Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog

Our Chicago injury lawyers read about several Illinois children who were transported to area hospitals after sustaining personal injuries when an inflatable slide tipped over on a junior elementary school playground. Fortunately, none of the fifth-graders’ personal injuries were life-threatening. However, the school reported that one child sustained a head injury in the playground accident when their head hit the asphalt. That same child reported dizziness. Some students also had bloody lips. The students were on an inflatable slide that appeared to tip over, causing the children to fall onto the asphalt. The slide was roughly fifteen feet high and there were fifty students outside at the time.

While many head injuries are harmless, they have to be taken very seriously because of risk of brain injury. Often times, parents wonder if their child needs medical attention after a head injury. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents contact their child’s healthcare provider for advance for anything more than a light bump on the head. Additionally, children with the following symptoms should be evaluated by a healthcare provider: recurrent vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness, headaches, behavioral changes, clumsiness, confusion, dizziness that does not resolve, or if the child fell from a height greater than five feet. These symptoms may indicate head injury complication.

Continue reading "Several Illinois children injured after slide tips" »

Famous actress Rosie Perez has filed a personal injury lawsuit against the production company for injuries sustained while taping an episode of Law & Order. Perez claims that she suffered severe personal injuries while taping an episode of Law & Order Special Victims Unit in 2009. The suit alleges that the production company was negligent in failing to use skilled performers or experienced stunt personnel in a scene wherein her character was significantly shaken by a school crossing guard. The lawsuit further claims that Rosie Perez was negligently, carelessly, violently, and recklessly pulled, grabbed, yanked, wrenched, and/or manhandled by an extra actor who played the crossing guard. The injury lawsuit alleges that Rosie Perez sustained severe and permanent personal injuries during the filming. Her personal injury attorney further reported that Ms. Perez underwent two surgeries for a herniated disc suffered during the filming. She had a spinal fusion procedure in July, where bone marrow from her pelvis was transplanted to her vertebrae in her back. However, despite the surgeries, she continues to have severe pain and numbness. The personal injury lawsuit also alleges that the actress has not been able to work in a year due to the injury.

The personal injury lawsuit seeks no specified dollar amount, but her personal injury attorney reported that the actress seeks substantial damages because she has not been able to work due to her personal injuries sustained in 2009. The producers of the Law & Order Special Victims Unit show did not respond to a request for comment from CNN and a spokesman for NBC, which airs the show, declined to comment on the personal injury lawsuit. Although this is a situation where the actress was hurt on the job, Ms. Perez did not file a workers’ compensation claim because such claims are different for artists injured on the job.

Read more about the actress’s personal injury lawsuit at CNN.

Federal regulators recently announced a product recall that may hit close to Illinois homes this Memorial Day weekend. Many pools across the country will need to replace faulty safety equipment that can lead to swimmers getting trapped underwater and drowning. The product recall of pool drains involves 1 million covers. The timing of the product recall by the United States Product Safety Commission (CSPC) made many pool owners and operators frustrated. Our Illinois product liability lawyers hope that such action will prevent injuries or deaths. Pool owners and operators have, in the recent years, installed safety equipment; unfortunately, this has failed to make these drains safe. Hiring a pool professional to replace drains can cost hundreds of dollars, which frustrates the homeowners and operators. The CPSC noted that larger pools with multiple drains or gravity draining systems will not need to close, but those with a single main drain will need to close if their drain is one of those recalled.

The danger of pool drains, which may seem harmless, occurs when the drains do not have proper covers. Then, the drains can act like supercharged vacuum cleaners, which are capable of trapping people under water with hundreds of pounds of suction force. Earlier this year, a Chicago Tribune investigation revealed how pool drain covers failed safety tests. The investigation revealed a confidential report where witnesses to tests concluded that some pool drain covers certified that the drains could result in “serious injuries and/or death.” The CPSC had also fielded safety complaints about the drain covers for more than two years, but did not launch any investigation until last year.

