward who mediated the case that it was able to be resolved favorably for all concerned.

Case#: 2014L002846 Sandra Petrella , Administrator of the Estate of Vincenzo Petrella, v. DND International, Inc. and Renato Velasquez, Cook Co. Circuit Court No.  Filed on 3-10-14. Settled on 1-20-17.