Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

In a recent Cook County, Illinois jury trial, an Illinois personal injury verdict was reached against the City of Chicago and in favor of a motorcyclist who suffered severe nerve injuries when he was thrown from his motorcycle on Lake Shore Drive in a collision with a Chicago Police car. Ross v. City of Chicago, 07 L 8907.

The verdict was returned after a 3 day retrial of the case. The jury also found that the man was 10% responsible for causing the motorcycle accident.

The motorcyclist, Brian Ross suffered nerve damage at the cervical region of his spinal cord resulting in the complete loss of motor function and sensation in his left arm and hand.

This Illinois motorcycle accident case was originally filed in 1999 and was initially dismissed by a Cook County trial judge. The dismissal was reversed by the Illinois Appellate Court in 2003 and the case was refiled and tried in May 2010. However, a mistrial was declared and the case had to be retried yet another time.

Continue reading "Cook County Jury Returns Verdict of $3.3 Million for Injured Motorcyclist" »

Two railroads have been sued following the death of 26 year-old Katie Lunn. Ms. Lunn, was killed when an Amtrak train travelling 70 mph struck her SUV which was stopped on the tracks in heavy traffic. The Illinois train accident took place on Stuenkel Road and Governors Highway in south suburban Monee, Illinois.

The Federal Railroad Administration had determined that before the Illinois train crash, flashing lights, bells and crossing gates had been inadvertently turned off while repairs were being made.

An Illinois train accident lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County claiming negligence on the part of Illinois Central Railroad and Wisconsin Central, Ltd. The two railroads are owned by the Canadian National Railway Company.

Although the federal investigation had cleared Amtrak of any responsibility for causing the incident, Amtrak could still be on the hook to pay for the wrongful death of Ms. Lunn. That may be because Amtrak had an operating agreement with Illinois Central that required it to indemnify and hold harmless Illinois Central against any negligence or fault on the part of Illinois Central or its employees. This is a typical type of indemnification clause found in many cooperating contracts.

Continue reading "Illinois Family Sues for Wrongful Death of Daughter Killed by Amtrak Train" »

In a second Illinois Supreme Court opinion regarding this case, the court handed down its opinion in Ready v. United/Goedecke, Inc., No. 108910, an important case distinguishing fault apportionment.

The court’s first opinion, Ready I, held that Illinois Code of Civil Procedure Section 2-1117 did not permit the apportionment of fault to defendants who had already settled in the Illinois wrongful death case. Following that Supreme Court decision (Ready I), the case was remanded to the Illinois Appellate Court to consider the defendant’s sole proximate cause defense. The appellate court decided that the lower court had erred in refusing to admit evidence of the conduct of the settling defendants. However, the Illinois Appellate Court did not reach the issue of defendant’s entitlement to a jury instruction on the point.

In this opinion, Ready II, the Illinois Supreme Court concluded that the Circuit Court of Cook County was wrong both in excluding the evidence of the actions of the settled defendant, but also it erred in refusing to instruct the jury on sole proximate cause by not giving the second paragraph of Illinois Pattern Instruction, 12.04.

Continue reading "Illinois Supreme Court Upholds Wrongful Death Verdict, $8.13 Million – Ready v. United/Goedecke, Inc." »

A recent Cook County medical malpractice lawsuit against Chicago's Advocate Trinity Hospital received an award of over $3.6 million. The Chicago medical negligence case involved the death of a two-year-old boy and was tried under the principles of res ipsa loquitur.

Res ipsa loquitur is Latin for "the thing speaks for itself" and is used in legal terms to refer to a situation where it's assumed that an injury, in this case death, is caused by the negligence of another person. Underlying the principle of res ipsa loquitur is the assumption that the accident/injury could not have occurred unless someone was negligent.

In this recent Cook County medical negligence case, the negligence centered on the death of a two-year-old boy. The child was brought to Advocate Trinity Hospital by his parents. Of note was that his mother was an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and his father was a paramedic. The boy was brought to the ER for treatment of his first and only grand mal seizure.