Continue reading "Chicago Injury Lawyer Alert: Pools may be affected by product recall of drain covers" »

Over the weekend, our Chicago personal injury lawyers read about another tragic motor vehicle accident that involved a man driving under the influence. On Saturday afternoon, a Chicago nanny was walking with a stroller carrying a 20 month-old when she saw a white pick up truck swerving toward her on the sidewalk downtown. According to reports, the driver was a 61 year-old Chicago Streets and Sanitation laborer; he plowed into a group of people into the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. He was driving a city Ford F-150 pickup truck with an open bottle of E&J Brandy next to him, said the Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney. His blood alcohol level was .183, more than twice the legal limit for driving in the state of Illinois. In addition to the nanny and the baby, five other people received personal injuries. All seven were hospitalized following the Chicago drunk driving accident.

The child’s father called the nanny an angel on earth and stated that there is no question that from the eyewitness accounts, she pushed the stroller away and took the hit herself. The nanny instinctively pushed away the stroller carrying the 20 month-old child, in a move that spared critical personal injuries to the infant. The 25 year-old nanny remained in serious condition yesterday. The Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney described that the nanny’s bones from the waist below were basically shattered. She fractured her pelvis, hips, and legs and her skin tissue was torn off her legs. She had hardware put in her body and is currently in traction. Additionally, there were a number of other people injured in the Chicago pedestrian accident.

Continue reading "Chicago man causes pedestrian accident with injuries while driving drunk" »

The past ten to twenty years have seen a sharp rise in the popularity of trampolines. At first the exercise and entertainment products began popping up in backyards across the country. However, our Chicago injury attorneys have observed that the fitness and entertainment product is taking a more organized turn with the creation of spaces known as “trampoline parks.” These are large warehouse-like facilities where trampolines are lined up like a checkerboard.

According to the Chicago Tribune, these trampoline parks first gained popularity on the West Coast, but locations are now being built throughout Illinois. Many safety advocates are concerned about the increased risk of participants suffering a Chicago personal injury due to the activity. For example, since it opened in November, ambulances have been called to one Chicago area trampoline park 16 times to help an injured participant. In one incident, a 13-year old girl fell on her head and reported tingling in her arms and difficulty breathing, suffering a fracture in her neck.

Experts explain that 11 people have been killed because of trampoline accidents in the last decade. Nationwide nearly 100,000 trampoline injuries are reported each year. Area hospitals like Central DuPage Hospital report that they have seen a noticeable increase in traumatic injuries since the nearby park opened, including broken legs, arms, and even one head injury.

These parks are currently not regulated by Illinois state agencies like other amusement parks. The Department of Labor explains how only those parks that have moving apparatus are under the regulatory guidelines of the state. Therefore the regulation of these spaces is often done by local governments which frequently have little oversight of the process.

Continue reading "Trampoline Parks May Pose Chicago-Area Injury Risks" »

A Chicago car accident early this morning resulted in two deaths and four receiving serious personal injuries. Early this morning at 5:15 a.m., two vehicles crashed into a PLS Check Cashiers store in a Chicago neighborhood on the Northwest side of the city. The two who were killed in the Chicago car accident were two individuals in their fifties who were on a cleaning crew that had been working downtown and were heading back to their homes. Both were pronounced dead at a Chicago hospital shortly after the Illinois car crash.

Police reported that two cars were involved: a beige Hyundai and a black Honda. The Honda vehicle hit a street light and both cars then hit the PLS Check Cashiers store. Emergency personnel responded shortly thereafter and everyone was listed as being seriously to critically injured. Six ambulances responded to the accident scene. A nearby neighbor, who lives only one block away from the accident site, was awakened by the sound shortly after 5:00 a.m. this morning. He recalled that three young people were in the Honda and three older people were in the Hyundai; he stated that one was really seriously hurt and the other person was not really moving at all. He stated that emergency personnel had to use the jaws of life to remove a person from the car and CPR was being performed on another victim that he observed. The neighbor stated that the other three victims were sitting next to the car trying to figure out what happened with the Chicago car accident. All six individuals were treated at local hospitals.

Continue reading "Chicago car accident results in two deaths, four injured" »

An Illinois bill that could save student lives is awaiting Governor Quinn’s signature. The bill was prompted after the death of a Chicago seventh grade student who died after suffering an allergic food reaction during a classroom party. The bill, that passed the Illinois legislature, allows school nurses to administer life-saving epinephrine injections even if the student has not been known to have been diagnosed with an allergy. Our Chicago wrongful death lawyers are happy to see this bill and hope that it is signed quickly. With young children’s current high rate of allergies, epinephrine injections could truly be lifesaving.

The thirteen year-old seventh grade student passed away of anaphylaxis in December after eating takeout food that was cooked in peanut oil at a school in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. Anaphylaxis is a severe, whole-body allergic reaction to a chemical that has become an allergen. After being exposed to a substance that is an allergen, the person's immune system becomes sensitized to it. On a later exposure to that allergen, an allergic reaction may occur. This reaction happens quickly after the exposure, is severe, and involves the whole body. An injection of epinephrine, which is a hormone, can counter severe allergic reactions by opening constricting breathing tubes, which improves blood circulation and reduces swelling.

Continue reading "Illinois bill prompted by student’s food allergy death awaits Governor’s signature " »

An Illinois wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of the woman who was struck and killed by a tour bus in the Steeterville neighborhood of Chicago earlier this month. The young victim was a Polish immigrant who grew up in Germany. She graduated from the school of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree. The Chicago wrongful death lawsuit is filed against the bus company, alleging that the bus company was negligent in hiring the driver. The driver in the Chicago car accident was arrested after the wrongful death of the 24 year-old Chicago victim and remains in jail on aggravated DUI charges. Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors report that the driver, who was 47 years of age, had cocaine in his system at the time of the May 3 Streeterville car accident. Additionally, the driver’s commercial driver’s license was suspended in August 3, 2008 when he was cited for speeding and driving without insurance, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

The Chicago Tribune reported that when the driver was arrested, officials also learned that the driver was the subject of a police investigation accusing him of sexually assaulting two girls. He was charged in those incidents. The Chicago wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the bus group should not have hired the driver because of the investigative alert and the driver’s two prior convictions. Further, the Chicago wrongful death lawsuit contends that the bus group should have known of the driver’s alleged cocaine use.

Continue reading "Family of car accident victim files Illinois wrongful death lawsuit" »

Our area has been saddened recently as news spread about a tragic Illinois fire in nearby Aurora that claimed the lives of six people and injured many others. Our Chicago personal injury attorneys learned of the fire in the Sun-Times , which offered a comprehensive story on the fire accident and its aftermath.

Investigators are still unsure what started the fire, but they know that it began in the living room of a unit on the first floor occupied by the superintendent. The individuals in that apartment tried to extinguish the fire with a garden hose, but were unsuccessful. Those residents escaped, but the fire spread, ultimately trapping many other residents in their units.

Ten units are in the apartment building, and it was filled with roughly 25 to 30 residents when the fire brought out in the early morning, around 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. The fire moved very quickly throughout the building—doubling in size every minute and trapping many people before firefighting crews had arrived.

Some residents were able to escape by jumping out of windows, others were fortunate enough to rush out of the back stairwell and exit. However, those living in the units closest to the fire’s origin were less lucky. Four members of a five person family, including two children, were killed in one apartment. Only their teenage son was able to escape. Two others—a mother and her 8 month old son—were killed in the adjacent apartment. Her husband and two-year old daughter were able to get out but were injured.

Chicago police officers determined that there were smoke detectors in many areas of the building, but they are still trying to determine if there was a working device in the room where the fire was started. They have yet to find a working detector in that location.

Continue reading "Chicagoland Tragedy: Aurora Fire Kills Six and Injures Twelve" »

While deaths on roads nationwide have decreased over the past several years, the overall number of victims who are injured or killed in car accidents still remains too high to simply ignore. Any Chicago personal injury attorney will be able to notice that there remains much room for improvements. That is why local law enforcement officials continue to use different techniques to make our roadways safer and more secure. Similarly, state lawmakers address the problem of road safety by enacting new laws which address growing issues, like distracted driving bans and construction zone requirements. Yet, obviously those requirements have no effect if motorists do not abide by them.

