Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog

Though, fortunately, the injuries suffered in this case aren’t likely severe enough to warrant a Chicago personal injury lawsuit, an incident this afternoon at Chicago’s Midway Airport affords an opportunity to consider the notion of, and considerations behind, Illinois premises liability law.

According to a report by NBC Chicago, an 8 year-old boy with Down Syndrome was injured when he fell more than 20 feet – the equivalent of 2 stories – at Midway Airport in Chicago. The child and his family were at the airport to catch a flight back home to Guadalajara; while the boy was playing with a plant near a glass railing, he fell from the ticketing area to the baggage claim below.

The boy was immediately transferred to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in "serious" condition with "non-life threatening injuries," said Chicago Fire Department Spokesman Larry Langford. Fortuitously it turned out that the boy only suffered a cut lip, but the fact that the situation occurred is alarming unto itself.

This particular incident would remind any Chicago personal injury attorney of a tragic situation that occurred in 2009 when a 15 month-old boy died from a fall at an international airport after he fell from an upper departures area of the airport to a lower arrivals level. In any situation, it is the responsibility of the persons managing the airport’s premises to ensure that the area does not pose an unreasonable risk of injuries from a potentially-avoidable fall.

Illinois premises liability law is a significant branch of personal injury law that allows victims to recover after they have been injured on another person’s property, and the negligence of the property owner was the cause of that harm. In order to apply to a set of circumstances, premises liability law requires a number of factors to be satisfied: the defendant must be the owner or possessor of the land, or “premises." In this case, if a suit were to be filed, the defendants would be the persons or group responsible for managing the airport and its premises.

Additionally, the requirements state that the person or persons on the land of another must be injured by negligence or a different wrongful act. Illinois premises liability law may be triggered if it can be shown that the property owners or managers either failed to maintain the property, created unsafe conditions that caused the potential injury, or knew about the unsafe hazard but didn't alert visitors or tenants to this fact; in this particular situation, a potential lawsuit would claim that the defendants failed to warn visitors of foreseeable dangers, failed to have proper barriers to prevent falls, and maintained a premise with unreasonably unsafe conditions.

Moreover, in cases such as the one involving the 15 month-old boy, the potential for a claim could arise from the child’s wrongful death. Under Illinois law, wrongful death is the legal concept that arises when a person’s death has been caused by the fault or negligence of another person or business. In cases of wrongful death such as this one, family members and loved ones of the decedent can file a claim to potentially make the wrongdoer pay damages for things such as the loss of companionship, monetary damages to cover the earnings the deceased person would have provided, and expenses associated with the death such as funeral and burial costs.

Our Chicago personal injury lawyers have handled numerous premises liability cases and understand what it takes to succeed in even the most complicated cases of landowner liability. In fact, our attorneys won a $510,000 settlement against a restaurant which caused patrons to wait in area too close to steps leading to downstairs banquet area, leading to our client’s fall down the stairs that resulted in a fractured hip and foot.

Though a lawsuit can never bring a loved one back to life, it is a step in the right direction, both for achieving justice, and making those at fault pay for their carelessness. If you or a loved one has been injured on another’s property as a result of the property owner’s negligence, contact an attorney to be apprised of your rights under the law.

The circumstances almost sound too tragic to be true. However, devastatingly, they are not.

A recently-widowed man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the government and a corporation responsible for managing a public school after his wife suffered a deadly fall while paying her respects at the funeral of a fallen soldier.

The victim’s sister reports that the woman had walked across the stage at the school in which the funeral was being held, in order to speak to the soldier’s mother. She fell into the pit area in front of the stage, and suffered serious internal injuries from which she ultimately died during hospitalization.

Illinois premises liability law is a significant branch of personal injury law that allows victims to recover after they have been injured on another person’s property, and the negligence of the property owner was the cause of that harm. In order to apply to a set of circumstances, premises liability law requires a number of factors to be satisfied: the defendant must be the owner or possessor of the land, or “premises." In this case, the defendants are the government - in that it owns the school - and the company responsible for managing the school and its premises.

