Arbitration Award
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, In the News, 03/29/2006An arbitrator has awarded $1.5 million to a St. Charles man injured in a head-on collision that allegedly occurred when an uninsured motorist forced a truck to swerve into his lane.
The accident occurred on Oct. 4, 2002, while Forrest Fairall, now 46, was traveling eastbound on the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway. A uninsured woman driving westbound cut across four lanes of traffic and forced a truck into the eastbound lanes where it hit Fairall’s vehicle, said Robert P. Walsh Jr., of Clifford Law Offices, who represented Fairall.
Fairall suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck, a fractured elbow and a dislocated hip, Walsh said. Fairall filed suit against his insurance company, Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co., which provided uninsured motorist coverage under his policy.
The truck driver was not involved in the arbitration. Walsh said the arbitrator, former Cook County circuit judge Angelo D. Mistretta, determined that the uninsured woman bore 95 percent of the responsibility. Mistretta signed the binding award on Monday. Forrest Fairall v. Powell, Inc., No. 03 L 5839.
James E. Phelan of Johnson & Bell, Ltd., who represented Atlantic Mutual Insurance, said he thought the award was high, based on Fairall’s injuries and his current condition.
