Overview
- In a Dec. 31 order, the Illinois First District Appellate Court affirmed a $2.8 million jury verdict against the Chicago Transit Authority over a 2018 bus collision.
- Plaintiff Sandra Kolalou, later known in court records as Sandra White, was struck in a Chicago crosswalk in 2018, and the CTA and bus driver Tyrone Bynum admitted negligence.
- A first jury awarded $3 million in February 2023, a retrial was granted over reactivated social media posts, and a second jury awarded $2.8 million with specified sums for future care and loss of normal life.
- To avoid prejudice, the trial judge allowed Kolalou to give a video deposition in civilian clothing and barred references to her incarceration and name, measures the appellate court found proper.
- Kolalou was convicted in April 2024 of murdering and dismembering her landlord, Frances Walker, and was sentenced in July 2024 to a total of 58 years, which the appellate court said did not alter the civil damages owed.