Salinas v. Amazon Logistics, Inc.

2020 IL App (1st) 192460-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 19, 2020
Docket1-19-2460
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2020 IL App (1st) 192460-U (Salinas v. Amazon Logistics, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salinas v. Amazon Logistics, Inc., 2020 IL App (1st) 192460-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

2020 IL App (1st) 192460-U Order filed: June 19, 2020

FIRST DISTRICT FIFTH DIVISION

No. 1-19-2460

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and may not be cited as precedent by any party except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________

RAUL SALINAS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Cook County ) v. ) No. 2018 L 3633 ) AMAZON LOGISTICS, INC., ) AMAZON.COM SERVICES, INC., and ) DOE AMAZON DELIVERY DRIVER, ) Honorable ) Joan E. Powell, Defendants-Appellees. ) Judge, presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE ROCHFORD delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Hoffman and Justice Delort concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: We affirmed the grant of a directed verdict for Amazon on counts 2, 3, and 9 of plaintiff’s second amended complaint for respondeat superior, direct negligence, and spoliation of evidence, finding that there was insufficient evidence to send the case to the jury.

¶2 Plaintiff, Raul Salinas, filed an action against defendants, Amazon Logistics, Inc.,

Amazon.Com Services, Inc., and Doe Amazon Delivery Driver (collectively Amazon) to recover

for injuries arising out of a hit-and-run collision. The trial court directed a verdict for Amazon on No. 1-19-2460

all counts. Plaintiff appeals the directed verdict for Amazon on count 2 (respondeat superior),

count 3 (direct negligence) and count 9 (spoliation of evidence). We affirm. 1

¶3 Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint alleging that at about 7:45 p.m. on December

8, 2017, an Amazon delivery driver sped through a stop sign without stopping and struck him

while he was walking his dog west at the intersection of 24th Street and Leavitt Street (24th and

Leavitt). The Amazon delivery driver drove away without checking on plaintiff or calling for

assistance.

¶4 In count 2 for respondeat superior, plaintiff alleged that the Amazon delivery driver was

performing work in the scope of his employment for Amazon, or was otherwise controlled by

Amazon, when he negligently struck plaintiff. In count 3 for direct negligence, plaintiff alleged in

pertinent part that Amazon acted negligently by permitting, encouraging, and/or designing driving

routes through residential streets and school zones when more appropriate non-residential routes

were available. In count 9 for spoliation of evidence, plaintiff alleged that Amazon improperly

failed to preserve a surveillance video from its distribution center that potentially could have

identified the driver and delivery truck that struck and injured him.

¶5 At trial, a Chicago police video of the collision was shown. The video depicts an unmarked,

white van driving south on Leavitt and striking plaintiff at 7:49 p.m. on December 8, 2017, at the

intersection of 24th and Leavitt. The video does not reveal the driver’s face or the van’s license

plate.

1 In adherence with the requirements of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 352(a) (eff. July 1, 2018), this appeal has been resolved without oral argument upon the entry of a separate written order stating with specificity why no substantial question is presented. -2- No. 1-19-2460

¶6 Plaintiff testified that he was 77 years old at the time of trial. At about 7:49 p.m. on

December 8, 2017, plaintiff was walking his dog west on 24th Street. When plaintiff arrived at the

southeast corner of 24th and Leavitt, he stopped at the four-way intersection and saw a white van

“far away” near an alley north of the intersection. Plaintiff then proceeded into the crosswalk,

where the van struck him, causing him to lose consciousness. When he awoke, he was still lying

in the street and his son Stephen ran over to him. Plaintiff told Stephen that a white “Amazon van”

had hit him.

¶7 Amazon opened a distribution center, known as DCH1, at 2801 South Western Avenue in

Chicago three years prior to the accident. DCH1 is four blocks south of the collision location.

Plaintiff testified that ever since DCH1’s opening, he had seen Amazon’s white vans go down

Leavitt “all the time.” Plaintiff viewed the police video of his collision and testified to his belief

that the white van that struck him was an “Amazon truck.”

¶8 On cross-examination, plaintiff testified that he did not see any Amazon markings on the

van, nor did he see the driver of the van or where the van went after it hit him.

¶9 Stephen Salinas testified that he lived with plaintiff on the second floor of 2144 W. 24th

Street. On the evening of December 8, 2017, a neighbor came to the house and told Stephen that

plaintiff had been struck by a vehicle at the street corner. Stephen ran to 24th and Leavitt, where

he saw plaintiff about three and a half car lengths from the crosswalk, with blood on his fingers

and face. Stephen asked plaintiff what had happened, and plaintiff said that he had been struck by

a white truck belonging to Amazon.

¶ 10 After emergency personnel arrived and took plaintiff to the hospital, Stephen went to

DCH1 and told two workers outside the facility that an Amazon driver had struck plaintiff and left

him for dead. Stephen eventually told an Amazon manager, Kevin Barbosa, about the collision, -3- No. 1-19-2460

and asked Barbosa to check the vehicles inside the facility for any sign of damage on them.

However, Barbosa did not inspect any of the vans while Stephen was there. Stephen left to go to

the hospital.

¶ 11 Stephen testified that he had lived in the neighborhood for over 20 years and was familiar

with the collision intersection and traffic in the area. DCH1 opened in 2015 or 2016. Prior to its

opening, Stephen had not seen white delivery vans driving up and down Leavitt. After DCH1’s

opening, Stephen saw such unmarked, white delivery vans travelling north and south on Leavitt at

all times, regularly every day. Stephen knew that the unmarked, white delivery vans were affiliated

with Amazon, as they were identifiable by their make and model (Dodge and Nissan), and because

their drivers wore reflective vests.

¶ 12 Stephen reviewed the police video of the collision and identified the white van as a Dodge

with five lights on the top and grill. Stephen had “no doubt” that the van was affiliated with

Amazon.

¶ 13 Stacey Salinas, plaintiff’s adult son, testified that he has lived near 24th and Leavitt most

of his life. Prior to the opening of DCH1, he never saw any white vans travelling up and down

Leavitt. After DCH1 opened, he saw unmarked white trucks, mostly Dodges, on Leavitt “all the

time.” He associates the unmarked white vehicles with Amazon, as he sees them coming out of

DCH1 “day in, day out.” The drivers all wear reflective, fluorescent vests.

¶ 14 Victor Robledo testified that at the time of the collision, he was walking home from work

and talking to a co-worker on his cell phone when he heard a loud noise. Robledo then saw a white,

unmarked Dodge Ram ProMaster cargo van driving south down Leavitt toward him, in the

direction of DCH1. The driver was an African-American man in his 20s to 30s and he was wearing

-4- No. 1-19-2460

a reflective vest and looking in his driver’s side mirror. Robledo then turned to his left and saw

plaintiff lying in the street.

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2020 IL App (1st) 192460-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salinas-v-amazon-logistics-inc-illappct-2020.