Woman sues brother-in-law over son's tractor death near Geneva

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify the farm where the accident took place.

A Rockford woman is suing her brother-in-law over a fatal tractor accident last year near Geneva.

Karyn Santiago seeks unspecified damages from Louis Bork, owner of a farm at 32W640 Fabyan Parkway near West Chicago, for negligence and wrongful death in the fatal accident of Joel Bork, 47, of Elgin, who died when a tractor rolled over and landed on him, according to a recently filed lawsuit in Kane County.

Joel Bork, of the 1400 block of Getzelman Road, used to live on the farm and was working for Louis Bork on July 20, 2014, according to the lawsuit.

Joel Bork was using a front-end loader to replace damaged drain tile on farmland about 300 feet south of the newly constructed overpass near Route 38 and Kautz Road when he was killed, according to the lawsuit.

“(The) front end loader tractor rolled over during the operation of the tractor by plaintiff's decedent and rested directly on (Joel Bork's) chest,” read part of the lawsuit, which argued the tractor was not equipped with a “rollover protection structure.”

“This defendant had a duty to use reasonable car in instructing (Joel Bork) on the work in question and in supplying safe equipment for the job performed for his benefit,” continued the lawsuit.

A woman who answered the phone for Todd Bresney, the attorney for Santiago, said the firm doesn't comment on lawsuits.

Efforts to reach Louis Bork were not successful; it was unclear whether he had hired an attorney.

According to Joel Bork's obituary on legacy.com, his mother is Santiago and he has three surviving uncles, one of whom is Louis Bork.

Both sides are due in court on Sept. 10.