Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog

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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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

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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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.

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" »

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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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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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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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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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.

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

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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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."

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Click here for Gateway battery recall information

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" »

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

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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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.

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In a decision that mirrors a recent move by the Missouri Supreme Court, the New Jersey Supreme Court also found in favor of paint manufacturers. Several towns and townships in New Jersey were suing manufacturers, hoping to get the companies who made the lead paint to pay the costs of removing the toxic substance. A similar result was reached when the city of Chicago tried to get lead paint manufacturers to defray the costs in treating children with exposure to the toxins.

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Two measures in the House aim to prevent injuries to minors and children. The first would require manufacturers to include registration forms with the infant and toddler products that they sell. The aim is that this registry would improve the success rate of product recalls and keep dangerous products out of homes of children. Last year, one third of the product recalls issued were for children's products.

Continue reading "House bill to improve product safety for children" »

A New Jersey jury awarded $2.62 million in a products liability suit to a man who took accutane, a drug used to treat acne. After taking the medication for about four months, the plaintiff suffered from a known side effect of accutane, inflammatory bowel disease. When taking accutane, the plaintiff's symptoms started out as chapped lips and achy knees. However, when the plaintiff continued to suffer pain almost a year after he stopped taking the medication, doctors diagnosed the plaintiff with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

As a result of this disease, the plaintiff had to undergo partial removal of his rectum and removal of nearly all of his colon. For several years after the surgery, the plaintiff had to use a colostomy bag. After a second surgery to reconnect the remains of his anus and rectum, the plaintiff now suffers from permanent diarrhea.

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In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that companies who voluntarily clean up pollution can sue to get other responsible parties to pay their share of the clean up costs. Significantly, a company that pays for clean up will not have to wait for EPA involvement before it would be able to get those other resposible parties to pay their share. The opinion should help reduce delays in the clean up of industrial pollution. Furthermore, the opinion will incentivize clean up of pollution that might not otherwise have occurred.

Continue reading "Supreme Court protects incentives for voluntary pollution clean-up" »

A Pennsylvania woman who was bitten by a dog when she was 11 years old has recently filed a personal injury suit against the dog's owners. Although the statute of limitations in Pennsylvania normally requires that the suit be filed within two years of the dog bite, the fact that the victim was a minor permits her to file suit within two years of becoming 18 years old. The victim was 19 years old at the time she filed suit.

Continue reading "Woman sues for dog bite that occured 8 years ago" »

The Missouri Supreme Court recently ruled against St. Louis in the city’s attempts to force lead paint manufacturers to contribute to the cost of lead paint cleanup. Although lead paint has been banned since 1978 because of its tendency to cause health and developmental problems in children, many older homes still contain it. In a divided ruling, the Supreme Court decided that the city could not hold the manufacturers responsible because an inability to positively identify the paint used in a given home. The majority ruling claimed that because the city’s lawsuit was not a public health matter, and because the city cannot positively identify the products used, the city should pay for cleanup. The dissenting opinion, however, stated that the case is a public health issue because the paint is hazardous, and all manufacturers of the paint should have to contribute, regardless of whether the paint could be identified in certain homes.

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The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill with the chemical security provision will allow local communities to know whether a neighboring hazardous plant is safe. If the corporation who owns the plant is acting negligently, this bill will enable states to file lawsuits against said corporations. This will allow local and state governments to protect their citizens from illegal waste dumping into nearby water sources preventing harmful side-effects.

To take action please click here and write your local representative!

A personal injury lawsuit is being filed by a factory worker in Texas. The worker was severely injured when he was pulled into a machine that malfunctioned. The worker suffered permanent physical injuries to his head, arms, and back. The traumatic incident also caused severe pain, and mental anguish.

The plaintiff claims that the factory owners were guilty of gross negligence. The owners had knowledge of the machine malfunctioning on several previous occasions, yet did nothing to fix the problem. In addition to any case settlements, the plaintiff may also be entitled to workers' compensation.

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Former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork has filed a slip and fall lawsuit against the Yale Club in New York City after he tripped while stepping up on a platform to deliver a speech. After the spill, Bork successfully reached the podium and delivered his speech. The personal injury lawsuit has asked for an excess of $1 million in actual damages, not including the punitive damages Bork is seeking as well. Bork suffered from a leg injury that eventually required surgery. Bork, an 80-year-old conservative scholar, has written numerous times that Congress should enact some sort of “tort reform” to protect business interests. The irony of a tort reformer utilizing the system he is known to speak against indicates that even those who argue against the civil justice system cannot ignore the fact that it is the best available approach to fairly compensate those that have been wrongfully injured or killed.

Click here to read the complaint
Click here for the New York Times article
Click here for the tortdeform.com editorial

An Illinois family has filed a product liability lawsuit after an Xbox overheated, resulting in a house fire that killed an infant. The family of the deceased infant claims that the power supply of the Xbox overheated and sparked the fatal flames. Around the time of the fire, Microsoft issued a Xbox product recall, citing concerns regarding the product's safety.

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A man who was attacked in his own backyard by an Akita has recently filed a personal injury suit. The man was playing catch with his daughter when two dogs entered his yard. Unprovoked, the dog bit the man's hand, creating puncture wounds that required forty stitches and extensive rehabilitation. The dogs were neither fenced in nor put on a leash, which enabled them to roam the six miles from their home to the site of the dog bite.
In addition to recovering for his mental and physical recovery, the man hopes that the personal injury lawsuit will create awareness that owners of potentially dangerous dogs need to be responsible in preventing dog bites.

