Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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When we get into a train, plane, or cab, we expect that the person operating the vehicle will keep us safe, that it is their duty to us as passengers. Yet at what point do we actually become passengers? Is it when we begin to board the vehicle, or when we are inside and seated in the vehicle? The Chicago personal injury lawsuit of Daphne Franks v. Chicago Carriage Cab Corp., Chicago Elite Cab Corp., et al., 09 L 596, hinges on the question of when a person truly becomes a passenger.

The Cook County injury lawsuit involves 40 year-old Daphne Franks, who was talking to a cab driver in the early hours of the morning. At the time the cab was stopped about eight to ten feet from the curb and was partially blocking the flow of traffic. The plaintiff was leaning both her head and shoulders inside the front passenger window as she carried on a conversation with the cab driver.

Meanwhile, Stephen Nuter was driving down the street towards the stopped cab, which was blocking traffic. Nuter ended up rear-ending the cab while Franks was leaning inside the window. The impact from the car accident caused Franks to hit her head on the cab’s window frame as she fell to the ground. Franks not only lost consciousness, but sustained several cuts to her face and a fractured bone. In order to repair the damage caused by the Chicago car accident, the bartender/waitress underwent two plastic surgeries.

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Construction negligence lawsuits can be somewhat confusing insofar as there are typically several entities involved: the general contractor, the project manager, subcontractor, etc. Oftentimes when plaintiffs file a lawsuit following a construction site injury, there is a lot of finger pointing by the defense, so it is crucial that the plaintiff’s attorneys have a clear understanding of who each party is and what their role was on the construction job.

In the construction negligence case of The Estate of John Maggi, etc. v. RAS Development, Inc., No. 1-09-1955, the defendant tried to get the $3.2 million verdict overturned by claiming that the plaintiff had sued the wrong entity. In Maggi, the plaintiff’s attorney filed a lawsuit against the construction site’s general contractor. In its initial complaint the plaintiff identified the general contractor as RAS Wolfram.

The Chicago construction negligence complaint alleged that as the general contractor, that RAS Wolfram was negligent for its failure to provide a safe workplace and inadequately supervising the work of its subcontractors. The decedent, John Maggi, died after falling three stories through an unprotected window. The fall was prompted after the bundle of bricks Maggi was carrying broke apart, causing him to lose his balance and fall through the open window.

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An Illinois jury entered the highest Cook County verdict award for an adult fracture injury, awarding $1.9 million in Todd D. Smart v. City of Chicago, No. 07 L 14089. The Cook County personal injury verdict was substantially higher than both the plaintiff’s $500,000 demand to settle and the City of Chicago’s $100,000 settlement offer. According to a representative from the City’s law department, the City of Chicago plans to appeal the verdict in the First District Appellate Court.

The Illinois personal injury lawsuit arose out of a bicycle accident involving the 43 year-old plaintiff, Todd Smart. In 2007, Smart was riding his bicycle in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, near the intersection of Cortland St. and Marcy St., when he hit a road depression. At the time of the bike accident, the City of Chicago was performing road construction, leaving the road uneven at the time.

Smart was thrown forward over his handlebars as his bicycle came to a sudden stop. As a result of the bicycle accident, Smart suffered from a dislocated shoulder and sustained comminuted bone fractures. Prior to the bicycle accident, Smart led a fairly active lifestyle – not only was he the president of BeTuitive Publishing, but was also a former triathlon competitor.

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In 2007 a propane truck ran a red light and struck another car. The car’s passenger, Anthony Villa, Jr., suffered fatal wounds and died two days later. An Illinois wrongful death lawsuit was brought by his wife, which recently settled for $7 million. Cheryl Villa v. Heritage Operating LP, et al., No. 08 L 11922.