Continue reading "Res Ipsa Loquitur Applied to Illinois Medical Malpractice Claim - Cook County Jury Awards $3.6 Million" »

A Lake County, Illinois jury delivered a $4.5 million verdict in an Illinois personal injury case where a 60 year-old woman suffered injuries when a 67 foot tree fell on her as she was walking her dog near a golf course. This Illinois personal injury verdict is one of the highest in the past 20 years in cases where the injuries were caused by a falling tree. Cathy Stackhouse v. Lakemoor Country Club, Inc. et al., No. 08 L 610.

Cathy Stackhouse claimed that on April 26, 2008, she was walking her dog along the edge of the Lakemoor Country Club golf course property when a tree on the golf course fell on her. The tree limb hit Stackhouse between her shoulder blades that resulted in a fractured vertebrae in her lower back and a broken left ankle. She required surgeries for both injuries.

The jury returned the Illinois premise liability verdict against Lakemoor Country Club, Inc. and a co-defendant Royce Realty & Management Co., Inc. finding each to be 50% responsible. It was argued during the trial that the owner of the country club and its management company were both negligent for having chosen not to take the appropriate steps to inspect their trees along the course property.

Continue reading "Falling Tree that Caused Back and Ankle Injuries to Lake County, Illinois Woman Results in Jury Verdict of $4.52 Million" »

A 17 year-old boy was killed when the four-story city parking garage’s interior metal staircase collapsed. Chris Gaston was found the next morning dead from severe head injuries. Chris Gaston’s father, on behalf of his estate, brought an Illinois personal injury lawsuit against the City of Danville claiming that it had been aware that the staircase was in hazardous condition because of lack of repair, but chose not to correct the defect. Gaston v. City of Danville, 912 N.E.2d 771 (Ill.App. 2009).

It was the opinion of the expert for the Gaston family that the Illinois personal injury occurred when Chris was coming down from the third floor landing midway between the second and third floor is when the wells between the stair stringers to the midway landing broke, causing the stairs to drop downward and hang. This sent Gaston to the landing below. When the welded connection at the third floor landing broke, the entire stair branch slid down the railing striking Gaston on the back of the head.

The evidence in the Illinois personal injury case showed that for more than four years before this incident, a different stair stringer had separated from one of the landings. After a structural engineer inspected the staircase and recommended certain repair options, including repairing and replacing the second floor landing only, no action was taken. A professional engineer than opined that an accumulation of packed rust was weakening the metal and causing broken wells in a number of areas.

Continue reading "Verdict for Teen Dies of Head Injuries in Stairway Collapse Upheld By Illinois Appeallate Court - Gaston v. City of Danville" »

A Cook County jury has determined that the company engaging a torch-cutter is responsible for worker's wrongful death. The jury verdict was $734,400. Fernando Corral, age 51, was working as a torch-cutter at Mervis Industries, Inc. cutting a portion of a single-deck rail car when a piece of steel fell on him causing his wrongful death. He was survived by his wife and four children.

The family of Mr. Corral brought an Illinois wrongful death lawsuit alleging that the defendant company, Mervis, chose not to make the area where Mr. Corral was working safe, that it should have recognized the hazards involved in torch-cutting work and guarded against those hazards.

The Illinois wrongful death case had a complicated past. A motion for summary judgment was first granted by a trial judge indicating that Mervis did not owe a duty to Corral because he was working for an independent contractor at the time of this incident.

Continue reading "Illinois Wrongful Death Jury Verdict of $734,400 Awarded for Worker Killed During Torch Cutting of Rail Car" »

An Illinois family was decimated by the wrongful death of a 27 year old woman, April Simmons, who was eight months pregnant when the vehicle driven by John Homatas ran head-on into her SUV near South Elgin, Illinois. The Illinois wrongful death lawsuit claimed that the West Chicago strip club, Diamonds Gentlemen's Club, owned and operated by On Stage Productions, Inc., was negligent when its employees assisted an apparently drunk patron, John Homatas, and his friend into Homatas's car, Simmons v. Homatas, 236 Ill.2d 459, 925 N.E.2d 1089 (Ill. 2010), and thus was liable for the Illinois car and SUV accident.

