(The following story by Charles Keeshan appeared on the Daily Herald website on January 7.)
CHICAGO — Most of the lawsuits filed by the families of students killed or injured in a school bus-train crash eight years ago in Fox River Grove have settled in recent weeks, a review of McHenry County court records indicates.
Records show 25 of 27 lawsuits filed in connection with the Oct. 25, 1995, crash have been dismissed by agreement of both sides since Dec. 1.
Financial details of the settlements are sealed under court order.
The settlements include the cases filed by families of all seven Cary-Grove High School students killed in the crash, as well as those most seriously injured, court records show.
Robert Hanaford, who represents the family of deceased student Susanna Guzman, her brother Rafael and four other plaintiffs, confirmed Tuesday that his cases had settled.
“My clients are very happy with the settlements,” Hanaford said. “After almost 8¨ years, they’re certainly glad this process has come to a rest.”
A confidentiality agreement between the parties, along with the court order, bars him from discussing settlement figures, Hanaford said.
Hanaford’s clients, along with 22 other plaintiffs, sued eight defendants after the school bus-commuter train crash that occurred at the Algonquin Road/Route 14 rail crossing in Fox River Grove.
Their bus was sitting at a traffic light with its rear end hanging over the tracks when a Metra commuter train traveling nearly 60 mph slammed into the bus, ripping the vehicle off its chassis.
The impact threw four students out of the bus, killing them all. Three other students, all believed to have been sitting at the rear of the bus, died.
Among the dead was Joseph Kalte, a 16-year-old sophomore. His mother said Tuesday the settlement does nothing to ease the pain of his death.
“It doesn’t bring closure – not at all,” Catherine Kalte said. “There is no amount of money that is going to replace my son.”
Among the defendants are Crystal Lake-based school districts 47 and 155, which jointly operated a bus service. Other defendants include the Union Pacific Railroad, Metra and three smaller companies involved in the rail crossing’s design, operation and maintenance.
The Illinois Department of Transportation settled its portion of the cases in 2000, and the village of Fox River Grove was dismissed from the case last year.
The suits alleged, among other things, that IDOT failed to properly monitor signals at the rail crossing, that bus driver Patricia Catencamp erred by leaving a portion of the vehicle hanging over the tracks and that Union Pacific did not provide enough warning time for vehicles crossing its tracks.
Glen Amundsen, the attorney for school districts 155 and 47, declined comment on the cases Tuesday, citing the confidentiality agreement.
Union Pacific attorney George Brant could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
District 155 superintendent Michael Mills wouldn’t get into specifics, because two of the cases remain pending.
“It would be inappropriate for me to make any comments at this time,” Mills said. “Unless they’re all done, it’s not really done.”
Mills would say, however, that any settlement funds will come from the district’s insurance carriers. He said he could not speculate how settlements will affect the districts’ finances.
Hanaford attributed the length of the cases – more than eight years in some instances – to the complex nature of the evidence. Pre-trial preparation in the case included more than 250 depositions, the hiring of many expert witnesses and two trips to the Illinois Supreme Court.
“This has been the most complicated case in McHenry County history, and that comes not just from me but judges and other attorneys,” Hanaford said. “The trial in this case could have gone on for six months.”
With that prospect looming and the cost of the case reaching into the hundreds of thousands, Hanaford said his clients decided settling was the best option.
“They feel they’ve been fairly compensated, but in many cases they can’t be given back what they lost,” he added.
(Kara Spak contributed to this report.)