Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog

The Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti want all of our readers to be on the lookout for dangerous recalled defibrillators. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently recalled two brands of automatic and semiautomatic defibrillators due to fault components. Defibrillation is the definitive treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation, and tachycardia. What defibrillation does is deliver a therapeutic dose of electrical energy to the affected heart with a defibrillator. It depolarizes a critical mass of the heart muscle, terminates the arrhythmia, and allows normal sinus rhythm to be reestablished by the body’s natural pacemaker.

The FDA has issued a product recall for Nihon Kohden and GE Responder models of automatic and semiautomatic defibrillators due to faulty components. This follows November’s FDA product recall of Powerheart and CardioVive external defibrillators because the models had defective parts, which may have led to them not working properly. As mentioned above, defibrillators are used only in cases of emergency so the thought of them not working properly is extremely scary.

About 280,000 defibrillators are used worldwide according to the FDA and the recalled models may not work during attempts to rescue people in sudden cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is responsible for more than 300,000 deaths yearly. The recalled defibrillators are dangerous because they may fail to properly deliver a shock and have been found to have faulty parts that may cause them to fail at delivering that lifesaving shock. The recalled devices may also fail in reading and analyzing the heart rhythm. Recalled defibrillators should be repaired or replaced. However, the FDA says the recalled defibrillators should be used unless another defibrillator is available, explaining that the potential benefits of using the available external defibrillators outweigh the risk of not using any of the affected external defibrillators or the risk of device failure.

To read the entire CNN article on the recalled defibrillators, click the link.

Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti have blogged a lot about the lack of government regulation of dietary supplements. Now, thanks to an agreement among United States Senators to include guidelines in a food safety bill, stricter government oversight of dietary supplements is within touch. Four areas of common ground were outlined in a letter sent by chairs of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The letter talked about incorporating the areas of agreement into the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) Food Safety Modernization Bill.

The provisions include: (1) all dietary supplement manufacturing, processing, and holding facilities to register with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, (2) the FDA having the authority to issue a mandatory product recall order if a dietary supplement is adulterated or misbranded or the use of such supplement could cause serious adverse health consequences such as death, (3) the FDA commissioner to publish guidelines on the new dietary ingredients as soon as possible, and (4) mandate that the FDA notify the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) when a new product contains a synthetic anabolic steroid.

According to Senator McCain, the bill would protect professional and Olympic athletes along with casual sports participants who use supplements. Pro sports leagues have supported the bill. Athletes in the past have blamed positive drug tests on substances that turn up in dietary supplements even though they are not listed as ingredients on the label.

Follow the link to read more about the dietary supplement regulation.

A trucking company has filed an Illinois brain injury lawsuit against the Illinois manufacturer of a truck they used in their business. The Illinois product liability lawsuit alleges that multiple defects in the truck caused toxic fumes to enter the truck’s cabin part and cause brain damage to one of the truck company owners. The owners state that they purchased a 2008 truck for nearly $150,000 from a defendant Illinois trucking company and financed through a company that also designed and manufactured the vehicle. The truck in question contained a diesel particulate filter regeneration system known as a Regan system designed by one of the defendants.

The Illinois product liability lawsuit further contends that the owners have been forced to submit the truck to the defendants’ service facilities several times since purchasing the vehicle because of various defects and malfunctioning component parts. The defendants were unable to fix the defects and deficiencies.

The Illinois brain injury lawsuit states that the defective truck caused one of the owners to become overcome by toxic and poisonous fumes. The owner has sustained serious and permanent brain damage. She now suffers from memory loss, changes in her personality and behavior, loss of income, and a permanent diminution in her future employability.

The owners blame the Illinois trucking company for their part in the problem, alleging that the company was negligent in delivering a dangerous and defective truck and failed to warn the purchasers of the hazardous condition with the exhaust system an failed to deliver sufficient dealer preparation and inspection. The Illinois negligence complaint seeks a judgment of greater than $450,000.

More information about the Illinois product liability lawsuit is available at The Madison St. Clair Record.

According to a preliminary federal and state of Illinois investigation disclosed earlier this week, a track crew inadvertently turned off the train gates and warning lights at a Chicago-area rail crossing last week, shortly before a deadly crash where a Chicago woman in her SUV was blindsided by a train. The Canadian National Railway train crew was working on signals and electrical circuits built near the crossing when the workers shut down all warnings to motorists about approaching trains.

