Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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A recent Cook County personal injury verdict stands out from other Illinois auto accident cases due to its somewhat peculiar case facts. The Illinois personal injury claim was made on behalf of two men injured while sitting at the counter of Gold Coast Dogs, a Chicago-style hot dog chain. The plaintiffs were eating when a SUV crashed into the fast food chain’s window, striking the surprised plaintiffs.

As a result of the Illinois auto accident, one of the plaintiffs sustained a fractured ankle that required exploratory surgery and the other Cook County plaintiff suffered a non-displaced fibula fracture.

While it is certainly strange enough when a vehicle crashes into a building, in this Illinois personal injury claim the circumstances get even stranger. The SUV not only crashed through the window of the restaurant, but first crashed through a pedestrian gate as it was exiting a garage and then continued across the street and jumped the curb before crashing into the plaintiffs.

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On February 24, 2010, the Public Affairs Committee of the Union League Club of Chicago welcomed the Honorable Edward M. Burke, the dean of the Chicago City Council. Mr. Burke has served as Alderman of Chicago’s 14th Ward for more than four decades. He is a recognized expert of the Chicago’s city budget matters and is Chairman of the City Council Committee on Finance.

The Public Affairs Committee hosted the event to hear Mr. Burke’s comments regarding the Democratic Party’s slate selection of Cook County judges. Mr. Burke stated that of the 11 slated candidates by the Democratic Party, only 7 of them succeeded at the polls. Questions were taken from the audience with respect to the effectiveness of this process and comparison to other court plans and the merit selection of judges. Mr. Burke commented that the election of a downstate Illinois Supreme Court justice accounted for nearly $8 million in campaign spending for the two candidates.

In attendance was Robert Kreisman, a member of the Public Affairs Committee.

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Picking the right daycare center is an important decision for Illinois residents. Entrusting your child in the care of others requires not only careful research on the part of the parents, but also requires a high degree of trust. A recent Illinois wrongful death settlement is an example of a parent’s worst nightmare when it comes to daycare.

The recent Illinois settlement was reached between the family of a child and the daycare center where the toddler had been placed at. The settlement was reached after it was determined that the daycare had violated an Illinois law that stated that two daycare workers were required to be in the center’s toddler room at all times.

The Illinois wrongful death claim against the daycare comes after the death of the 16-month old toddler after a daycare worker threw the child to the ground. The daycare worker was alleged frustrated because other toddlers in the room were fussing.

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In 1992, an 8th grader at a Chicago Public School broke his neck after hitting his head on a mat while attempting a flip. The incident occurred during an extracurricular lunch activity run by an employee of the Chicago Youth Centers at a Chicago Public School that owned the trampoline.

Ten years after the accident, a Cook County Circuit Court Judge granted summary judgment for the defendants. The judge agreed with the defense argument that absolute immunity applied under the Tort Immunity Act.

The Tort Immunity Act is to ensure that public entities and employees are not liable to pay damages to an injured third party. According to the Tort Immunity Act, public entities, such as Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Youth Centers, and public employees, such as the Chicago Youth Centers’ employee in charge of the extracurricular activity, are not liable for the actions and indiscretions of others. However, if a public employee’s actions or lack thereof constitutes willful and wanton conduct, the employee is liable for the injured third party.

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An Illinois product defect case was reviewed by the Illinois Appellate Court to determine whether the Illinois trial court had erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant transporter company. In Graham v. Bostrom Seating, Inc., et al., No. 5-08-0409, the Illinois Appellate Court evaluated issues of whether the transporting company was involved in the distribution of the defective truck and thereby whether they could be held liable for the Illinois defective product lawsuit.

Graham involves a plaintiff who was injured in an International truck that was equipped with a defective seat. The truck involved in the case was owned by the defendant, Cassens Transport Company. In Graham, the plaintiff alleged that Cassens was liable for the the defective seat under Illinois product liability principles because the company served as a distributor and seller of the truck.

The plaintiff’s liability claims revolved around their claims that Cassens “was in a position to make the truck reasonably safe,” and was “aware at all times . . . of the defects and/or potential for injury arising from the placement of the truck in question into the stream of commerce.” The plaintiff further alleged that Cassens profited directly from the truck’s sale, or by channeling of savings for profits to its affiliated corporations or its board of directors/stockowners.

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An Illinois Appellate Court decision upheld a Cook County wrongful death verdict in U.S. Bank v. Lindsey, No. 1-07-2606 (2009). By doing so the Appellate Court discussed liability, specifically the issue of “logo liability” under the Interstate Commerce Act.

