I always wondered about the deterrent effect of medical malpractice laws. In other words, if you pass laws which limit responsibility of tortfeasors do you embolden them to commit torts? Does the fact that they have limited responsibility make people less careful? This is often discussed in the medical malpractice area. Pro-tort reform entities seek to cap damages. Groups who advocate for victims rights, like the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice, cite studies from people like Tom Baker, author of the Medical Malpractice Myth,which indicate that the great majority of people who were injured by medical Read more…
Category: Springfield Injury Lawyer Blog
I spoke at the Illinois Trial Lawyers seminar in September 2014. I gave an update on tort law. Below is a breakdown of the cases that I discussed. There were a few already on this blog that I did not include. Enjoy. Feel free to contact me at Ackerman Law Office if you have questions or want to hire me. 217-789-1977. Sharbono v Hilborn In Sharborno v Hilborn a woman went in for a mammogram in November 2004. The defendant Dr. concluded that the lesion was benign. He did not order a biopsy. Two years later she went to her family doctor complaining of cramping her Read more…
In one of the weirdest fact patterns in a long time the appellate court ruled on intentional infliction of emotional distress is a suicide case. Obviously, the law must accommodate even extremely weird fact patterns and this case is weird. Intentional infliction of emotional distress is an odd, and often maligned, cause of action. People in general, the author included, are very skeptical of emotional distress claims of any sort. Courts are also skeptical. However, in Turcois vs. Debruler the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decided a precedent-setting case. In Turcois the question came up whether a plaintiff in an intentional inflection of emotional Read more…
In Segovia vs. Romero the first district appellate court clarified what money a defendant may set off against a judgement. The case is somewhat unusual procedurally. The plaintiff in this case was the wife of a State Farm insured. The defendant in the case had driven his car into the rear end of the plaintiff’s vehicle. State Farm paid for her loss pursuant to her husband’s policy in the amount of $10,766.20, itemized as follows: $5,000 Med Pay $5,516 Property Damage $250 Deductible $10,766.20 Total Payment by State Farm The defendant had an insurance policy through American Heartland Insurance Company. State Farm Read more…
Underinsured Stacking The first District Court of Appeals decided an interesting case about stacking as applies to uninsured and underinsured policies. In Allstate vs Trujillo 2014 Il.App (1st) 123419, the court decided that parties can stack there underinsured (UDIM) policies. Allstate filed suit for declaratory judgment against plaintiff. The plaintiff was a passenger in a car insured by a person named Delgado. Delgado had a liability policy through Allstate which had limits of $100,000 per person, and $300,000 per accident. The same policy had $100,000 in UDIM coverage. The other driver had a $20,000 policy with American Access insurance. American Access tendered Read more…
The Appellate Court recently decided a case involving the interplay between the Workers’ Compensation Act and joint liability in Ramirez v FCL Builders, Inc. According to the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Act an employee cannot sue his or her employer for an injury. Instead, the employee must file a workers compensation claim. The Act says that there is no right to recover damages from the employer, so it is broadly drafted. 820 ILCS 305/5. However, courts have allowed suits by workers against third parties. Often, the third party will then sue the employer for negligence. Courts have allowed this. To explain what I Read more…
I promised when I was on the radio to post links to both the act which contains no new Illinois pension reform and a post to an article by Eric Madiar regarding the constitutional amendment which prohibits diminishment or impairment to Illinois State Employee pension rights.The Illinois legislature amended the Constitution in 1970. It provides: “Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.” Recently the Illinois legislature passed a new Read more…
For those of you interested in the Affordable Care Act/Obama care, we had Robert Wagner on the show Saturday, November 23, 2013. I know many people distain the Affordable Care Act, and will even had a few people who make calls it were apparent they did not like it, but it is apparently going to be law now, so I thought it appropriate to have an expert on the subject on the year. I tried to make the interview with him as unbiased as possible, given the controversial nature of the act. While I am not sure you can never do that Read more…
One more Dr. caught saying inexplicable things in a deposition. In this case a testified that his in his opinion normal extension of the neck. He indicated that 35° is an accepted norm for cervical extension in medicine. The plaintiff’s lawyer then was confronted by a deposition with his previous testimony. In that deposition the doctor said that normal was 60°. This is significantly different from 35°. The doctor testified that if he is employed by an insurer to do an examination, and are the requirements, instead of the accepted norms, use the insurance company’s norms. For the testimony go here. Read more…
Doctors who lie in depositions is a big problem in litigation. Many of them make hundreds of thousands if not millions doing defense medical exams. Unfortunately, their lies result in injured workers not being able to pay their weekly expenses to be able to support their families, despite the physicians oath that they will do no harm. It is a complete injustice to have doctors profiting by lying in order to deny legitimate claims. In Bermejo v. New York City Health and Hospital Corporation, Dr. Katz testified that his examination of a injury victim, Manuel Bermejo, took 45 minutes and Read more…