In an interesting case under the Healthcare Services Lien Act, calculation of healthcare liens rising from a personal injury suit was decided by the Court of Appeals. In the case of Stanton v. Rea, the plaintiff was a passenger in a car driven by someone named Rea, when Rea’s car collided with a car driven by Roe. Plaintiff filed suit, incurred hospital bills over $4,000.00. The case went to trial against one of the negligent drivers. The jury awarded damages in the amount of $13,506.80. The trial court entered judgment for that amount plus $3,919.79 in costs. The out of pocket expenses Read more…
Category: Springfield Injury Lawyer Blog
In the case of Nitro-Lift Technologies, LLC v. Eddie Lee Howard, involving the Federal Arbitration Act, the Supreme Court of the United States indicated that courts are not allowed to address the validity of covenants not to compete before an arbitrator does so. By declaring non-competition agreements and employee contracts null and void, rather than leaving that determination to the arbitrator, the state court ignored the basic tenet of the acts arbitration law. The case involved a contract between an employer and an employee. They entered into a non-competition agreement which had an arbitration clause indicating that any dispute would be Read more…
In Robinson v. Washington Township, the Plaintiff, Ricky Robinson Jr., was a passenger in a motor vehicle driven by his father. As Robinson Sr was driving, he hit a pothole, hit some construction debris, and lost control. The car rolled over and landed on its roof. The Plaintiff sustained head trauma. Ricky’s mother filed suit on his behalf. She claimed that the defendant, a township, had a duty to exercise ordinary care while completing roadway repairs. The defendant moved to dismiss arguing it was immune to liability under Section 2-109 and 2-202 of The Tort Immunity Act because filling potholes is a “discretionary” Read more…
Christine Scott was an avid runner. She ran in marathons and shorter races as a hobby and to keep in shape. She began having problems with incontinence of urine. She went to see her doctor. Her doctor told her to try a surgical implant of transvaginal mesh. The mesh supports the organs, preventing prolapse. The surgery, her doctor told her, was safe and would fix her problems. He put Avalta mesh, in Christine, which is manufactured by Bard. Unfortunately, her doctor was wrong. After undergoing the surgery, the first problem Christine noticed was that she could not urinate at all. Read more…
In Warning v. Joliet Third District Court of Appeals held that the city of Joliet has a duty of reasonable care to provide lighting for crosswalks. However, in this case there was no evidence to support Plaintiff’s claim that she was killed as a result of the defendant’s negligence. Decedent was struck by a vehicle driven by Ibarra right outside of Provena Hospital. The Plaintiff claimed that the City had an obligation to maintain the streetlamps, warn of streetlamps that were not operating properly, make a reasonable inspection, and/or follow procedures for the inspection of streetlamps. Plaintiff propounded the following evidence: A Read more…
Governor Quinn has signed an amendment to the Healthcare Services Lien Act. It creates a reduction in liens for comparative fault, insufficient liability insurance or a combination of the two. We discussed the changes at length here.
In the case of Santiago v. Bliss the Plaintiff filed a personal injury claim. The plaintiff was injured significantly while operating a punch press for his employer. He filed a product liability complaint against the entity that manufactured the punch press. In his complaint the plaintiff used the name “Juan Ortiz,” the name he was known by at his place of employment. He also used a false birthday. He used the name in interrogatories. The defense was unaware until his deposition that the name was false. There was no evidence as to the knowledge of the plaintiffs attorneys. Defendant refused to answer Read more…
In Jane Doe v. McLean County Unit District No. 5 Board of Directors the Illinois Supreme Court decided an interesting case concerning the transfer of a school administrator. The case came up based on the Motion to Dismiss a Complaint. Accordingly, only the allegations are considered. Plaintiffs alleged that McLean administrators learned of a teacher (White) engaging in student on student sexual harassment, abuse, and grooming of minor female students. Grooming means cultivating a trust with a minor for the purpose of sexual abuse. The Plaintiffs alleged that McLean administrators then disciplined White for these acts between October of 2004 and again Read more…
In the case of Vanoosting vs. Sellars, 2012 IL App (5th) 110365, the Plaintiff in the case was involved in a relatively straight forward rear-end collision case. She had neck and back pain as a result of the accident. She filed suit seeking damages for past and future pain and suffering, disability, loss of normal life, and loss of earning capacity. The Defendant admitted they were negligent in running into her. The court held a trial on the issue of damages. The trial court started the hearing and declared a mistrial because of statements made by a juror in chambers. It Read more…
In Hoover v. County Mutual Insurance Company, the Plaintiff filed a complaint against Country Mutual. The Plaintiffs had suffered a loss at their home when an explosion destroyed their house. The insurance policy had a one year time limitation in the policy. Plaintiffs filed suit for breach of contract, bad faith, and negligent misrepresentation. They plead that the statute of limitations had been tolled for over two years because they did not learn of their injury until they were advised that Country Mutual would not be making further insurance payments. The insurance company responded the Plaintiffs knew or reasonably should have Read more…