Geneva officer sues landscaper over 2006 crash

A Geneva police officer is suing a landscaping company and one of its employees over injuries he sustained in a November 2006 car accident.

Officer Keith Koza filed suit Oct. 9 in Kane County circuit court against Jim's Lawn Maintenance and its employee, Pedro A. Ortiz Maldonado.

He is seeking more than $50,000 in damages from the company and Ortiz Maldonado due to loss of money and medical expenses. His attorney, Richard Turner, said Koza injured his neck and back and still has pain and in such a way that he continues to have pain and trouble moving.

Koza received a $46,683 workers' compensation claim settlement in March 2008. If he collects money in this suit, he would have to return $35,000 of that to the city.

Koza was stopped for a red light on southbound Kirk Road at Fabyan Parkway in a Geneva squad car when a 1997 Dodge Ram pickup truck owned by Jim's Lawn Maintenance, driven by Ortiz Maldonado, hit him from behind, according to the suit.

Jim Smith, president of the landscaping company, was surprised Friday to learn of the suit, saying he thought his insurance company had paid the medical bills and for damage to the car. "I could not have a comment due to this is the first I've heard of it," he said. He said the light was turning yellow when the squad car stopped and that Ortiz Maldonado slid into the squad because of the weight of the trailer he was pulling. Maldonado was ticketed for driving too fast for conditions.