I-80 Joliet Fatality: Bolingbrook Truck Center Sued

JOLIET, IL — A wrongful death lawsuit was filed this week in Will County against the Bolingbrook Truck Center in connection with a deadly Joliet wreck along Interstate 80 on March 6, 2018. Two years ago today, a broken brake drum flew off a semi-trailer and shattered the windshield of Coal City motorist, Melinda Cortez-Cullen. The 38-year-old woman from Coal City was killed as was her unborn child, Jaxon Cash Cullen.

According to the plaintiff's lawyer, Peter Hoste of the Chicago law firm Leahy & Hoste, the Bolingbrook Truck Center at 537 East South Frontage Road in Bolingbrook did repairs and maintenance work on one of the axles on the Volvo semi-tractor on March 5, 2018. The work "included the removal and subsequent replacement and reattachment of the dual wheel assembly and brake drum," the lawsuit states.

The next afternoon, at 2:18 p.m. on March 6, 2018, Antanas Sereiva was driving the Volvo semi-tractor along an eastbound stretch of Joliet's I-80 near Rowell Avenue.

According to the plaintiffs, Melinda Cortez-Cullen and her unborn child were heading westbound along I-80 in her GMC Acadia when "the dual wheel assembly and brake drum on the driver's side of axle two of the Volvo semi-tractor became loose, separated and detached from the vehicle."

The brake drum traveled at a high rate of speed across the median and into the westbound lanes of I-80. The brake drum went through the Coal City woman's windshield and struck Cortez-Cullen before coming to a rest inside the rear passenger seat of her vehicle, according to her lawyer.

At that point, the Coal City woman crashed into the north guardrail along the westbound stretch of I-80, resulting in her death and the death of her unborn child, her lawyer informed the judge.

Patch has left a message seeking comment from the Bolingbrook Truck Center regarding the wrongful death lawsuit.

The Chicago law firm outlined eight specific instances of careless and negligence by the Bolingbrook Truck Center surrounding the March 6, 2018 fatal crash.

According to Leahy & Hoste, Bolingbrook Truck Center failed to property repair the driver's side of axle two on the Volvo semi-tractor; failed to properly secure the dual wheel assembly and brake drum; failed to properly tighten the lug nuts that secure the dual wheel assembly and brake drum; failed to property inspect the Volvo prior to releasing it to the motor carrier who would be driving it on the highway and failed to warn the motor carrier that the Volvo was not safe to operate.

"As a direct result of one or more of the aforementioned careless and negligent acts or omissions," the Will County lawsuit states, "Melinda Cortez-Cullen was injured and died."

The plaintiffs lawyers inform Will County's judges that the Coal City woman is survived by her husband, David Cullen, and her three minor children.