The Chicago Transit Authority is asking a state appeals court to toss out a $3 million jury verdict in favor of Sandra Kolalou, a woman who was struck by a bus, but later was convicted of murdering and cutting up her landlord, as the CTA said the trial judge wrongly brushed aside social media posts appearing to show Kolalou did not sustain the injuries she claimed and further wrongly allowed Kolalou to assume the moniker "Sandra White" at trial because her lawyers argued her highly public murder case could jeopardize her chances with the jury.
In April, the CTA filed a notice of appeal after Cook County Judge Robert F. Harris denied their motion for a new trial in Kolalou's lawsuit.
The story was first reported by CWBChicago.
In October 2023, Judge Harris entered judgment in Kolalou's favor after a Cook County jury had rendered a verdict for her and ordered the CTA to pay her $3 million.
Kolalou had filed suit against the CTA and a bus driver in 2019, about a year after she was allegedly struck by a CTA bus while she was crossing Clark Street at Howard Street on Chicago's far North Side.
Kolalou has been represented by attorney David B. Nemeroff, of Chicago.
According to her lawsuit, Kolalou claimed to have suffered significant injuries in the accident, allegedly leaving her with sever back and leg pain, which she later described in testimony as "10 out of 10" that "prevented her from leading a normal life."
While the lawsuit was pending, Kolalou was arrested and charged with the murder and dismemberment of her landlord, Frances Walker. According to published reports, Kolalou was charged after police discovered Walker's dismembered body parts in late 2022 in a freezer at the Westridge Boarding home on North Washtenaw Avenue, which Walker owned and operated as a boarding house for single women.
Walker also lived in the boarding house and Kolalou was a tenant.
According to published reports, Walker served Kolalou with an eviction notice around the time Walker was reported missing.
Kolalou was convicted of Walker's murder and sentenced to 58 years in prison.
Kolalou has maintained her innocence, and her attorneys have indicated they will appeal the conviction and sentence.
While the criminal case against Kolalou was proceeding, she continued to press her civil lawsuit against the CTA.
As part of those proceedings, Nemeroff petitioned the judge hearing the case to allow Kolalou to proceed under a different name to avoid prejudice that jurors might attach to her if they were to learn she had been arrested and charged with Walker's murder.
The judge granted that request, allowing her to move forward at trial under the last name of "White," which court documents state was her maiden name.
The CTA further argued the judge improperly allowed jurors to hear Kolalou's testimony, which was recorded at the Cook County Jail, but in such a manner that it did not reveal she was incarcerated. The CTA said that testimony also had "poor audio quality."
The CTA further argued the judge improperly refused to instruct jurors that "Sandra White's" absence from the courtroom during the trial and her need to remotely record a deposition rather than testify in person had nothing to do with injuries she claimed to have sustained in the accident with the bus five years earlier.
And the CTA said the judge improperly declined to consider as evidence photos and videos posted to social media by Kolalou from 2019-2022 showing her "cliff-jumping, swimming with the dolphins, roller-skating, playing tennis, wearing high heels, and traveling to far-away destinations, such as Egypt, South Africa, and Mexico."
"These postings directly contradict Plaintiff's sworn testimony that, following the accident, the pain in her lower back and legs was so severe ... that it prevented her from leading a normal life," the CTA said in its motion for new trial.
"(Kolalou's) perjured testimony amounted to a fraud on the Court," the CTA said.
The CTA further said the judge erred by refusing to allow the CTA to ask the court to consider how much jurors can award for damages for Kolalou's actual future financial losses as a result of the accident, since she at the time was in jail awaiting trial, with the expectation that she could be convicted and sentenced to prison.
And the CTA asserted the judge improperly allowed Kolalou and her attorney to allegedly misrepresent Dr. Mark Sokolowski, a paid expert witness, in testimony as Kolalou's personal treating physician.
"In this unique case, the integrity of the judicial proceedings before this Court has been severely compromised," the CTA wrote.
The CTA has been represented in the case by attorney Brian Kaplan, the CTA's chief attorney for torts.