Jury awards family of father, 22-year-old son killed in collision $9M, highest on record in Boone County
BELVIDERE, Ill. - A Boone County jury awarded $9 million to the family of a father and 22-year-old son who were killed in a 2018 collision.
On March 26, 2018, Pedro Pasillas-Delgado, 22, was driving southbound on South Quarry Road near the intersection of Bloods Point Road in Flora, Illinois. His father, Pedro Pasillas-Sanchez, 52, was in the passenger seat of the vehicle.
At the same time, an employee of Consolidated Material, Inc., was driving westbound on Bloods Point Road. The employee disobeyed a stop sign and drove through the intersection, crashing into Pasillas-Delgado's vehicle.
Both vehicles flipped, and Pasillas-Delgado and Pasillas-Sanchez were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver for Consolidated Materials was not seriously injured.
Pasillas-Delgado and Passillas-Sanchez left surviving a wife and mother, and four children/siblings ranging in age from 13 to 28 years old.
“The Pasillas family is happy with the verdict because it recognizes the significant loss to the family. Their hope is to have some degree of closure and move forward with their lives,” Lead Plaintiff’s Attorney Patrick A. Salvi said.
Consolidated Materials admitted liability for the crash and offered a $3 million settlement prior to the trial. The settlement offer was turned down and the trial began on Monday, Nov. 9.
On Friday, the jury awarded the Pasillas family $9 million. The verdict is now the highest jury verdict on record in Boone County. The previous record high was $1,075,000.
The case represents one of the few civil jury trials occurring during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.