Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog

The parents of an Indiana motorcyclist who was in accident with a drunk driver has settled their personal injury suit with the bar that served the drunk driver on the night of the motorcycle accident. The driver had a blood alcohol level of .23. The legal limit is .08 in Indiana. The motorcyclists injuries occurred when he swerved to avoid the drunk driver whose car was in the middle of the road. The motorcyclist received a brain injury which has left him in a waking coma since September of 2004. His parents quit their jobs in Massachussets and moved to Indiana to care for their son.

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Posted In: Brain Injury , Motor Vehicle Accidents , Motorcycle Accidents

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Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with a senator from Minnesota, sent a letter to the company that distributed toys that are subject of a recent recall. The company is recalling several models of wooden Thomas the Train toys after it was learned that the paint on the toys intended for toddlers contained lead paint. The letter asked the Illinois-based toy company how the products were able to make it to American toy stores.

The recall has spurned several product liability suit that are currently seeking class action status. The suits, one of which is being filed in Illinois, seek refunds for the money spent on the toxic toys as well as money to cover future medical expenses in monitoring and treating personal injuries sustained because of the lead-painted toys.

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Posted In: Injuries to Minors and Children , Lead Products , Products liability

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Number one, personal injury attorneys do not inform clients about their cases. They are inaccessible and fail to return phone calls. It is also a mistake if lawyers neglect to authorize staff members to provide information to clients regarding their cases.

The second most common mistake is when lawyers simply include personal injury as a part of a general practice, when they should concentrate on just personal injury. This can cause the neglect of personal injury cases. Frequent emergencies arise in general practice making it difficult for attorneys to consistently invest the time necessary in personal injury cases.

The third biggest mistake is when lawyers do not plan for the worst. Some lawyers are overly confident that they will be able to settle cases rather than having to try them, and neglect to prepare throughout their cases things that are necessary if injury case is tried in front of a jury.

The fourth largest mistake that lawyers make is failing to investigate and obtain records of prior injuries and/or medical treatment. The records are an important factor in determining if there could be a claim for a new injury or the aggravation of a preexisting condition.

The fifth mistake is failure to provide clients with realistic information about the value of their claims. This could cause disappointment when clients receive their awards.

The sixth common mistake made in personal injury cases is when attorneys fail to start them immediately. This could lead to an attorney neglecting to fully investigate a case just before trial, which is a terrible mistake

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Posted In: Tips for Lawyers

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While talking a walk last December, a Virgnia woman was attacked by two pitbulls near the home of the dogs' owner. The dog bite injury required reconstructive surgery and a series of rabies shots. For failing to control his dogs, the owner of the two pitbulls has been sentenced to six months in prison. The woman is also filing a personal injury lawsuit, seeking $1,000,000 for her medical bills, pain, and suffering.

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Posted In: Animal and Dog Bites

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A $23,500,000 verdict was just reached in a motor vehicle negligence case where the plaintiff sustained serious injuries as the result of a truck accident. The 13-year-old plaintiff suffered from a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury. The boy was in a coma for 14 days, spent 15 months in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities and underwent 40 medical procedures. As a result of the traumatic brain injury from which he will never recover, the plaintiff now requires round-the-clock nursing care as he is unable to speak, walk, make many movements or care for himself. In regards to the issue of liability, the defendant driver was ruled to be acting within the course and scope of his employment, contrary to the claims of the defendant employer. The verdict included a $10 million award for past and future pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

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Posted In: Brain Injury , Injuries to Minors and Children , Motor Vehicle Accidents , Truck Accidents

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A personal injury case is being filed by the family of an Elgin man who died of a drug overdose in a Kane County jail cell. Inmates were pretending to take their prescribed medications and then trading them with other inmates. The plaintiff in this case ingested more than 400 times the maximum therapeutic dosage levels when he heard guards were going to shakedown the cells looking for drugs.

Close inspection of inmates receiving and ingesting their medication is part of the jail’s policies and procedures. Failing to follow these rules allowed the large quantity of drugs to be possessed by the inmate, resulting in a wrongful death.