Additionally, the requirements state that the person or persons on the land of another must be injured by negligence or a different wrongful act. Illinois premises liability law may be triggered if it can be shown that the property owners or managers either failed to maintain the property, created unsafe conditions that caused the injury, or knew about the unsafe hazard but didn't alert visitors or tenants to this fact; in this particular situation, the lawsuit claims that the defendants failed to provide adequate lighting at the funeral service, failed to warn visitors of foreseeable dangers, failed to rope off the stage to prevent falls, and failed to provide adequate personnel to supervise and direct visitors. Here, the claim asserts, the woman’s death was a proximate result of this negligence.

Under Illinois law, wrongful death is the legal concept that arises when a person’s death has been caused by the fault or negligence of another person or business. In cases of wrongful death such as this one, family members and loved ones of the decedent can file a claim to potentially make the wrongdoer pay damages for things such as the loss of companionship, monetary damages to cover the earnings the deceased person would have provided, and expenses associated with the death such as funeral and burial costs.

Our Chicago personal injury lawyers have handled numerous premises liability cases and understand what it takes to succeed in even the most complicated cases of landowner liability. In fact, our attorneys won a $510,000 settlement against a restaurant which caused patrons to wait in area too close to steps leading to downstairs banquet area, leading to our client’s fall down the stairs that resulted in a fractured hip and foot.

If you or a loved one has been injured on another’s property as a result of the property owner’s negligence, contact an attorney to be apprised of your rights under the law.

Once again, our Chicago personal injury lawyers' efforts have paid off. Just this month, Chicago personal injury attorney, John J. Perconti, obtained a $1.2 million settlement against an adult social club and day center after an 87 year-old man fell and hit his head, suffering a serious brain injury that led to his death five days later.

The fall was captured on a surveillance video on the property, which revealed that employees of the defendant facility failed to properly supervise and assist the man despite the fact that they knew he required assistance, and that the property owners failed to maintain a safe and properly-designed curb ramp on the property, as well as failed to warn users of the dangers of the curb ramp.

At the time of the injury, the man was leaving the club to be transported home on one of the facility’s waiting busses. He had a care plan in place that required employees to help him with ambulation, but none of the employees were nearby to help the man as he walked to the bus.

Additionally, the curb ramps on the sidewalk in front of the bus were improperly designed; the curb ramp’s slopes were at a greater incline than the permitted ratios set forth by the building code standards, and the curb ramp was also not properly marked with any designation to warn users of its location, size, or shape.

As a general rule, when an accident or injury occurs to a visitor or tenant on another person's property, the owner of the property may be liable if it can be proved that their negligence led to the injury. Property owners may be legally responsible for injuries that occur on their properties if there are potential hazards on the land and the landlord fails to correct them, or if the landowner fails to warn people who come onto the land about the danger.

In cases involving Illinois premises liability law, plaintiffs must be able to show one of the following things:

• That the property owners either failed to maintain the property
;
• That the landowner created unsafe conditions which caused the injury;
• That the property owner knew about the unsafe hazard but didn't alert visitors or tenants to this fact;
• That the property owner was not careful concerning unsafe conditions which might attract children; or,
• That the landowner took actions, or neglected conditions on the property, that ultimately caused damage to a neighboring property.

Here, the building owners failed to have a sidewalk that was safe for people entering and exiting the building, and failed to warn visitors about the dangerous curb.

Because the man’s devastating injury tragically led to his passing, the building owners were held liable for causing his death as well. Under Illinois law, wrongful death is the legal concept that arises when a person’s death has been caused by the fault or negligence of another person or corporation. Because the death was caused by the fall, and the fall was caused by the negligence on the part of the owners of the club, they were held to be legally responsible for the man’s death.

