A state appeals court has let stand a multimillion-dollar civil judgment that will have the Chicago Transit Authority cutting a check for nearly $3 million to Sandra Kolalou, the woman now serving decades in prison for killing and dismembering her North Side landlord. The payout stems from a 2018 incident in which Kolalou says a CTA bus struck her while she was crossing at Clark and Howard, and jurors in the damages trial were never told she was also facing separate murder charges. The collision of a high-profile homicide case and a hefty civil award has turned into a legal eyebrow-raiser for attorneys and transit watchers around Chicago.
Appeals panel keeps the verdict in place
On Dec. 31, 2025, a three-judge panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court issued a Rule 23 order that rejected the CTA’s attempt to wipe out the jury awards and affirmed the trial court’s rulings on what evidence jurors could hear. The panel held that the trial judge acted within his discretion in keeping details of the then-pending murder case away from the civil jury and that the transit agency had not met the legal standard required to overturn the verdict. As laid out by the Illinois Appellate Court, the judges stressed that their ruling should not be read as any sort of approval of Kolalou’s conduct.
How juries landed near the $3 million mark
In the civil case, Kolalou appeared under the name “Sandra White,” a move designed to keep jurors from connecting her with the murder charges. In February 2023, a jury awarded her $3 million. After a judge ordered a retrial because of discovery issues, a second jury in October 2023 came back with a figure of roughly $2.8 million, and the circuit court ultimately entered judgment close to the original amount. According to the Cook County Record, jurors awarded money for future medical care and for loss of a normal life, and the trial judge refused to trim the verdict.
CTA’s complaints and why the judges said no
On appeal, the CTA argued that jurors should have been told Kolalou’s real name and that she was facing a murder case, and that her social media activity and the fact that she is now serving a lengthy prison sentence undermined her claims of severe, ongoing pain. The appellate panel shot those arguments down, siding with the trial court’s view that the criminal case would have been more prejudicial than helpful to the jury and finding that the damages were supported by expert testimony and other evidence. The judges wrote, “The troubling result here is compelled by the law, and nothing in the opinion excuses or minimizes the nature of White’s actions.” For the full order, see the Illinois Appellate Court.
What this means for the CTA
The CTA has signaled it will keep pushing its legal arguments, saying courts should factor in a plaintiff’s incarceration and limited access to private medical treatment when calculating long-term damages. Agency lawyers have repeatedly cited a jailhouse deposition with poor audio quality and undeclared social media use as reasons they believe another trial is warranted. As noted by ABC7 Chicago, the authority took its case to the Appellate Court and lost.
Criminal case background
The criminal case began in October 2022, when other tenants reported 69-year-old boarding-house owner Frances Walker missing. Police later discovered parts of Walker’s body inside a freezer and charged Kolalou with her killing. Kolalou was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to a lengthy prison term. Family members and prosecutors have described the case as horrific, and some of Walker’s remains had still not been found at the time of trial. For a fuller timeline and coverage of the criminal prosecution, see CBS Chicago.
