$6.5 million settlement awarded in fatal semi-crash

The family of an East Dubuque woman killed a year ago in a crash on Route 47 at the Jane Addams Tollway in Huntley will receive a $6.5 million payout in a wrongful death settlement against the semi-truck driver and the company that owns the semi-truck.

A Kane County judge on Friday approved the settlement in the death of Tabitha Carroll, 32, who died Oct. 31, 2009, when a tractor-trailer rear-ended her family's pickup truck as they waited at a stop light at the tollway overpass. Tabitha Carroll's husband, Randolph, and their son, Gabriel, were seriously injured in the crash.

Randolph and Gabriel Carroll, who now live in Woodstock, were awarded $4.5 million for Tabitha Carroll's wrongful death, $1.5 million for Randolph's personal injuries and $300,000 for Gabriel's injuries.

The driver of a tractor-trailer, Jeffrey Repec of Spring Grove, failed to notice traffic ahead had stopped and plowed into the Carrolls' car, crushing it into the back of an Illinois Department of Transportation dump truck. Police said Repec, who was hauling corn for Harvard-based Geils Farms, was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash.

Repec is serving a 45-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to aggravated driving under the influence of drugs.