S. v. Steven R. Daube, D.O., et al.

On August 14, 2003, Decedent, a single, twenty-two-year-old female underwent laparoscopic out-patient surgery at Hinsdale Hospital. Following her surgery, Tricia was discharged from Hinsdale’s post-operative recovery unit by the nursing staff despite having, what the family described as, complaints of feeling faint, nausea and severe pain in her abdomen. She was discharged from the Out-Patient Surgi Center at 7:00 p.m. on the evening of August 14, 2003. She returned to Hinsdale Hospital at 12:30 a.m. on August 15th with severe abdominal pain and was admitted. Her condition worsened throughout the day and she was eventually taken back to surgery at 6:30 p.m. Prior to beginning the exploratory surgery to determine the cause of her severe abdominal pain, she aspirated during anesthesia induction. During surgery, another surgeon identified the perforation to her small bowel and repaired it. Unfortunately, her condition deteriorated and she died the following day.

Plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle traveling eastbound on 127th Street at or near the intersection of 127th Street and Kedzie in the Village of Blue Island, Illinois when the defendant officer entered the intersection, ignored the traffic device which was illuminated red for northbound traffic, failed to yield the right-of-way for the plaintiff’s vehicle and violently collided into the passenger side of the plaintiff’s vehicle. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant was willful and wanton in deciding to initiate and continue the pursuit. Plaintiff was hospitalized for over 30 days and underwent multiple surgeries due to her injuries. (2010)

D.E. v. Service Partners, LLC, et al

Wrongful death and trucking negligence verdict. On April 23, 2008, Plaintiff’s decedent was operating a motorcycle eastbound on Rte. 38 with his wife, Plaintiff, D. E., as a passenger on their way to work at Northern Illinois University at approximately 7:45 a.m. when Defendant, Gerald W. Hemker, who was operating a semi-tractor trailer, as an employee and/or agent of Defendant, Service Partners, LLC, westbound on Rte. 38 attempted to turn left off of westbound Rte. 38 onto the southbound ramp for I-39 in front of the motorcycle. The motorcycle struck near the middle of the semi-tractor trailer on the passenger side of the truck. The decedent sustained multiple blunt trauma to his head, chest, and pelvis which led to his death that day. The Plaintiff sustained multiple open pelvic fractures with disruption of the pelvic circle, closed fracture of eight or more ribs, acute pulmonary collapse, closed fracture of sacrum or coccyx, contusion of genital organ, pneumothorax and contusion of lung. She has had a number of surgeries. She also has drop foot and is required to use support devices.

The jury returned a verdict of $5,000,000.00 to the Plaintiff for her disfigurement, loss of normal life, pain and suffering, emotional distress, services received, and present cash value of future services. The jury returned a verdict of $1,000,000.00 reduced by 50% contributory negligence for the wrongful death of the decedent.

Co-counsel with Joseph A. Power, Jr., and Todd A. Smith.

Estate of J.T. v. M.C.

The Decedent was attempting to cross the street in a crosswalk in her motorized wheelchair when a truck driver failed to stop at a stop sign and struck her. The Decedent suffered eviscerating injuries to her lower extremity, which lead to her death shortly thereafter. The Decedent was unmarried and unemployed at the time of her death, and is survived by four adult children, two of whom lived out of state.

H. v. AIRBORNE EXPRESS, CO.

H., a 13 year old minor, sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) on June 20, 2000 when he was struck by an Airborne Express / DHL delivery van at the intersection of Devon and Oakley Streets in Chicago, Illinois. At the time he was struck, H. was traveling eastbound on the northern sidewalk of Devon Street and was struck by the northbound Airborne Express delivery van as it proceeded northbound on Oakley from a Stop sign. Plaintiff maintained that H. had the right of way and that the defendant was operating his vehicle too fast for conditions and was negligent for failing to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk. Defendants maintained that H. emerged from behind an illegally parked vehicle and entered the crosswalk too fast for the driver to stop his vehicle. The defense further maintained that H. was not injured to the extent claimed by Plaintiffs. H. is now an adult and lives independently in a supervised living environment.

