As The Number Of Negligence Suits Rise, So Do The Settlements
By Danette Chavez in News on Apr 14, 2015 9:30PM
We all know that our music collections are worth more than the money spent purchasing the vinyl, CDs or downloads; there's usually a pretty significant investment of time and effort, too. But the recent payout to a couple of Chicago collectors has put a whole new spin on sentimental value.
Joseph Bruce is a record-store owner whose extensive collection of "rare vintage vinyl records, CDs, tapes and posters" was destroyed when his basement flooded with water and sewage in July 2012. He and his wife Debbie filed suit against the city of Chicago for negligence as numerous 311 calls had been made in the three weeks before the flood damage occurred. The city admitted fault and offered the couple a $325,000 deal on Monday. And while it boggles the mind that anyone is sitting on such a valuable pile of vinyl, they did their due diligence by getting it appraised and directing their complaints about the damaged water main through the proper channels.
The deal the City struck with Joseph and Debbie Bruce is just one of the increasing number of settlements it’s paying out in negligence suits, stemming from avoidable infrastructure problems like water main breaks to systemic and institutional problems involving police violence.
The news of the Bruces’ suit was announced on the same day that a City Council Committee agreed to pay $5 million to the family of Laquan McDonald, the teen who was shot 16 times by a Chicago Police officer in October 2014. Federal and county prosecutors also confirmed Monday that they will move forward with their own investigations into the shooting.
Nanci Koschman was also offered a six-figure settlement yesterday to resolve the conspiracy suit she filed against the city last year for botching investigations (on two separate occasions, in 2004 and 2011) into her son David's death at the hands of Richard Vanecko, a nephew of former mayor Richard J. Daley. The high-profile case resulted in an involuntary manslaughter conviction for Vanecko and just 60 days in jail.
The Koschman settlement totaled $250,000, or $75,000 less than what Joseph and Debbie Bruce were offered to cover the city's water main-related negligence. When asked about the disparity, Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton said that Nanci Koschman hadn't sued for damages for the death of her son, which meant there was a cap on what could be offered. He also noted that the Bruces' collection had been appraised at more than $500,000, making the $325,000 settlement sound like a bargain.
The city attorney's response, while not especially sensitive, did adhere to the spirit of the law: if Koschman had been seeking punitive damages, she would have done so in a wrongful death suit. Instead, the complaint she filed was regarding impropriety in the Chicago Police department and it drew the attention of federal and county authorities, which is likely more meaningful to her than a big payday.
Given their growing frequency, these six and seven figure settlements are getting harder to swallow. The city (and ultimately, its citizens) have been paying through the nose lately to resolve mostly negligence suits. 2014 saw payouts of over $12 million, including the $5.75 settlement for Erick Leon, the cyclist who was paralyzed from the waist down by a fallen branch from a rotten tree in Lincoln Park and another $5 million to a man who lost his leg after a water main break created a patch of ice that caused his car to spin out of control.
Defending itself against the Leon suit, the city argued that an inspection of the tree ten months prior to the accident had found it in good condition. But corporation counsel also admitted that there was no way to know what shape it was in when Leon was injured (you know, other than taking the multiple complaints made to 311 seriously). When tallying up these totals and wondering how to pass along the cost to its constituency, city officials need to consider that in the case of these negligence suits, a little preventive maintenance could go a long way.