Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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Anthony Cozzone was employed by Fellows Roofing when he was killed in a work accident. The Cozzone estate filed a lawsuit against a third party who settled with the Cozzone family for $745,000. The attorney representing the family received attorney fees of 33% or $248,333. In the meantime, a jury in a contribution case decided that Fellows Roofing was 100% responsible for the accident that killed Cozzone. Fellows Roofing waived its statutory workers’ compensation lien under Section 5(b) and requested that the trial judge dismiss the contribution case.

Fellows had already paid $117,539 in benefits for Cozzone’s 4-year-old and 2-year-old sons based on an order from the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission that required the employer to pay $466 a week until the children turned 18 (or 25 if they continued to be full-time students). The $745,000 settlement was paid by the owner and tenant of the building where the fatal incident took place.

As part of the settlement, the owner of the building and tenant assigned to the family of Cozzone the rights they had against Fellows under the Illinois Joint Tortfeasor Contribution Act.

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Christopher Arnold was 19 years old and riding in a pickup truck driven by Jonathan Ortiz when a friend traveling behind them called to say that furniture had fallen off the friend’s truck. Ortiz pulled the pickup truck onto the road’s shoulder, preparing to make a U-turn so he could go back and help his friend. As Ortiz pulled back onto the road and began turning, a van coming up behind him struck a glancing blow to the pickup truck. The truck spun around and came to rest with Arnold’s side facing oncoming traffic. Moments later, Robert Sims, driving a pickup truck for Weatherford U.S. L.P., struck the truck’s passenger side.

Arnold was not wearing his seatbelt. He suffered multiple injuries, including a burst fracture at L-1, resulting in paraplegia. He suffered spinal fractures at T7-9 and T-12. He also had two rib fractures, a collapsed lung and lacerations to his spleen. Arnold was hospitalized for more than a month and underwent a spinal fusion at T12-L2 among other procedures. He has undergone extensive rehabilitation. He now uses a wheelchair and requires assistance with daily living activities.

Arnold’s past medical expenses total about $345,900 and his future life-care costs are estimated at $5.85 million.

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A Pennsylvania jury found that benzene is a defective product whose exposure contributed to the development of cancer of the blood and bone marrow, otherwise known as acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).

In the years 1973 to 2006, the plaintiff, Louis DeSorbo, worked with printing solvents and inks that contained benzene.  He routinely cleaned various parts and areas of the printing presses and tools. On Jan. 21, 2013, DeSorbo, in his mid-50s, was diagnosed with AML.

He filed a lawsuit against U.S. Steel claiming that under the theory of product strict liability and design defect and failure to warn and claims of fraudulent concealment and recklessness, the company was liable for his development of AML. There were other companies also named as defendants. The claims against those other entities were either dismissed or resolved for terms that were not disclosed.  Those other entities were out of the case before the start of this trial.

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Jeffrey Stewart was an 18-year-old student at Oswego High School at 4250 Route 71 in Oswego, Ill.  He had a known history of asthma. On Feb. 13, 2008, Jeffrey was attending a class when he experienced difficulty breathing, wheezing and collapsed. A teacher sent students to get the school’s nurse but did not immediately call 911. When the nurse arrived at the classroom, she found Jeffrey was not breathing and had no pulse. The nurse told the teacher to call 911. Instead, the teacher reportedly called the nurse’s office and asked a staff member who answered to call 911. The call to 911 was eventually made, but only after a more than significant amount of time had elapsed.

Unfortunately, Jeffrey never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead.  He was survived by his parents and one sibling.

The coroner’s office ruled the cause of death was acute bronchial asthma.

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On May 12, 2011, the plaintiff, John Barrow IV, age 58, was a coal mine forklift operator. Barrow walked into a coal mine near Equality, Ill., when a hydraulic hose on the ground caused him to fall and land on his back. The defendant in this case, Temper Fabricators, a fabrication contractor working at the mine, had left several steel-reinforced hydraulic hoses lying across a walkway just inside the entrance to the mine’s main warehouse.

Barrow apparently did not see the hoses when he entered the mine after walking in from the outdoor sunlight. He stepped on one of the hoses, which then rolled out from under his foot. While falling, he sustained lower back injuries that required spinal fusion surgery and left him with ongoing pain, disability and severe sexual dysfunction.

