Verdicts & Settlements Archive

A mother and daughter-in-law stopped at a stop sign on a rural road in Michigan were fatally injured when their vehicle was struck by a company vehicle traveling in excess of 130 mph.

A union plumber was assigned to a construction site where an add-on was being built at an existing industrial building. When he got outside, he encountered a snow and ice-covered TPO roof. Within minutes of stepping on the roof, our client slipped and fell, significantly injuring his back, resulting in a laminectomy and fusion, and ultimately ending his career. 

After a trench fell onto a female construction worker, the workplace injury team secured a settlement for her incomplete paraplegia.

A self-employed roofing contractor suffered multiple injuries when his vehicle was cut off by a CTA bus, and he struck another bus that was stalled in the middle lane.

$4.93 million verdict for the family of Verona Gunn, an innocent bystander killed during a Chicago Police crash.

Chicago City Council approved a $4.9 million settlement for a short list of named plaintiffs and a long list of injunctive relief to bring meaningful change to CPD policies for stopping individuals.

A male carpenter sustained a traumatic brain injury, facial trauma and a torn rotator cuff among other injuries while working at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium when an improperly secured fish tank, weighing thousands of pounds, fell on him.

One of the largest personal injury settlements in Wyoming was reached on behalf of a client who was seriously injured in a trucking accident in 2018 on I-80 in Albany County, Wyoming.

Freddie Wilson was shot 18 times, despite posing no threat, by three Chicago Police Department officers during a November 2007 traffic stop due to a broken headlight.

Chicago Police Officer Sheldon Thrasher shot 24-year-old Maurice while he was trying to climb a fence unarmed after he ran from officers conducting a routine drug investigation.

A $4.25 million dollar settlement was reached for the parent of a 23-month-old who lost his life as a result of the negligent care provided by a hospital and physician who failed to properly diagnose and provide the proper treatment for the young child in October of 2011.

A Chicago Police Officer shot Flint Farmer, an unarmed 29-year-old, seven times - the last three shots were captured on squad car video, which showed Farmer laying on his side in the fetal position.

A $4 million settlement was secured for a wrongful death claim related to workplace chemical exposure on behalf of a 33-year-old man who left surviving a wife and young child.

Following the death of a man at a local retailer, the premises liability team secured a $4 million settlement for his family.

In a wrongful death case, the family of a 38-year-old man received restitution upon his untimely death following a post-surgical complication related to a routine gastric bypass surgery. A CT scan revealed a partially obstructed bowel but the hospital physicians failed to follow up. The man became septic and died.

A 20-year-old window washer who suffered extensive injuries, including a below-the-knee amputation of his left leg, after falling 30 feet from a hospital roof where he was working in 2002, received a settlement. As part of the settlement, the window washer’s employer waived $500,000 of its workers’ compensation lien and agreed to fund the plaintiff’s future medical expenses, which will exceed $1 million, increasing the settlement value to more than $4 million.

A 64-year-old-man had his life dramatically altered in September of 2011 after a medically negligent decision was made by the physicians at Cook County Hospital to have a cardiology fellow, under the supervision of an attending cardiologist, perform an elective, non-emergent and planned bedside pericardiocentesis. The procedure was improperly performed and as a result, the patient’s heart was punctured causing him to suffer an anoxic brain injury.

An 85-year-old woman who survived the collapse of a supermarket roof received a record settlement for her injuries that included a traumatic brain injury, crushed right eye and fractures. This was the highest award on record for an accident involving a survivor over age 80.

A female plaintiff suffered life-changing spinal injuries when her car was rear-ended by a worker driving home in a company vehicle on I-294 South in the Chicago area. That worker had a history of DUI, a previously suspended license, moving violations and collisions. The plaintiff endured multiple spine surgeries in the years that followed and the insertion of a permanent spinal cord stimulator into her back to help manage her chronic pain.

In a record chiropractic malpractice verdict, a man suffered a sudden onset of paralysis from the chest down due to a growth in his thoracic spine which completely compromised his spinal cord. The chiropractor ignored x-rays of his lumbar spine which revealed this progressive, degenerative disease and performed chiropractic manipulations on that area of his back.

