Chicago Injury Attorney Blog

The parents of Ronald L. Heard Jr., a man who died in 2007 after being shot outside a restaurant in Chicago’s South Side, is suing White Castle System for his wrongful death. Their Illinois civil lawsuit accuses the restaurant of creating an environment that allowed drug dealers and violence on the premise.

Heard was gunned down on October 6, 2007 while trying to help a woman that a drug dealer was harassing in the restaurant parking lot. His parents, Nena Heard and Ronald Heard, Sr. are the plaintiffs in the wrongful death lawsuit against White Castle. They are accusing the restaurant of failing to protect its customers, failing to have a security guard on the premise who could reduce violence, allowing drugs to be sold on the property, and failing to tell police that drug deals were occurring on the premise.

Their son’s shooting death occurred at the White Castle on S. Western Avenue. A drug dealer reportedly tried selling Heard marijuana while he was in line to order food at the drive-thru window. Heard refused, and the drug dealer allegedly tried to sell drugs to a woman in another vehicle. The dealer reportedly began arguing with her and then shot the 23-year-old when he came forward to help the woman. Two men were charged in Heard’s shooting death.

Premises Liability
If a property owner knows that there is a history of crimes occurring on or around the premise, then he or she must take proper measures to protect patrons, visitors, customers, or residents from becoming the victims of similar crimes in the future. A failure to protect from criminal acts can be grounds for an Illinois premises liability or wrongful death lawsuit.

Steps property owners can take to protect others from crimes:

• Installing security cameras
• Hiring security guards
• Issuing warning signs
• Installing security alarm systems
• Reporting suspicious or illegal activities to Chicago police

Lawsuit Blames White Castle in Man's Shooting Death, The Southtown Star, November 4, 2008

Related Web Resources:
Premises Liability, Justia

White Castle System

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In Kane County, Aurora resident Tyre Davis is suing landlord Ismael Quintana II for personal injury. Davis, a father of three young children, ages 1, 3, and 4, says that his children got sick because they ate paint chips that had high levels of lead while in their apartment. The apartment is located in the 500 block of East Downer Place.

According to the Davis’s Illinois personal injury lawsuit, his client has had to pay for medical and surgical treatments to try and cure his children since they were exposed to lead from the paint chips. Davis alleges that Quintana painted the halls, window frames, and walls with lead-based paint prior to June 9. He is accusing Quintana of negligence because the landlord painted the apartment using the lead-based paint and failed to warn residents that this hazard now existed on the premise.

Illinois’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Act of 1973 bars anyone from applying lead-based paints to exposed surfaces of any structure that children frequent, including the exposed surfaces of any building. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, some 310,000 children, 6 and younger, get sick from lead poisoning each year. The IDPH treated 7,600 children with lead poisoning.

Researchers say there are a number of ways children are exposed to lead at home including, from lead-based paint that has deteriorated or chipped away, dust from the deteriorating paint, and soil with lead-contaminated dust or paint chips that have fallen from the exterior walls of a building.

Children are more susceptible than adults to serious injuries from lead in paint, including learning disabilities, mental problems, stunted growth, and behavioral difficulties. Exposure to lead can also lead to permanent brain damage. One of the more common ways that children ingest lead is to use their hands to put paint chips or lead-contaminated soil or dust in their mouths.

If you or your loved one got sick or sustained an injury because of a hazard that existed on someone's premise, you may be able to file an Illinois premises liability claim for compensation.

Aurora Man Sues Landlord Over Lead, Suburban Chicago News, October 30, 2008

It's banned but not gone: Lead paint is still a danger, USA Today, August 29, 2007

Related Web Resources:

Preventing Lead Poisoning in Young Children, CDC

Lead Poisoning, KeepKidsHealthy.com

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In Cook County Circuit Court, the husband of a Burger King manager that was murdered in 2006 during a robbery at the fast-food restaurant she was supervising is suing Stand Guard, Inc. for her wrongful death. The company was in charge of providing security services to the Lindenhurst restaurant.

According to Kenneth Hutchinson Jr.’s Illinois wrongful death lawsuit, the alarm systems in the restaurant and its safe did not activate during the robbery, which, Hutchinson contends, resulted in his wife’s death.

The suit says that Mary Hutchinson arrived for work at Burger King on November 27, 2006 and locked the doors upon entering. The man who killed her, James Ealy, allegedly entered the restaurant and attacked her before demanding that she open the safe. Ealy worked as a maintenance worker at the Lindhenhurst Burger King.

Mary at first inputted the wrong code to the safe, which should have activated the alarm if it had not malfunctioned. She was then beaten and strangled. Kenneth’s lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages from the security company.

Earlier this year, a $1.3 million wrongful death settlement was reached between Kenneth and Burger King and a franchisee. Kenneth’s lawsuit accused Fox Lake Family Dining, Northern Illinois Family Dining, Spence Group Service Inc., and William Spence for their alleged failure to do a complete background check on Ealy, who reportedly had an extensive criminal record prior to Mary’s murder. Last year, Lake County prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty if Ealy were convicted for Hutchison’s murder.

Security companies are supposed to provide clients with alarm systems that are free from defect or malfunction. When a robbery, assault crime, or murder occurs because the alarm system fails to work as designated and someone is injured or murdered or experiences a loss of property, the security company may be held liable for personal injury or wrongful death.

In the event that a security malfunction failed to prevent a crime because the manufacturer of the security system designed a defective product, the product manufacturer could also be held liable in civil court. In certain Illinois personal injury and wrongful death cases, there may be more than one party that can be held liable.

Integrator sued over robbery-murder, Security Systems News, October 23, 2008

Husband of slain Burger King manager files suit, Lake County News-Sun, October 17, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Stand Guard, Inc

Death Penalty Sought In Burger King Murder, CBS2Chicago.com, December 6, 2007

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The family of a teenage girl is suing the Chicago Park District for personal injury because she was sexually assaulted by three of the Park District’s teen employees last year. The teen was 13 and a volunteer junior counselor at Hayes Park when the assault happened. While one of the teens pleaded guilty to criminal sexual abuse related to the attack, the other two teens pleaded guilty to charges of battery.

According to the Illinois personal injury lawsuit, park supervisor Monique Whitfield left the girl without proper supervision on several occasions, including on July 31, 2007, between 1 and 4pm. It was during this time that the girl was attacked and raped in the men’s locker room.

Premises Liability Involving Crimes
If you were a victim of a violent crime on another person’s property, you may be able to file a premises liability claim for personal injury against the property owner or manager. Premise owners and supervisors are supposed to implement the necessary security measures to ensure that residents, employees, visitors, customers, and other patrons are not at risk of becoming the victim of a crime while they are on the property.

Even if an assailant, burglar, or rapist is not directly affiliated with the premise or its owners, the property owners could be held liable for premises liability or wrongful death if he or she could (or should) have acted to prevent a crime from happening and someone is injured or dies.

Crimes that may arise on a premise because of inadequate security or failure to protect include:

• Sexual assault/Rape
• Stabbings
• Shootings
• Murders

Steps premise owners can take to properly secure a premise may vary, depending on the kind of property involved. Security cameras, staff supervisors, alarm systems, locks, security-controlled entrances and exits, proper lighting, and security staffers are just some steps that property owners can take to prevent crimes from happening on a premise.+

Girl sues Chicago Parks over sex assault, SouthtownStar.com, October 10, 2008

Teen sues park district over sexual assault, Chicago Tribune, October 10, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Chicago Park District

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A recent ABC News undercover investigation found that despite the known danger that pool drains can pose—especially to children—there are still public pools in the US that have yet to install safety drain covers and shut-off valves that are supposed to prevent kids from getting stuck or sucked into a drain’s powerful suction. Defective pool drains can be a premise liability.

During its probe, ABC News discovered that 16 of the 23 hotels pools that it reviewed in different cities across the US are still not safe. Pool Safety Consortium Paul Pennington called the drain covers in many of these pools “death traps.”

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act, which is a new federal law that will go into effect later this year, will impose a heavy fine on any public pool that does not install a safety drain cover by December 20, 2008. The law is named after former US Secretary of State James Baker's 7-year-old granddaughter, who drowned after she got caught in the underwater floor drain of a friend’s hot tub. The suction pressure holding Virginia underwater was estimated at 700 pounds, which made it impossible for family and friends to pull her out of the water before she died.

The dome-shaped cover of the government-approved safety drains are designed to keep a child’s body from getting sucked into the drain. They are different from the standard flat drain covers, which do not prevent hair, fingers, or other body parts from getting stuck in the drain. This can lead to evisceration or drowning within seconds.

The Graeme Baker Act mandates that all public pools have a domed drain cover or a very big flat drain to minimize the chances of the dangerous vacuum effect occurring. The new law, however, does not cover private pools.

While over 50 people have reportedly died due to faulty pool drains since the 1980’s, some experts say that there are many more pool drain entrapment deaths that have gone unreported.

'She Died in My Arms': A Mother's Mission for Safe Pools, ABC News

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act Summary, APSP.org

President Bush Signs Into Law the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety
Act of 2007, Reuters, December 19, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Hidden Dangers of Pool Drains, CBSNews.com, August 1, 2007

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In Illinois, the parents of a 3-year-old that died after being crushed by an iron gate have filed a Chicago wrongful death lawsuit against Urban Property Advisors, a private management company that oversees rowhouses for the Chicago Housing Authority.

Curtis Cooper was riding his tricycle on Cambridge Avenue in Cabrini Green on the afternoon of June 27, when an iron fence fell on him. His father, Clayton Wade, says, “I saw his head smashed in with the gate.”

Five or six men tried to pull the heavy gate off the boy. Curtis was later pronounced dead at Children’s Memorial Hospital. An autopsy found that Curtis died from cranio-cerebral injuries.

The lawsuit is asking for damages over $50,000. The gate reportedly had hinges on it that had been rusted through. It failed a building inspection conducted on June 30.

Premises Liability
It is the responsibility of all Illinois property owners and managers to make sure that there are no hazardous conditions on a premise that could cause serious injury or death to a resident, patron, or visitor of a property. Failure to fulfill this duty can be grounds for a premises liability or wrongful death claim or lawsuit.

Examples of conditions that can lead to a Chicago premises liability or wrongful death claim or lawsuit:

• Carbon monoxide leaks
• Slippery or uneven floors
• Poorly lit hallways
• Defective appliances on the property
• Electrical hazards

Premises liability accidents can lead to serious injuries, including broken bones, burn injuries, slip and fall injuries, injuries from a violent crime, and death.

Family of boy killed in gate accident files lawsuit, Chicagotribune.com, July 2, 2008

Toddler Crushed By Gate, CBS2Chicago.com, June 28, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Wrongful Death Act, Illinois General Assembly

Chicago Housing Authority

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