Chicago Injury Attorney Blog

Sandra Castrejon is seeking at least $50,000 from Chicago public schools for her son’s personal injuries. She claims her son broke his right femur when his 7th grade teacher left a classroom of junior high school students alone.

In her Chicago injuries to a minor lawsuit, Castrejon claims that the room became a war zone and a fight broke out. Someone pushed her son and he fell to the ground, which caused him to sustain physical injuries. Castrejon is alleging negligence and accuses the teacher of “reckless disregard” of the students’ safety by deciding to leave them unattended.

Chicago Injury Lawsuits
If your child was injured while on a school premise, you may have grounds for filing a Chicago injuries to a child complaint. Schools are supposed to make sure that kids are properly supervised at all times and there are no unsafe conditions, dangerous persons, weapons, or other hazards that can cause serious injuries or deaths.

Parents send their kids off to school every day with the hope that they get a good education and that they won’t come to any harm while there. Unfortunately, with all the violent crimes that take place on school grounds it is no big surprise that many parents and kids are afraid of what can happen. School kids have become the victims of shootings, stabbings, sexual assaults, bullying, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse. In many cases, the assailants are fellow students. You may be able to hold the school and/or district, school system, or other parties liable for the injuries that your child sustained while at school.

CPS teacher negligent for leaving 7th graders unattended: lawsuit, Chicago Sun-Times, April 21, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Chicago public schools

Student Violence - Warning Signs, TeachersFirst.com

Terri Washburn Gattone is suing Kirby Co for Cook County products liability. Gattone was hurt when the attachment tube of her vacuum cleaner broke apart and began sucking her hair into the machine. According to her Chicago injury attorney, her hair was “ripped” from its roots. Following the incident with the vacuum cleaner hose, the plaintiff was rushed to an ER.

Washburn Gattone is seeking at least $100,000 in Cook County personal injury damages. Her Illinois products liability lawsuit claims that the Kirby vacuum was “negligent in design” and “defective.”

Three Kinds of Products Liability Cases:

• Negligence
• Strict Liability (Even if negligence didn’t occur, if someone was hurt while correctly using a product that proved defective or unsafe the victim may still have grounds for a case)
• Breach of Warranty

The defect that caused a personal injury can be a design defect, a manufacturing defect, or a marketing defect. A design defect is inherent to the design of the product. A manufacturing defect can occur while the product is being made or produced. Marketing defects include failure to provide proper warnings about dangerous or improper uses and incomplete or inaccurate instructions/directions.

Manufactures, sellers, and distributors must ensure that their products do not have any flaws or malfunction in such a way that they can cause serious injuries or death. By filing a Chicago product liability lawsuit, not only are you holding the negligent party liable for the harm that you have suffered but you may prevent other people from getting hurt because of the same defect.

Vacuum sucks out Libertyville woman's hair, lawsuit claims, Daily Herald, April 24, 2010

Suit: Defective Vacuum Cleaner Sucked Hair From Woman's Scalp, The Huffington Post, April 24, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Products Liability, Cornell.Law.Edu

Kirby Co. of Cleveland

A $9.5 million cerebral palsy settlement has been reached in the Illinois medical malpractice case against Sherman Hospital, the employer of nurse midwife Mary Traub, and Dr. Jae Eun Han. The Kane County complaint was filed on behalf of the family of Patrick O'Came, who was born in 1996. Patrick, who was cerebral palsy, will required specialized care for life.

According to the plaintiffs’ Illinois birthing malpractice lawsuit, during delivery. Traub employed “fundal pressure” to help push Patrick, who was in distress, through the birth canal. The complaint contends that it was the use of this technique that cut off the oxygen that was flowing through the baby’s umbilical cord for a long enough period of time that he ended up being born with cerebral palsy.

The plaintiffs also say that the hospital did not follow proper procedure when Traub delivered O’Came without Dr. Jae Eun Han present. Han, who was her sponsoring obstetrician, was out of the country at the time visiting relatives in Korea. Although a backup doctor was appointed, the physician was not told about the problem soon enough that an alternative course of delivery could be recommended. The plaintiffs’ birth injury lawyer contends that Patrick would have been born a healthy baby if only his mother had been given the proper medical care while a supervising physician was present.

Birthing Malpractice
Chicago, Illinois birthing malpractice can lead to serious health complications for the baby that can impair him/her for life. Examples of birthing mistakes:

• Failure to anticipate birth complications
• Not acting right away to remedy umbilical cord entrapment
• Delayed cesarean delivery
• Forceps errors
• Vacuum extractor mistakes
• Delayed response to fetal distress
• Failure to properly monitor the vitals of the baby and mother
• Pitocin overdose
• Delayed delivery

Sherman agrees to lawsuit settlement, Daily Herald, April 17, 2010

Related Web Resources:
NINDS Cerebral Palsy Information Page, National Institutes of Health

Fundal Pressure, Childbirthconnection.org

Federal investigators are continuing to look into the deadly Will County train accident that killed Katie Lunn. 26-year-old Lincoln Park dance teacher's SUV was hit by an Amtrak train going at 78 mph at the University Park crossing. According to the Chicago Tribune, the grade-crossing protection system had been turned off because of repairs that were made to fix a problem with the warning system, and Canadian National Railway workers were unaware that the gates and lights were not working when they let the Amtrak train, which was headed for Chicago, through.

No safety backstops had been put in place, which left Lunn unaware that a train was approaching as she attempted to drive cross the railroad tracks. Investigators say that even a driver that was looking out for a train—even though the bells, lights, or gates hadn’t been activated—wouldn’t have been able to escape.

Railroad Crossing Accidents
Illinois railroad crossing accidents can cause serious injuries to pedestrians and motor vehicle occupants. Some crossings are poorly designed and may lack the warning devices needed to let motorists and pedestrians know that a train is approaching.

Other common causes of railroad crossing accidents:
• Malfunctioning crossing gates or lights
• Failure by train operator to sound the horn
• Failure by train operator to activate train lights
• Poor crossing maintenance
• Train defects
• Train operator fatigue
• Poor visibility
• Trains going at a fast speed
• Train malfunction

There may be more than one party that should be held liable for causing a catastrophic Illinois train crash.

Officials: Signals out in fatal Ill. train crash, AP, April 20, 2010

Rail worker scrambled to save woman’s life, Chicago Tribune, April 20, 2010

Related Web Resources:

Federal Railroad Administration

Canadian National Railway

Continue reading "Rail Crossing Malfunction Caused Will County Train Crash that Claimed the Life of Lincoln Park Woman" »

The widow of a Winnetka business executive is suing HK Golden Eagle Inc., Sybaris Clubs International Inc., and the administrator of Kenneth Knudson’s estate. Mark Turek, 59, died in a Wheeling aviation accident that occurred close to the Palwaukee Municipal Airport on January 30, 2006.

Turek, a Morgan Stanley senior vice president, Lake Zurich resident and Sybaris Clubs International founder Kenneth Knudsen, 40-year-old Chicago resident Scott Garland, and 37-year-old Algonquin resident Michael Waugh were flying back from a daytrip to Kansas when the catastrophic plane crash happened. All of them died in the airplane accident.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, because the pilot of the twin-engine plane failed to maintain airspeed as the aircraft was getting ready to land, it stalled and crashed to the ground. Turek and Knudson had been sitting in front of the plane’s dual controls, which means that either man would have been able to steer the plane. The NTSB was unable to determine who was flying the plane when the aviation accident happened.

Turek’s widow is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for her husband’s Cook County wrongful death.

Aviation Accidents
Plane crashes often result in deaths and catastrophic injuries. It is important that you work with a Chicago, Illinois aviation accident lawyer that knows how to successfully pursue your financial recovery.

Common causes of aviation accidents:

• Pilot error
• Air traffic controller negligence
• Third party negligence
• Plane defects
• Poor weather
• Flight attendant negligence
• Gate agent negligence
• Airport operator negligence
• Faulty maintenance
• Malfunctioning aircraft

Wrongful death lawsuit filed in Wheeling plane crash, Pioneer Local, April 12, 2010

Video Shows Plane Impact, CBS2, January 31, 2006

Related Web Resources:
National Transportation Safety Board

Plane Accidents Overview, Justia

Chicago Police Officer Darryl Edwards is suing Thomas A. Hendricks Elementary Principal Joyce Wilson Toran for Chicago injuries to a minor. Edwards’s son, a special education eighth grader at the school, injured his finger when it got caught in his locker door that Toran had closed shut.

According to the 14-year-old, he was listening to his iPod on March 23 when he was approached by the principal, who told him to stop listening to the music and come to her office. He decided to stop at his locker first. After he opened the locker, Toran approached him and slammed the locker door. The teen’s right ring finger got caught in it and had to be treated at Blue Island hospital. The police report states that Toran confirmed closing the locker door but said that she didn’t know that the 14-year-old’s finger was there until he started screaming.

Per the Chicago personal injury lawsuit, the teen’s finger was so badly injured that he has had to undergo two finger surgeries. The complaint says it is too soon to determine whether there will be permanent damage.

Edwards is accusing Toran and the Chicago Board of Education of “willful and wanton misconduct.” He called Toran’s conduct, even if accidental, “reckless.” His Chicago injury complaint is seeking at least $50,000 in damages.

Chicago, Illinois Personal Injury
Illinois schools can be held liable for Chicago injury if a student is injured on the premise because of negligence, recklessness, or carelessness on the part of the administration or its employees. Even if the responsible party never intended to cause injury or death, which is usually the case, you may still be able to hold him/her and/or the entity liable for your pain and suffering, mental trauma, medical costs, recovery expenses, rehabilitation bills, lost wages, and other losses.

Suit: Principal slammed teen's hand in locker, Chicago Sun-Times, April 3, 2010

Related Web Resources:
The Chicago Board of Education

The family of Crosby Lipscomb is suing the Chicago Fire Department for Cook County wrongful death. Lipscomb died during a fire at his home on April 6, 2009.