Federal and state investigators state that the video that was shot from the Amtrak train’s locomotive while it was almost traveling nearly 79 miles per hour shows that the gates, flashing lights, and bells at the crossing did not turn on. The Federal Railroad Administration is leading the deadly train crash investigation, helped by Canadian National, the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and the National Transportation Safety Board. Officials stated that Canadian National crews had tried to fix the problem and thought they did, but they actually inadvertently deactivated the warning system, creating an unprotected crossing in the Chicagoland area that provided motorists no indication of oncoming trains.

Downloaded recordings do show that the train was sounding its horn and had working bells and flashing lights. Unfortunately, the crossing warning system did not work, which resulted in the wrongful death of a 26 year-old woman.

More information about the tragic deadly Chicago train crash is available here.

CBS2Chicago.com is reporting that reformers against Illinois nursing home neglect are pushing for higher minimum staffing levels at Illinois nursing homes. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has proposed reforms that would raise minimum staffing levels at Illinois nursing home and the notion is being quietly fought by the industry, despite evidence proving that more time spent on residents’ care by nursing home nurses and nursing home aides improves the overall health of residents. The Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have repeatedly stressed the importance of adequate nursing home staffing levels in order to prevent Illinois nursing home abuse. Studies have linked more nursing hours with better care, demonstrated by fewer bed sores (pressure ulcers) and less unexplained weight loss.

Today in Springfield, government talks resumed as state officials, advocates for the elderly and mentally ill, and industry leaders attempt to agree on proposed Illinois nursing home legislation. Presently, Illinois rules only require that nursing homes provide a minimum of 2.5 hours of nursing care per Illinois residents daily. CBS2Chicago reports that works out to about 31 certified nurse aides and licensed nurses per hundred residents. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn wants to phase in more nursing care. Under the Governor’s proposal, the minimum by 2014 would be 4.1 hours each day for residents who need skilled care and 2.8 hours daily for residents needing intermediate care. While some homes already meet those standards in Illinois, some do not. As a reminder, the Illinois nursing home proposals stem from news reports of assaults, rapes, and murders in Illinois nursing homes.

Click here to read more about the proposals to prevent Illinois nursing home neglect.

The Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti frequently visit the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) website so that we may keep our Illinois consumer readers updated on product recalls. Please check your homes for the following unsafe products listed below:

- Children’s hooded sweatshirts: about 3,200 children’s hooded sweatshirts distributed by Niko’s SPORTSLINE of Sunrise, Florida were recalled. The jackets’ drawstrings through the hood which pose a strangulation hazard to children. Consumers are instructed to contact GJC International of Florida collect at (954) 581-4646 for additional information.

- Baby walkers: about 200 baby walkers imported by Le Hing, Inc. of South El Monte, California have been recalled. The walkers can fit through a standard doorway and are not designed to stop at the edge of a step. Babies using the dangerous walkers can have serious personal injuries or be wrongfully killed. Consumers should stop using the walkers immediately and return them to the store where purchased. Call Le Hing, Inc. collect at (626) 575-8566 for more information.

- Children’s snowsuits and coats: about 4,500 children’s snowsuits and coats manufactured by Deux par Deux Minimome, Inc. The snowsuits and coats have drawstrings through the hood that can pose a strangulation hazard to children. In February 1996, the CPSC issued guidelines to prevent children from strangling or getting entangled on the neck and waist drawstrings in upper garments, such as jackets and sweatshirts. For more information on the product recall, consumers are recommended to contact Deux par Deux toll-free at (866) 557-2222.

To keep up-to-date on recent product recalls, check out the CPSC website.

House Bill 5999 creates four rules to use in the substance of the dispute. (1) The arbitrators must decide the dispute following any rules of law that are chosen by the parties as applicable to the substance of the dispute. Requires that any designation of the law or legal system of a given jurisdiction to be construed, as directly referring to the substantive law of that jurisdiction and not to its conflict of law rules. (2) If the parties do not make such a designation, the arbitrators must apply the law as determined by the conflict of laws rules that they consider applicable. (3) The arbitrators must decide according to the strict rules of law unless the parties have expressly authorized some other standard. (4) In all cases, the arbitrators must decide according to the terms of the contract and take into account the usages of the trade applicable to the transaction. This case will impact all Illnois law.

Oezle v. Score Sports Venutre, No. 1-0901476 (3-30-10) affirmed a case where the plaintiff was injured when she caught her foot on a rope exercise ladder hidden underneath curtain behind tennis court while playing at indoor tennis club where she was member. Plaintiff had duty to read release which she signed as part of her membership agreement. Ladder was "equipment", thus covered by release, and injury was foreseeable, thus grant of summary judgment on negligence count proper. Question of fact precluded summary judgment on willful and wanton count as to Defendant's efforts to prevent danger. Responses to request to admit which are boilerplate lack of information responses but without further explanation are admissions. This case will impact personal injury cases.

