Passenger alleges injuries when dump truck tailgate fell off

A woman injured as a passenger in a multi-car pileup caused by a tailgate falling off a dump truck is suing the parties she believes are responsible.

According to a lawsuit filed on April 28 in Madison County Circuit Court, Carmen Bostrom, of Marine Village, seeks a jury trial in her lawsuit against Jarden Brothers Trucking Inc.; Jarden Farms; Gregory Street; Foster Township; Pat Maher, the Foster Township Road Commissioner; Jacob Strohbeck, a Foster Township employee; Mack Trucks and Galion-Godwin Truck Body Co. Inc.

On May 15, 2014, at 10:25 a.m., Street was driving a milk truck owned by Jarden Brothers Trucking Inc. east on Route 140, just west of East Liberty Prairie.

At the same time Catherine Von Rohr was driving a 2004 Oldsmobile Alera west at Illinois Route 140 and East Liberty Prairie Lane in Madison County. Bostrom was a passenger in Van Rohm's vehicle.

At this point, the tailgate of one of the defendant's dump trucks fell off and into the lane with vehicles traveling in the other direction. The lawsuit states that Street hit "the tailgate and/or in the alternative attempted to avoid the tailgate, went into the oncoming lane of traffic and collided with the vehicle driven by Lori Vinyard. The tractor-trailer then spun around and collided with the vehicle driven by .. Van Rohr, thereby directly and proximately causing injuries to plaintiff Carmen Bostrom."

The plaintiff, alleging six counts of negligence and two counts of strict liability, seeks damages to cover her medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, pecuniary losses and court costs.

The plaintiff is represented by David C. Nelson of Nelson and Nelson in Belleville.

Madison County Circuit Court case number 15-L-526.