$265,000 Illinois Personal Injury Settlement for Teenager's Fatal Personal Injuries
A Wheaton, Illinois man who struck a Geneva teenager and left her to die by the side of the road has reached a $265,000 personal injury settlement with the family of the girl. Tiffany Baier was walking on the edge of a road on July 2, 2003 when she was struck from behind by a car driven by Jason Janega, who did not stop or call for help. While Baier’s death was ruled an accident, her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2004 and claimed that Janega was not looking out for pedestrians and thus careless.
A Daily Herald story said that Baier was walking home on the side of the road because there were no sidewalks in the direction that she was heading. A witness reported the accident and Janega’s car to police, and Janega was apprehended some two hours later at his Wheaton home. Janega pleaded guilty to one count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident in January 2004 and was sentenced to four months in the Kane County jail’s work release program, 48 months probation and 200 hours of community service.
The Daily Herald story added that Janega never went to trial in criminal or civil cases involving the accident, and thus never publicly stated when he exactly left the scene of the accident or what he was doing in the two hours between the accident and his arrest. Authorities believe that the accident was not alcohol-related.
Under the terms of this personal injury settlement, the Baier family will get $170,097 after legal fees. This money will be allocated to Tiffany Baier’s parents, Theresa and David, as well as her adult brother Anthony and younger sister Courtney, who was 12-years old at the time of the fatal accident. The story added that the $265,000 wrongful death settlement is $15,000 more than the cap on Janega’s insurance policy. Tiffany Baier was a 2002 graduate of Geneva High School.