There are many challenges in successfully pleading and prosecuting wrongful death lawsuits as a result of Covid-19 in Illinois. The Nursing Home Care Act, 210 ILCS 45/3-602 et seq., does not permit a wrongful death action, for the benefit of the decedent’s next of kin to be commenced pursuant to…
Chicago Accident Law Blog
Higher Cancer Risks Due to Ethyl Oxide Emissions-Willowbrook
Sterigenics in west suburban Willowbrook, Illinois uses Ethyl Oxide to sterilize medical equipment and other products. Residents of Du Page and Cook counties near Willowbrook are at a higher risk of cancers as a result of decades long exposure to Ethyl Oxide. Sterigenics has been emitting Ethyl Oxide into the…
Arbitration in Illinois Nursing Home Care Contracts
In Carter v. SSC Odin Operating, 237 Ill. 2d 30 (2010), the Illinois Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. 2, preempted the the anti waiver provisions of the Nursing Home Care Act, 210 ILCS 45/3-606 and 3-607. This meant that valid arbitration agreements could not be…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…