Raising awareness of enforcement of traffic laws is the goal of an annual Chicagoland road safety initiative involved 15 area law enforcement agencies. The Naperville Sun reported last week on the road safety project which involved a 65 mile stretch of Route 59 on May 9th. The location and timing of the project was widely publicized in the hope that motorists would get the message, alter their conduct, and ultimately make the roadway safer for travelers. However, even with the stepped up publicity, a record number of drivers were issued tickets in the effort for violating a variety of traffic laws.

For example, in Naperville alone, over 182 tickets were issued to drivers and passengers. 93 of the Naperville tickets were issued for seat-belt violations, 47 for speeding, 15 for no insurance, 4 to unlicensed drivers, and the remainder for a variety of other issues.

When the other 14 participating agencies add their citation figures, it is likely that the total will be higher than the 548 citations issued in the 2009 enforcement effort.
Bu the “record” is not exactly a satisfying achievement for those involved. A local law enforcement official explained his concern, noting that “we’d actually like for the totals to have been lower. We were hoping people would pay more attention than this.”

Continue reading "Chicago Road Safety Project Issues Record Number of Traffic Tickets" »

Yesterday was a particularly memorable Sunday for one of our firm founding partners Steve Levin—he welcomed a new grandchild into the world. Anna Belle Eve was born in New York City yesterday, a happy and healthy 6 pound, 10 ounce baby girl.

The newborn is Steve’s sixth grandchild. He has three sons who currently live in New York City and a daughter in Chicago.

Congratulations and best wishes all around for Steve and his family on this very special occasion.

Our Chicago personal injury lawyers recently reported about a puzzling Chicago-area car accident that resulted in Illinois personal injuries. The automobile accident occurred last week and involved a police officer in the Southwest Suburb of Chicago of Tinley Park. The police officer rear ended another vehicle in Frankfort, Illinois at around 1:00 in the morning and then fled the scene. The Tinley Park police officer was subsequently pulled over about ten miles away from the scene of the hit-and-run crash by local area police. At the time of the accident, the police officer involved in the motor vehicle accident was driving an unmarked squad car. Recent news reveals that the officer is a veteran Tinley Park police officer and has been charged in the hit-and-run personal injury crash. It further reveals that the officer had been drinking and driving and had a handgun between his feet when he was stopped in his unmarked vehicle by those local police.

Continue reading "Update: hit-and-run driver had been drinking" »

Our Illinois personal injury lawyers always keep abreast of changes at both the state and federal level. Unfortunately, changes are being proposed in both arenas that would take away the rights of injury victims and other vulnerable community members, particular those in Illinois nursing homes. At the state level, proposed budget cuts would dangerously lower the amount of aid given to ensure that staffing levels remain adequate and that the overall treatment of seniors at these facilities meets basic quality standards.

On top of those state threats, the care of our senior citizens is also at risk from possible changes by federal officials. The Consumer Voice has information on these latest challenges which risk rolling back nearly four decades of safety improvements. What’s more is that additional federal Medicare and Medicaid spending cuts may be added to the proposed state cuts to severely hurt many vulnerable seniors who need certain care to survive. It would not be an understatement to note that lives are literally on the line when it comes to this resource allocation.

The potential national changes are taking two forms: a resolution known as the “Ryan Budget Proposal” and separate Medicare and Medicaid caps. The budget proposals would essentially repeal forty years of work to raise the formerly abysmal standards at many nursing homes. If the changes are enacted these facilities would face less inspections and less enforcement—many facilities will undoubtedly slide back into poorer care and less oversight. Thousands of seniors would suffer. Those regulatory changes would then be combined with crippling Medicare and Medicaid reductions which would leave many seniors with no options for help.

We urge you to please consider making contact with your U.S. Senator to encourage their support for our area seniors. An email, letter, phone call, town hall meeting comment, or any other method of communication will go a long way to ensure that thousands of elderly community members are spared pain and suffering.

Continue reading "Federal Changes May Result in More Suffering For Injury Victims" »

During yesterday morning’s commute, a serious collision occurred between the Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line and a trailer truck in the Mount Prospect neighborhood. The Union Pacific Northwest Line (UPNW) runs from Harvard to downtown Chicago and already makes several stops before reaching Mount Prospect. The collision between the truck and the train killed the truck driver and caused the front train car of the Metra train to derail. All of the train cars remained upright, but a few dozen passengers received personal injuries from the train accident and were taken to area hospitals or treated on the scene. None of the personal injuries received by the train passengers were believed to be life-threatening.

