Daughter files lawsuit after mother fatally struck by car outside Christ Hospital

(OAK LAWN) The daughter of an 85-year-old woman who was fatally struck by a car last November while leaving a hospital parking lot in southwest suburban Oak Lawn has filed a negligence lawsuit against the driver.

Nancy Cantwell filed the lawsuit Friday in Cook County Circuit Court in connection with the Nov. 14 death of her mother Eva Wiatr.

About 12:05 p.m., Wiatr was struck by a vehicle while she was in a crosswalk in the 9400 block of Kilbourn Avenue, Oak Lawn police said at the time.

The driver was leaving the west parking lot of Advocate Christ Medical Center and turning northbound onto Kilbourn, police said at the time.

Wiatr, of the 8700 block of Cranbrook Lane in Bridgeview, was taken to Christ Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy found she died of multiple injuries from the crash and her death was ruled an accident.

The driver of the vehicle, an 88-year-old Oak Lawn man, was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, and failure to stop for the signal or sign at the crosswalk, police said at the time.

According to the lawsuit, the driver operated his motor vehicle without keeping a proper and sufficient lookout and failed to yield to the pedestrian in a crosswalk.

Wiatr left surviving two daughters and two sons, all of whom suffered “a loss of love, guidance, affection, companionship and society,” the suit alleges.

The one-count lawsuit claims negligence and is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages.