Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blawg

December 2, 2010

Illinois Wrongful Death Case After Single-Vehicle Car Crash Gets 1 Million Jury Award – Estate of Isom v. Barham

A recent Illinois wrongful death lawsuit was awarded $1 million by an Illinois jury that found the defendant, William Barham, guilty of the negligence that led to his friend’s death in Estate of Isom v. Barham, 00 L 63. The case arose out of an Illinois car crash involving the defendant and the decedent, Jerry Isom. Barham was allegedly driving when the car ran off of the road and collided with a tree, killing Isom on impact.

Barham and Isom were the only two people in the vehicle and subsequently the only two injured as a result of the Illinois car accident. Both men were employed at the Shawnee Correctional Center, and were in fact driving an Illinois Department of Corrections vehicle at the time of the Illinois car crash. There was evidence that Barham had been drinking prior to the car accident.

The Illinois wrongful death lawsuit was brought by the estate of the decedent, Jerry Isom; he was survived by a wife and four children. The estate claimed that as the driver of the vehicle that Barham should be held responsible for Isom’s death. However, Barham claimed that he was not the driver, but that Isom had in fact been driving at the time of the Illinois car crash.

November 30, 2010

Illinois Rear-End Auto Accident Involving Tow Truck Verdict Reduced by 50% for Comparative Negligence – Verhaegen v. Bill Smith Auto Parts, Inc.

by Robert Kreisman

In a recent Illinois personal injury lawsuit involving injuries sustained during an Illinois car crash, the Illinois jury returned a verdict of $500,000 in favor of the plaintiff. The case of Verhaegen v. Bill Smith Auto Parts, Inc. involved an elderly plaintiff, Harvey Verhaegen, who was struck by a tow tuck owned by Bill Smith Auto Parts, Inc. after his vehicle stopped in traffic. The Illinois auto crash verdict was reduced by 50% because the jury found that the plaintiff was 50% responsible for his own injuries.

When there is an issue of comparative fault or negligence, i.e. that the plaintiff’s own negligence also contributed to his or her injuries, Illinois juries are instructed to consider the degree of fault when coming to a decision on a personal injury lawsuit. If the jury finds that the plaintiff is more than 50% responsible then he or she is barred from receiving any reward. However, if the plaintiff is found to be 50% or less responsible for his or her own injuries, then the ultimate award is reduced by the percentage of responsibility. Therefore, in Verhaegen, the award was reduced by 50% because the jury found the plaintiff to be 50% responsible for his own injuries.

In order to determine each party’s degree of liability, the jury must carefully analyze the case facts. In this Illinois auto crash case, the 74 year-old plaintiff was driving on Illinois Interstate 74 when he stopped his vehicle suddenly in the outside lane of traffic. He later testified that the reasons for stopping his car were not clear to him; the plaintiff sustained head injuries and suffered cognitive defects as a result of the Illinois car accident.

November 25, 2010

Illinois Product Defect Case Reversed For Injured; Malen v. MTD Products, Inc.

by Robert Kreisman

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has reversed a federal judge’s dismissal of a Illinois product defect case. Donald Malen slipped while getting off his reconditioned riding lawn mower injuring his foot by the rotating blades of the mower. He and his wife filed a lawsuit alleging that the manufacturer, MTD Products, Inc. and the seller of the product, Home Depot USA, Inc. were responsible for the injury. The case,
Malen v, MTD Products, Inc. and Home Depot USA, Inc., No. 08-3855 (Nov. 19, 2010)., was originally filed the Circuit Court of Cook County, but was removed to federal court because of diversity of citizenship of the parties.

Before the plaintiff’s injury, he had been using riding mowers for more than 40 years. In 2001 Mr. Malen purchased a Yard-Man riding mower at Home Depot that was manufactured by MTD in 1998. The mower was advertised as a reconditioned model, with a full manufacturer’s warranty.

The mower was designed with a safety interlock system. One component of the safety system was the “operator presence control”, which would shut off the engine if the operator rose from the seat without first disengaging the cutting blade and setting the parking brake.

The mower also came equipped with a device that cut off the blades movement if the mower were put in reverse gear.

