Chicago Injury Attorney Blog

A woman has filed a Cook County injury lawsuit against Sears, Roebuck, and Co. for inadequate security. In her Chicago premises liability complaint, Christine Granberry is seeking over $100,000.

Granberry says that after shopping at the Sears on 1334 E. 795h Street, she went back to her vehicle, which she had parked in the store’s parking lot. When she got there she was assaulted by someone trying to steal her purse. She says the person “violently” knocked her to the pavement and kicked her multiple times, causing her to sustain permanent, serious physical injuries and experience severe, prolonged pain that will last for as long as she lives.

Granberry’s Chicago injury complaint accuses Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Sears Holdings Corp. of failing to maintain surveillance cameras that worked in the store’s parking lot, failing to monitor the area, failing to provide a security presence, and failing to help her during the assault.

Department stores can be held liable for Chicago premises liability if a hazard in the store or parking lot causes injury or death and the store owner and/or property owner could have acted to prevent the Chicago personal injury accident from happening.

Just last week, our Chicago injury lawyers posted an account about an octogenarian who settled her premises liability lawsuit against Target for $7 million. Claire Putnam fell after the store’s swinging door hit her. The door then struck her head after she had fallen. She sustained a traumatic brain injury from her Chicago fall accident. In September, Sears was sued for Chicago premises liability by another woman who says she slipped and fell on vomit and paper towel that had been left on a store floor.

On Friday, another woman sued another store for Chicago trip and fall. Claudette Minghetti says that on November 12, 2007, she tripped and fell because a box was left on the floor in the floral department of Treasure Island, a specialty store on the North Side.

Minghetti’s Chicago injury lawsuit accuses LD Trading and Wise and Treasure Island Foods of improperly leaving the box on the ground and neglecting to warn people it was there. She is seeking over $30,000 for damages she sustained from their alleged negligence.

Woman sues Sears after being mugged, Private Officer News, October 17, 2009

Woman sues grocery store after tripping over a box, WBBM Newsradio, October 16, 2009

Related Web Resource:
Proving Fault in Accidents on Dangerous or Defective Property, Nolo

In Cook County Circuit Court, Glinda Bridgeman submitted her Chicago slip and fall lawsuit against Sears. Bridgeman says she was injured on July 11 when she slipped and fell on paper towels and vomit that were on the floor of the television department of a Chicago Sears store.

Her Chicago premises liability complaint accuses Sears of negligence, including failing to warn that there were paper towels and vomit on the ground and neglecting to clean away both after it knew or should have realized that either posed an Illinois slip and fall hazard. The plaintiff is seeking over $50,000 in damages.

Store owners and managers owe customers a duty of care to make sure that there are no hazardous conditions on the ground, such as spilt liquid, debris, or other items, that can result in slip and fall accidents.

While a slip and fall accident may sound like a minor incident, often the injuries that result are serious, extremely painful, and costly to treat medically. Slip and fall cases fall under the area of premises liability law and can be grounds for substantial financial recovery.

Just this month, a jury awarded a couple a $324,000 slip and fall verdict against FKG Oil Co., which is the company that owns an Edwardsville Motomart. John Linkes sued for Illinois slip and fall after he fell on a newly mopped floor.

Following the March 2007 personal injury accident, Linkes and his wife Linda filed an Illinois slip and fall lawsuit seeking $2 million. The jury awarded links $150,000 for past and future pain, $49,664.41 for medical expenses, $50 for loss of a normal life, $75,000 for future medical expenses, and $50,000 for punitive damages. Linda was awarded $5,000 for loss of society and $10,000 for loss of her spouse’s services.