The derailment of the train car was caused by the impact from the trailer of the truck, which landed to the side of the intersection. The train came to a stop after clearing the crossing. However, the second car of the train was blackened from soot because the truck had caught fire. Passengers reported that the cars filled up with smoke; passengers popped out windows on the upper level of the train to exit. Many passengers apparently feared that the accident was a terrorist attack, but Mount Prospect Police Commander dismissed those fears, stating that the situation appears to be “a driver in a hurry.” One passenger noted that the impact was like an explosion.

Continue reading "Suburban Metra train collision; 1 dead and several injured" »

Our Chicago product liability lawyers frequently visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission website to review recent product recalls. Many consumers are unaware of product recalls, which leaves many people vulnerable to personal injuries due to dangerous products that may be in their homes. Two recent product recalls, bunk beds and light bulbs, are especially important. The bunk beds can result in injuries to children and the light bulbs are likely in a lot of homes!

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Health Canada, in cooperation with the firm that manufactured the bunk beds, Dorel Asia SRL has issued a product recall for bunk beds. The product recall states that consumers should stop using the recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. The products are wooden bunk beds and about 445,000 units exist in the United States. The wooden side rails that run from the headboard to the footboard and hold the bunk bed’s mattress in place may split and cause the bunk bed to collapse, which poses a fall hazard to consumers. The manufacturer and CPSC has received over twenty reports of the side rails cracking or breaking, resulting in at least seven cases where the user had minor bruises or abrasions.

Continue reading "Bunk beds recalled due to danger of collapse; light bulbs due to fire hazard" »

A young girl, only five years of age, died this afternoon after being a victim of an Illinois car accident in Tinley Park. Tinley Park, Illinois is a popular suburb on the Southwest side of Chicago. The Tinley Park car accident occurred this afternoon on the 6500 block of 175th Street. The Tinley Park police announced that the vehicle that hit the young girl was driven by a 16 year-old boy. A neighbor reported that the young girl had run into the street to chase a ball when she was hit by the car. The Illinois car accident victim was taken to a local hospital and it was unclear if any charges are pending against the teenage driver of the other vehicle.

Continue reading "Child dies after Tinley Park car accident" »

A 74 year-old man passed away over the weekend on Saturday morning after a car crash on I-57 in Chicago. The senior citizen Chicago car crash victim died of multiple personal injuries from a sport utility vehicle (SUV) crash. The death was ruled an accident with the secondary cause of death listed as a heart condition. Illinois State Police are currently investigating.

Though SUVs are advertised most frequently as tough vehicles, few have bumpers that are equipped to withstand a minor bump in a low-speed collision. Many SUVs earned poor ratings in crash tests. Almost 6 million car accidents occur yearly in this country. While these car accidents cause more than 3 million personal injuries, about 2/3 of these injuries are extremely dangerous and not reversible. According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, there were 950 fatal car crashes in Illinois in 2008. In 2008, there were 1095 fatalities resulting from auto accidents in Illinois. The types of Illinois auto accidents that are most likely to be deadly include those wherein the driver is intoxicated or distracted, occupants are not wearing their seat belts, occupants are ejected from the vehicle that they are in, heavy trucks are involved in the accident, or seat backs or breaks fail when the driver loses control.

Continue reading "Chicago man dies after car crash on I-57" »

An Illinois personal injury lawyer is aware of the need to protect the basic legal rights of negligence victims from the big interests that seek to strip them away. Over the last several months we have been following the advancements of the latest effort to eliminate rights encapsulated in legislation known as House Resolution 5 or the HEALTH Act. If passed the measure would essentially destroy many basic legal provisions that have long been given to Illinois medical malpractice victims and those hurt by nursing home neglect.

