Posted on June 20, 2018 in Personal Injury

As the warmer weather has finally come to Illinois, more and more motorcyclists are enjoying the freedom of the open road. Unfortunately, every year thousands of individuals are killed and injured while riding a motorcycle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that in 2015, approximately 88,000 people were injured and nearly 5,000 people lost their lives in motorcycle crashes. If you or someone you love has been injured or killed in a motorcycle accident, read on to learn how you can recover damages through a personal injury lawsuit.

When Negligence Causes a Motorcycle Accident

There are many reasons that motorcycle accidents occur. If a motorcyclist is killed or injured because another motorist was not acting with reasonable care, that victim or their family may be able to recover compensation. A motorist who is not acting with reasonable care does not fulfill his or her duty to drive safely. More specifically, a negligent driver may:

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 Posted on June 06, 2018 in Construction Accidents

Inhabitants of Chicago and the surrounding areas know that construction work is a never-ending process. Although there are many legal protections and regulation in place to try to prevent accidents, construction sites can be quite dangerous. If you have been hurt while visiting or working on a construction site, you may be able to recover costs associated with your injury through a personal injury lawsuit.

Causes of Construction-Related Injuries

Construction workers represent just 6 percent of the total workforce in the United States, and yet they account for 20 percent of all work-related fatalities. Construction work can be full of hazards and dangerously powerful equipment. Injuries and deaths on construction sites can be caused by tripping and falling, electrocution, mishandled equipment, unsecured scaffolding, motor vehicle accidents and more. Of course, those who work in construction know that there are certain risks associated with the profession, and employers or supervisors cannot prevent every negative incident that occurs on a construction site. However, when a worker or passerby is injured or killed due to negligence, someone will usually be held liable.

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 Posted on May 23, 2018 in Car Accidents

Most of us can remember when we were first learning how to drive. Whether in a formal driver’s education class or just in a friend’s or family member’s car, when we were taught how to drive, we learned certain rules. One of these rules was to keep both hands on the steering wheel at “10 and 2.” However, as we became more comfortable driving, many of us started experimenting with driving one-handed while doing things like eating, texting, or attending to children’s needs. Today, we have named this type of behavior “distracted driving.” Sadly, distracted driving is one of the main causes of car accidents. Motor vehicle crashes in the United States involving distracted driving accounted for 3450 deaths in 2016.

An Escalating Problem

While distracted driving has been present since the invention of the car, in today’s technology-dependent society, there are more ways than ever to be distracted behind the wheel. One of the most notorious problems is using a phone while driving. When drivers take their eyes off the road, they are essentially driving blind. They will be unable to react appropriately if an expected hazard were to appear. At 55mph, a car travels the length of a football field in only five seconds. At high speeds such as these, a distracted driver becomes a threat to themselves and everyone around them. One study has shown that distracted driving may be even more dangerous than drunk driving.

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 Posted on May 04, 2018 in Personal Injury

Personal injury lawsuits exist for several reasons. Firstly, when a person or entity’s behavior causes an innocent party harm, the responsible party should be held accountable. Secondly, the person harmed should be able to recover costs associated with their injury or illness such as lost wages, medical bills, and future curative costs such as physical therapy. In order to prove that a party is liable for an injured person’s damages, negligence must be proven.

If you own a piece of property and invite others onto it, you assume responsibility for their safety. On the other hand, when you are invited onto another person’s property, you trust that person to keep the property fee of injury-causing hazards. If you have been hurt or injured on someone else’s property, the property owner may vulnerable to a premises liability lawsuit.

Necessary Components of a Negligence Claim

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 Posted on April 19, 2018 in Personal Injury

Earlier this week, a Southwest Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing when one the of aircraft’s engines exploded and sent debris into the body of the plane. In the wake of the fatal accident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it will be issuing an “airworthiness directive” regarding the specific type of engine in question because this was not the first time one of them failed in spectacular fashion.

What Investigators Know

The exact cause of the explosion is not yet known, but the chain of events is fairly clear. The incident occurred as a Southwest Airlines flight from New York to Dallas was climbing toward its normal cruising altitude shortly after takeoff. A preliminary investigation suggests that a fan blade in the left-side engine broke, causing an explosion and sending pieces of the engine—including the large outer covering—flying.

