$350,000 Payout Approved For Woman Who Fell In Evanston 'Hole' While Picking Up Dog Waste

EVANSTON, IL — Just over two years after a dog owner who injured herself while removing her dog's waste from an Evanston parkway filed a lawsuit against the city, the City Council unanimously approved a $350,000 settlement to avoid taking it to trial.

Lauren Rochman was walking her dog in August 2021 when she tripped and fell into what her lawyer described as a "hole in a sloped area of the parkway covered by vegetation in the partway at night at approximately 1012 Lake Avenue on the north side of the street."

While there is no "Lake Avenue" in Evanston, photographs filed as exhibits along with Rochman's first amended complaint in 2022 are consistent with the curb in the 1000 block of Lake Street. The images purport to show that the "hole" is 64 inches long, 11 inches wide and 8 inches deep.

James Faklis, Rochman's attorney, alleged that city officials had improperly repaired the street or created a "dangerous condition in the parkway" by repairing water pipes or "improperly compacting the soil."

Rochman suffered broken bones in her foot and ankle, spent large sums on medical care and lost "substantial" future income, according to Faklis, whose firm collected testimony that an excavation by the city caused the parkway next to the curb to erode.

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Mari Johnson, then an assistant city attorney for the city, answered the complaint by denying that Rochman fell in a "hole."

Johnson suggested the city was immune from the suit, and, even if it was not, the city did not owe Rochman anything — plus she was at least somewhat at fault for her own fall.

"As a result of the open and obvious danger to the alleged hazard, the City owed no duty to [Rochman,]" Johnson said.

"As a result of this lack of duty on the part of the City, [it] cannot be held liable based upon any alleged fault where [she] claims to have suffered," the assistant city attorney said.

Court records show Evanston attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the suit on April 11, 2022, and Rochman's attorney then filed her first amended complaint on April 19.

There is no indication that city attorneys filed a subsequent motion to dismiss the amended complaint.

At a hearing in January, a Cook County judge allowed a scheduled September 2024 jury trial to stand.

By the next month, city attorneys had agreed to settle, and the City Council voted unanimously at their March 11 to approve the settlement payout.

The $350,000 agreement includes Rochman's attorney's fees and cost and is not an admission of liability, according to the resolution approved by alderpeople.

Evanston interim city attorney Alex Ruggie did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Faklis told Patch city attorneys settled the case based on the testimony of the witnesses in the case.

"We would love if the city fixed the defect," he said in an email, "so that this type of injury doesn’t happen again to one of its patrons.