Woman Sues Sears After She Slips On Vomit, Chicago Now, September 15, 2009

$324,000 Award in Slip-and-Fall Case, Courthouse News, September 23, 2009

Related Web Resource:
Illinois Premises Liability Act, Justia

Two separate Illinois personal injury lawsuits involving fall accidents caused by hazards on premises are scheduled to go to trial next week. In one case, Mattie Walker-Bennett had sued the City of Alton, its public works department, American Waterworks Service Company, Illinois Water Company, the owner of Central Rivers Construction, and several individuals for injuries she sustained during a 2006 slip and fall accident on a broken sidewalk.

Per her Illinois premises liability lawsuit, Walker-Bennett says she fell in Alton on Alby Street while walking in front of the home of Donna and Jerry Cannon, who are also defendants in the lawsuit. Her complaint contends that the sidewalk was not properly maintained and that a water meter was one reason the ground was in disrepair.

The plaintiff says she sustained permanent ankle and foot injuries and experienced pain, anxiety, stress, humiliation, embarrassment, and income loss because of the fall accident. She also contends that her ability to work was diminished.

Walker-Bennett has already settled her claims against the Cannons and the city of Alton Harold Garrison and American Waterworks are no longer part of the lawsuit. She is seeking at least $50,000 in damages.

In another premises liability trial scheduled to resume next week, Michael Strong is suing Walter Haire and the Walter Haire Living Trust for his fall injuries, pain, suffering, mental trauma, lost income, and medical expenses. Strong says he fell off the deck of a home he was visiting in Edwardsville. He contends that the defendants failed to warn of the hazard, did not properly maintain the deck, and failed to maintain the faulty railing.

Injuries from fall accidents can be extremely painful and can result in broken bones, dislocated or broken hips, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and death. A person that is seriously injured in a fall accident may require surgery, supervised care, and rehabilitation services. He or she may not be able to work, drive, go to school, or completely many routine tasks without assistance. All of this can be very costly, which is why it is important to find out if you have grounds for filing a Chicago injury lawsuit against a liable party.

Alton broken sidewalk case goes to trial Monday, Madison Record, September 10, 2009

Edwardsville deck fall case goes to trial Monday, The Record, September 10, 2009

Premises Liability, Nolo

Related Web Resources:
Premises Liability Act, Illinois, Justia

In Cook County Circuit Court, Allecyn Edwards is suing the Chicago Zoological Society and the Brookfield Zoo for her slip and fall injuries. Edwards contends that she was injured because the defendants had trained the dolphins to splash water at the spectators in the stands, which wet the surrounding floors and made them slippery.

Edwards says that there should have been warning signs to let her know that the floors were wet and that mats should have been used. With her Chicago premises liability lawsuit, Edwards is seeking over $50,000.

Edwards slipped and fell on August 20, 2008 while walking along the floor located close to the bleachers at the zoo’s dolphin exhibit. She claims that her injuries have resulted in pain and suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages.

Slip and Fall Accidents
More than 20,000 people a day are injured in the US in slip and fall accidents. Slip and fall accidents can even be fatal if a person sustains a traumatic brain injury or another serious injury or suffers a health complication as a result of the fall accident.

Slip and fall claims are a kind of Chicago premises liability case that holds the premise owner or manager liable for the condition that caused the injury accident. Could the premise owner or another responsible party have prevented the slip and fall accident? Did either of these parties contribute in some way—even via ignorance—to causing the slip accident, fall accident, or trip accident from happening? Even if the premise owner didn’t know about the hazard that contributed to the slip and fall accident, should this person or entity have known about the danger so it could have been remedied before someone got hurt?

Other kinds of Chicago premises liability claims may include grounds for:
• Inadequate security
• Improper maintenance
• Falling merchandise
• A defective product on the premise

Brookfield Zoo dolphin lawsuit: Woman sues over fall she blames on wet floor, Chicago Tribune, August 20, 2009

Slip and Fall, Nolo

Related Web Resources:
Brookfield Zoo, Chicago Zoological Society

Read Allecyn Edwards's slip and fall lawsuit (PDF)

The city of Chicago and Diana Sarker have agreed to settle her Illinois slip and fall lawsuit for $800,000. The 59-year-old woman fractured her kneecap and tore cartilage on January 21, 2005 when she slipped and fell while walking through Terminal 3 at O’Hare Airport.