The Illinois intersection accident occurred in Matteson, Illinois at the intersection of Harlem Avenue and Lincoln Highway. At the time of the car accident, Villa’s vehicle was attempting to make a left turn onto Lincoln Highway when it was struck by a propane truck owned by Heritage Operating LP. While the truck driver was not injured, Villa was rushed to the hospital with severe wounds. He died as a result of these injuries just two days later.

The wrongful death lawsuit was brought by Villa’s wife and their five children, two of which were minors at the time of their father’s death. The Illinois complaint alleged that the truck driver and his employer were responsible for the truck accident that resulted in Villa’s death. The defendants admitted liability for the intersection accident, confirming that it was caused by the truck driver running the red light.

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The Illinois jury verdict of $700,000 in Marjorie McDonald, etc. v. Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp., etc., 2011 IL App. (1st) 102766, was upheld by the Illinois First District Appellate Court. The original personal injury lawsuit involved a train accident involving a Metra train that occurred in 2002. The Cook County jury held the train engineer and Metra liable for the injuries Thomas McDonald sustained while in a pedestrian train crossing.

The 79 year-old McDonald was crossing the train tracks at a North Glenview Metra station when a train began approaching. The Metra engineer sounded the horn to alert McDonald; however, the train ended up striking the pedestrian. As a result of the train accident, McDonald’s arm was severed. McDonald died of unrelated causes shortly thereafter and his wife brought a lawsuit against Metra and its agents on his behalf.

The Illinois personal injury lawsuit alleged that Metra was liable for the train accident because it had not ensured that pedestrian signals were installed. According to the plaintiff’s attorneys, the lack of pedestrian signals failed to provide an adequate warning to McDonald that the train was approaching. Furthermore, the plaintiff alleged that the train engineer failed to sound the horn in time to provide McDonald with an adequate warning.

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Chicago is home to two baseball teams, the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. The Cubs’ Wrigleyfield ballpark is located deep in the heart of Wrigleyville and is most easily accessed by public transportation. While the White Sox’s U.S. Cellular Field can also be reached via public transportation, it is also easily accessible from the expressway and has many parking options. As a result, many White Sox fans choose to drive to see their favorite team.

On game day traffic around U.S. Cellular Field can be extremely dense, as White Sox fans Nicholas Barbarigos and Dean Vla discovered on August 21, 2009. The Chicago fans were driving on the Dan Ryan expressway to see the White Sox battle the Baltimore Orioles. As Barbarigos’s vehicle neared the exit ramp at 33rd Street, it encountered a sudden stop in traffic. While Barbarigos was able to stop his vehicle in time, the cab driving behind him was not. The cab rear-ended Barbarigos’s vehicle, running it into the stopped car in front of it.

The White Sox fans brought an Illinois personal injury claim against the defendant cab driver and his employer, filed as Nicholas Barbarigos and Dean Vla v. Mohamed Ali Abdi and LW Cab Corp., 09 L 10066. The complaint alleged that as a result of the highway accident, both Barbarigos and Vla suffered from lower back pain. Barbarigos was able to treat his soft tissue injury and bulging lumbar disc conservatively. However, Vla needed to undergo a back surgery and fusion in order to repair the his severe cervical back pain.

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In the premise liability lawsuit of Tilschner v. Spangler, No. 2-10-0111 (May 6, 2011), the Illinois Appellate Court was asked to determine whether a specific law was applicable in Illinois. After reviewing past Illinois case law, the appellate court held that §318 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts has not been adopted in Illinois. The Illinois Appellate Court ruling essentially eliminated the legal basis of the plaintiff’s claim, thereby affirming the lower court’s dismissal of Count II of plaintiff’s complaint.

Tilschner was brought against defendant Ralph Ruppel after he lit fireworks that injured Patricia Tilschner; Tilschner brought a common-law negligence count against Ruppel for his role in causing the injuries Tilschner sustained. However, the appeal involves the negligence claim Tilschner sought to bring against Lowell Spangler, the property owner hosting the party at which the fireworks injury took place.

