Willis Family Wrongful Death Settlement: $100 Million After Six Children Killed in I-94 Truck Crash

On November 8, 1994, Reverend Duane Scott Willis and his wife Janet were driving their nine children south on Interstate 94 near Milwaukee when a mudflap and taillight assembly broke free from a passing tractor-trailer. The metal piece lodged beneath their minivan, punctured the gas tank, and sparked a fire that engulfed the vehicle within seconds. Six of the Willis children, ranging in age from infant to 13 years old, were killed. Scott and Janet survived but suffered serious burns.

The Willises retained Joseph A. Power Jr. and Larry Rogers Jr. of Power Rogers LLP to pursue the wrongful death claims. The litigation named the truck driver, the trucking company, the minivan manufacturer, and several other defendants, including a mix of corporations and individuals. Investigators found two overlapping problems: the minivan's fuel system was defectively designed, and the truck's hardware had not been properly maintained or secured.

As the civil case moved forward, a separate criminal investigation began to surface. The truck driver had obtained his commercial license through a bribery scheme run through the office of Illinois Secretary of State George Ryan. Employees in Ryan's office accepted cash payments from applicants who could not pass the required tests, then issued licenses to drivers who had no business operating commercial vehicles. The Willis crash brought public attention to that scheme and accelerated the criminal inquiry.

Power later described how the trucking company's insurer initially refused to pay even its policy limits, saying the company owed nothing. Rather than settle for less, the firm tracked down nine or ten separate defendants and pressed each one. By August 1999, all had settled. The aggregate recovery reached $100 million, paid across the multiple defendants, none of whom admitted fault.

The criminal investigation that the crash helped ignite, known as Operation Safe Road, ultimately produced dozens of convictions. George Ryan, by then the sitting Governor of Illinois, was indicted on racketeering and fraud charges related to the licensing bribery scheme, among other corruption allegations. He was convicted in 2006 and began serving a six-and-a-half-year federal prison sentence in 2007.

For the Willis family, the settlement provided financial security but not relief from grief. Scott and Janet Willis have spoken publicly over the years about their faith and the 15 grandchildren born after the crash. Power Rogers LLP has described the case as one of the most significant it has handled, not only for the dollar amount but for the accountability it eventually produced.