Wagner v. Eagle Food Centers, Inc., No. 1-08-3213 (2-10-10) found that a plaintiff, a resident of Will County, slipped and fell at grocery store in Joliet, and filed in Will County a premises liability claim against store and, later, products liability claims against Clorox, the manufacturer of the Tilex product which was claimed to have leaked from package and spilled onto floor, and a related medical malpractice claim. Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed seventh amended complaint in Will County, the day after court ordered Plaintiffs to answer Defendants' supplemental interrogatories as to factual basis for claims that product leaked or had insufficient tamper resistance. One year later, Plaintiffs filed complaint in Cook County. Judge improperly denied Defendants' forum non conveniens motion to dismiss or transfer, as private interest factors and public interest factors strongly favored Will County venue. Location of treating physician, and of parties' attorneys, is to be given little weight. This first district Illinois case will impact slip and fall law.

A family has filed a Cook County wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of their loved one, a man who was crushed and killed by industrial equipment while working on a construction project at the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant, according to the Chicago Breaking News Center. The victim was using a skid steer loader during construction of industrial fencing and gates at the plant on the west perimeter when his harness on his body had become entangled with the equipment. A skid steer loader is an engine-power machine that uses many attachments to reportedly save on labor costs. The Illinois wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the entanglement caused the victim to be thrown to the ground and crushed to death by the machine.

The Chicago wrongful death lawsuit names the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, the maker of the loader machine, and a construction company as defendants. The Chicago-are victim was an iron-worker with a wife and three children. At the time of his wrongful death, he had been working for Industrial Fence, Inc. The Cook County wrongful death lawsuit seeks damages great than $50,000.

The term “wrongful death” is a legal term that a death has been caused by the fault of another person. For example, deaths caused by drunk driving, the manufacture of a defective or dangerous product, or the construction of an uninsured structure or building, may be considered under the law as “wrongful death.” The Illinois wrongful death lawsuits are usually filed by family members of the decedent. Some times, these claims are filed in order to obtain monetary damages in order to cover the earnings the deceased person would have provided. Otherwise, they may be recovered to include expenses associated with death, lost benefits, lost inheritance, or pain and suffering.

To read more about the Cook County worksite wrongful death lawsuit.

A 39 year-old man was ticketed for failure to stop at a stop sign after his vehicle struck a Chicago school bus in a Chicago bus accident at 3:26pm last Friday. Police began investigating the Chicago car accident and reported to find a weapon inside the vehicle that the 39 year-old man was reportedly driving. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office has now charged the motorist, an alleged gang member, for reportedly having a weapon inside the vehicle he crashed. He has been charged with one count of unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon and unlawful possession of a firearm in a vehicle by a street gang member.

Luckily, nobody on the school bus was injured, but the 39 year-old motorist and the driver of the other vehicle were hospitalized in serious but “stable” condition. The accident – and the unlawful weapon – are still under investigation.

In this car accident luckily nobody was injured – with a school bus involved, the damage could have been catastrophic. Unfortunately, the Chicago auto accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti have worked with clients who were seriously injured from car accidents. Every time a driver gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, he or she is accepting responsibility for the safety of everyone else on the road. While accidents do happen, if a driver’s negligent behavior or careless actions lead to the injury or death of another party, that driver must be held accountable.

To read the Chicago Sun Times article on the Chicago school bus crash.

Dobyns v. Chung, M.D., No. 5-07-0568 (3-19-10) affirmed a wrongful death case filed by a widower alleging over-prescribing of narcotics over long term and failure to adequately warn about risk of harm from taking several kinds together. Decedent was age 31 and spouse and two minor sons survived. Jury verdict for $100,000, was reduced by 50% for contributory negligence. Defense counsel had remarked during closing that if there were liability verdict of about $1 million would be fair, but jury was to disregard attorneys' statements if not based on evidence, and it was an opinion. The appellate court determined that the jury verdict was not manifestly inadequate and cannot make scientific assessment of verdict by comparison to other verdicts in state. This case will impact Illinois wrongful death law.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that a Gurnee family was recently awarded $30 million after a judge ruled in favor of the Illinois family’s claims that medical negligence during a childbirth caused the child to be a quadriplegic. The Illinois birth injury lawsuit alleged that medical negligence was committed by federally employed physicians who were at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago when their son was born in 2003.