Blog readers are aware that the bill has already been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. Before reaching the full Senate for consideration is must first pass through the Senate’s Energy & Commerce. That committee is expected to hold hearings on the bill beginning tomorrow and continuing on Wednesday, before potentially being sent to the full United States Senate for an up or down vote.

During this week’s committee process, legislators can offer amendments which may change some specific provisions of the bill. Following that option, the committee members will vote to send it to the full Senate. If amendments are made to the legislation by the committee before it is sent to the full Senate (and if it passes the entire Senate), than the two chambers of Congress must meet and reconcile the different versions of the bill before sending it to the President for his potential approval.

Those who have followed this measure know that it represents an egregious attempt by big insurance interests and the medical lobby to strip victims of legal rights. The claimed “problem” of medical malpractice lawsuits has been cited again and again, even though those claims run directly counter to evidence. It is vital that this bill be stopped or for the most draconian portions of the legislation to be amended out.

Continue reading "H.R. 5 Dangerous “Tort Reform” Bill Nears Senate Vote" »

Today the Chicago Sun-Times posted a story on the tragic death of a local woman following a Streeterville bus crash. According to the report, a negligent 47 year old driver was in a tour bus and he tried to make a right turn onto North Columbus Avenue. At the same time that he was turning, a woman was walking across the street. The 26 year old female bus crash victim was then unexpectedly hit by the turning vehicle. She lived only blocks from the intersection had had only taken a few steps away from the curb when the accident occurred. Emergency responders tried to save the woman, but she ultimately died from her injuries.

Investigations following the crash showed that the bus driver was under the influence of cocaine at the time of the accident. His only excuse is that he did not see the woman as he turned the corner.

It was also later learned that the man had a series of past behaviors that should have indicated his risk behind the wheel. For example, in the last twenty years the man has been cited over twenty times for a variety of driving citations and crimes. Besides that, the man was also wanted on two counts of criminal sexual assault for apparently molesting two young girls in 2006 and 2007. In 1992 the man had been sentenced to 8 years in prison for sexually assaulting another young girl.

Unfortunately, Chicago truck crashes continue to take lives of our area residents. Sometime genuine accidents occur, but in many cases, like this one, there is one party that clearly acted in a negligent way leading to the accident. It is particularly egregious when the negligent drivers of these large machines are under the influence of substances like drugs and alcohol. Last October our attorneys at Levin & Perconti worked on a similar case earning a record $6.5 million Illinois truck crash settlement for the surviving family of a woman who was killed when a truck driver rear-ended the family’s vehicle. The truck driver in that accident was under the influence of marijuana at the time. The individuals who hired the man did not perform regular drug tests, obtain his driving records, or conduct a background test to ensure his fitness to drive the truck.

Continue reading "Streeterville Woman Killed After Being Hit By Tour Bus" »

A recent car accident in the southwest suburbs resulting in Illinois personal injuries left many Illinois residents puzzled. A local police officer in the Southwest Suburb of Chicago of Tinley Park has now been placed on administrative leave after he fled the scene of a car crash that caused another Illinois victim personal injuries. Over the weekend, the officer is alleged to have rear ended another vehicle in Frankfort, Illinois around 1:00 in the morning. He was pulled over roughly 10 miles away from the scene of the crash by local police. At the time of the Illinois car crash, the police officer was driving an unmarked police car. Charges are currently pending. According to the Tinley Park police department, the police officer is on administrative leave while the police department conducts an internal investigation. The village of Tinley Park is investigating whether the vehicle was being improperly used at the time, in violation of any department policies.

As for the Illinois car accident victim, the 49 year-old passenger of the vehicle that was rear ended was transported to a nearby hospital for the personal injuries sustained. The driver did not seek medical attention.

Continue reading "Chicago-area police officer on leave after fleeing scene of crash" »

A Chicago woman was struck by a private tour bus in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood near the lake and received serious personal injuries. She was hit by the motor vehicle during the evening rush hour around 6:50 p.m. at the intersection of Illinois Street and Columbus Drive. She was rushed to nearby Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition and later died due to her injuries. There have been a number of Chicago motor vehicle accidents in the Streeterville neighborhood in the past couple of years. The neighborhood is quite busy with a lot of pedestrians. In June of last year, two Chicago pedestrians received serious personal injuries when they were struck by a pickup truck in Streeterville. That pedestrian accident occurred only two blocks away from this one at St. Clair Street and Illinois Street. The Chicago pedestrians were attempting to cross the street and were midway through the crosswalk when a gray Silverado turned left onto Illinois Street. Those Chicago car accident victims were too transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where they were in serious to critical condition. Then, just in January of this year, a woman pedestrian was hit by a Chicago Transit Authority bus just three blocks north of this accident in the Streeterville neighborhood.

