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…
Category: Personal Injury
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…
In McRoberts v. Porter, the Appellate Court considered the application of the Health Care Services Lien Act and its application to uninsured/under-insured claims. What is the Health Care Services Lien Act? The Health Care Services Lien Act provides that any healthcare professional who renders any service in the treatment, care, or maintenance of an injured person…should have a lien upon all claims and causes of action of the insured person for the amount of the healthcare professionals or healthcare providers reasonable charges up to the date of payment of damages of the injured person. The total amount of liens, under this act, however, Read more…
The court in DeMambro v. City of Springfield discussed local governments obligation to use reasonable care when repairing the roadways. The issue arose under the Tort Immunity Act, specifically section 3-102. That section provides as follows: “Accept as otherwise provided in this article, a local public entity has the duty to exercise ordinary care to maintain its property in a reasonably safe condition for the use in the exercise of ordinary care of people whom the entity intended and permitted to use the property in a manner in which and at such times as it was reasonably foreseeable that it would be used.” Read more…
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Robert Reynolds v. Jimmy John’s. The case involved two issues. The first issue was whether or not the plaintiff’s complaint alleged sufficient duty to puruse a claim against Jimmy John’s for several counts, including negligent training of its employees and negligent supervision. The second involves the procedure of dismissals of claims. This case arises from a car/motorcycle accident. The plaintiff was driving his motorcycle on Iles Avenue. The defendant contracts with “independent contractors” to drive their food to be delivered. Sawyer, the Jimmy John’s driver, had driven across the parking lot in front of Read more…
In the case of Spears v. The Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives, the Appellate Court discussed the Release of Liability signed by a party prior to an injury. The plaintiff was enrolled at Lincoln Land Community College to learn to be a lineman. As part of the program, plaintiff took a pole climbing class, which the defendant taught. Prior to enrolling in the lineman program, the plaintiff watched a climbing class. Plaintiff also signed an Indemnification and Release of Liability. Plaintiff did not read the release. There was a dispute as to whether the instructor explained the release and the possibility Read more…
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…
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…
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…