Pain, frustration remain for man who survived Sangamon Auditorium fall

Jan. 19--Greg Hoffman walks with a permanent limp and deals with chronic leg and knee pain every day.

He faces an uncertain employment future after the Good Samaritan survived a 25-foot fall in March 2017 while trying to help another patron who died after the same fall inside Sangamon Auditorium at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Hoffman, 58, feels the emotional and financial sting of knowing that the $100,000 settlement he received through his negligence lawsuit against the university -- the maximum award allowed at the time -- occurred a year before the maximum payout was raised to $2 million.

"The bottom line is one guy died and the other guy got maimed for life," Hoffman told The State Journal-Register in an recent interview at his Springfield home. "It's been a long, strange trip of events."

Hoffman spent 10 days in the hospital and underwent three surgeries after breaking his jaw and left thigh bone just above the knee during the fall. Dozens of visits to doctors and physical therapists followed. He estimated his medical care cost at about $1.5 million.

In addition to the $100,000 settlement through the Illinois Court of Claims, he received a $100,000 settlement from CMP Entertainment, the business manager of Brit Floyd -- the Pink Floyd tribute band performing at Sangamon Auditorium when the accident happened.

It was the third Brit Floyd concert Hoffman had attended at the venue.

John Kremitzki, 51, of rural Petersburg died after falling through an opening at the front of the stage that was covered only by a black curtain -- a situation that since has been fixed but probably existed for 20 years, according to a police report.

Hoffman also fell to the concrete floor beneath the stage after stepping through the unlighted opening to help Kremitzki, whom Hoffman had never met.

Hoffman's former employer's insurance paid most of the medical bills. But out-of-pocket medical costs that weren't covered, along with legal fees associated with the two lawsuits, left him with less than $100,000 from the settlements.

He uses that money to get by, along with Social Security disability payments he qualified for after the accident.

"I shouldn't have to pay a goddamn dime," Hoffman said. "I was trying to help someone. I'm frustrated because of what I'm not able to do. I was athletic and hard-working. That's all been taken away from me. It's disrupted my life."

Hoffman said he tries not to dwell on those frustrations. The Springfield native and lifelong bachelor works at staying positive as he does household chores, lifts weights and gets together with friends and family members.

Hoffman said he hopes to return at least part time to the cabinet-making job he worked at for more than 30 years but lost because of physical limitations brought on by the fall.

If he had known the eventual outcome, Hoffman said he may not have tried to rescue Kremitzki. "It's a split-second decision," Hoffman said.

But he said his experience hasn't made him hesitant to assist others when he can.

"I don't know what the lesson would be," he said. "Be an upstanding citizen. Don't turn your back and walk away."

The state's cap on negligence claims against the state and state-operated institutions was increased to $2 million by the Illinois General Assembly in November over an amendatory veto issued by former Gov. Bruce Rauner.

The "main impetus" for the increase, part of Senate Bill 2481, was the deaths of more than a dozen residents of the Illinois Veterans' Home in Quincy related to a Legionnaires' disease outbreak, according to retired Rep. Al Riley, D-Olympia Fields.

Riley defended the increase, saying the old cap was established in the early 1970s. The new level, he said, "is at least realistic for the economics of the time."

Riley noted that the maximum $2 million award isn't guaranteed when people file for damages. They face negotiations with the Court of Claims and a potential bench trial.

"You have to win your case," Riley said. "The court just has extra discretion."

Rauner, however, wanted the $100,000 cap raised to $300,000.

The Republican ex-governor said in his amendatory veto message that a $2 million cap "far outpaces" inflation since the early 1970s.

Rauner added that a $2 million cap would "make Illinois an extreme outlier when compared to our surrounding states" and "could invite frivolous lawsuits and expose taxpayers to hundreds of millions of dollars of potential damages each year without adequate study or justification."

Voting against the veto override included Reps. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville; Avery Bourne, R-Raymond; Tim Butler, R-Springfield; former Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez, R-Leland Grove; and Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.

Those supporting the override included Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur; Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill; and former Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview.

The American Association for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing trial lawyers, said a year ago that Illinois' former $100,000 cap on damages was the lowest in the country and tied with five other states.

Data compiled by the association a year ago indicated that a $2 million cap would have been second-highest among the approximately 35 states with caps on damage awards. Oregon posted the most-generous cap.

Ryan Schuenke, a Quincy lawyer representing three families with Illinois Court of Claims lawsuits pending over the deaths of Quincy veterans' home residents, said his clients were "pleasantly surprised" to learn the legislature had overridden the governor's veto and enacted the new cap.

But Schuenke said it's far from certain that any of the 11 original families filing lawsuits in connection with the Legionnaires' outbreak in 2015 will recover as much as $2 million. The cases remain pending.

"Nobody filed these actions with the expectation of getting rich," Schuenke said.

The families mainly wanted to shed light on the situation that led to their loved ones' deaths and make sure future residents of the veterans' home don't meet the same fate, he said.

Hoffman's attorney, Jim Ackerman of Springfield, said there was no proposal in the legislature to raise the cap on damages when Hoffman's settlement was reached.

The new law took effect Nov. 27, the day that the Illinois House voted to override Rauner's veto after a successful Senate override vote on Nov. 14.

The new $2 million cap applies only to Court of Claims cases that were pending at that time or have been filed since. Pending cases could date as far back as July 1, 2015.

The earliest Court of Claims cases involving Quincy veterans' home deaths were filed in early 2016, Schuenke said.

The family of Kremitzki received two $100,000 settlements related to two separate Court of Claims cases, according to a UIS spokesman.

Kremitzki's widow, Vicki Reazer-Kremitzki, settled her federal lawsuit against the Brit Floyd business manager for $100,000 last year, Ackerman said.

Reazer-Kremitzki's attorney, Charles "Chip" Delano, declined comment. Reazer-Kremitzki hasn't responded to a request for comment.

Contact Dean Olsen: [email protected], 788-1543, twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.

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