2nd Lawsuit Over Chicago Dumping

By Waldo Jaquith
A personal injury lawsuit has been filed against Dave Matthews Band by some of the passengers on that ill-fated August sightseeing tour in Chicago, the second suit of its kind. Attorneys for Michael Scarpelli, Denise Scarpelli, Anthony Scarpelli, Lisa Panaro, and Larry Panaro filed suit against Dave Matthews Band and the bus driver in question, Stefan Wohl, They're seeking unspecified damages topping $50,000, like the previous plaintiff, Nancy Todor, who filed suit on November 24. Prior to these two private actions was that brought by the Illinois attorney general on August 24, which charged DMB and Wohl with breaking public nuisance and pollution laws. On October 27, the band donated $100k to a pair of Chicago environmental groups, denying the accusations, but saying that they "decided to take action now even though it may turn out the incident was not caused by one of [their] buses," citing a need to "begin the healing process." Chicago's NBC 5 has the story.