A Chicago attorney has filed a lawsuit on behalf of three individuals who were inside Fontano’s Subs when a Jeep leaving Fuller’s Car Wash crashed into the building last week.
Louis C. Cairo, managing partner and owner of GWC Injury Lawyers, filed the suit Tuesday in Cook County Court on behalf of Sophia Ricciardi, Michal Lizler and Connor Sullivan, naming as defendants Fuller’s Car Wash and its other businesses along with the father of the 16-year-old Fuller’s employee who drove the Jeep.
The suit claims six counts of negligence against the business and the teen’s father.
“They put a 16-year-old very inexperienced driver behind the wheel of a car he’s never driven before,” Cairo said Wednesday. “Employers are legally responsible for the negligent acts and negligent omissions on the part of their employees in the course of employment.”
The suit asks for physical and emotional damages in excess of $50,000 for each of the plaintiffs, an amount that places the case in the law division rather than the municipal department, Cairo said.
Scott Stephenson of Litchfield Cavo LLP in Chicago, the firm representing Fuller’s Car Wash, said the firm will not comment on the pending litigation.
Cairo said there is the potential that a fourth defendant who was in Fontano’s will be added to the case.
“Everyone at my office and I think everyone in the country who heard about the story is praying for all the families, the family that lost the child, the family of the people that were there,” he said. “Everyone involved in this has experienced a horrific thing.”
Hinsdale Police Chief Brian King said his department continues to wait for results from the Illinois State Police Crime Lab, which could take two more weeks, before concluding its investigation.
“It’s taking longer than we anticipated,” he said Wednesday.