According to the plaintiffs’ Chicago, Illinois wrongful death complaint, firefighters failed to properly search the residence to check for anyone that might be alive. Relatives discovered Lipscomb’s body when they kicked in the door to his home two days after the blaze.

Lipscomb, a retired 58-year-old Chicago Board of Education janitor, died from some inhalation. His family is seeking over $50,000 in Chicago wrongful death recovery.

Following Lipscomb’s death, firefighters were disciplined over their failure to find him and the Chicago Fire Department changed its fire search rules. Specific fire companies must now be tasked with searching designated areas of a building that caught fire. These companies have to stay in radio contact with commanders on the scene and update them about the searches. Command staff must track the searches in writing. Also, battalion chiefs have had to “refresh” firefighters on how to search during fires.

Firefighters cannot afford to make any mistakes when attempting to put out a fire. Breach of duty, negligence, mistakes, carelessness, or recklessness can lead to serious injuries and lives lost during a fire. A blaze may even end up spreading to other properties, causing additional property damage and personal injuries.

It can be tough to prove that firefighter negligence took place. A plaintiff will likely have to prove that firefighters neglected to do their job properly, made the situation worse, or were negligent in some other way. This is not a Chicago injury or wrongful death case that you want to pursue without an experienced Cook County personal injury law firm representing you.

Chicago Fire Department Hit With Wrongful Death Suit, Chicago Tribune/Firefighting News, April 7, 2010

Fire search rules altered after body overlooked, Chicago Breaking News, May 27, 2009

Related Web Resource:
Chicago Fire Department

A federal appeals court has upheld Kevin Fox’s civil rights violation claim that Will County Sheriff’s Detectives falsely arrested him for the murder of his 3-year-old daughter. Kevin was charged with the first-degree murder and sexual assault of Riley Fox after she disappeared from their Wilmington home in 2004.

The little girl’s body was found in a creek. Kevin, who implicated himself while being interrogated says that he made his statement during a 14 ½ hour overnight session. He ended up in jail for eight months before DNA evidence cleared him. Riley’s murder case has yet to be solved.

Kevin and his wife Melissa sued the Will County sheriff’s office for civil rights violations in 2007. Allegations included wrongful imprisonment and false arrest. The couple’s Chicago attorney has accused police of knowing Kevin was innocent and framing him.

In 2007, Kevin’s brother Chad described how male family members gave DNA samples and underwent polygraph tests to assist in the investigation into Riley’s murder. He said that Will County authorities did not test the evidence.

You can sue police for civil rights violations, including:

• False arrest
• Wrongful conviction
• Police misconduct
• Failure to protect
• Police brutality
• Police negligence
• Recklessness during police pursuit
• Neglect of a prisoner
• Taser injuries
• Malicious prosecution
• Failure to intervene

Just because you are a suspect or under arrest for a crime does not mean that your civil rights should be tossed to the wayside or that you should become a victim of Will County, Illinois police brutality. Unfortunately, many people are too scared to speak out or are not aware that their civil rights were violated.

Brother and mother testify in Kevin Fox lawsuit, ABC Local, November 8, 2007

Court: Fox falsely arrested for Riley’s death, Morris Daily Herald, April 8, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Will County Sheriff's Office

The US Constitution, Cornell.edu

The family of Christian Arroyo has been awarded a $29.1 million Chicago, Illinois medical malpractice verdict against the federal government. Arroyo, 6, has cerebral palsy and is a quadriplegic.

Arroyo was born in May 2003 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. According to the plaintiffs, Arroyo’s mother Maria developed an infection before she went into labor and her water broke early. The Arroyo family says that even though the newborn displayed signs that he was suffering from an infection, doctors failed to treat him. This allowed the infection to enter his bloodstream, causing permanent brain damage. Now, Christian is a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy who is unable to talk, walk, or eat with his mouth.

The family filed its Chicago cerebral palsy lawsuit against the US government because the doctors that delivered Arroyo were employed by the Erie Family Health Center, a Chicago clinic that is federally funded. Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, injured parties can sue the federal government. A judge, not a jury decides these cases. The verdict will be offset by the $6.5 million Chicago birthing malpractice lawsuit reached between the plaintiffs and the hospital last year.

Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is a permanent condition that leaves a child with serious issues affecting movement and muscle coordination. When caused by the negligent or careless actions of a medical professional during birth, the family may be entitled to receive Chicago medical malpractice compensation involving injuries to a minor.

Living with cerebral palsy can be extremely challenging for a child, who may not be able to speak, move, or eat properly. Mental retardation can also occur. Cerebral palsy can be costly to live with, which is one reason why it is important that your family receive all of the personal injury compensation that your child is owed.

Family awarded $29M for quadriplegic child, Chicago Sun-Times, April 6, 2010

Gurnee family wins $29.1 million in medical malpractice lawsuit, Daily Herald, April 1, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Cerebral palsy, KidsHealth.org

Forms of Cerebral Palsy, Origins of Palsy

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago