A Cook County jury has awarded $19.2 million to the family of a McHenry County man killed in a 1999 crash near Union.
Another McHenry County man injured in the crash settled his portion of the lawsuit midway through the two-week trial this week for about $2 million.
The jury found truck driver David Villarreal of Cicero and the company for which he drove, the now-defunct Preferred Unlimited Inc. of Cicero, liable for damages in the wreck. The crash killed William J. Tengler, 28, of Marengo, and injured David H. Smith, now 32, also of Marengo.
Insurance is expected to cover the award and settlement, according to lawyers in the case.
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“I would say it’s a substantial verdict,” said Peter Hoste, a lawyer for Tengler’s family. “But it’s a substantial loss. We had a 28-year-old guy with two young children and a wife.”
Smith’s lawyer said his client still is experiencing the effects of his injuries.
“He still has chronic back pains that make it difficult for him to lift anything over 70 pounds,” said the lawyer, Craig Brown. “He has short-term memory loss and difficulty with learning new things.”
Smith, who was an apprentice at a tool and die shop before the crash, was unable to continue that work, said Brown, adding that he now works as a maintenance man on a pig farm in the Marengo area.
Tengler, a passenger in a car driven by Smith, died about two hours after the crash on Oct. 11, 1999, leaving his wife, Billie Jo Tengler and two boys, who were 5 and 4.
Smith’s car was headed south on U.S. Highway 20, preparing to turn left onto West Union Road, when it was rear-ended by Villarreal’s tractor-trailer.
The crash pushed the car into oncoming traffic on U.S. 20, where it was struck by another tractor-trailer. The jury in the civil suit found no wrongdoing on the part of the driver of the second truck.
Tests showed that Villarreal had marijuana and cocaine in his system, according to lawyers on both sides.
Villarreal’s lawyer, Patrick Dowd, who also represented Preferred Unlimited, said Thursday that his clients admit liability. Faulty brakes on Villarreal’s truck also were a factor in the crash, Dowd said.
No criminal charges were filed against Villarreal.
Villarreal, who is still a truck driver, could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
“He admitted fault,” Dowd said. “He admitted he never saw the vehicle until he struck it. He was remorseful. He wept on the stand.”