Sarkar was hospitalized for six days following the Chicago slip and fall accident and had to undergo surgery. A number of months later, she had another surgery to repair her kneecap.

Sarkar missed the medical conference she had been traveling to and was unable to work at the private medical practice she owned for several months. She eventually returned to work but only part-time. Her volunteer medical work also suffered.

The city of Chicago is in charge of maintaining O’Hare. In her Chicago injury lawsuit, Sarkar accuses the city of failing to clean up the substance that had been left on the ground and of neglecting to tell passengers that food had fallen onto the floor.

Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents are often more harmful than they sound. Slipping and falling can lead to serious and painful injuries to the knee, hip, leg, back, neck, and/or head that can take months to recover from. In some instances, injuries sustained during slip and fall accidents, such as spinal cord injuries or traumatic brain injuries, can be catastrophic.

The medical costs resulting from repairing a slip and fall injury and the months of therapy that may be required to rehabilitate the injury victim can accrue pretty quickly.

You may have grounds for suing a negligent party for Chicago slip and fall.

Doc who slipped, fell at O'Hare gets $800K, Sun-Times, August 12, 2009

Attorneys: Slippery-floor suit settled, Chicago Tribune, August 13, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Slip and Fall Accidents, Nolo

Chicago Airport Systems

Slip/trip and fall accidents are much more dangerous than they sound. A person who slips and falls or trips and falls can sustain serious personal injuries and permanent disabilities. Last week, two people filed Illinois premises liability lawsuits over injuries they sustained in separate fall accidents.

In the first Illinois slip and fall case, Louis Young is suing Wal-Mart because he claims he slid on a slippery substance that was on a Highland store floor on May 26, 2007. Young says that, as a result, he injured his right knee, foot, and ankle, as well as his left hip. He also sustained a disability that he claims has prevented him from attending to his daily responsibilities and tasks. Young says that his slip and fall injuries have led to a great deal of pain and he has accrued medical expenses.

Young is accusing Wal-Mart of negligence, including failing to properly maintain the store floor so that it was in a reasonably safe condition, failing to remove the slippery substance from the floor, failing to make sure the floor had a non-slip surface, and neglecting to warn him that there was a slippery substance on the ground.

In an unrelated Illinois trip and fall lawsuit, Juanita Osborn is suing Tri-Mor Properties for her personal injuries. The company owns the bingo hall where she claims she tripped on parking blocks and fell as she was leaving the building on December 25.

Osborn says she wouldn’t have tripped over the block if the defendant had installed adequate lighting in the parking lot and she had been able to see the obstruction. She contends that she sustained serious permanent injuries from her Illinois fall accident.

Premises Liability
Under Illinois premises liability law, the owners of private, commercial, or public properties can be held accountable for personal injuries if someone is involved in a trip and fall, a slip and fall, a stump and fall, or a step and fall accident on the premise.

Wal-Mart sued over customer's slip on clear substance, The Record, May 27, 2009

Woman sues bingo hall owner over trip in parking lot, The Record, May 27, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Premises Liability, Justia

Slip and Fall, Nolo

Continue reading "Chicago Slip and Fall: Two Illinois Personal Injury Lawsuits Seek Judgments Over $50,000 " »

An Illinois woman is suing Metro Ice Inc. and Schnucks Markets for personal injury. Patricia Pope says that on June 6, 2007, she sustained injuries to her neck, spine, back, right shoulder, arms, torso, legs, elbows, right foot, right ankle, right interior cruciate ligament, and right posterior cruciate ligament when she slipped and fell while walking down one of the aisles at a Schnucks market in East St. Louis.

