You could buy a lot of Big Gulps with that kind of money!
7-Eleven is being ordered to pay $91 million to an anonymous Chicago-area man after he became a double amputee following a crash into one of the convenience store chain’s locations in Bensenville, Illinois.
The payout is the largest pre-trial personal injury settlement in Illinois state history.
The crash, which happened back in 2017, is reportedly one of “thousands” yielding similar outcomes, according to the man’s lawyers.
Data showed that in about 15 years, there had been a reported 6,253 crashes through the front of 7-Elevens across the country, all of which could have been avoided if 7-Eleven had installed bollards in between parking spaces in front of the store and the storefronts themselves.
Bollards are short posts that are installed apart from each other into the ground to create a barrier between two areas.
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When the anonymous man (who is choosing to go by ‘Carl’ in the media) crashed, his car flew over the curb when he accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake pedal, and he was pinned against the storefront.
The lawsuit also found that a separate driver had crashed into the same Bensenville 7-Eleven just a mere 16 months prior.
“We have evidence 7-Eleven had been getting sued for these kinds of incidents going back to 1990,” the man’s attorney, James Power, said. “They said they were not tracking the crashes, but the idea that nobody knew about them is a little unbelievable.”
Carl’s accident is unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence.
Last November, a man drove through a Massachusetts Apple Store location after accidentally getting his foot stuck on the accelerator, which lead to the tragic death of one customer.
It was not clarified whether or not anyone else was injured during Carl’s accident at 7-Eleven.
Related: 7-Eleven Reinvents Itself to Meet Shifting Customer Expectations