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 Posted on April 04, 2018 in Personal Injury

When you are a visitor or guest on someone else’s property, the property own has a responsibility to ensure that you are safe. He or she is not necessarily responsible for stopping you from making poor decisions while on the property, but the owner must take steps to keep the premises free of potential hazards that could cause you to slip and fall or trip and fall. If the property owner does not keep the property safe and you suffer injuries as a result of his or negligence, you could be entitled to collect compensation through a premises liability claim.

Recovering compensation for slip-and-fall injuries requires the plaintiff—that is you—to show four primary things:

1. The property owner owed you a duty of care. Proving a duty of care includes several elements. You will need to show that the defendant owns or occupies the premises where your injury occurred and that he or she is responsible for keeping the property safe. You must also show that you were permitted to be on the property, as trespassers are not owed the same duty of care as invited guests or visitors.

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 Posted on March 20, 2018 in Medical Malpractice

When you are sick or injured, you trust doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers to care for you. The responsibility that medical professionals have to their patients is like no other profession. When a hospital or medical professional makes a mistake, the results can be catastrophic. Tragically, medical mistakes and negligence are increasingly prevalent problems that leave thousands injured or killed every year.

Medical Errors Now Account for a Staggering Number of Deaths

The Latin phrase “Primum non noceere” which means, “First, do no harm,” is often recited by physicians as a promise to uphold their responsibility to keep patients safe from injury. Unfortunately, this promise is not always kept. Most people are aware that there are instances when medical professionals fail to do the job they have a sworn duty to do but have no idea how prevalent the problem really is. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that medical negligence—instances when health professionals cause injury to a patients—is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Only heart disease and cancer kill more Americans than medical malpractice. Many of the victims of medical negligence seek financial compensation for their injuries. The issue is so pervasive that over $3 billion was spent in medical malpractice payouts in 2012 alone. This works out to an astounding one payout every 43 minutes.

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 Posted on March 06, 2018 in Personal Injury

As the “baby boomer” generation ages, more and more elderly or disabled individuals will need care in a nursing home. A new study estimates that over half of all Americans will require some sort of nursing home stay in the future. This estimate is much higher than experts had previously thought. Unfortunately, this increased need for nursing home facilities and staff has left some nursing homes understaffed and grossly mismanaged.

Widespread Problems

Elderly individuals deserve to be treated with compassion and respect and to feel safe in their home, but unfortunately, many nursing homes are not as safe as they should be. A congressional report showed that almost a third of all nursing homes had committed violations which could cause harm to residents. In a survey of nursing home residents, 44 percent reported that they had been abused while staying in a nursing home. Even more shockingly, 95 percent of nursing home residents reported that they had seen nursing home staff neglect other residents. Nursing home neglect can include:

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 Posted on February 19, 2018 in Car Accidents

Car accidents can happen for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes, one or more drivers share fault in causing the accident. Other times, the entity who is at fault for the accident is not even on the scene of the accident because the party at fault is the manufacturer of the vehicle. Motor vehicles are extremely complex machines and because of this they frequently have malfunctions which can put the passengers in the car, other motorists on the road, and pedestrians at risk of death or serious injury.

Anti-Lock Brakes Can Malfunction

The anti-lock braking system (ABS) is a computer-assisted braking system which prevents the brakes from locking up. ABS have come into widespread use in production automobiles since their adoption in the 1970s. In addition to anti-lock brakes, modern motor vehicles also often have electronic control of the front-to-rear bias, traction control, electronic stability control, and emergency brake assist. These computer-assisted features are supposed to make the car safer and more easily controlled. Unfortunately, computer systems in cars can malfunction just like other computer systems.

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 Posted on January 22, 2018 in Personal Injury

Most people have heard about the now-infamous McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit. It is a story which has been widely misrepresented by the media and is often misunderstood by the general public. The 79-year-old plaintiff was in the passenger seat of a car when she went through the McDonald’s drive-thru and ordered a coffee. As she was unfastening the lid of the coffee, it tipped and spilled on her. When she and her family brought a lawsuit against McDonald’s, many considered the suit to be ridiculous. After all, we have all accidentally spilled coffee or other drinks before. The public, in general, did not understand how the situation was the restaurant’s fault and assumed the plaintiff was merely greedy or looking for an easy payout.

Appalling Injuries

The actual story is much more gruesome. What many do not realize about the cup of coffee from McDonald’s was that it was served at a temperature between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit—per corporate specifications. Liquid at this temperature is so scalding that it can cause third-degree burns in two to seven seconds. Third-degree burns are the most severe type of burn a person can endure and result in skin being burned down to the muscle/fatty-tissue layer.

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