The family of a Grand Ridge woman who died in a single-vehicle accident northwest of Mazon one year ago filed Tuesday an eight-count wrongful death lawsuit in Grundy County Circuit Court.
Sandra S. Jordan and Andrew J. Stevenson, filing on behalf of Hilary Rose Jordan, leveled negligence charges against seven individuals or entities, including Ricki J. Heinzeroth of Grand Ridge, Ill., Mazon Township Highway Commissioner Edwin Walker and Mazon Township, Wauponsee Township Highway Commissioner Mark Doerfler and Wauponsee Township, and Grundy County Engineer Craig Cassem and Grundy County.
The plaintiffs are seeking judgment in excess of $50,000 to compensate damages as a result of mental anguish and medical expenses realized in the wake of the death of Hilary Rose Jordan.
Jordan, 26, of Grand Ridge, was pronounced dead in the emergency room at Morris Hospital on May 26, 2010, after the vehicle Heinzeroth, then 16, was driving had left the roadway on South Baker Road.
According to the Morris Daily Herald report the day following the accident, Grundy County Coroner John Callahan said the pair were headed east on the Mazon-Grand Ridge Road, en route to meeting family members in Morris, when the driver turned north onto Baker Road, about a half-mile south of Vanderpool Road and two miles west of Illinois 47.
Court documents state the abrupt turn in the roadway was near the township line between Mazon and Wauponsee townships.
Heinzeroth missed the turn in the roadway, which Callahan described as a “pretty tough curve,” and the car went off the highway into a field and rolled several times.
Callahan said the driver was wearing a seat belt and stayed with the vehicle. Because of a medical condition, Jordan was not wearing her seat belt, he said.
Also, according to the Morris Daily Herald report, Heinzeroth reportedly told deputies she was in a hurry to reach her destination, and was probably driving faster than she should have been. She did not know how fast she was going, it was reported.
Heinzeroth lost control of the 2000 Chevy Malibu LX on the curve, slammed on the brakes, turned the wheel and the car rolled over.
Jordan was reportedly ejected from the vehicle, and Heinzeroth crawled out. She could not locate her cell phone, so she went to a residence on Baker Road and used the telephone there to call 9-1-1.
The lawsuit charges Heinzeroth with carelessly and negligently causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and causing the vehicle to crash, leading to the death of Jordan. It also accuses Heinzeroth of failing to keep the car under control, failing to keep a look out and driving too fast for the conditions and for the layout of the road.
In addition, Walker and Mazon Township, Doerfler and Wauponsee Township, and Cassem and Grundy County were accused in the lawsuit of failing to place traffic control devices or signs along the roadway to regulate, warn or guide traffic through the difficult curve.
The plaintiffs have requested a trial by jury.