Widow of electrician fatally struck by truck in Elmhurst receives $5.9M settlement

ELMHURST – The widow of a man fatally struck by a truck in 2011 while working in an Illinois Department of Transportation construction zone in Elmhurst received a $5.9 million settlement Oct. 5.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge William Gomolinski approved the settlement for Mary Kriete-Green, the widow of electrician Daniel Green, 38, of Wisconsin, an employee of Hecker Electric, who was killed the morning of Sept. 12, 2011, while he was working about four feet from the roadway at York and Lake streets, according to a news release from law firm Cavanagh Law Group, who represented Kriete-Green.

Martin Montelongo, the driver of the semi-tractor trailer that fatally struck Green, made a 120-degree right turn from York Road onto Lake Street, the release stated. Green died of his injuries at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital.

Cavanagh Law Group alleged the construction companies did not follow safety standards required by the Illinois Department of Transportation in its contracts with the defendants, the release stated. Safety barricades and drums required by the contracts and project conditions were not properly placed, according to the release, and the proper placement of barricades and drums would have steered the truck away from the curb and Green would not have been killed, the release stated.

The trial was scheduled to proceed Oct. 10 before Gomolinski approved the settlement.

Cavanagh Law Group filed the wrongful death suit in 2011, alleging the trucking company, general contractor, subcontractors, an Illinois Department of Transportation employee and engineers of the project were responsible for Green’s death.

Defendants in the suit were Montelongo, trucking company Adans Trucking Inc., general contractor Martam Construction Inc. and various subcontractors and employees.

Subcontractor R.W. Dunteman Company was dismissed from the lawsuit via summary judgment Feb. 29, 2016. The court entered an order on Dec. 23, 2016, indicating the Feb. 29, 2016, order was final and appealable. No appeal was ever filed.

"While R.W. Dunteman Company was sued, it had and continues to deny any liability for this accident and the court agreed with R.W. Dunteman’s position by entering a dismissal order on its behalf," R.W. Dunteman Company President Roland Dunteman said in an email Oct. 16.

Neither R.W. Dunteman Company nor its insurers settled with the plaintiff, Dunteman said in the email.

As part of the settlement agreement, Green’s employer, Hecker Electric, waived its lien and contributed $400,000 to the settlement, the release stated.