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Posted In: Current Issues

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The Supreme Court granted certiorari yesterday on a case testing whether plaintiffs can recover for personal injuries sustained by medical devices under state law. In the personal injury case, the plaintiffs were injured by when a ballon catheter ruptured during an angioplasty. The injured patient filed a lawsuit for violations of New York state product liability law including negligent design and breach of warranty.

Continue reading "Supreme Court to hear case on medical device lawsuits" »

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Posted In: Current Issues , Products liability

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An Illinois man and his wife settled an asbestos mesothelioma case for $3.8 million dollars. The personal injury lawsuit was filed against several defendants, including an asbestos manufacturer. The man had exposed to the asbestos in 1964, when he worked at a foundry for Caterpillar, and from 1968 to 1994, when the man worked as a teacher in a Bloomington, Illinois high school. In 2006, the man was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a condition that is associated with exposure to asbestos.

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Posted In: Asbestos and Mesothelioma , Products liability

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A broken cable is suspected of severing both of a teenage girl's feet above the ankles. The girl was on a ride called the Superman Tower of Power. The ride drops passengers about 150 feet at speeds of over 50 miles per hour. In other amusement parks, the personal injury prompted the shutting down of identical rides made by the same manufacturer and similar rides made by other manufacturers. An investigation is currently underway to determine whether the amusement park is responsible for failure to properly maintain the ride or whether the ride manufacturer could be subject to product liability for faulty or dangerous product design.

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Posted In: Amusement Park Accidents , Land Owner liability , Products liability

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Ninety burn injury survivors between the ages of 8 and 16 attended Chicago area YMCA Camp Duncan for the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance’s Camp I Am Me. Children who are forced to wear pants instead of shorts or swim with a shirt on can feel comfortable with their scars. Counselors say that the burn injury survivors grow and mature at camp. It costs $1000 to send children to the camp, but all of the burn survivors attend at no cost to their families. Donations can be sent to the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance, P.O. Box 911, Mount Prospect, Illinois 60056.

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Posted In: Burn Injury , Current Issues

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A Chicago lawyer came close to losing his right to practice in Florida after he told a judge during a court hearing, “I suggest with respect, your honor, that you’re a few French fries short of a Happy Meal in terms of what’s likely to take place.” The lawyer was admitted to the bar in Illinois and Ohio and was in danger of losing his ability to practice in other states. The judge called the they lawyer's behavior unacceptable, and he went on to complete the professionalism course of the Florida bar, agreed to put in 200 hours of pro bono work and make a donation to the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the judge’s alma mater, the University Of Miami School Of Law.

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Posted In: Current Issues

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A 55-year-old employee involved in a trucking accident while working for a trucking company that transports asphalt from plants such as defendant Koch Materials Company was recently awarded $2,500,000 in a recent personal injury lawsuit. The plaintiff suffered from a fractured acetabulum, basilar skull fracture, fracture of the left frontal bone and left medial orbital and fracture of the left sinus, and was rendered deaf after falling off of his truck while loading asphalt on defendant’s property. The plaintiff claimed that the fall protection was inadequate and non-compliant with OSHA requirements, and that the defendant had an obligation to provide fall protection. Plaintiff also alleged that the defendant was negligent for its failure to follow its own standard loading operating procedure, and was lacking other standard operating procedures. The defendant claimed that it was actually a matter of product liability and that the truck was defective and unsafe. The defendant also alleged that any claims were barred under Pennsylvania’s Workers Compensation Act and questioned the extent and severity of the plaintiff’s injuries. Regardless of these allegations, the parties reached the $2,500,000 settlement after a full day of mediation.

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Posted In: Construction Injury , Land Owner liability , Machinery , Motor Vehicle Accidents , Products liability , Truck Accidents , Workers' Compensation

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The Ohio Supreme Court recently declined to review a decision protecting lead paint manufacturers. The earlier decision rejected the plaintiff's claims because they could not identify which specific former lead paint manufacturer's paint was in which particular buildings. By declining to review the decision, the state of Ohio has followed the lead of New Jersey and Missouri high courts, which denied similar attempts to get former manufacturers of lead paint to help pay the costs of clean up and removal.