In Lindsey, it was alleged that the plaintiff, Willie Taylor, died after a fellow employee backed a truck into Taylor. The case becomes complicated because the truck was rented by their employer, Open Kitchens, from Carmichael Leasing Company.

Even though both workers were employed by Open Kitchens and were operating within the confines of their employment, both the employee who caused Taylor’s death and Open Kitchens are insulated from common law liability under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. So while Taylor would have been able to bring an Illinois workers’ compensation claim against his employer if he had simply been injured on the job, the fact that he died barred his estate from filing an Illinois workers’ compensation claim.

Instead the estate would need to bring an Illinois wrongful death claim that proved that a given entity was responsible for Taylor’s death – and under Illinois law that entity could not be the employer or fellow employee. Therefore the administrator of Taylor’s estate brought an action against the leasing company asserting its negligence as the owner of the truck based on “logo liability” under the Interstate Commerce Act.

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Morris Dees, the co-founder and lawyer of the Southern Poverty Law Center, was honored at the Union League Club of Chicago by the Decalogue Society of Lawyers. The event held on March 2, 2010 at the Union League Club of Chicago was attended by Cook County judges, elected officials and members of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, the Union League Club of Chicago and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Decalogue Merit Award was awarded to Mr. Dees for his tireless work in fighting hate groups ranging from the Klu Klux Klan to the White Aryan Resistance. Mr. Dees was responsible for numerous victories against hate groups, including a $6 million judgment that bankrupt the Aryan nations, a $12.5 million jury verdict against the California-based White Aryan Resistance for the death of a black student, and a $26 million verdict against the Carolina Klan for burning black churches.

However, these victories did not come without a price. In 1983, the Klansman burned the Southern Poverty Law Center’s offices. And while the arsonists were convicted, their leader almost successfully fulfilled a plot to kill Mr. Dees. Over the years, more than 30 men have been imprisoned for plots to harm Morris Dees or destroy the Southern Poverty Law Center property. This continued threat requires a high degree of security during public appearances.

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An Illinois prescription drug case that originally had been dismissed due to issues of federal preemption, has been reinstated by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. This case, Mason v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. d/b/a Glaxo SmithKline, No. 08-2265,___F.3d___, 2010 WL 605922 (7th Cir. Feb. 23, 2010) may be the first decision that addresses preemption with respect to prescription drugs.

The original Illinois prescription drug lawsuit was brought by the parents of 23 year-old Tricia Mason after she committed suicide just two days after being started on the prescription drug Paxil. The Illinois prescription drug lawsuit alleged that Paxil increases the risk in suicide in children and young adult, which the manufacturer should have known and therefore had a duty to warn its users.

The lawsuit alleged that GSK violated Illinois law by choosing not to warn Tricia Mason on its label that Paxil increases the risk of suicide for children and young adults. Two years after the decedent’s suicide, Paxil added a label warning of an increased risk of suicide among children taking the drug.

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While crossing a Chicago west side intersection with her sister, an 18-year-old woman was struck by a bus. The woman’s estate filed suit against the bus driver and the private bus company for the wrongful death of the decedent.

In any wrongful death case certain criteria must be met. Negligence must be established on behalf of the defendant and the death must be determined to be the result of the defendant’s actions. Furthermore, if the decedent left behind dependents and the dependents suffered monetary damages as a result of the death, then a wrongful death case may be filed.

In Illinois, and in many other states, a pedestrian in the crosswalk always has the right of way. This means that drivers must always stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, even if the light is red and the pedestrian is walking against the light. Therefore, it is important that the driver of any vehicle exercise due care while crossing an intersection and be cautious and mindful of any pedestrians attempting to cross the street.

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Illinois construction companies have an obligation to provide a safe work environment for their employees and do what they can to avoid Illinois construction site accidents. Because of this duty on the part of construction companies, Illinois construction workers can generally assume that the equipment and materials at a construction site are safe and hazard-free.

However, sometimes this is not the reality, in which case an Illinois construction site injury can result from the failure of a construction company to provide a safe and healthy work environment. Consider the case of Diaz v. Archer Daniels Midland Company, 07 L 142 (Ill., Macon County), in which a 26 year-old construction worker was fatally injured as a result of an Illinois construction site accident.

At the time of his Illinois construction site injury, Francisco Garcia was working for a contractor who had been hired to perform work at the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Bioproducts plant. Garcia was busy insulating pipes 15 feet in the air while harnessed to a scissors lift. While Garcia was working, a nearby waste compression system over-pressurized, spraying him with scalding steam, toxic chemicals and boiling water.

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