The Illinois family’s lawyers stated that an infection started before the mother went into labor, but she was not given necessary antibiotics. Then, during the first few hours of life, the child showed “red flags” related to having an infection, but the infection went untreated. The infection unfortunately traveled into the child’s bloodstream and eventually into his brain. The result of the Illinois medical negligence during the childbirth was permanent brain damage. The Chicago birth injury lawsuit alleged that had the doctors followed the standard of care, the child would have been born a normal baby boy instead of a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy.

The attorneys at Levin & Perconti are unfortunately all too familiar with Illinois birth injury lawsuits. Birth injuries are a category of medical malpractice claims and lawsuits that arise when babies are injured at birth or before birth by careless or intentional acts of a healthcare provider. The birth injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti have extensive experience with birth injury lawsuits and injury lawsuits under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Like in the Gurnee family’s case, many of the places we go and spaces we inhabit each day are owned by the federal government and operated by its employees. Victims like the Gurnee family have the right to seek restitution from the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

More information is available on the birth injury verdict here.

House Bill 5381 will allow the circuit court clerk to give “notice” to a party by “hard copy” or by “electronic notice” under a uniform and standard policy adopted by the clerk. Electronic notice has the same effect as notice by hard copy if this statute and clerk’s policies are complied with. The bill gives the recipient an option to receive notices by hard copy or electronic notice by registering an electronic address with the clerk. The bill requires the clerk to keep a copy of the electronic content and a delivery receipt. This bill will impact Illinois law.

Hope v. Hope, No. 4-09-0707 (3-4-10) affirmed that after a young daughter sued her parents for injuries sustained when she fell on muddy front steps of parents' house, claiming distraction exception as she had forgotten about mud being on steps. Daughter's activities which occurred between her arrival at house and her fall were everyday activities of eating, sleeping, studying, and watching TV, and did not occur during fall; thus, distraction exception does not apply. This case will impact Illinois premises liability law.

The Chicago Tribune reported last week that the Illinois family of a disabled woman has filed an Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit against an Aurora nursing home. The family also filed an injury lawsuit against the nursing home resident who is alleged to have sexually assaulted her. The nursing home neglect lawsuit filed last week in Kane County, Illinois names Fox River Pavilion nursing home in Aurora and a patient there as the nursing home neglect defendants.

The Illinois nursing home lawsuit alleges that a 39 year-old resident sexually assaulted the woman in his room at the nursing home. The nursing home neglect victim suffers from dementia and was in a bruised, battered, and bloodied condition after the attack. The Illinois lawsuit also claims that the resident has been arrested numerous times and suffers from bipolar disorder in addition to other mental issues. The lawsuit alleges that the nursing home should have more closely monitored or restricted the alleged assaulter and also alleges that it failed to provide additional security or therapies that may have treated his behavior.

The 39 year-old assaulter is being held in Kane County Jail awaiting a criminal trial on multiple counts of eight counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, and battery. State records confirm that the assaulter has served prison stints in Cook County, Illinois for burglary in addition to retail theft convictions.

The Aurora nursing home has a recent history of trouble with Illinois nursing home neglect. In December, a resident of the nursing home died of heart failure after his roommate was attacked. In February, officials from the state of Illinois and the federal government terminated funding to the nursing home after investigating the December case and others. The Illinois nursing home attorneys Levin & Perconti believe that staffing is one of the most important issues to nursing home safety and state reports in regards to this Aurora nursing home confirm this. State reports stated that a lack of staffing contributed to resident-on-resident attacks and that the staff failed to properly monitor and treat aggressive mentally ill felons housed in the nursing home.

Click the link to read more about the Illinois nursing home abuse lawsuit.

The Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti have blogged often about the Toyota vehicle recalls. In the latest happening reported by the Chicago Tribune, the federal government has accused Toyota of hiding a dangerous product defect and proposed a record $16.4 million fine on Monday for failing to quickly alert regulators to safety problems in gas medals on popular models. The product liability fine, announced by the Transportation Secretary, is the most that the government could levy for the sticking gas pedals that led Toyota to issue a product recall of millions of vehicles. Additionally, the Japanese automaker faces private product liability lawsuits seeking many millions more in damages.

The automaker Toyota has issued product recalls of more than 6 million vehicles in the United States and more than 8 million vehicles worldwide because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Toyota Prius hybrid. Documents recovered from the automaker demonstrated that the automaker knew of the product liability problem with the sticking gas pedals in late September, but did not issue a product recall until late January. The sticking pedals involved 2.3 million vehicles.

