wsuit related to the Sept. 1, 2024, crash on Hanover Road which claimed the life of one Columbia teen and seriously injured another.

Similar to a proposed settlement with the family of Crawford Bryant, 16,  who died as a result of the crash, the second proposed settlement with the family of a teen injured in the crash is also in the amount of $250,000.

The second “motion for good faith finding” was filed Nov. 3 on behalf of two defendants in the suit, Trevor Stawizynski – who was driving at the time of the crash – and a family member whose vehicle he was driving.  

The filing states an “arm’s-length agreement” has been reached with the parents of an individual who was a passenger in the vehicle during the crash.

Stawizynski was 16 at the time of the crash. In February, he was charged as an adult in Monroe County Circuit Court with aggravated DUI (accident resulting in death), aggravated DUI (accident resulting in great bodily harm) and reckless homicide (motor vehicle).

Stawizynski pled guilty to a charge of DUI (accident resulting in death), while charges of DUI (accident resulting in great bodily harm) and reckless homicide (motor vehicle) were ultimately dismissed.

If the proposed settlements are approved during the next hearing in the matter – scheduled for Jan. 5 – civil counts of negligence against Stawizynski, two counts of negligent entrustment against his family and one count under the “Family Expense Act” would be dismissed with prejudice, and the defendants would be “discharged from any and all liability” related to the crash.

The plaintiffs in the latest settlement are listed in the suit as “Jane Doe and John Doe… parents of Jack Doe.”

In the original suit, the “Doe” family alleges Jack suffered “injuries to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, soft tissues and bones of the head, face, chest, neck, back, spine and vertebrae, brain damage, injuries to his bilateral upper and lower extremities, and injury to his organs and body” in addition to “mental and emotional trauma.”

The settlement proposal in the Doe suit was filed a few hours after a similar motion was filed to settle and dismiss wrongful death and negligence counts alleged by the Bryant family.

The Bryant suit was filed in March, and the Doe suit was filed in June. 

The two separate lawsuits were consolidated for the purpose of discovery in July, with both including counts against Stawizynski and alleged violations of the Illinois Dram Shop Act against Muktanand Inc., doing business as Stop & Go Liquor at 8700 Collinsville Road in Collinsville.

The City of Waterloo was added to both suits in late August alleging misconduct by a Waterloo Police Department officer who responded to the fatal crash. 

If the settlements are approved, Stawizynski and his family would be removed from both lawsuits – although legal action against the city and the liquor store would continue. 

As previously reported, Waterloo filed “affirmative defenses” in the matter, denying liability and asserting immunity.

Last Wednesday, the city also filed a response to the good faith motions, objecting to the “apportionment of settlement.”

In its response, Waterloo  notes it is obliged to object “at the time the settlement is made, or it risks waiving that objection.”

The filing also posits that the settlement would “shift a disproportionately large and inequitable portion of the settling defendant’s liability onto the shoulders of another.”

The response also argues that the settlement amount in both suits, $250,000, is “wholly insufficient in light of the total value of plaintiffs’ anticipated damages,” further suggesting the plaintiffs will likely seek “millions of dollars in damages at trial.”

The filing continues by noting the “plaintiffs’ counsel’s website self-advertises multiple seven- and eight-figure recoveries on behalf of its clients in wrongful death and personal injury cases.” 

The response asserts a judgment with the potential to be millions or tens of millions of dollars against the remaining defendants would be “an unconscionable amount given that Trevor Stawizynski was the sole proximate cause of (the) plaintiffs’ injuries.”

Waterloo’s filing concludes by challenging the assumption of “good faith.”

If the settlements with the Stawizynskis were reached as a matter of the limit of the family’s insurance policy, the response states that “limiting settlement to available insurance, without further financial disclosure, suggests that the settlements were not made in good faith.”

It concludes by pointing out the city was a “newly added defendant in the case.”

As such the city contends it “must be afforded an opportunity to engage in substantive discovery before any co-defendant is dismissed from this matter pursuant to settlement,” arguing that granting the motion for “good faith finding… would be nothing more than an inequitable distribution of liability.”