Naperville family: $10.7 million award a 'moral victory'
Kyle Signorelli realizes it's unlikely his family will ever see the more than $10.7 million judgment he received against the man who paralyzed him.
Still, the 25-year-old Naperville man feels a measure of vindication.
"It's a moral victory," Signorelli said Tuesday. "It's still a reminder on his paychecks of what he did and his employers are going to know why he has garnishments."
Earlier this week, a Will County judge ordered the multimillion-dollar judgment against Matthew J. Kure for his role in the Dec. 22, 2001, fight on the city's far southwest side that forever altered the two young men's lives.
Nearly seven years ago, a brawl between the two Naperville teens over a girl ended in tragedy. Signorelli, then an 18-year-old college student, suffered a broken neck after being slammed to the ground.
He remains paralyzed today from the chest down.
Kure was just 16 back then and still attending Neuqua Valley High School. He was convicted of aggravated battery in Will County juvenile court. Kure was sentenced to prison with other juvenile offenders until his 21st birthday. He was released early a few years ago.
On Monday, Will Circuit Judge Gerald Kinney signed off on a judgment against the now 23-year-old Kure, whom the judge found intentionally inflicted the devastating injuries.
Kyle Signorelli was awarded $10.6 million for lost wages, medical expenses and for his pain and suffering; his parents were granted another $105,000. Tom and Cindy Kure, named as defendants in the suit, along with their son, settled earlier for about $30,000 through their homeowner's insurance.
"It's a large judgment but it's certainly justified here," said attorney Charles Corrigan, who filed the negligence suit roughly four years ago on behalf of the Signorelli family. "We got what justice we could for him."
He estimated Signorelli's medical expenses so far at $2.5 million. Though Kyle Signorelli has some movement in his arms, Corrigan said, a large cyst growing on his spine is reducing the amount of feeling he has in his chest area.
His family said Kyle has endured multiple surgeries, hospital stays and suffers constant medical maladies.
"Between constant bouts of pneumonia and infections he gets, he's got to be monitored 24 hours a day," Scott Signorelli said of his son. "He can be fine one day and wake up the next with something wrong."
This week's judgment essentially ends the years of legal battles, but the Signorellis will have to reappear in court every seven years to petition for renewal of the judgment.
"We didn't do this for the money," Scott Signorelli said. "We wanted his (Matt's) life altered like he altered Kyle's."
Neither Matt Kure nor his parents returned a phone call Tuesday seeking comment. In his only media interview, an imprisoned Matt Kure told the Daily Herald in 2003 that it was a terrible accident and that he never intended to inflict the paralyzing injuries. Kure said he prays for Signorelli's improvement.