Lawsuits adding up, Evanston officials say
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
February 18, 2004
Faced with more than 20 lawsuits, including an $11 million jury award in a case involving a police chase that left a teenager with a permanent brain injury, Evanston officials are worried that the city budget could feel the strain.
With the budget up for a final vote next week, city officials said they will rely on the sale of $9 million in bonds to offset some of the potential losses, which could total more than $21 million.
But City Manager Roger Crum warned that if the city loses an appeal of the award stemming from the 1997 police chase, officials might have to tap the $78 million budget's general fund.
Crum declined to say whether services would be cut if the city has to pay the entire settlement in that case, which totals $12 million, including interest, and cover potential awards in other cases.
"We can't predict what could go, but somehow we have to come up with the money," he said.
Some aldermen said the budgets of communities the size of Evanston can't handle multimillion-dollar lawsuits and holding the city liable in some of the cases is irresponsible.
"We are not as deep pocketed as the city of Chicago," said Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste. "When this kind of obligation is levied against us, we have to take a look at that."
Attorneys for the plaintiffs say that if the city took responsibility, it would not be in this predicament.
"It's a much harder burden to establish the liability," said Frank DiFranco, who represented Salonica Prado, who was injured in the 1997 police pursuit.
"We have to prove wanton disregard for the safety of others. . . . If they would just follow their own guidelines it would never happen in the first place."
An Illinois Appellate Court is expected to rule on the city's appeal this year. The city contested the Prado award on grounds that it was not liable and the award exceeded the cost of lost wages and medical expenses, said Evanston's attorney, Herbert Hill.
The $11 million award is one of the costliest in city history, Crum said.
In September 1997, Prado, then 17, and her cousin, Eloina, 13, both of Evanston, were in the backseat of a sport-utility vehicle chased by Evanston police.
The driver was wanted on a warrant including two narcotics charges and one for theft, Hill said. The chase ended when the driver crashed into a building, authorities said.
Both passengers received head injuries and broken bones that their lawyers say will require long-term care.
In June 2002, a jury found in favor of Prado; her cousin awaits a ruling, pending the appeal, DiFranco said.
The jury award would impose a financial strain on the city, which at the time of the incident had canceled its liability insurance to avoid paying a $1 million a year premium, said Ald. Ann Rainey (8th).
Lawsuits against the city had never exceeded $2 million, officials said.
The city reinstated the insurance, but too late to cover the potential cost of recent lawsuits, Crum said.
"A runaway jury verdict that is impossible to anticipate can certainly have a profound effect on a smaller budget," Hill said. "The amount of the verdict is disproportionate to the budget available."
The cases involving the Prado cousins aren't the council's only concerns.
More lawsuits are in the pipeline, including one over the August 1999 drowning of a 17-year-old boy at Lighthouse Beach in Evanston.
A lawyer for the boy's family alleges the city didn't adequately warn swimmers about potential dangers and failed to properly train park rangers about lifeguard safety. A trial date has not been set in the case.
"We're very hopeful that some of these cases will end up in our favor so it won't ever come to having to pay $20 million," Rainey said.
"You want to talk about the worst of all possible worlds, that would be it."
