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Litigation

Illinois Lawyer Blog

Focuses on Chicago, IL trial law including insurance, business, commercial, and employment litigation.
By Mark P. Loftus, Esq.

Post Frequency: 0.8/day

Last Entry: March 18, 2011 at 18:05:25

$20 Million Dollar Settlement in Jaycee Dugard Case

Posted on July 01, 2010
Saw on Twitter that the California legislature had approved a $20 million dollar settlement to the family of Jaycee Dugard[pictured above] the woman kidnapped as a child and held captive for 18 years by paroled sex offender Phillip Garrido. While being held, Dugard lived in a backyard shack on Garrido's property...

IMPORTANT ILLINOIS APPELLATE COURT RULING ON "SOCIAL HOST LIABILITY"

Posted on June 29, 2010
Interesting opinion recently issued by the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court. The facts are tragic. In Bell v. Hutsell, Daniel Bell and Ross Trace, both under 21, were invited to a private residence for a party. The party was at the home of Jeffrey and Sara Hutsell, and hosted by their son, Jonathan, an 18 year old high school student...

HUGE RECALL OF MARIE CALLENDAR PRODUCTS

Posted on June 18, 2010
Just saw some news that ALL Marie Callendar brand cheesy chicken and rice frozen meals are being recalled in light of salmonella claims in 14 states.

AUTHORITIES IGNORE KEY EVIDENCE IN RILEY FOX MURDER CASE

Posted on June 17, 2010
Just hours after finding the body of 3 year old Riley Fox[pictured above] near a Will County, Illinois creek in 2004, investigators located two shoes less than 100 yards from the body. The shoes had been discarded by Scott Eby[pictured below] who recently confessed to the murder...

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NEW LEGISLATION AIMS TO REFORM ILLINOIS NURSING HOMES

Posted on June 07, 2010
The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin recently ran an article by Allision Petty about Illinois Senate Bill 326, which calls for significant reforms to be instituted in Illinois Nursing Homes. The legislation, no doubt prodded by a string of articles in the Chicago Tribune which described widespread physical and sexual abuse at Illinois nursing homes, is expected to be signed very soon by Governor Quinn...

SEXUAL ASSAULT CHARGES FINALLY CATCH UP TO CHICAGO DOCTOR

Posted on May 30, 2010
The May 28,2010 Chicago Tribune had a disturbing story about how authorities failed to take action years ago when charges of sexual assualt were raised against a Chicago area gynecologist. The article, written by Megan Twohey, describes how in 2002, Dr...

COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE - A KINDER, GENTLER DIVORCE

Posted on May 21, 2010
Shia Kapos had an interesting article in this week's Crain's Chicago Business on the "collaborative divorce". Collaborative divorce started in Minnesota about 20 years ago. The objective of a collaborative divorce is to expedite the divorce process, while minimizing the drama and dollars associated with the traditional divorce...

ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL RIPS NICOR INSURANCE PROGRAM

Posted on May 04, 2010
As reported by Steve Daniels in the May 3, 2010 issue of Crain's Chicago Business, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is unhappy with Nicor. Madigan is claiming that Nicor's gas pipe repair service insurance is a rip-off. The insurance plan, officially known as ComfortGuard, covers the cost of repairing gas pipes in customer homes...

JURY AWARDS $18.5 IN PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN SEX ABUSE CASE AGAINST BOY SCOUTS

Posted on May 04, 2010
Wow - for some reason I didn't see this. In my April 23 2010 post, I discussed the $1.4 million dollar jury verdict against the Boy Scouts of America. The verdict, on behalf of plaintiff Kerry Lewis, represented only the compensatory damages for the sexual abuse he endured back in the 1980's at the hands of Scoutmaster Timur Dykes[pictured below] while Lewis was a Boy Scout...

SHOCKING FACTS IN BOY SCOUT SEX ABUSE TRIAL

Posted on April 14, 2010
A Portland, Oregon jury recently awarded compensatory damages of $1.4 million to Kerry Lewis, 38[pictured above] in his sexual abuse trial against the Boy Scouts of America[BSA]. The abuse had taken place in the 1980's when Lewis was a young boy. The verdict, in light of the evidence, is hardly surprising...

SOME HELPFUL HINTS FOR JUDGES

Posted on April 13, 2010
One of my favorites legal writers, Kenneth P. Nolan had a great Sidebar column in the April issue of the Litigation, the American Bar Association Section of Litigation Journal. The column offered some advice to judges on how to run a courtroom. The column should be read in its entirety[as all of Nolan's columns should]...

ILLINOIS HOME REPAIR AND REMODELING ACT - PART DEUX

Posted on March 30, 2010
In Behl v. Gingerich, the Fourth Appellate District of Illinois recently weighed in on what constitutes "substantial compliance" with the Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act["the Act"]. In the summer of 2006, defendant Gingerich approached John Behl[d/b/a Behl Construction] about doing some work at the Gingerich home...

ILLINOIS COURT SLICES CHIROPRACTOR'S HOURLY FEE

Posted on March 24, 2010
Very interesting decision recently handed down from the Illinois First District Appellate Court. Chiropractors aren't going to like this one In Montes v. Mai, plaintiff Montes was a passenger in a car that was struck by a Mai's vehicle. Dr. Fernando Perez, a chiropractor with Neck and Back Clinic in Chicago provided treatment to the plaintiff...

OPENING OFFICE IN HINSDALE, ILLINOIS

Posted on March 23, 2010
Pleased to report that I have opened a suburban office in beautiful downtown Hinsdale, Illinois at 38 Blaine Street, just a block from the Hinsdale Metra Train Station. Office is actually located in the beautiful rehabbed Victorian pictured below. The house is located in a commercial zone...

