General Archives - Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer - Cook County Accident Attorney

Sexual Abuse Statute of Limitations in Illinois

A lawsuit alleging childhood sexual abuse was filed yesterday in Du Page County, Illinois against Bill Gothard and the Institute of Basic Life Principles that he founded in 1961. The lawsuit filed by 10 women includes allegations of rape, molestation and sexual harassment. The allegations date back to at least 1992. The statute of limitations will surely be an issue. For sexual abuse that occurred as early as 1992, the Illinois statute of limitations in effect for childhood sexual abuse is 735...

Illinois Fracking Lawsuits

The Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act, 225 ILCS 732/1-1 et. seq. became law in Illinois on June 17, 2013. Environmentalists and landowners above the “New Albany Shale” initially hailed the law, but now that the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources has issued its draft rules, many of the law’s core provisions have been gutted. Specifically, The Act required compliance with “applicable federal, state and local laws.” This language has been omitted from the draft rules. On April 22, 2014, in Dallas County, Texas, a jury...

Laser Guided Vehicle Accidents

Laser Guided Vehicles (LGV), sometimes referred to as Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) are being used increasingly in manufacturing facilities as a replacement for human operated forklifts. While there are benefits in terms of efficiency there have been tragic accidents that are becoming more widespread due to increased usage of the LTV’s. I am currently representing an individual who was seriously injured when the LGV operating in a warehouse where he was employed failed to stop in time thus causing him severe crushing...

Physicians and Administrators Conspire at Sacred Heart Hospital

As an Illinois medical malpractice lawyer it is difficult to fathom a scenario where hospital administrators and physicians conspire to unnecessarily intubate patients and while intubated to overmedicate them so as to require a tracheotomy. This is precisely what transpired at Sacred Heart Hospital on Chicago’s west side according to federal charges brought this week against the hospital owner, an administrator, and four affiliated physicians. According to Crain’s Chicago Business, 96.7% of Sacred heart’s revenue comes from Medicare and Medicaid. Sacred Heart’s reimbursement...

Table Saw Injury – Product Liability Lawsuits

Lawyers representing victims who have been injured using table saws must be aware of the flesh-detection technology available that could prevent most of these injuries. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates at least 60,000 injuries and 3,000 amputations per year stem from use of table saws in the U.S. Dr. Stephen Gass, the inventor of the flesh-detection technology, called Saw Stop, has testified as an expert that this technology should have been incorporated in any table saw manufactured after 2004. The Saw Stop...

Failure to Disclose or Report Past Sexual Abuse

Fixing liability on prior employers of known sexual abusers who withhold information of that abuse to subsequent employers where employee proceeds to sexually abuse additional minors has never been addressed by the Illinois high court. The Illinois Supreme Court in Doe-3 v. Mc Lean County Dist. 5, 973 N.E. 2d 880 (2012) addressed this issue head on. In Doe-3, the trail court dismissed action by two minor sexual abuse victims against prior school district employer of pedophile that alleged failure to disclose to subsequent...

Illinois De Puy Hip Replacement Statute of Limitations

No Illinois court decisions currently interpret when the statute of limitations expires on De Puy Hip Replacements lawsuits, but there are decisions by both the Illinois Supreme and Appellate courts that provide guidance. Illinois products liability statute of limitations is found at 735 ILCS 5/13-213(d) which provides that: ” ...the plaintiff may bring an action within 2 years after the date on which the claimant knew, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have known, of the existence of...

Illinois Amends Abuse Reporting Act

In the wake of the conviction of Jerry Sandusky for sexual abusing minors, Illinois has amended The Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, 325 ILCS 5/4. The amendment which became effective June 27, 2012, adds: personnel of institutions of higher education and director or staff of athletic program, to the extensive list of people who are mandatory reporters of knowledge of abuse or neglect of a child. The law-325 ILCS 5/4-has for years covered physicians, residents, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, EMTs, crisis line personnel, nursery school...

Second Opinions-Personal Injury Cases

People injured in accidents in Illinois frequently hire an attorney recommended by a friend or who advertises on TV. The lawyer retained will sometimes have little or no jury trial experience-this question should always be asked before retaining the attorney. Oftentimes the client becomes unhappy with the lawyer-lack of communication, attorney lacks the required experience, lawyer referring case out to another lawyer, and many more. Whatever the reason you are entitled to consult with another attorney for a second opinion. I have successfully...

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