Thomas A. Demetrio

Thomas Demetrio obtained a record jury verdict of $16.5 million on behalf of a 7-year-old Geneva girl who suffered brain damage after her mother's uterus ruptured at the time of the girl's birth.  The award set a record in Cook County for a verdict in an obstetric medical negligence case. The girl’s mother had a medical condition that placed her at high risk of a uterine rupture and although she complained of abdominal pain, a physician did not examine her.  The mother's uterus ruptured and an emergency C-section was performed.   The fetus was found under the mother's rib cage covered in blood. The placenta, which supplies oxygen to the baby, had pulled free from the uterine wall.  Following her birth, the girl required incubation and also suffered seizures. She has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and walks with canes and wears braces on her legs.  Her speech is very poor and she has fine-motor control problems.

Thomas Demetrio, lead plaintiffs’ counsel, negotiated a $25.2 million settlement on behalf of the estate of a Pittsburgh businessman who died in the crash of U.S. Air Flight #427, which was the highest ever negotiated settlement in a wrongful death case involving commercial aviation.  The former record was a $25 million settlement, negotiated by the late Philip H. Corboy, who was Corboy & Demetrio’s Co-founder, on behalf of the family of a victim in the crash of United Airline Flight #232 in Sioux City, Iowa in 1989.

Keva Richardson was rendered a partial quadriplegic when her car was hit from behind by a semi-trailer truck at the intersection of Clavey Road and Interstate 94.  Corboy & Demetrio partners Thomas Demetrio and Michael Demetrio represented Keva at trial, which resulted in a jury verdict of $22.3 million.  The Demetrio brothers also represented Kiva on appeal, and after numerous defense challenges that the verdict was excessive, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the jury verdict.  It remains the largest compensatory verdict for an individual ever upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Thomas Demetrio, Co-founder of Corboy & Demetrio, was one of the lead attorneys in the lawsuit stemming from the collapse and fall of scaffolding from the John Hancock building in Chicago and helped negotiate a $75 million global settlement for the victims’ personal injury and wrongful death claims on the eve of trial.  Mr. Demetrio represented seven victims including the families of the two young women who were killed in the front seat of their car as their mothers witnessed their deaths in the back seat, and five others who were seriously injured.

The $29.6 million awarded to a seriously injured Chicago Metra train derailment passenger, represented by Thomas Demetrio, is the largest verdict in Illinois for an individual injured in a mass transit crash.  The passenger, a 25 year-old woman and graduate of Lewis University, was 13 weeks pregnant at the time. As a result of the derailment and crash, she suffered traumatic brain injury.  The verdict meant that she would receive the care she needs for the rest of her life.