HUGE WIN FOR ILLINOIS WORKERS!!!!

Posted on February 12, 2010
The Illinois Supreme Court recently released an opinion - Interstate Scaffolding v. The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission - that provides some much needed protection to Illinois workers. Jeff Urban was an Interstate union carpenter. On July 2, 2003 he suffered a work-related injury to his head, neck and back...

AN OVERVIEW: THE ILLINOIS HOME REPAIR ACT

Posted on February 09, 2010
The Illinois Home Repair Act [815 ILCS 513/25] is getting a lot of attention these days because of some conflicting Appellate Court opinions interpreting the Act's requirements. If you are an Illinois contractor engaged in home repair and remodeling, here is a very basic primer on what you need to do in order to comply with the Act: 1) If the project is going to cost more than $1000, there is to be a written contract, setting forth the total cost...

CHICAGO AREA WOMAN STRIKES BLOW FOR WORKING MOMS

Posted on February 02, 2010
Last week the Chicago Tribune ran an article by Ameet Sachdev on a sizable verdict recently handed down by the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. The case involved Dena Lockwood[pictured above] a working mom, who took a job with Professional Neurological Services in 2004...

CHICAGO JUDGE TOSSES TWITTER LAWSUIT

Posted on January 26, 2010
A lawsuit growing out of a Twitter post has been tossed by a Cook County judge. Last summer Uptown resident Amanda Bonnen filed a Twitter post commenting on her "moldy apartment". Her landlord, Horizon Management Group Realty LLC got wind of the tweet and filed a libel lawsuit against her...

VERDICT AGAINST LOUISVILLE SLUGGER UPHELD

Posted on January 12, 2010
Almost missed this story coming out of Montana... Last week, a Montana judge refused to toss a jury verdict against Hillerich & Bradsby, the manufacturer of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat. In 2003, Brandon Patch, an American Legion baseball player was killed when he was struck on the head by a ball hit off an aluminum Louisville Slugger bat...

CONTACT SPORTS DOCTRINE DOES NOT APPLY TO ATHLETIC TRAINER STRUCK BY HOCKEY PUCK

Posted on January 08, 2010
On December 31, 2009, the Second Appellate District Court of Illinois released an opinion that I had been waiting for - reversing the trial court's dismissal of the negligence portion of one of my cases involving a very serious eye injury. My client, a young guy was an athletic trainer at the time of his injury...

THE TRAGIC TALE OF CHRISTINA EILMAN

Posted on January 06, 2010
The January 5, 2010 Chicago Tribune carried a follow up article on the very sad story of Christina Eilman. In the spring of 2006, Ms. Eilman was a 21 year old California woman suffering from bipolar disorder. Her disorder was getting worse - she dropped out of school and lost touch with family and friends...

NOLAN ON OPENING STATEMENT

Posted on December 29, 2009
Kenneth P. Nolan writes a monthly column entitled Sidebar for Litigation, the monthly publication by the American Bar Association Section of Litigation. Mr. Nolan is a proud resident of Brooklyn, New York and a seasoned veteran of New York courtrooms...

SOME GOOD NEWS FOR TOYOTA

Posted on December 29, 2009
From the Department of Fair Play... On September 2, 2009, I posted about Dimitrios Biller, the former Toyota attorney who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Toyota alleging that the car manufacturer had concealed and destroyed evidence that should have been produced in rollover cases...

ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT DELAYS OPINION ON MED MAL CAPS

Posted on December 22, 2009
Last week the Illinois Supreme Court delayed the release of a long-awaited opinion dealing with the constitutionality of caps on damages in medical malpractice cases. The opinion in LeBron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital will rule on the constitutionality of the Illinois Medical Malpractice Act of 2005, which set limits on the amount of non-economic[i...

IS THE RIGHT TO AMEND UNDER 5/2-616 ABSOLUTE?

Posted on December 14, 2009
Is the right to timely amend a complaint absolute? The provisions of 735 ILCS 5/2-616 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure seem to suggest that it is, by noting in subsection [a] that "...at any time before final judgment amendments may be allowed on just and reasonable terms...

BEWARE THE REQUEST TO ADMIT

Posted on December 09, 2009
Putting the final touches on my response to a lengthy Rule 216 Request to Admit filed by the defendant. In reading some of the recent Illinois cases discussing what constitutes a proper response - came across some helpful information. It is NOT sufficient for responding party to simply claim a lack of knowledge as a reason for a failure to admit or deny...

ILLINOIS BANS TEST MESSAGING WHILE DRIVING

Posted on December 07, 2009
Illinois legislators recently added a new section to the Illinois Vehicle Code banning text messaging while driving. Under Section 625 ILCS 5/12-601.2, "... a person may not operate a motor vehicle on a roadway while using an electronic communication device to compose, send or read an electronic message"...

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS $83 MILLION DOLLAR VERDICT TO STAND AGAINST FORD

Posted on December 02, 2009
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of an $83 million dollar verdict against Ford Motors resulting from injuries suffered when a Ford Explorer rolled over. In January of 2002, Brennetta Buell-Wilson was driving an Explorer on a California highway...

FUTURE PAIN & SUFFERING

Posted on November 17, 2009
Read an interesting case today on the issue future damages. In Maddox v. Rozek, the First District Appellate Court of Illinois was faced with an issue involving future damages. Specifically, after a verdict for plaintiff in an auto case, the defense appealed, arguing that the jury should never have received an instruction on future pain and suffering because their was no expert[i...

DON'T SEE THAT EVERYDAY...

Posted on November 10, 2009
This doesn't happen in Cook County very often. I had a hearing in a Courtroom with a judge who is universally well-regarded. This particular judge is a seasoned, thoughtful, conscientious man who understands the stress that lawyers occasionally have to endure...

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