Panel negates trial error pleas, affirms $8M verdict

By Lauraann Wood Law Bulletin staff writer

Posted August 28, 2015 2:57 PM

Updated August 31, 2015 4:23 PM

A Cook County judge may have made some errors during a widower’s wrongful-death trial, but none were serious enough to reverse a $8 million jury verdict.That’s the reasoning behind a 63-page 1st District Appellate Court opinion affirming the jury award for Steven McHale.McHale sued truck driver Russell Kleppe and the companies he worked under for striking and killing his wife, Stacey, in February 2010 while she was standing next to her vehicle on the shoulder of a highway.Kleppe had just left a loading dock in …

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