Geldmacher
Madison County jurors on Monday awarded two women $13,915 following a two-car accident last year in Pontoon Beach.
Crystal D. Carney received $5,350, and Theresa Hooker received $8,565 in Associate Judge Thomas Chapman's courtroom in a trial that started at 10 a.m. and ended by 4:30 p.m.
Court records show that the plaintiffs in April rejected an arbitration decision, which would have awarded $10,000 to Crystal Carney and $15,000 for Theresa Hooker. According to their complaint, the plaintiffs sought up to $50,000 in damages.
Christopher K. Geldmacher of St. Louis represented the plaintiffs.
Carney and Hooker both sued Peggy B. Raymond of Pontoon Beach, after Raymond rear-ended the two of them on southbound Highway 111 on Feb. 10, 2010.
Raymond admitted in court that she did hit the Hooker and Carney. At the intersection of Highway 111 and Engineer Road, Carney stopped her vehicle at the red light. Raymond struck the rear of Carney's vehicle, and the vehicle went into the middle of the intersection.
Raymond's defense attorney, Deborah Bell Yates of St. Louis, said Raymond was going 30 to 35 miles per hour and was traveling below the speed limit when she slowed down, and the vehicle slipped on wet pavement.
The amount of money awarded to the defendants was the amount they had spent on medical bills following the accident.
Hooker testified that her head had struck the passenger's side window after the impact. She was taken by ambulance to Anderson Hospital, where X-rays were taken. A doctor gave her a prescription, and she was told to apply ice to decrease swelling. He told her to follow up with a primary care physician. She testified her shoulder and neck bothered her, and her knee was swollen.
Both women, who were friends after having lived in the same trailer park for five years, went to see a chiropractor, Dr. Daniel Miller in Granite City, two days after the accident.
Crystal Carney was a patient of Dr. Miller's before the accident. Carney returned to see Miller after the accident due to neck pains.