A male, who was intoxicated at the time, suffered severe injuries to his left leg when he was knocked down and his leg run over by a bus. The bus driver violated standard CTA operating procedures by failing to maintain a three-foot clearance between the bus and the pedestrian.

A truck driver slipped and fell while getting out of his semi-tractor cab, suffering a closed head injury with post-traumatic seizure disorder and post-concussion syndrome. He also sustained a herniated C4-5 disc with C5-6 nerve root compression, requiring laminectomy, and myofascial pain to neck and shoulders. The trucking company owner had failed to replace a missing driver's side safety grab bar, which the plaintiff contended would have prevented or lessened the severity of the fall. As a result, he was left unable to return to work as a commercial truck driver. 

The plaintiff, a 36-year-old truck driver, was helping to unload steel off his truck at the Alro Steel Co., when his right hand and wrist were crushed by a load of steel after the straps from the crane broke. He underwent six surgeries, and developed complex regional pain syndrome which necessitated the implantation of a spinal cord stimulator for pain control. 

A 50-year old male died as a result of an alleged failure to provide the worker with fall protection in an industrial accident. His family received a settlement for $3,350,000 plus a workers’ compensation lien waiver.

A 50-year-old male, survived by his wife and two adult children, died in a fall at a job site in June of 2012. Allegedly, the defendant failed to provide fall protection equipment. The settlement was paid by a confidential insurer. A waiver of the workers' comp lien was also secured.

A $3.3 million dollar settlement was reached on behalf of a four-year-old boy who fell out of a sixth story window in a south side Chicago housing complex. The young boy sustained bilateral femur fractures requiring surgery, right pubic rami fracture, a C1 vertebral fracture, and a traumatic brain injury.

On April 11, 2021, Brooklyn Center, MN Officer Kim Potter shot Daunte Wright after being stopped for an air freshener hanging from his car mirror. Along with the monetary settlement, the agreement also includes meaningful policy changes to policing, training and traffic stops for things that do not interfere with the safety of drivers, passengers and community members. The University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis/St. Paul will provide the city’s police department with in-depth, comprehensive training on cultural proficiency and implicit bias on a pro bono basis.

A 39-year-old female, who had a history of uncontrolled diabetes, presented to the emergency room with fever and renal pain. A CT scan revealed a 5 mm obstructing kidney stone. An emergent surgical decompression was warranted but instead, she was discharged. Her condition deteriorated and she returned the next day. The defendants failed to respond timely - performing surgery 15 hours later, but by that time, any intervention was too late. The plaintiff suffered sepsis, septic shock, and death.

Negligence Lawsuit Settled with Major Area Hospital: Lawsuit alleged negligence in Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit.  The complaint alleged physicians, nurses, and staff at the facility had failed to provide efforts and standard care reasonably expected for the treatment of the infant son of the plaintiff during and after he was admitted in June 2000, less than 24 hours after his birth.

Attorneys say a 32-year-old woman died because medical staff failed to provide basic care over 30 hours while in the ICU department.

Our client was admitted to the hospital with a severely herniated disc and due to delayed and deficient surgery, lost motor and sensory function in his legs. He now requires special braces to walk and has difficulty caring for himself. As a result of the settlement with the hospital, the neurosurgeon, and the physician’s practice group, the plaintiff was awarded a gross amount of $2,875,000, making it one of the largest awards in Illinois for a medical malpractice case of its kind.

A 35-year-old male worker suffered aggravation of his prior spinal injury after being rear-ended by a semi-truck. Prior to the collision, plaintiff had undergone two spinal fusions. At the time of the subject collision, he was asymptomatic. As a result of the collision, plaintiff aggravated his prior back conditions and developed chronic pain syndrome. As a result of the chronic back pain, he has undergone three surgical procedures for a spinal cord stimulator, one temporary, one permanent, and one repair.

$2.75 million settlement by Partners Joseph E. Kolar and Bhavani K. Raveendran on behalf of a 5-year-old boy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from negligence by two contractors of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The lack of action by these contractors to protect the boy and his brother from abuse in their home contributed to the physical and emotional abuse of the child and the death of his younger brother.