Continue reading "Chicago woman dies after being struck by bus in Steeterville neighborhood" »

Our Chicago personal injury lawyers have been very concerned about the relation between sports such as football and traumatic brain injury. Yesterday, scientists announced that they found signs of damage in the deceased Chicago football player’s brain, which may shed light on his recent erratic behavior. The findings, of course, add to questions about whether the ultimate cost of playing football could be higher than anyone imagined and poses a more significant question of whether the National Football League (NFL) should do more to protect its players.

The former Chicago Bears player, prior to shooting himself this past February, had expressed his desire for his brain to be studied for signs of traumatic brain disease. Scientific studies show that his brain tissue suffered from “moderately advanced” case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease that is associated with repeated blows to the head, which often occurs in football. The deceased football player’s brain showed pronounced changes in the frontal cortex amygdala and the hippocampus. These parts of the brain control judgment, inhibition, impulse, mood control, and memory. Overall, CTE has been found in more than two dozen deceased professional football players. The NFL expressed its sympathy to the victim’s family and stated its wish that the findings will contribute more to the understanding of CTE. The NFL has also reported that it is working to expand the support system for retired players and advocating laws to better protect young athletes in any sport who suffer concussions.

Not only have football players been affected by traumatic brain injury and CTE, but many of our armed forces overseas are returning home with traumatic brain injury. An important medical concern of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is the long-term effect of mild traumatic brain injury, particularly from blast explosions.

To read more about the Chicago football player’s traumatic brain injury, visit the Chicago Tribune.

The manufacturer of the small plane that baseball player Cory Lidle and a flight instructor were piloting when they crashed into a Manhattan apartment building five years ago denied blame for the wrongful death. The lawyer for the plane manufacturer said that the victims, not the company, were to blame for their wrongful deaths. Opening statements recently begun in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Mr. Lidle’s wife and the family of his flight instructor, blaming Cirrus Design Corporation for the flight crash. The baseball player was only 34 years of age and died just days after his baseball season ended. The wrongful death lawsuit plaintiff’s attorney told jurors that their lawsuit would prove that the company rushed the plane into production a decade ago with an inferior control system. The attorney stated that the victims desperately tried to re-engage a jammed steering system as the plane went out of control and dropped altitude in the last 45 seconds before the crash.

Continue reading "Airplane manufacturer denies blame for baseball player’s death" »

In any given day an Illinois personal injury attorney may work with victims in a wide variety of situations, from those injured by the mistakes of their doctor to others who suffered debilitating workplace injuries. In virtually all cases, however, those involved simply seek basic fairness from the legal system so that they can get their lives back to normal for themselves and their families.

Unfortunately, big interests are virtually always working to undermine the legal rights of these victims. We have frequently discussed the medical malpractice “reform” that seeks to make it harder for patients to hold their doctors accountable for Illinois medical malpractice. Similarly, much talk has been made recently about Illinois workers compensation reform. The Bloomington Pantagraph recently published story by Illinois Trial Lawyers Association President Todd A. Smith that discusses the problems with the latest effort.

The potential abuses of the workers compensation system by a small group of violators are being used as cover to pass a sweeping proposal that would severely undermine the rights of all those who have legitimate workplace injury claims. Instead of empowering officials to root out abuse in the system, taking a hatchet to the entire system that has been in place for decades is being proposed.

For example, if passed these claimed “reforms” would force all injured workers to be treated by a “company doctor” who will have the financial incentive to get the employee back to work as soon as possible. Other changes would make it more difficult for all workers to receive support for their families following workplace accidents.

Continue reading "Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Shared Need to Protect Rights of Injured Workers" »