The Illinois wrongful death case revolved around the fact that the drunk driver and another man had gotten drunk at the club and were ejected by bouncers. Homatas was seen in the club's men's room vomiting. The employees then escorted Homatas and John Chiarello out of the club. The Illinois car crash with woman's vehicle occurred only fifteen minutes after Homatas left Diamonds. Chiarello was also killed.

The strip club does not serve liquor, but patrons were allowed to bring their own. Because of that fact, Diamonds argued it was not responsible for Homatas' bad acts. In fact the Illinois wrongful death case had been argued in the circuit court on Diamonds' motion to dismiss. The motion was denied and an appeal was taken. The review went all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court, which ruled that the club did make itself accountable for Homatas. The facts were that the bouncers had instructed the valet service to bring around Homatas' car to the front and left it running for him.

Continue reading "Strip Club Settles Drunken-Driving Lawsuit For $1 Million- Simmons v. Homatas" »

The Illinois Appellate Court recently reviewed questions of insurance policy limits regarding an Illinois trucking accident. The Illinois truck crash involved a truck and three semi trucks who were all employed by the same company, Wayne Wilkens Trucking. The issue in Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Munroe, 7th Cir., No. 09-3427, was whether the relevant accident constituted one single claim or whether it was three separate claims.

The three tractor-trailers were driving in a convoy format, heading northbound on an Illinois highway. At the time of the truck accident the individual driver, Joshua Monroe, was driving southbound in opposing lanes of traffic. The second truck in the convoy was trying to pass the first truck, but veered back into line when he saw Monroe headed towards him. However, the driver of truck two did not do so fast enough and Monroe's tractor-trailer hit the back of the second vehicle, which in turn caused Monroe to spin into truck three.

As a result of the Illinois truck crash, Monroe sustained severe burns and several broken bones. His claim against the three trucks' employer, Wayne Wilkens Trucking, alleged that his injuries were the result of three separate acts of negligence on behalf of Wilken's employees. It alleged that driver two negligently attempted to pass another vehicle when it was unsafe, that driver one failed to yield to the driver two, and that driver three was tailgating driver three. Monroe's claim further alleged that because there were three separate acts of negligence that there should also be three different claims.

Continue reading "Illinois Highway Trucking Accident Involving Three Semi Trucks Reviewed For Insurance Policy Limits - Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Munroe" »

Like most extras working on Hollywood movie sets, Gabriela Cedillo most likely was required to sign a waiver prior to working on the set of Transformers 3. However, even if she had signed a waiver, Paramount Pictures, the production company producing Transformers 3, could be held liable for her severe injury while working as an extra on set. The Chicago personal injury lawsuit was filed in Cook County earlier this month, Adolfo Romo, etc. v. Paramount Pictures, et al., No. 10 L 11309.

On the date of her personal injury, Cedillo was participating in a scene with over 75 other extras. She was driving her car in the opposite lane of a flatbed truck hauling multiple cars. The scene involved a stunt wherein two of the towed cars would rise in the air and then flip, all while being pulled at over 50 mph. The scene was made possible by the use of a pulling cable.

However, on the date of injury the cable and bracket broke loose, whipping various parts into the oncoming lanes where the extras were driving. A large piece of iron struck the roof of Cedillo's car, resulting in her severe personal injuries, including loss of vision in her left eye, permanent left sided paralysis, a brain herniation, and abdominal injuries.

Cedillo spent over a month in Loyola University Medical Center's intensive care unit and remains in a rehabilitation facility for further treatment. Several surgeries later, she is still unable to speak and is being fed through a tube in her stomach.

Continue reading "Illinois Personal Injury Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Extra Injured on Transformers 3 Set - Romo v. Paramount Pictures, et al." »