Clifford Law Offices Receives $311,197 Verdict in Accident Involving Two Off-Duty Police Officers
Press Release, 05/08/2006Clifford Law Offices received a $311,197 verdict Thursday, May 4, in a case involving two off-duty officers from different police departments involved in a vehicular accident.
Robert P. Walsh, partner, and Craig J. Squillace, associate at the firm, obtained the verdict following a three-day trial on behalf of an off-duty Prospect Heights police officer Jerry Coglianese who was operating a motorcycle in the express lanes of Interstate 90/94 on October 1, 2001.
An off-duty Chicago police officer was driving a car in the left lane of the express lanes when she attempted to exit back into the local lanes of traffic. Coglianese was forced into Dorothy Ladow’s Cadillac. Coglianese suffered a broken left leg and was forced to miss two months of work.
A nine-man-three-woman jury deliberated less than three hours before returning the verdict. The jury rejected the defendant’s claim that the plaintiff was contributorily negligent and found her 100 percent responsible for the crash. The three-day trial was held before Judge Arthur Janura, Jr., Cook County Circuit Court, at the Daley Center.
