A family whose three children were injured when a car struck them while standing at a street corner has settled their lawsuit for $18.55 million.

Cook County Associate Judge Moira Susan Johnson approved the settlement Thursday in plaintiff Filiberto Perez’s personal-injury case.

He sued the vehicle’s driver Alyssa Johnson and several construction contractors in June 2008, alleging an improperly placed road barricade caused her to hit another vehicle, lose control of hers and strike his three children.

Perez’s children — Noemi, who was 16 at the time; Leticia, who was 9; and Filiberto Jr., who was 7 — were standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross West 127th Street at its Greenwood Avenue intersection in Blue Island at the time of the incident.

Construction had begun about a month prior for a road-widening project along 127th. Johnson — who was 18 at the time and driving on a learner’s permit — had to judge traffic over a 5-foot-tall and 8-foot-wide barricade on her left before she could execute her intended right turn from southbound Greenwood Avenue, said Samuel Briones, president of Briones, Harvey & Trevino in Homewood who represented the plaintiffs.

As she pulled into traffic, Johnson’s 2001 Nissan Altima collided with motorist Macie Pukszta’s 2001 Dodge Dakota pickup truck.

“Her left front fender struck the right front fender of the pickup truck,” Briones said. “She loses control of her car and travels a couple hundred feet, goes onto the sidewalk and actually strikes the three kids.”

Noemi was transported to St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island with complaints of neck and back pain. She was released from the hospital the same day after receiving X-rays of her spine. Leticia suffered a leg injury in the incident. Both have healed physically but endure lasting emotional injuries from the incident, said Joseph A. Power Jr., a partner at Power Rogers & Smith LLP, who also represented the plaintiffs.

However, the young boy became pinned underneath Johnson’s vehicle in the collision and required airbags to lift the car off of him, Briones said. He was flown to the University of Chicago with a fractured left skull and remained in a coma for about a week, he said.

Once swelling subsided, Briones said, Filiberto underwent surgery in which physicians had to remove bone fragments from his brain and repair it with plates and screws.

“They had to literally put the skull [fragments] back together like a jigsaw puzzle and insert them back into the skull,” he said.

Filiberto required extensive physical therapy after the surgery in which he had to “start over” and relearn how to walk, talk and eat, Briones said.

At 15 years old, Filiberto is now a high school sophomore in special education classes completing third-grade-level schoolwork, Briones said.

“According to our neuropsychologist expert from the University of Chicago, he has a permanent mental capacity of an 8- to 10-year-old,” he said.

Perez’s lawsuit against Johnson, construction general contractor John Burns Construction Co. and subcontractors Dominic Fiordirosa Construction Co., Highway Safety Corp. and Construction by Camco alleged the barricade’s placement so close to moving traffic went against the Illinois Department of Transportation’s traffic control plans for the project.

“It was supposed to be set back 10 to 15 feet so it wouldn’t obstruct the view of motorists in traffic,” Briones said.

During her deposition, Briones said, Johnson testified that her sight was obstructed by the top of three wooden orange-and-white boards that span across the barricade about eight inches apart from one another.

But in denying Perez’s allegations, Power said, the construction defendants contended the barricade was not an obstruction to drivers because of the slots between the boards. Power said they contended Johnson would have seen Pukszta’s approaching pickup if she had properly looked through the spaces before turning.

The defendants also contested the extent of Filiberto’s injuries, Power said.

Briones said one of the case’s aggravating factors came during discovery when the plaintiffs learned the general contractor — which was responsible for controlling traffic daily after work hours — had been falsifying traffic control reports it was required to submit to IDOT. That discovery led the plaintiffs to file a count for punitive damages in their case, he said.

“We were able to bring in one of the people who they claimed signed the reports on the day of the accident,” he said. “He said he was not out there that day — that they had forged his name — and he was very upset about it.”

The parties mediated the case in several sessions before former Cook County chief circuit judge Donald P. O’Connell, who Briones said continued calling and discussing the case with the parties ahead of their agreement.

Power said the family is happy it can put the case behind them, and Filiberto is looking forward to moving on from the incident.

“They’re looking forward to putting this tragedy behind him and make the most of life,” he said.

The plaintiffs were also represented by Peter V. Bustamante, owner of the Law Office of Peter V. Bustamante.

Tribler Orpett & Meyer P.C. director Mitchell A. Orpett and associate Patrick E. Burgess, represented John Burns Construction, could not be reached for comment.

Mulherin, Rehfeldt & Varchetto P.C. partners Joseph G. Skryd and James J. Temple, who represented Dominic Fiordirosa Construction, also could not be reached.

The Hunt Law Group LLC managing principal Brian J. Hunt and associate Brian H. Myers, who represented Construction by Camco, also could not be reached.

Stellato & Schwartz Ltd. partner Joseph P. Schreiber represented Johnson with Stacey L. Wilkins, who no longer works at the firm. Schreiber could not be reached for comment.

Kralovec & Marquard Chtd. shareholders Michael J. Mullen and Daniel J. Donnelly represented Highway Safety Corp. Mullen declined to comment, and Donnelly could not be reached.

The case is Filiberto Perez Sr. v. John Burns Construction Co., et al., 08 L 7294.