The product liability mess surrounding the Toyota product recall has reinforced the need for trial lawyers. The government cannot oversee everything that manufacturers do; everyday consumers depend on trial lawyers to bring their injuries due to product defects to the attention of the government and the manufacturers through the civil justice system. The point is made clear by the Toyota case – one review of federal records found as many as 2600 consumer product complaints of sudden acceleration over a 10 year period.

For more information on the record product liability fine.

Dobyns v. Chung, M.D. No. 5-07-0568 (3-19-10) affirmed a wrongful death case filed by widower alleging over-prescribing of narcotics over long term and failure to adequately warn about risk of harm from taking several kinds of medications together. Decedent was age 31 and spouse and two minor sons survived. Jury verdict for $100,000, reduced by 50% for contributory negligence. Defense counsel had remarked during closing that if there were liability verdict of about $1 million would be fair, but jury was to disregard attorneys' statements if not based on evidence, and it was an opinion. Jury verdict not manifestly inadequate; cannot make scientific assessment of verdict by comparison to other verdicts in state. This Illinois case will greatly impact wrongful death law.

The family of a South Side Chicago wrongful death victim has filed an Illinois wrongful death lawsuit against the man who has been charged in connection with the death. The Cook County wrongful death lawsuit was filed last week in Cook County Circuit Court and accuses the charged driver with negligence in the February death of the wrongful death victim, a 59 year-old Chicago woman.

In the criminal case, Cook County prosecutors allege that the driver was operating a late model Dodge that struck and killed the 59 year-old Chicago wrongful death victim as she was crossing the intersection of 69th Street and Halsted Street. Chicago police say that video surveillance footage from the area, including red light camera footage, led them to the alleged driver. The driver, who is from Chicago, has been charged with felony reckless homicide and failure to report an accident resulting in the death of another person. The driver remains in Cook County jail on $350,000 bail. The Chicago wrongful death lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from the driver.

Legally, wrongful death means a death that has been caused by the fault of another person. In addition to the hit-and-run described above, other examples of wrongful deaths may be deaths caused by the manufacture of a defective or dangerous product, the construction of an unsound structure or building, or failing to diagnose a fatal disease. Wrongful death lawsuits, like the Cook County wrongful death lawsuit described above, are usually filed by family members or beneficiaries of the decedent.

More information about the Illinois hit-and-run lawsuit is available here.

Pickel v. Springfield Stallions, No. 4-09-0490 (3-23-10) reversed a decision where the trial court found the plaintiff, a spectator during arena football game, was injured when football player ran out of bounds, fell over a wall separating spectators from field, and collided with Plaintiff. Because Plaintiff was a spectator, not a participant, doctrine of primary assumption of risk is inapplicable, and Defendants owed her duty of care to take reasonable precautions for safety, such as adequately sturdy wall, or warnings. Defendants not foreclosed from pleading contributory negligence, which is a question of fact for jury. This Illinois case will impact premises liability law.

The St. Clair Record is reporting that an Illinois plaintiff has filed an Illinois personal injury lawsuit against a St. Clair County nursing home. The premises liability lawsuit alleges that the female victim sustained injuries to multiple body parts – her shoulder, neck, back, and coccyx- after falling at the St. Clair County nursing home. The slip-and-fall occurred in April 2008, when the Illinois plaintiff encountered a wet, slippery floor that had been recently mopped, which caused her to fall. In addition to the woman’s injuries, the personal injury plaintiff incurred medical costs and lost money because of her fall at the Illinois nursing home.

The plaintiff of the personal injury lawsuit alleges that the nursing home was negligent for failing to warn its customers and visitors of a recently mopped floor and for allowing a wet floor to exist in an area where it could expect its customers would traffic and for failing to barricade a passageway where the wet floor existed. The personal injury lawsuit seeks a judgment of greater than $50,000 plus costs.

Illinois slip-and-fall accidents are unfortunately not infrequent and people can sustain serious injuries in them. When an accident or injury occurs to a person visiting another person’s property, the owner of the property owes a duty of care to the visitor and may be legally responsible if an individual or his/her personal injury attorney can prove that the owner’s negligence or recklessness led to the injury. The injured party may be able to recover the costs to pay for medical bills, lost earnings, and other pain, disfigurement, emotional distress, or permanent physical disability they have suffered.

For more about the Illinois slip-and-fall lawsuit.