City of Chicago Named in Lawsuit in Dustin Valenta Case

Keating Law Offices, P.C. has named the City of Chicago as a Respondent in Discovery in a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County – Law Division on behalf of Chicago bicyclist, Dustin Valenta. Valenta was seriously injured on February 8, 2013 as a result of a bicycle accident near 1443 North Milwaukee Avenue that allegedly occurred when he was doored and thrown into Milwaukee  where he was subsequently run over by a second vehicle that then fled the scene. The second vehicle, a grey pick-up truck, has been identified in the City of Chicago’s own red light camera footage. Despite the existence of the footage, the City of Chicago has not yet used its red light camera technology to isolate the license plate of the subject pick-up truck. No explanation has been given for this failure. 

The lawsuit requests the City of Chicago to identify the pick-up truck’s license plate as seen in its own red light camera footage. Despite numerous requests and the existence of the video, the Chicago Police Department has not identified the owner and/or operator of the pick-up truck. This is despite the fact that the attorneys at Keating Law Offices obtained the videos from the red-light camera at Division/Milwaukee/Ashland through a Freedom Of Information Act request and an independent witness confirmed that the truck was the one that ran over Valenta. 

The City of Chicago was named as a “Respondent in Discovery” in the lawsuit meaning that the City is required to divulge any information regarding the identity of the owner and/or operator of the subject grey pick-up truck. The "Respondent in Discovery" statute is typically used to get a corporation or organization to identify one of their own employees or agents. However, the attorneys at Keating Law Offices were able to research the statute and determine that it could be used to require the City of Chicago to identify the owner and/or operator of the grey pick-up truck since the City possessed the video footage and the equipment necessary to obtain this information.

Specifically, the lawsuit requests that the City of Chicago utilize its red light camera technology to zoom in on the license plate of the subject pick-up truck. The Chicago Police Department previously was subjected to scrutiny in the media for failing to A) assign this case to the Major Accidents Investigation Unit and B) for issuing a citation to the offending driver for failing to yield to a equestrian on a bridle path (Sec. 9-24-090), instead of for negligently opening a vehicle door into traffic (Sec. 9-80-035) under the Chicago Municipal Code. The Defendants in the current lawsuit are the individual who allegedly “doored” Valenta and the hit-and-run driver of the grey pick-up truck, currently named as “John Doe.”