Her Illinois slip and fall complaint contends that a Metro Ice employee who was delivering bags of ice accidentally dropped some ice onto the store floor. Pope is accusing employees that worked for Metro Ice and Schnucks of neglecting to properly inspect the floor, failing to wipe the water off the floor, neglecting to post signs that the floor was wet, and failing to let her know that the ground was wet.

As a result of her Illinois slip and fall injuries, Pope says she is no longer able to enjoy the normal pursuits of life the way she used to and she has racked up medical bills because her injuries needed treatment. She is seeking at least $50,000.

Illinois Premises Liability
Grocery stores and other premises that have patrons are supposed to make sure that there are no foreign substances on their floors that can lead to Illinois slip and fall accidents. Liquids, food products, and other foreign substances that spill onto the ground must be mopped up or cleared away to prevent injuries from happening. Premise owners must post signs warning if a floor is wet or slippery because it has been polished or waxed. They must also make sure that floor surfaces are free from objects that can cause slip and fall accidents, such as torn carpeting, uneven flooring, floor tiles that have come loose, or broken steps.

Slip and fall injuries can be painful injuries and they can be costly and take a long time to treat. This is why you need a Chicago slip and fall law firm that knows how to successfully prove negligence against a liable premise owner so that you can obtain the Illinois personal injury recovery that your injuries warrant.

Melted ice causes woman's injuries, suit claims, The Record, May 5, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Slip and Fall Accidents: Proving Fault, Nolo

Premises Liability Overview, Justia

Two plaintiffs recently filed their Illinois slip and fall lawsuits in state court for their personal injuries. They are each seeking over $50,000 plus costs.

In one Illinois premises liability complaint, Dorothy Baker says she fractured her right shoulder while walking on a sidewalk outside a Ponderosa Steakhouse owned by ABI Enterprises. Baker says that she fell because there was no warning sign to let customers know that there was a steep drop off at the end of the sidewalk.

According to her premises liability lawsuit, she fractured her right shoulder, accrued hospital expenses, suffered significant physical and mental pain, experienced disability and disfigurement, can no longer perform her usual responsibilities, and cannot live her life in the way that she is normally accustomed.

Baker is accusing ABI Enterprises of liability because it designed the sidewalk. She also says that the company failed to warn about the sudden drop-off, neglected to place a rail on the drop-off, did not install the proper lighting so that customers could see the drop, and neglected to fix the sidewalk.

In another Illinois premises liability lawsuit also filed in state court this month, Jacqueline Purchase is suing apartment complex owners James and Brenda Hayden for slip and fall injuries she sustained when she was walking on a walkway on the premise.

Purchase says that her premises liability accident occurred because there was ice on the ground. Her Illinois slip and fall lawsuit contends that the complex owners shouldn’t have let the melting snow freeze over the concrete driveway and that they should have taken steps to get rid of the ice, as well as warn her about the hazard.

Purchase says that as a result of the slip and fall accident, she broke her ankle, experienced disfigurement and disability, suffered great physical and mental pain, incurred medical bills, lost wages, and can no longer live a normal life.

Woman falls at Ponderosa, files suit, The Record, April 8, 2009

Apartment complex owners sued over tenant's slip and fall, The Record, April 10, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Slip and Fall News, Justia

Slip and Fall Accidents, Nolo

An Illinois woman is suing Memorial Hospital for injuries she sustained during a slip and fall accident. Sonja Harris says she hurt herself when she slid on melted snow in the entryway of the hospital and fell.

The alleged Illinois slip and fall accident occurred on February 14, 2007 as the plaintiff entered the door located between medical office center number 1 and the emergency room. As a result of the fall accident, Harris says she sustained serious internal and external injuries, felt sore, became lame, disabled, disorderly, and experienced extreme physical and mental pain. Her premises liability lawsuit also claims that she lost wages because she took time off from work and incurred medical bills because of her injuries.

