$3.7 million settlement for 2002 fatal crash

The families of two McHenry County women killed five years ago while driving the Northwest Tollway to a church choir performance will receive about $3.68 million under the terms of out-of-court settlements reached this week.

The agreements end litigation filed in 2005 by the families of Gertrude "Trudy" Stephens, 55, of Cary and Margaret "Peggy" Lewandowski, 56, of Lake in the Hills, stemming from the two-vehicle crash near Belvidere.

The women, members of the choir at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Algonquin, were driving to a performance in Rockford in May 2002 when an eastbound vehicle lost control, crossed the median and flipped several times before landing on top of Stephens' westbound SUV.

The suit targeted not only the driver of the second vehicle, Alexander Levine of New York City, but also the companies that owned and leased him his vehicle, DCFS Trust and Daimler Chrysler Services North America.

That was possible under a New York state law that made auto companies liable for the negligent driving of people to whom they lease vehicles. The law has since been repealed in New York and does not exist in most other states, Lewandowski attorney Francis Patrick Murphy said Thursday.

Levine's 2002 Jeep Liberty had been leased by his father in Manhattan and the New York statute therefore applied to the McHenry County lawsuit, local judges ruled. Had courts ruled otherwise, damages recovered by the families of Stephens and Lewandowski would have been capped by the $300,000 limit of Levine's insurance policy, Murphy said.

Levine, who had failed his New York driver's test before obtaining a license in Wisconsin, was not charged in the crash.

"There was no evidence of drinking or drugs," Murphy said. "It was just a combination of inexperience and driving too fast."

Under the settlement, the family of Stephens will receive about $2.1 million, and Lewandowski's family will receive about $1.58 million. Murphy said more was awarded in Stephens' case because she was survived by a dependent child.

David M. Holmes, an attorney for DCFS Trust, declined comment on the settlement Thursday.