In Count II of her personal injury complaint, Tilschner alleged that Spangler

[o]wed a duty to the Plaintiff and his other invited guests to keep control and care over his property and to protect them against any unreasonable risks of harm known due to acts of a third person under his control, including the Defendant, Ralph Ruppel, pursuant to the Restatement (Second) of Torts, §318.

However, the trial court dismissed this claim against Spangler, citing the fact that §318 had yet to be adopted by Illinois courts and therefore could not serve as the basis for Tilschner’s negligence claim.

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It’s summertime in Chicago and for many that means hot days, no school, and summer camp. Summer camps are a way for children to socialize with their peers, occupy their days, and give mom and dad an occasional break. But what happens when the people we entrust our children to do not protect our children? The Illinois wrongful death lawsuit of Estate of Barnabe Lucas, deceased minor v. Christian Youth Center Ministries, et al., 06 L 29, is a parent’s worst nightmare.

In 2004, nine year-old Barnabe Lucas was enrolled in a Will County day camp. Like many summer camps, the Christian Youth Center Ministries day camp included several day trips with its campers, including a weekly trip to a nearby wading pond. The pond was owned and operated by Leisure Lake Membership Resort, who did not provide lifeguards, a fact which it alerted bathers to with a clearly posted sign.

Within 30 minutes of arriving at the pond, a fellow day camper discovered Lucas unconscious in 3.5 to 4 feet of water. The camp director immediately pulled Lucas out of the wading pond and began administering CPR; shortly thereafter Lucas was transported to nearby Provena St. Joseph Hospital. He remained unresponsive on a respirator for four days and was then transferred to University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago for further care. However, just two days after his transfer Lucas died.

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Legal venue is an important issue in many personal injury lawsuits, especially when the different states have different laws. In the product liability lawsuit of Joseph Murphy v. Mancari’s Chrysler Plymouth, Inc., No. 1-10-2178 (March 31, 2011), the Illinois Appellate Court sought to answer the question of whether Michigan law or Illinois law governed the case regarding issues of liability and damages.

The car accident at issue in Murphy occurred in Michigan. However, the plaintiff driver and the defendant car dealership where the plaintiff bought his car both were located in Illinois. The court then had to decide where the personal injury lawsuit should be heard – in Michigan, where the accident occurred, or in Illinois, where the plaintiff driver lived and worked.

Where the lawsuit was filed, or “choice-of-law,” would be critical to the eventual outcome of Murphy because of the major differences in Michigan and Illinois law. When deciding product liability issues, Illinois law applies a strict liability rule, whereas Michigan law applies a pure negligence standard. This means that Illinois defendants cannot effectively argue that they were unaware of the risk of the design defect, whereas this could be a successful defense in Michigan where the standard of care is set by similar manufacturers. In addition, Michigan imposes a $500,000 cap on non-economic damages in any product liability lawsuits, whereas Illinois has no such cap on damages.

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A Macon County jury entered one of the highest verdicts in its county’s history when it awarded $3.09 million to an Illinois worker who sustained a brain injury at work. The Illinois personal injury verdict was entered against Tate & Lyle Ingredients Americas, Inc. for its failure to maintain a safe work environment in William C. Jones v. Tate & Lyle Ingredients Americas, Inc., 07 L 152 (Macon County).

At the time of the workplace injury, William Jones was working as a contract employee for Tate & Lyle at its Decatur corn processing plant. Jones had been hired to perform general maintenance work and was performing his duties in the vicinity of an above ground storage tank when the tank unexpectedly broke apart. Its contents burst out towards Jones, knocking him down.

The storage tank contained 300,000 gallons of corn gluten that was heated to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, which caused burn injuries to parts of Jones’s body. In addition, the force of the fall resulted in a closed head injury, which was eventually diagnosed as a brain injury. The plaintiff contended that this brain injury caused Jones to suffer not only from short-term memory loss, but also from a perceivable personality change.

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