Plaintiff acknowledged that before the incident he had read and understood the admonishments found in the instruction manual and that over three years he had operated the mower 30-50 times without a problem. But in 2004, while Malen was mulching leaves with the mower, the right front tire became wedged over a curb. As he rose from the seat and stepped off the mower, his left foot slipped under the cutting deck where it was struck by the cutting blade.

November 23, 2010

Chicago Carpenter Injured In Fall At Construction Site Receives 1.47 Million Verdict – Conwell v. James McHugh Construction

by Robert Kreisman

A 51 year-old union carpenter fell from a ladder at the construction site at 1111 S. State Street in Chicago on May 12, 2004, severely injuring his head and neck as a result of the Chicago construction site accident. The plaintiff, James Conwell was carrying a doorway header beam on a ladder that gave way. Although Mr. Conwell weighed about 220 pounds, the ladder was designed to safely hold a capacity of up to 225 pounds. The weight of the beam Conwell was carrying was about 100 pounds.

The fall at the Chicago construction site caused the beam to strike the back of the plaintiff’s head and neck, causing a seven-inch gash below his right ear. The gash opened his jugular vein. After extensive surgery to repair the laceration, plaintiff continued to experience aura migraines, neck pain, tinnitus or ringing in his ears, severe hypersensitivity to sounds and cognitive deficits.

The ensuing personal injury lawsuit ended in a jury trial which resulted in a verdict of $1.47 million in favor of the plaintiff, Mr. Conwell. Mr. Conwell work at the site for Kole Construction, a carpentry subcontractor. The defendant in the case was the general contractor, McHugh Construction Co.

November 18, 2010

Federal Preemption Auto Safety Case To US Supreme Court; Williamson v. Mazda Motor of America, Inc.

by Robert Kreisman

In a closely watched case involving federal preemption of product defect claims that a minivan was defective because its aisle seat lacked a lap/shoulder seat-belt, Williamson v. Mazda Motor of America, Inc., is angling its way to the Supreme Court. Williamson seeks to hold Mazda responsible for the death of Thanh Williamson, who was killed in a head-on collision in her family car, a 1993 Mazda minivan.

The Mazda minivan that Williamson was riding was equipped with lap/shoulder harness seat-belts except for the rear aisle seat where she was seated at the time of the crash. All of the other passengers in the van survived the incident. They were all harness seat-belted.

The United States has filed an amicus brief in support of the Williamson family, arguing that the lower courts have misread a similar Supreme Court case decided in 2000, Geier v. American Honda Motor Co, and that the family should be allowed to pursue their product liability case to its end.

November 16, 2010

Chicago Attorney Robert Kreisman Featured Speaker at Michigan Association for Justice Seminar

by Robert Kreisman

Medical Malpractice Attorney Bob Kreisman of Chicago’s Kreisman Law Offices was the featured speaker at the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ) Seminar on November 12, 2010. The MAJ seminar focused on trial strategies for medical malpractice cases.

Chicago attorney Bob Kreisman presented on the topic of “The Reptile, Rules of the Road, and Overcoming Juror Bias.” The focus of his presentation was on how to personalize your trial strategy so that it works best for you, your case facts, and your selected jury. Attorney Kreisman also stressed the importance of building a simple case that highlights the defendant’s “excuses, not defenses.”
The focus of an Illinois medical malpractice case should be humanizing the plaintiff and reiterating that the hospital and doctors treating that patient had a duty not to harm him or her, a duty that they breached when they violated the acceptable standard of care for those specific circumstances. Plaintiff’s attorney should clearly set out the standards, or rules, guiding the medical malpractice’s case facts, and specifically show how the defendants knowingly violated each of those rules. By showing jurors how the rules were knowingly broken, plaintiff’s attorneys can demonstrate that the resulting harm was not simply a freak accident, but was the result of conscious decisions and medical negligence.

November 12, 2010

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Immunity Claim Reversed by Illinois Appellate Court – Torf v. Chicago Transit Authority

by Robert Kreisman

The Illinois Appellate Court, First District, reversed a Cook County Circuit Court judge’s ruling which stated that the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) was immune from liability under §27 of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act. The case, Torf v. Chicago Transit Authority, No. 1-09-1710, was remanded back to the lower court for further handling after the Illinois Appellate Court determined there were questions as to material facts yet to be answered in the Illinois train accident case.

