$3.85M granted in lawsuit against ex-Cook County forest preserve worker charged in fatal OTJ crash
A $3.85 million default judgment has been issued against a former Cook County Forest Preserve worker who authorities say was intoxicated while on the job when he drove a forest preserve truck at a high speed into a line of stopped vehicles last year, killing a Bloomingdale man.
The judgment was entered Monday in Cook County Circuit Court’s civil division in a wrongful death lawsuit against Caleb Rallings, a Hillside resident who was the alleged driver of the dump truck that killed 44-year-old Giuseppe Gazzano in a June 30 crash.
Alan Barinholtz, attorney for Gazzano’s estate, said he filed the motion for the default judgment after Rallings failed to respond to summons in the case either by himself or through an attorney. Judge Israel Desierto granted the motion, allowing Rallings 30 days to file a motion to vacate the judgment.
The lawsuit alleges that negligence on the part of Rallings led to Gazzano’s death.
Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/ct-met-forest-preserve-worker-fatal-crash-settlement-20190411-story.html