Three McHenry County families became embroiled in a lawsuit Tuesday in connection with an automobile accident that killed one child and severely injured another this past summer near Crystal Lake.
The family of Veronica Cottrell filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Tuesday in McHenry County Circuit Court in the Aug. 13 one-car accident that took Cottrell’s life.
Cottrell, 17, a pompon squad member and a senior at McHenry High School’s West Campus, was killed when the Chevrolet Corvette she was riding in left the road, hit a tree and rolled over on Sands Road east of Crystal Lake.
Kevin Smurlo, also 17, a senior at McHenry’s East Campus, was injured in the accident and taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, suffering from brain damage. Smurlo, who investigators believe was driving the car, has no memory of the accident.
Defendants in the lawsuit are Edward Smurlo, Kevin’s father, and Jack Fisher, the owner of the car and father of Jack Fisher IV, who lent the vehicle to Kevin Smurlo and Veronica Cottrell the night of the accident. Under Illinois law, a minor cannot be sued.
On the night of the accident, Kevin Smurlo allegedly borrowed an automobile from Jack Fisher IV. Veronica Cottrell accompanied Smurlo in his quest to buy cigarettes for Cottrell and Fisher.
Chicago attorney Timothy J. Cavanagh represents Cottrell’s mother, Teresa, as administrator of her late daughter’s estate. Cavanagh’s complaint states that Smurlo negligently drove the vehicle either by speeding, operating the vehicle without keeping a proper lookout, failing to operate the vehicle in a single lane of traffic or failing to reduce his speed to avoid losing control of the vehicle.
Smurlo, still a patient at Lutheran General at the time of the coroner’s inquest, was unable to speak at the inquest, leaving the Cottrell family wondering what occurred that night in August, Cavanagh said. The coroner’s jury ruled that Veronica Cottrell’s death was an accident.
Cavanagh has advised his client not to speak publicly about the lawsuit, but he said her motivation in filing the complaint was to find answers to questions left open by the coroner’s inquest.
With his son having no memory of the occurrence, Edward Smurlo is looking for answers as to what happened that night too. Doctors do not expect the young Smurlo to regain that memory.
“It is very questionable that Kevin was even the driver,” said the senior Smurlo, pointing out that the original police report does not name his son as the car’s driver.
Cottrell’s injuries were consistent with those of a driver, rather than a passenger, in a serious accident, Smurlo said.
The second count of Cavanagh’s complaint states that Fisher was aware his son entrusted the vehicle to some friends, and that both father and son should have known that Smurlo did not have the skills and training to drive a Chevrolet Corvette.
Although not surprised by the news of a lawsuit, Fisher family members said they can’t understand why Cottrell’s family is pursuing them.
“We feel very bad for the mother. We have been praying for her and Veronica, but to come back and try to destroy me, I didn’t do anything wrong to this woman,” said the elder Jack Fisher.
Fisher said his son is asked daily about the accident and will be living with it for the rest of his life.
“It hasn’t been pleasant for us either,” he said.
The lawsuit does not ask for a specific judgment amount.
“The only remedy for the death of a loved one is monetary damages,” he said. “In a case like this, it would be significant monetary damages.”
Cavanagh is no stranger to large verdicts. Last year he won a $5.75 million award for a former Mundelein police officer who was injured in an automobile collision in 1991.
