In the case Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the manufacturer of the medical device could not be sued under state law when the device causes an injury. What this means for patients is that it is now harder to file an Illinois product liability lawsuit…
On January 25, 2008, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Hudson v. City of Chicago that the re-filing of a voluntarily dismissed claim may be barred under res judicata when there is a previous involuntary dismissal of a different claim in the case. Res judicata refers to an issue before…
On August 25, 2005, an Illinois law went into effect that placed monetary limits on the possible awards in medical malpractice cases (735 ILCS 5/2.1706.5). In a case against a hospital the caps are set at $1 Million, and against a physician at $500,000. Since its inception this law has…
Much has been said about the preemption of state actions for Illinois personal injury cases or Illinois wrongful death lawsuits. A recent federal district court decision ruled that a failure-to-warn lawsuit is not preempted by the federal statutes. The suit was brought by the parents of a teenager who committed…
A $2.1 Million settlement was reached against the hospital and doctors in an Illinois medical negligence lawsuit involving the wrongful death of a woman from brain herniation after being discharged from a hospital. She was discharged with complaints of headaches despite a diagnosis of a brain tumor. Mary, a 50…
A trucker whose legs were crushed while freight was being shifted on his truck agreed to a $2.5 million settlement in an Illinois personal injury lawsuit. The accord came on the second day of jury deliberations following more than a week of trial in this case against Precoat Metals, a…