Verdict: $5,000,000

The plaintiff a single, forty-year-old health care consultant was a backseat passenger in an automobile involved in head-on collision.  She sustained a C-2 through C-4 neck fractures requiring fusion and a mild closed head injury.  The plaintiff claimed that the head injury caused her to be unable to perform complex tasks in the management of her health care staff.   Plaintiff claimed that neck fracture also would require several future spine surgeries.

The defendant driver had a $300,000 single limit auto policy.  The case turned upon contested additional coverage from the plaintiff's employer under a traveling employee theory.  After the settlement, the Illinois Supreme Court held the traveling employee theory of agency was no longer

Eastwood v. American International Group