Click here for the full article
Click here for the prior post on the New Jersey decision
Click here for the prior post on the Missouri decision

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Posted In: Lead Products , Products liability , Toxic Torts

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A personal injury suit was filed against a day care center when it returned a two and a half month old baby to his parents with a broken leg and without informing the parents about the child's injury. When the Air Force sergeant arrived at the center, his son was crying and screaming. An employee told the sergeant that his son "had been fussy all afternoon and that she suspected he may be in pain due to gas." The crying and screaming continued for hours, and when the father noticed during a diaper change that one of the child's legs was more swollen, he took his son to the hospital. There, doctors informed the sergeant that infant had suffered a spiral fracture in his leg. A lawyer for the family believes that "Somebody put hands on the kid and moved him around … there was a twisting movement that fractured the bone."

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Posted In: Injuries to Minors and Children

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Gateway yesterday announced a recall of some of the lithium ion battery packs for its notebook computers. The Gateway battery recall is due to faulty Sony batteries, which were the subject of previously issued recalls by Dell, Apple, and Toshiba. This most recent recall warns, "Under certain conditions, these battery packs can overheat and create a potential fire hazard."

Click here for the full article
Click here for Gateway battery recall information

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Posted In: Electrical Safety , Products liability

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After conducting a Senate field hearing in Chicago, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) hope to introduce product safety legislation that would give the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission more power to issue prompt recalls. Earlier this year, the agency's inability to keep dangerous products off shelves resulted in over two dozen injuries to minors and even one death from Mega Brands Magnetix toys. The children were injured when they swalled parts of the Magnetix toys, which contain small magnets that became dislodged and then tore through the children's digestive systems.

Continue reading "Hidden hazards of Magnetix toys prompt legislators to action" »

Posted by Levin & Perconti | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Injuries to Minors and Children , Products liability

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In the wake of recent product liability allegations that GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug Avandia can cause heart disease, many have been quick to condemn the Food and Drug Administration for being too lenient in authorizing drug use and monitoring drug safety. While it is clear that the FDA is imperfect, there is another glaring contributor to problems caused by the widespread use of unsafe drugs in America. Most states, including Illinois, establish requirements that doctors continue medical education by meeting a minimum amount of credit hours each year in order to maintain their medical licenses. While some courses are offered by universities and medical associations, half of these courses are financed by drug companies.

Since 1998, the funding of continuing medical education by drug companies has quadrupled. In the case of Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline sponsored numerous educational courses for doctors that promoted the benefits of Avandia while downplaying the risks. Furthermore, Merck funded courses that endorsed its drug Vioxx that disregarded its dangers. During the drug’s five years on the market it caused an estimated 140,000 cases of serious heart disease. While there are laws meant to prevent this abuse of the continuing medical education system, drug companies have found loopholes that make this unethical practice possible. As a result of this abuse of the system, drug companies are profiting at the expense of the health and safety of patients.

Click here to read the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article

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Posted In: Current Issues , Products liability , pharmaceuticals

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An Illinois councilman admitted last Friday to asbestos removal violations and failure to notify the Illinois EPA. The councilman knew that a building contained asbestos and asbestos covered pipes and decided not to take the proper precautions to prevent an environmental contamination. The councilman told contractors that there was asbestos in the building but that it was not the "dangerous kind." Instead of providing respirators, as required, the councilman only provided paper masks for the job. In addition, because the workers did not believe that the asbestos was harmful, they simply threw the asbestos covered pipes out the window during the renovation project, releasing harmful asbestos into the air. The councilman now faces an additional 15 months in prison for these violations. Currently, the councilman is serving a 21-month prison sentence for election fraud.

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Posted In: Asbestos and Mesothelioma , Toxic Torts

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A personal injury lawsuit has recently been filed by the family of a girl who became sick after eating tainted beef. The beef was contaminated with e. coli, the main concern of a recent 5.7 million pound, 11 state recall. In the products liability lawsuit, the e. coli attacked a portion of the 4-year-old's intestine and then began to shut down her kidneys. The child's symptoms began as cramping, dehydration, and bloody diarrhea.

Click here for the full article

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Posted In: Injuries to Minors and Children , Products liability

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