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A New Jersey engineering and construction firm was ordered to pay $5.2 million in an asbestos exposure case alleging that the company failed to disclose asbestos risks. The firm has faced 20 other asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits and have been found liable for $100 million in general damages overall. In this case, the plaintiff was awarded $2 million for punitive damages. This was the first case against the firm where punitive damages were awarded. The victim was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer related to asbestos exposure, and died after filing the suit.

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A jury recently awarded a teen $41.5 million in a personal injury lawsuit against LeMans Corporation of Wisconsin for product liability resulting in serious burn injuires. The Wisconsin teen was wearing LeMans manufactured dirt bike clothing when, as the result of a dirt bike accident, 90 percent of his body became covered in third degree burns. When the teen fell, the gas tank of the bike ruptured and he was soaked in fuel. The engine was still running and the heat against the clothing caused the gas to ignite. The clothing actually intensified the injuries; the nylon in the fabric melted onto the teen’s skin. The jury awarded compensation for past and future medical expenses, lack of future earning potential, pain, suffering, and disability.

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Four siblings who were abused over the course of several years while in foster care were awarded $6.2 million dollars in their personal injury lawsuit against the state of Washington. The four children were physically abused by their foster mother, and all but the youngest sibling were sexually abused by their foster mother's son.
When one of the siblings, aged seven at the time, ran away to a supermarket in order to avoid a beating, the children were sent to another foster home. Unfortunately, the siblings were then physically abused in their subsequent foster home until they were later removed from foster care by relatives.
Although the children were supposed to be visited by case workers every 30 days, the children were not visited for the first 18 months of foster care. It then took another year of sporadic visits for the children to be assigned to a steady case worker.

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While working on a boat, a deckhand injured his back as he tried to move a pump last July. His employer's negligent failure to provide reasonably suitable equipment to perform his job led to the back injury that resulted in permanent disfigurement.

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Illinois House Bill 1798 took immediate effect on May 31 as Governor Rod Blagojevich signed it into law. The bill amends the Wrongful Death Act, allowing juries to award damages for grief, sorrow, and mental suffering to the surviving spouse and next of kin of the deceased. Illinois now joins 23 other states that consider the pain and suffering of the families of wrongful death victims. A past president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association remarked,

"Anyone who has lost a loved one due to tragedy deserves compensation because this is a primary aspect of that loss… when [it] happens as the result of the wrongful conduct of another, it’s a real item of damage."

Previously, when a person died prematurely as the result of the wrongful conduct of another, his surviving family was not compensated for their loss. This act finally allows grieving families to receive the compensation they deserve for the untimely loss of a loved one.

Click here to view the bill

A woman who was mauled by her dog is suing the animal’s former owner. The former owner alleged that he gave valium to the dog to prevent it from becoming ill during the woman’s trip home. However, the current owner claims the valium given to the dog deceived her into thinking the pet was docile and kind. When the medication wore off, the animal attacked her and showed its true nature. The injuries suffered were so severe that the dog owner claimed, “I have an identical twin sister and I don’t look like her anymore.” Animal bites are ever the more dangerous not only because the victim can suffer catastrophic injuries from the actual attack, but they may also contract deadly diseases.

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A wrongful death suit will be filed against both the bus driver and bus company that caused a fatal Chicago bus crash last month. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the 76-year-old bus driver had a blood alcohol level that was three times the legal limit at the time of the crash.
Last fall, Levin & Perconti settled a lawsuit for $1.25 million on behalf of a 50-year-old woman who was struck by a bus while walking in a cross walk.

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A personal injury lawyer was allowed back into the U.S by a customs agent despite being red flagged by the Department of Homeland Security. The lawyer contracted the rare disease while traveling abroad for his wedding and honeymoon. This particular strain of tuberculosis is extremely resistant to standard antibiotics and requires immediate treatment. Knowing that his life was in jeopardy, the lawyer cut his honeymoon short and immediately took a flight to Canada. He then rented a car and crossed the border into the U.S. A customs agent allowed him to cross despite being notified by his computer that this person should be detained. Fellow flight passengers are currently being tested for the infectious disease. If tests results come back positive, a lawsuit may be brought against the government for allowing this infectious person to fly. The lawyer is being held at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado for treatment.

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In response to the early release of John Edwards’s health care plan, Barack Obama has finally announced his own. The plan is serious and gets to the point. Federal funding is necessary to help lower income families afford insurance, and Obama calls for a partial rollback of the Bush tax cuts. It is also stricter on the insurance companies; medical history will not be allowed as a factor in denying coverage or charging higher premiums. Finally, people will be allowed to choose between private insurance plans, and a Medicare-type plan offered by the government. While the plan doesn’t mandate insurance for adults, Obama hopes a combination of subsidies and outreach can help to insure most of the population, as a mandate might be difficult to enforce.

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Congressional investigators have been examining claims that Avandia’s maker, GlaxoSmithKline, silenced medical professionals that made an effort to protest the use of Avandia. Product liability for this drug has recently undergone serious investigation. The widely used diabetes medication is thought to carry with it increased risks of heart attack, and diabetes patients are exceptionally susceptible to cardiovascular problems.

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An improperly fastened ATM machine at a Chicago area CVS store fell and caused injuries to a plaintiff’s foot. The personal injury lawsuit was filed recently, citing CVS’ failure to maintain the machine as evidence of premises liability.

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The daughters of a woman shot and killed in a New Jersey hotel recently filed a personal injury suit against the hotel where their mother was killed. The plaintiffs claim that the landowner is liable for the death, citing insufficient lighting and security in the hotel. Another man was also brutally attacked, resulting in serious brain injury. The plaintiff’s lawyer alleged, “There was a defect in the hotel’s security and we’re trying to get appropriate compensation for the children.”

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