A $2.675 million settlement for a student-athlete who suffered traumatic brain injuries due to the failure to warn of the defective nature of a sports product.

A settlement was reached in the wrongful death suit of a Chicago-area family, whose devoted, hard-working, 50-year-old father suffered extreme burn injuries on the job. Upon experiencing severe injuries, the factory that he worked at as a temporary laborer would not call an ambulance and had a co-worker drive him to a clinic instead. The delay in treatment lead to respiratory failure, sepsis and multisystem organ failure that led to his untimely death. After protracted discovery, the family received a $2.6 million dollar settlement.

A $2.5 million settlement was reached in a premises liability case where our client fell through an unguarded light shaft on the roof of a downtown Chicago apartment building.

Our 43-year-old client underwent an elective hysterectomy where during the procedure, the defendant surgeon allegedly sutured the bowel to the abdominal wall. The error resulted in a bowel perforation, multiple abdominal abscesses, and an infection, which the defendants failed to timely identify and treat. 

A motorcyclist lost control of his bike at an intersection, resulting in orthopedic injuries and a traumatic brain injury. Our investigation uncovered improper warning signals and raised manhole covers at the intersection.

The plaintiff, a 50-year-old Bosnian immigrant working as an iron worker, fell while on the job at a construction site. He suffered bi-lateral pelvic fractures and underwent surgery for the insertion of plates and screws to stabilize the pelvic rim.

A certified elevator mechanic was working to install two elevators at a commercial construction project in downtown Lake Bluff, Illinois when the project manager ordered a change in the direction of the work. Subsequently he twisted his leg and tore the meniscus in his left knee while carrying a 20-foot long, 100-pound hydraulic pipe on his shoulder. The plaintiff underwent surgery to repair the meniscus and afterwards, developed complex regional pain syndrome in the leg – which he continues to receive treatment for to this day.

An unarmed man was unlawfully shot by two police deputies and then tasered. We prosecuted the two deputies as well as the Sheriff for ratifying the shooting.

A 53-year-old was at a multi-purpose arena inn March of 2015, when he slipped and fell outside the facility, fracturing his ankle. The injury led to complex regional pain syndrome.

A 42-year-old man, who was stopped in his car, was rear-ended by a commercial truck, aggravating a pre-existing back condition.

A settlement was reached on behalf of a 7-year-old girl who was repeatedly sexually assaulted at a Catholic church camp in the Chicago area in 2015. The abuse took place in multiple locations throughout the church, playground, and classroom by a counselor with a suspected history of mental health concerns, including depression and suicidal tendencies – yet was left alone with vulnerable young children.

On May 3, 2024, a Peoria County, Illinois jury returned a verdict for a 13-year-old girl and against pediatric surgeon Mark J. Holterman, M.D. The jury found that Holterman was negligent as a surgeon regarding his treatment of the girl in 2011.  The jury awarded the girl more than $2 million in damages for her injuries.

Settlement obtained for the death of a woman who died during surgery to repair a massive acute pulmonary embolism, resulting from deep vein thrombosis that was not diagnosed by the defendant.

In a wrongful death suit, a deliveryman's decedents received compensation for his death, resulting when he was hit by a street sweeper's vehicle as it improperly merged from a highway median.

A 41-year-old female complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains that radiated from her chest wall, down the left arm and abdomen lost her life following a delayed diagnosis of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. She died while waiting to undergo surgery to repair the aortic dissection at University of Chicago Medical Center, after spending over eight hours in the hospital.

For a period of four months, a school bus operator was sexually abusing two 3-year-old special needs children while transporting them home from a school in Burr Ridge, IL. Allegedly, the bus was not equipped with any safety monitoring tools (e.g., video camera or GPS), allowing the driver to re-route the bus and make unscheduled stops to abuse the girls. Both victims sustained permanent psychological injuries requiring extensive counseling--and the abuse may negatively impact their social/emotional development later in life.

Prior to litigation commencing, the wife of a 50-year-old man received restitution upon her husband’s untimely death after he was a prescribed a lethal dosage of morphine. Her husband, who was recently given a good prognosis after finishing rounds of chemotherapy for treatment of his tongue cancer, died after being given six times the normal dosage of morphine by the pharmacy.