Harris is accusing Memorial hospital of negligence because it allegedly failed to make sure that floor at its entryway was in a safe condition, did not clear the water from the floor, neglected to warn her about the melted snow, and failed to make sure that there was a runner or non-slip surface on the ground. The St. Clair County woman is seeking over $50,000 plus costs.

Slip and Fall Accidents
While a slip and fall incident may seem like a minor kind of accident, the injuries a person can suffer when slipping and falling can be very painful, debilitating, and disabling. Slip and fall injuries have been known to result in broken bones, hip injuries, back injuries, bruises, spinal cord injuries, and even head injuries. The elderly are especially at risk of sustaining a serious injury during a slip and fall accident.

Common Kinds of Slip and Fall Accidents:
• Trip and Fall
• Step and Fall
• Slip and Fall
• Stump and Fall

Premise owners are responsible for making sure that there are no conditions on a premise that can result in a slip and fall accident. A slip and fall accident victim may have grounds to hold a negligent or careless property owner or manager liable in civil court for Illinois premises liability.

Hospital Sued Over Woman's Fall on Melted Snow, The Madison/St Clair Record, February 3, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Preventing Injuries from Slips, Trips and Falls, NASD

Proving Fault in Slip and Fall Accidents, Nolo

On Aug. 22, an OSHA officer, while driving by a Chicago-area residential construction site, observed employees working at approximately 30 feet above grade performing roofing work. He stopped at the worksite and saw an employee trip on a slide guard and nearly fell off the roof. Luckily, the employee caught himself on the side of a chimney. The officer initiated an inspection and asked the employer to cease work until employees were provided adequate fall protection.

This is just another example of construction companies disregarding safety to increase the speed of a project. Unfortunately, many construction companies are more concerned with completing a project on schedule than safety. In this case, it was quicker to allow employees to work without fall protection than to require them to wear a safety line or provide other fall protection.

If you are employed in the construction industry, you should demand compliance with all known safety regulations. In addition, you should report any safety violations to your foreman or general contractor. Working in safe conditions is your right, which must protected at all costs.

If you are injured at a construction site, it is important that you retain top quality legal representation. You should hire an attorney who has a track record of success in representing victims of construction negligence.

Malman Law has the skill and experience to handle construction site accident cases. We believe the key to success in construction cases is being aggressive and persistent. This type of aggressive representation has resulted in the recovery of millions of dollars for our clients.

One out of every 10 construction workers is injured every year. The most common accident at construction sites is falls causing more fatalities than any other construction activity. Ironworkers have the greatest likelihood of being injured on a construction site, more than any other trade.

We recently settled a case for an Ironworker who was injured in Rosemont, Illinois. Our client was helping a co-worker move a steel beam when the co-worker slipped and dropped the beam. As a result, my client was left holding the entire weight of the beam. The beam was so heavy that my client felt an immediate "pop" in his back causing immediate pain. He eventually was diagnosed with a herniated disc in his back and underwent surgery to fuse his spine. We were able to prove that during a rain storm the general contractor ordered my client to move a steel beam. Our expert determined that the general contractor was negligent for failing to shut down the site and for ordering my client to perform work in unsafe conditions.

Construction site cases can be very complex. The most difficult aspect of these cases is determining all of the liable parties. If the injured worker is employed by the general contractor then we must determine what role, if any, the sub-contractors played in the injury. If the worker is employed by a sub-contractor, then we must determine the liability of the general contractor, the owner and other sub-contractors.

At Malman Law, we feel the best way to establish liability in a case is through the use of expert witnesses. We utilize construction safety experts who have worked for OSHA and understand government regulation of the construction industry. We are often able to uncover poor safety compliance and a disregard for government regulations.

A construction site is a very dangerous place. Construction companies are well aware of the dangers of the site but will often disregard safety for speed and profits. If you are injured, it is important to exercise your legal rights . By exercising your rights, you will bring to light to unsafe conditions which may help to prevent future injuries.