In Illinois wrongful death cases such as this one, family members can file claims to potentially make the wrongdoer pay damages for things such as the loss of companionship, monetary damages to cover the earnings the deceased person would have provided, and expenses associated with the death such as funeral and burial costs, as well as having to experience grief and sorrow as a result of losing a loved one.

Though a lawsuit can never bring a loved one back to life, it is a step in the right direction, both for achieving justice, and making those at fault pay for their careless actions. Contact an attorney if you have lost a loved one due to another’s actions; you may be entitled to compensation for your suffering.

Our Chicago personal injury lawyers work tirelessly to get compensation for our clients after they have been harmed in dangerous circumstances. Nevertheless, as any Chicago personal injury attorney will attest, the best situation is the one in which the injury never occurs in the first place.

According to new research published in a study by the medical journal Pediatrics, on average, every six minutes a child younger than 5 is treated for a stair-related injury in a U.S. emergency department. Additionally, a parent or caregiver carrying a child on the stairs accounts for almost one quarter of those injuries. Though the study didn’t give data related to how many children have died as a result of these injuries, it did, however, find that nearly 932,000 children younger than 5 were hurt in stair accidents in the U.S. in the decade from 1999 through 2008; when averaged, that’s more than 93,000 kids a year, or about 46.5 injuries for every 10,000 children under age 5.

Illinois premises liability law is a significant branch of Illinois personal injury law that allows victims to recover after they have been injured on another person’s property, and the negligence of the property owner was the cause of that harm. In order to apply to a set of circumstances, Illinois premises liability law requires a number of factors to be satisfied: the defendant must be the owner or possessor of the land, or “premises” – in this case, the defendants were the campground owners. Additionally, the person or persons on the land of another must be injured by negligence or a different wrongful act; in this particular situation, the campground owners had a duty to maintain the grounds and ensure that they were safe for campers.

As a general rule in Illinois premises liability cases, property owners and landowners are responsible for maintaining safe premises, and they can be liable for injuries that occur on their land as a result of either a failure to ensure safe conditions, or a failure to warn people who come onto the property of potential hazards on the land.

In considering situations such as dangerous stairs, Illinois premises liability law may be triggered if it can be shown that the property owners or managers either failed to maintain the property, created unsafe conditions that caused the injury, or knew about the unsafe hazard but didn't alert visitors or tenants to this fact. If a fall on the stairs happened because the stairs were not maintained or were otherwise unsafe, the owner of the property may be made to pay compensation to the injured individual.

Nevertheless, according to this recent study, 95 percent of the injruies occurred at home, so the best policy is to take precautions to prevent falls. Children jumping or riding toys downstairs accounted for 2.6 percent of injuries, and another 2.7 percent were still hurt while using baby walkers, reported the study. Being more careful when using these products is a good first step in avoiding falls. The study also gives a number of recommendations, such as installing sturdy, wall-mounted gates at the top and bottom of the flights of stairs, and increasing awareness about how common – and how dangerous – stair accidents can be

Fortunately the investigation also found that the number of injuries each year fell during that period, dropping by 11.6 percent by 2008. This was partially explained by the fact that voluntary safety standards enacted in the mid-1990s and wider awareness about the dangers of baby walkers helped fuel that decline, cutting those injuries to about 1,300 a year. Using even more safety measures can ensure that this number continues to decrease.

If a stair-fall, is, however, the result of dangerous conditions, seek medical attention, and contact an attorney to understand your rights. Our Chicago personal injury lawyers won a $510,000 settlement against a restaurant which caused patrons to wait in area too close to steps leading to downstairs banquet area, leading to our client’s fall down the stairs that resulted in a fractured hip and foot.

As a general rule in Illinois premises liability cases, property owners and landowners are responsible for maintaining safe premises, and they can be liable for injuries that occur on their land as a result of either a failure to ensure safe conditions, or a failure to warn people who come onto the property of potential hazards on the land.

This principle also applies to Illinois workplace accident cases, which hold construction companies and their managing corporations liable for injuries that result because of unsafe working conditions at a construction site. Whether the injured victims are workers or not, the corporations are responsible for keeping the site free from hazard, and can be made to pay for damages that occur as a result of injuries that occur on the land.

That is exactly what happened to a woman who filed a case against Liese Lumber Company and Dumpster Dave, earlier this month. According to the Madison St. Clair Record, the woman filed the lawsuit after falling on mud near a construction site. The complaint alleges that the defendants failed to prevent mud from accumulating on the street, failed to clean the mud from the street, failed to properly supervise work performed at a construction site that led to the accumulation of mud, and failed to maintain safe premises. Although the woman wasn’t a worker on the site, the company responsible for maintaining the site may still be liable for the damage caused.

As a result of the fall, the woman sustained severe broken bones, physical and emotional pain and suffering, and incurred hospital and medical expenses for the treatment of her injuries. If the court finds that the defendants were, in fact, responsible for the failure to keep the area safe, they may be required to pay damages to compensate the woman for her hospital bills and the trauma of her fall.

Tragically, workplace accidents are all too common. However, special laws are in place to protect the health and safety of workers and people who enter onto lands owned and managed by others.

Our Illinois personal injury lawyers have handled a number of work site accident cases, and have even won $5.7 million settlement for a 27-year-old roofer who was paralyzed when he fell from a roof as a result of the general contractor's failure to provide appropriate safety devices, and an $840,000 verdict for a man who sustained a workplace back injury resulting in multiple surgeries. They also were successful in obtaining a $510,000 settlement against a restaurant which caused patrons to wait in area too close to steps leading to downstairs banquet area leading to a fall down the stairs resulting in a fractured hip and foot, causing the foot to become severely infected requiring a skin graft.

If you or a loved one has been injured on the job or otherwise injured on a work site, contact an attorney to be apprised of your rights. Special laws are in place to protect workers who have been exposed to unsafe working conditions.

Just last week, a jury awarded a $1.1 Million verdict to a man who filed a personal injury lawsuit against his landlord after he fell down the stairs at his apartment building.

The man allegedly fell down the back stairs at the apartment building in which he was living, and later suffered more serious damage from the fall. His injuries included lumbar strain and disk injury. The man was forced to quit his job because of the pain related to the fall, and suffered a serious loss of income and potential future earnings. He had held the job for ten years.

According to the San Jose Mercury News the tenant sued the owner of the building, asserting that the owner failed to keep the stairs clear of algae – which posed a risk of slip and fall – and failed to install a handrail, as was required by local building codes.

Following a 14-day trial, the jury awarded the man $1,070,801 for economic losses, including $850,000 for future lost earnings.

As a general rule, when an accident or injury occurs to a visitor or tenant on another person's property, the owner of the property may be liable if it can be proved that their negligence led to the injury. Property owners may be legally responsible for injuries that occur on their properties if there are potential hazards on the land and the landlord fails to correct them, or if the landowner fails to warn people who come onto the land about the danger.

In cases involving premises liability, plaintiffs must be able to show one of the following things:
• That the property owners either failed to maintain the property
• That the landowner created unsafe conditions which caused the injury
• That the property owner knew about the unsafe hazard but didn't alert visitors or tenants to this fact
• That the property owner wwas not careful concerning unsafe conditions which might attract children
• Or that the landowner took actions, or neglected conditions on the property, that ultimately caused damage to a neighboring property.

Our Chicago personal injury lawyers have handled numerous premises liability cases and understand what it takes to succeed in even the most complicated cases of landowner liability. In fact, our attorneys obtained a $2.3 million Illinois personal injury settlement for a family whose two young children suffered severe burns and whose third child, a three-month-old infant, was killed in a fire that broke out in a Chicago Housing Authority building. The CHA had allowed rear entrances to be blocked, allowed batteries to be removed from smoke detectors, and failed to sufficiently inspect and maintain an electrical outlet.

