$13.4 Million Settlement for Families of Two People Killed in 2015 Prairie Fest Tent Collapse

On the afternoon of August 2, 2015, a storm swept through Wood Dale, Illinois, bringing winds up to 60 miles per hour. The 'Mega Tent' at the city's Prairie Fest celebration collapsed in the gusts, sending steel support poles, canvas, tables, and chairs across a crowd of festivalgoers seeking shelter.

Steven Nincic, 35, a Wood Dale resident, was struck by a falling pole and died at the scene. His wife and two children escaped. Lorraine Nocek, 81, suffered serious injuries in the collapse and died in January 2016. At least 19 other people were injured, fifteen of whom required hospital treatment.

GWC Injury Lawyers filed suit on behalf of both families and the injured victims, naming Classic Party Rentals, the company that installed and supplied the Mega Tent, as the primary defendant. Attorney Louis Cairo, who was retained within days of the collapse, flagged concerns early on about potential evidence tampering as the tent equipment appeared to have been disassembled at the scene. The investigation that followed established that Classic Party Rentals had not followed the manufacturer's own safety requirements for anchoring the tent, meaning it could not withstand foreseeable wind loads. Attorneys also argued that the festival's emergency evacuation plan directing guests to nearby Wood Dale Junior High School was never activated, and that weather warnings on the day of the event gave organizers and city officials sufficient time to cancel before the storm arrived.

Attorney Lawrence Amato, who led the case through resolution, said the evidence showed the collapse was entirely preventable: had the tent been properly installed per manufacturer specifications, it would have remained standing. After nearly a decade of litigation, the parties reached a settlement of $13.424 million, announced September 3, 2025. The agreement resolved the wrongful-death claims of both the Nincic and Nocek families, along with claims by the other injured victims. The distribution of proceeds among claimants was not publicly disclosed.