Wheels turn slowly in wrongful death suit

The family of Terrance Michael Hauser understands that the wheels of justice often turn slowly.

It took more than a year for the man accused of stabbing Hauser to death in March 2008 to come to trial. It took five hours of deliberations in July 2009 before a jury acquitted Joseph Biedermann, who claimed he stabbed Hauser 61 times in self-defense after he said the victim attacked him in Hauser's Hoffman Estates apartment.

And it has been a year since Hauser's family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Biedermann, saying he killed the man who had invited him to share a pizza and drinks just hours after they met at a neighborhood bar.

Hauser's family believed their suit would resolve Monday with a Cook County Circuit Court judge finding Biedermann liable for the death of their beloved Mike.

Things didn't turn out as they had hoped.

“Justice is not always swift,” said Hauser family attorney Michael J. LaMonica following a hearing during which a judge granted a request by Biedermann attorney Kevin E. Stroud to nullify a default order assigning liability to his client.

Stroud said he was ill and did not receive the certified letters sent to him by LaMonica, letters Stroud claimed were signed for by someone who was not authorized to do so. The court's decision means the contested case will proceed to trial sometime next year.

Hauser's family is disappointed that the case did not resolve Monday, LaMonica said, but they intend to persevere.

“They are confident that justice will come eventually,” LaMonica said.