A wrongful-death lawsuit was filed Monday in the 19th Circuit Court for a Highland Park hit-and-run fatality in June.
Maureen Wener, 49, died from her injuries after being struck by a vehicle on June 2 at the intersection of Deerfield Road and Piccadilly Road while she was riding her bicycle. The driver, who the News-Sun is not naming because they haven’t been charged with an offense, fled the scene before emergency services arrived.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Wener by her husband Paul Rundell, alleges the driver made an illegal U-turn and struck Wener. The defendant’s negligence, the suit alleges, resulted in Wener’s injuries and ultimately her death.
“The evidence against (the defendant) is very strong for a civil case and Maureen’s family deserves justice so that they can move on to closure,” said Brian Lewis, the attorney representing the Wener estate. “The time for answers is now, and that’s why the lawsuit was filed.”
Criminal charges by the Lake County State’s Attorney office against the driver have not yet been filed. The State’s Attorney’s office is unable to comment on pending investigations.
“This tragedy is magnified because the person who hit and killed (Maureen) and who is known to the police has not yet been charged,” Lewis said.
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An investigation by the Highland Park Police Department is still ongoing,
Lewis thinks the police department and State’s Attorney’s office are “getting very close to filing charges.”
It’s not unusual, Lewis said, for a lawsuit to be filed before the criminal charges.
The complaint alleges the defendant made an unauthorized U-turn from Deerfield Road, an east-west thoroughfare, onto Piccadilly Road, a dead-end side street, and then back onto Deerfield Road.
During the illegal maneuver the defendant hit Wener, the complaint alleges, who was traveling westbound on Deerfield Road on her bicycle.
The complaint alleges the defendant was not paying attention to the roadway and conditions around the vehicle as well as driving too fast for the conditions.
Wener leaves behind her husband and 13-year-old son. She was an active member of her community, serving her first term as a Deerfield District 109 school board member after she previously served on the Deerfield Public Library board. She worked for years in Illinois Democratic politics, as well as in medical education and nonprofit management.