Torf involves a 2007 incident on a CTA redline train at the Cermak/Chinatown station. Shortly after departing from the L-station, the train line’s power was shut off and all passengers, including Marla Beth Torf and her husband, were ordered to evacuate onto the tracks. In order to get down to the tracks, Ms. Torf first sat down on the train floor near its doors with the intention of sliding down from there. However, before she was able to do so, another CTA passenger knocked her down, causing her to sustain personal injuries.

Torf filed a complaint against the CTA that alleged the train operator owed her a duty to exercise the highest degree of care to protect the safety of its passengers. The plaintiff alleged that the CTA was negligent and had breached that duty during Ms. Torf’s train accident. In response, the CTA filed a motion for summary judgment which alleged that the plaintiff’s injuries were in fact caused by a criminal assault.

November 10, 2010

Illinois Wrongful Death Truck Crash Results in 6.5 Million Settlement – Carroll, et al. v. Geils Farms, LLC, et al.

by Robert Kreisman

A 32 year-old woman who was killed on Halloween in 2008 when a tractor-trailer rear-ended her stopped truck on Route 47 in Huntley, Illinois. The Illinois wrongful death case was settled for $6.5 million, which included severe injuries for the woman’s husband and young son. Carroll, et al. v. Geils Farms, LLC, et al., No. 09 L 39 consolidated with No. 10 L 1222.

The wrongful death lawsuit that was filed in Kane County, Illinois, by the family of the woman, claimed that the driver of the tractor-trailer was under the influence of drugs at the time of the truck accident. The truck also was alleged to have been unsafe because it was over-loaded; it weighed more than 80,000 lbs. In addition, the vehicle’s brakes were out of adjustment and some of the brake pads were contaminated by oil and grease.

The owner of the truck was a farm known as Geils Farms. In addition to the 32 year-old woman, her husband and son were both badly injured.

The driver of the truck who was alleged to be under the influence of marijuana. He is now serving a 45 month sentence in Illinois state prison.

November 8, 2010

Illinois Bicyclist Hit By Auto Driver – Personal Injury Case Settled for 1.7 Million

by Robert Kreisman

The number of bicyclists on our streets and roads have increased significantly over the last several years as more people have begun to rely on this means of transportation than to commute to work, to shop, and go to school. Cities and towns have responded to the increased number of bicycles on the road by increasing bicycle accommodations, such as bike paths along streets.

However, this increase in bicyclists also means there is more competition between bicycles and motor vehicles for control of the road. When an auto accident occurs involving a bike and car, the bicyclists are much more subject to severe injury with a motor vehicle than the other way around. Bike riders have been injured in Illinois car/ bike accidents and Illinois trucking/bike accidents much more frequently now than in the recent past.

One such example of this increase in bicycle personal injury cases is a September 2008 bicycle-auto accident that occurred when a 56 year-old woman was riding eastbound on her bicycle in the crosswalk with the walk signal. The defendant driver was driving southbound on Western Avenue turning onto westbound East Westleigh Road in Lake Forest, Illinois when he struck the bicyclist.

November 5, 2010

Violence Dismissed: Public Affairs Initiative At Union League Club Of Chicago

by Robert Kreisman

The Union League Club of Chicago’s Public Affairs Committee and its initiative, Safe Youth Chicago sponsored the breakfast event, October 12, 2010, Violence Dismissed: The Intended and Unintended Consequences of Gun Policy, Education Reform Policy and Drug Policy On Youth Violence.

This important dialogue included a distinguished line up including Judge Paul P. Biebel, Jr., Chief Judge of the Criminal Division, Circuit Court of Cook County, Kathie Kane-Willis, a professor and researcher at Roosevelt University of Chicago, Dr. Harold Pollack, co-director of The University of Chicago Crime Lab, and Dr. David Prasse, professor and Dean of the School of Education at Loyola University of Chicago.

The panel and guests sparked a wide-ranging discussion interlinking these important policy issues with violence on and by Chicago youth. Each of the guests and Judge Biebel gave opening remarks. Then the audience was asked to provide written questions to the panel.

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