Lawsuit Filed In Death Of Cameron La Tour

JOLIET, IL - Chicago attorney Kurt D. Lloyd has filed a negligence wrongful death lawsuit against a Will County woman in connection with the Aug. 27, 2016 death of teenager Cameron La Tour. The 18-year-old college student was driving eastbound on Highway 113, not far from his family's Custer Park home, when he struck a deep, unnatural pond near the abutting property of Michelle Palaro, the lawsuit states. La Tour lost control. He veered into the oncoming lane. He was struck and killed by a westbound cement truck.

Lloyd said the tragedy was preventable. The civil suit, filed on behalf of the Cameron La Tour estate, contends that Palaro erected a driveway with a culvert on her property, which has a rural Wilmington mailing address. The fatality was near the intersection of West River Road in Custer Township.

According to the lawsuit, Palaro's "driveway obstructed and or impeded the existing drainage ditch and flow of drainage water causing the drainage water to 'dam' and overflow onto the eastbound lane of Highway 113 and form a deep, unnatural 'pond' of water on Highway 113, thereby creating a hazard to motorists traveling on adjacent Highway 113." The recent lawsuit filed at the Will County Courthouse seeks unspecified monetary damages, plus attorneys fees.

Palaro declined to comment when contacted Thursday by Patch.

At the time of his death, Cameron La Tour was attending J0liet Junior College pursuing a career as an electrical engineer. He had recently graduated from Channahon's Families of Faith Christian Academy. He played several sports in high school including basketball and had a part-time job at the McDonald's in Braidwood. He previously lived in Plainfield, his lawyer noted.

Lloyd told Patch it was his understanding that Palaro created her driveway about seven or eight years ago. That driveway subsequently created drainage problems and safety hazards for motorists traveling on Highway 113, which is maintained by the Illinois Department of Transportation, the plaintiff's lawyer said.

"Several people have called in and complained about it, including school bus drivers," Lloyd said. "When it rains, that (one) side of the road floods. It seems to be common knowledge that this road keeps flooding."

About 10 minutes before Cameron La Tour died, Lloyd said, another motorist also lost control of their vehicle in the same location. Fortunately for them, there was no oncoming traffic, Lloyd said. La Tour was driving a Chevy Monte Carlo at the time of his Saturday morning crash. He was pronounced dead at 7:25 a.m.

Around the time of La Tour's death, the water was roughly 4 to 6 inches deep on east bound Highway 113, Lloyd said. Since the fatal head-on crash, Lloyd said, the defendant has made a number of landscaping improvements, clearing ditches and removing boulders. But those actions can't undo last summer's tragedy, Lloyd said.

"At all times relevant, defendant Michelle Palaro had a duty to exercise ordinary care to not create or maintain her property in such a manner as to cause an unsafe condition for motorists of the adjacent, abutting highway," Lloyd stated in his lawsuit.

"This was their 18-year-old son," Lloyd told Patch. "The father's devastated. He was a good kid, home for the summer, working a summer job, on his way to work, and it rained."

Images of Cameron La Tour, attorney Kurt Lloyd, via Lloyd Law Group

Lawsuit image via Patch