This is the highest reported settlement in Kankakee County.

E.W. v. Central Illinois Area Hospital

(2018) Medical Negligence: On December 23, 2012, 30-year old Plaintiff delivered her son, she and her son remained hospitalized until December 25th, at which time they were discharged. Almost two weeks later, On January 6, 2013 at approximately 10:42 a.m., Plaintiff presented to an area Hospital with complaints of chest and back pain, and her documented pain intensity was a 15 on a 1-10 scale. She was examined in the Emergency Department and her preliminary assessment and evaluation was for cardiac work-up. Multiple tests were performed which showed no abnormalities, a CT scan was ordered exclusively to evaluate the lungs for pulmonary embolism as opposed to the aorta for injury. She was diagnosed with “intractable chest pain – non-cardiac related.” She continued to have complaints of severe chest pain over the next several hours; the pain was not relieved with analgesic therapy.

Upon admission at 3:16 p.m. she was reporting 15/10 pain and crying from the pain. Her admitting diagnoses at 3:27 p.m. were chest pain-intractable-non-cardiac related, hiatal hernia and s/p normal spontaneous vaginal delivery. She had continued complaints of severe substernal/epigastric pain with the intensity level a 10/10.

She continued to experience severe chest pain for several hours that went undiagnosed, untested, and untreated by the Defendants. Later that evening, she was found slumped over in bed and unresponsive. Resuscitative measures were ultimately unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at 8:12 p.m. A postmortem examination revealed that she died of a hemothorax due to a laceration of the aorta.

Given the Plaintiff’s complaints of sudden, sharp, severe, chest pain that was non-to-minimally responsive to analgesic therapy, there should have been a high index of suspicion for an aortic abnormality and the Defendant physicians should have included such a condition in their differential diagnosis.

The Plaintiff was married and the mother to two daughters and a son.

Plaintiff was represented by partner, Larry Rogers Jr., and associate, Jonathan M. Thomas

K. vs. Manitoqua Ministries, Inc.

Plaintiff’s decedent was a 15 year old camper at defendant camp. During a day trip to the beach in New Buffalo, Michigan, the camp counselors failed to supervise the campers and allowed them into the water. Red flags were posted indicating unsafe and hazardous water conditions, including rip currents. Plaintiff’s decedent was swept underwater by a rip current resulting in his death. The summer camp failed to properly train its counselors and supervise its campers resulting in the drowning of a three sport athlete.

(2021) Medical Malpractice: A 59-year-old male presented to a Local Community Hospital for an elective carotid endarterectomy. Following the surgery, blood pressure fluctuations required continued hospitalization. On post-operative day two, there were significantly elevated blood pressures. That evening, signs and symptoms consistent with an expanding neck hematoma developed- a risk of a carotid surgery. With difficulty swallowing and problems breathing, a Rapid Response Team was called to the bedside. A few hours later, a Code Blue occurred when the undiagnosed neck hematoma obstructed his airway causing brain injury leading to death. The decedent is survived by his adult son and his wife.

Decedent was a resident of James Sneider Apartments.  From May 8, 2022 through May 14, 2022, they operated the heating system at the building during abnormally warm weather in Chicago, causing temperatures in the apartments to reach over 103 degrees.  Despite management days of complaints and high temperatures, building management did not turn off the heat nor turn it down.  

O. v. COUNTY OF COOK

A 50-year-old woman died in March 2001 after doctors at Cook County Hospital allegedly overlooked indications of cervical cancer that showed up in test results. Plaintiff attorneys said the woman’s Pap smears in 1996 showed the possibility of cervical cancer, but the hospital failed to run additional tests that could have confirmed cancer while there was still time to treat it. Doctors identified the cancer in 2001, while the woman was undergoing a hysterectomy and when it was too late to treat it.