Barrow’s wife, Kimberlee, claimed loss of consortium. The Barrows asserted that the Temper Fabricator’s employees were at fault for choosing not to post any barricades or warning flags before leaving the hoses unattended. The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) regulations required all safety hazards to be barricaded or flagged off. Employees of contractors were subject to the same MSHA safety regulations as employees of mine owners.

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Billy R. Richey filed a lawsuit against State Farm Automobile Insurance Co. to recover for his injuries under the uninsured motorist coverage of his State Farm Insurance auto policy. On the evening of April 5, 2008, Richey was driving his motorcycle on a rural highway in Dade County, Mo. Richey suffered extensive injuries as a result of this incident and sought uninsured motorist coverage. Insurance coverage was denied, which led to the lawsuit.

At trial, Richey testified that he was returning home on his motorcycle after visiting a relative. As he approached a bend in the highway, an unknown driver (referred to by the parties as the “phantom vehicle”) traveling in the opposite direction swerved into Richey’s lane. Richey stated that he could have either driven off the road or hit the oncoming car head-on.  Richey steered his motorcycle to the right to avoid the other car and upon leaving the road he crashed into a ditch and was seriously injured. The phantom driver left the scene.

A deputy sheriff found Richey lying unconscious partially on the roadway. Richey was charged with a Class A misdemeanor of careless and imprudent driving as a result of the accident.  The charge specifically stated that Richey drove off the roadway and struck a ditch and thereby endangered the property of another or the life and land of any person. He was also charged with having an improper license.

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In a recent workers’ compensation case, a bus mechanic who was diagnosed with lung cancer was told his illness was caused by exposure to diesel exhaust. The ruling in that case sent alarms out that the burning of diesel fuel has caused widespread worker injuries to those breathing diesel fumes.

Diesel fuel, also known as No. 2 oil, is a heavier product of the refined crude oil. It is widely used in machinery, small engines, trucks, forklifts and buses.

Those exposed to diesel fumes include children on school buses, as well as employees working in confined spaces in warehouses.

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On Dec. 16, 2009, Terry Smith was employed by Sycamore Specialized Carriers.  He drove his tractor-trailer to the defendant Casini Warehousing Corp.’s warehouse in Bensenville, Ill. Casini’s personnel used an overhead crane to load an injection molding machine onto Smith’s step-deck trailer.

After the injection molding machine was loaded onto the step-deck, Smith was attempting to cover it with a 20-foot by 20-foot tarp that weighed 150 pounds. While he was attempting to cover the machine, he fell from the top of the machine to the ground.

In the lawsuit that Smith filed, he argued that the trucking industry custom and practice required Casini Warehousing to use its crane to assist him in draping the heavy tarp over the machinery. Smith said that he asked Casini workers for assistance, but they refused and chose to go to lunch instead.

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The Illinois Appellate Court for the Third District has held that persons with claims against a corporation dissolved for more than 5 years could not recover against the corporation’s liability insurers.

In this case, defendant insurers included Employers Insurance Co. of Wausau, TIG Insurance Co. and Travelers Casualty and Surety Co.  The claimants were numerous individuals who were former employees of Sprinkmann Sons Corp. of Illinois who were diagnosed with mesothelioma and lung cancer.  The claimants brought a lawsuit against the former Sprinkmann company, its previous owners and its liability insurers in 2011.

The former Sprinkmann company, however, had been dissolved in 2003 with certain of its assets having been sold to a new corporation, Sprinkmann Insulation Inc.  The new Sprinkmann company did not acquire any liabilities or insurance policies of the older dissolved Sprinkmann company.

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On July 15, 2008, Friehiwet Tahir was standing on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Argyle L station platform.  As the train approached the station, Friehiwet extended her right arm into the train’s right-of-way. The train struck her elbow. She lost her balance and fell onto the track’s dock where she died.

On July 5, 2011, Meram Tahir, Friehiwet’s sister, filed a lawsuit against CTA alleging wrongful death. Tahir claimed the CTA had been negligent in choosing not to notice Friehiwet, in failing to stop the train, in failing to keep the train under control, in failing to warn Friehiwet by blowing the train horn and warning of the train’s approach. The lawsuit also claimed that the CTA chose not to apply the brakes and failed to take reasonable precautions to avoid the deadly incident

Tahir also alleged negligence in design and maintenance of the platform and public address system. In addition, Tahir charged that the CTA operated the train with “worn and defective equipment . . .at an excessive and dangerous speed.”

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