Additionally, and perhaps more similarly to the initially mentioned case, our Illinois personal injury lawyers won a $510,000 settlement against a restaurant which caused patrons to wait in area too close to steps leading to downstairs banquet area, leading to our client’s fall down the stairs that resulted in a fractured hip and foot.

If you or a loved one has been injured on another’s property as a result of the property owner’s negligence, contact an attorney to be apprised of your rights under the 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.

Jiffy Lube has agreed to settle a personal injury lawsuit with the family of an 88 year-old Illinois injury victim who was hurt due to a fall at a Chicago Jiffy Lube. The personal injuries resulted in the victim’s untimely death four weeks after the fall. Susan Novosad of Levin & Perconti represented the victim’s family in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Continue reading "Chicago family reaches $850,000 settlement in premises liability lawsuit" »

A Chicago personal injury lawsuit has been filed against the leasing agent of the Ogilvie train station. The injured man filed the lawsuit after a slip-and-fall accident resulting from a leak in the roof.

To read more about the Chicago slip-and-fall.

A Chicago personal injury lawsuit has been filed against the leasing agent of the Ogilvie train station. The injured man filed the lawsuit after a slip-and-fall accident resulting from a leak in the roof.

To read more about the Chicago slip-and-fall.

A personal injury lawsuit has been filed against Greyhound after an 86 year-old woman tripped over apiece of concrete and fell. She received personal injuries to her right elbow and fractured her right hip. She spent five weeks in physical therapy.

To read more about the personal injury lawsuit.

A Cook County personal injury plaintiff received a $325,000 settlement for a slip and fall accident at a theater. The slip and fall victim suffered tendon ruptures while walking on steep and uneven steps that lacked anti-slip tape or stair nosing.

To read more about the slip and fall lawsuit settlement.

A Chicago personal injury lawsuit filed by a woman who was injured at O’Hare International Airport has reached a settlement. The Chicago woman claims that she was injured when she slipped and fell on an oily surface while walking through O’Hare.

To read more about the Chicago injury lawsuit settlement.

A personal injury lawsuit has been filed against Wolfgang Puck. The victim claims that she slipped and fell on the floor because of an overly slick finish on the wood floor. She suffered disabling and serious personal injuries.

To read more about the personal injury lawsuit.

A Chicago personal injury law firm obtained a substantial verdict last week in a trip and fall lawsuit that occurred near a coin operated merry-go-round at a mall. The rubber edging of the platform caused the personal injury plaintiff to fall due to negligent design, maintenance, or construction. The case was tried in the Cook County Circuit Court.

A personal injury lawsuit has been filed against a supermarket chain after a man hurt his left knee while shopping more than a year ago. The personal injury plaintiff was unaware of the water and stepped in the puddle, causing his foot to slip out from under him and his left knee to strike the floor sharply.

To read more about the slip and fall lawsuit.

A woman has filed a personal injury lawsuit after her trip to an aquarium rendered her injured. The personal injury plaintiff tripped over a large screen at the aquarium. She required orthopedic surgery.

To read more about the personal injury lawsuit against the aquarium.

Chicago Tribune reported yesterday that the weekend death of a man who fell in Chicago was ruled an accident by the Cook County medical examiner’s office yesterday. The accident victim died of head injuries.

To read more about the Chicago accident.

A teacher hurt while accompanying students to a conference is entitled to workers' compensation benefits. A court determined that her personal injury received was work-related. The workers' compensation plaintiff broke her shoulder in four places after slipping and falling on the bleachers at the conference.

To read more about the workers' compensation ruling.

A man who was paralyzed from the waist down after falling 17-feet from a ladder while working at a steel mill has been awarded a $48 million verdict in his personal injury lawsuit. The 42 year-old personal injury victim suffered a spinal cord injury when he fell from a ladder while at work.

For the full article.