Chicago Injury Lawyer Blog

This past week, the owners of the Costa Concordia offered stunningly low compensation to survivors of the wrecked cruise ship in the form of a 30 percent discount on future cruises. A spokesman for Costa Cruise said, "The company is not only going to refund everybody but they will offer a 30 [percent] discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company."

As a Chicago personal injury lawyer, I find the company's response to be troubling on multiple levels. First, the survivors of the cruise ship disaster have experienced an extremely traumatic event, thus, boarding a cruise ship in the future will likely be stressful and unpleasant for many of them. Second, a full refund and a 30 percent discount are insufficient to compensate these individuals for the emotional distress they experienced as a result of the cruise ship company's negligence.

In fact, the cruise ship's offer is so inadequate that it has insulted many of the survivors, as evidenced by one survivor's reaction, "It is a ridiculous and insulting offer. I am very disappointed in them. They are not accepting their responsibilities at all. Our only back-up is separate legal action." I trust that legal action will hold the cruise ship company accountable for its negligence and secure just compensation for the survivors.

A Cleveland woman who worked as a nursing assistant at a nursing home has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for abusing an Alzheimer’s patient.

The abuse was captured by the patient’s son through a video camera hidden in an air purifier. The video showed the nursing assistant, “roughly transferring [the patient] to a wheelchair and tossing her on a bed.”

As a Chicago area attorney with extensive nursing home experience, I feel that unfortunate events like this are far too prevalent and demonstrate the pressing need for greater supervision of nursing home employees. Nursing homes must implement improved systems of employee surveillance to protect their vulnerable residents and immediately put a stop to abuse when it occurs.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Employee Sentenced to 10 Years for Abuse Caught on Tape" »

Drug Maker Novartis recalled popular drugs including Excedrin, Bufferin, NoDoz and Gas-X. The Food and Drug Administration and Novartis are warning consumers that these over-the-counter medications may be mixed up with powerful painkillers such as Percocet.

Officials became aware of the error following hundreds of complaints about “broken or incorrect tablets winding up in pill bottles.” While no injuries resulting from the mix-up have been reported at this point, accidental ingestion of prescription-only, narcotic painkillers could cause very serious injuries or even death.

According to a CBS/AP report:

The FDA and Endo Pharmaceuticals recommend patients examine their prescriptions to
make sure the tablets are similar in shape, color, size and marking. If one or more of the
tablets look different, patients should return the medicine to their pharmacist.

As a Chicago products liability attorney, I urge consumers to carefully examine their medications in light of this dangerous mix-up and seek immediate medical assistance for any adverse reaction.

From roughly the 1950’s to the 1980’s, child sexual abuse by clergy occurred across the country virtually unchecked. Churches, including but not limited to the Catholic Church, hid allegations of sexual abuse and fellow parishioners. The Church clearly put its reputation ahead of innocent victims for many years by hiding abuse committed by its employees.

As reported in Reuters today, the pattern continues:

A priest accused of producing child pornography was welcomed into a young victim's home and included in numerous children's activities because a bishop kept evidence related to the priest a secret, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.

The suit is one in a string of lawsuits and legal actions against Father Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn, the leader of the 134,000-member Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, alleging that Ratigan took advantage of his position as a priest to create pornographic photos of children in his parish.

The suits allege the bishop knew about the photos, and had received numerous warnings about Ratigan's behavior, but hid the information from police and families in the Diocese.

Obviously, The Catholic Church has learned nothing from its past mistakes. Unfortunately, the victims still must force the Church to reveal the truth regarding sexual abuse perpetrated by priests, Brothers and teachers. If you are a victim of sexual abuse or are inquiring on behalf of a friend or family member who has suffered a sexual assault, contact experienced trial lawyers immediately to confidentially discuss your claims.

As trial lawyers one of our duties is to investigate hospitals when patients are neglected or abused, since our government has neither the resources nor the political will to do so. As described in a Chicago Tribunue investigation:

The Illinois Department of Public Health declined to investigate 85 percent of the 560 hospital complaints it received last year, even when the reports alleged violations such as patient abuse and inadequate infection control, records show. Some allegations of serious harm or death were not pursued even though federal law requires that such claims be investigated within 48 hours.

"These are serious complaints," said Lisa McGiffert, director of the national Consumers Union Safe Patient Project. "If the regulatory system is collecting these complaints and not responding, that is a massive failure of oversight."

Complaints can reveal crucial systemic problems, experts say. And when it finds violations, the state can order hospitals to make corrections.

But Illinois regulators say they don't have the funding to investigate. And the hospital industry has fought proposals to pay for the investigations with fees that amount to pennies a day per hospital bed.

This report shows why private citizens must have access to the courts when mistakes have been made in hospitals. With such a void left by the State, the victims or their surviving families must be able to turn to the courts to get justice to put pressure on the hospitals not to repeat these mistakes.

The Penn State sexual abuse scandal reminds us that state and federal laws may mandate that a teacher or coach, such as Coach Paterno and the assitant coaches and administrators at Penn State, has a duty to report suspected sexual abuse of children to the police. As discussed in a recent Chicago Tribune article:

Illinois law features a long list of people who must notify the Department of Children and Family Services if they suspect that a child has been abused or neglected, including doctors, coroners, social workers, police officers, foster parents and members of the clergy.

The law also specifies "school personnel" as mandated reporters, and DCFS spokesman Jimmie Whitelow said Thursday that the department interprets that to include employees of colleges and universities.

Institutions that deal with children, such as schools and churches, may be liable in civil suits if they fail to fulfill a duty to report sexual abuse of children. If you have encountered a situation where a school, church or other institution has failed to report abuse, or covered it up, contact us.

The Penn State sexual abuse scandal reminds us as trial lawyers that large institutions that deal with children do a terrible job of policing themselves when it comes to child sexual abuse. Institutions like the Catholic Church, and its Archdioceses in Chicago, Milwaukee and Boston, for example, have failed to respond to the problem of sexual abuse of children by priests, brothers and nuns honestly and firmly. Instead, the Catholic Church, like Joe Paterno and the Penn State administration, has responded to the abuse with excessive leniency, insensitivity, secrecy, and neglect.

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni recently addressed the parallels between the scandal at Penn State and the scandals involving large institutions such as the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America:

That has been true of the Boy Scouts, which has paid out tens of million of dollars in response to lawsuits by former scouts molested by adults who continued to work in the organization despite complaints or questions about their behavior.

That has been true of the Roman Catholic Church, whose diocesan heads and bishops repeatedly transferred abusive priests from one parish to another rather than report them to law enforcement authorities. This cover-up spanned decades and went all the way up the hierarchy of the church.

Many factors explain it, including a fear of scandal and desire to protect the church’s image. The Boy Scouts, too, didn’t want messiness exposed.

The truth in cases where large institutions hide sexual abuse is usually revealed only when experienced trial lawyers can use the power of the courts to force institutions like the Archdiocese of Chicago to open up their files on the histories of their abusive priests and brothers. Even if you or a loved one were sexually abused long ago, you may still be able to pursue claims against the religious organizations involved in the abuse. If you are a victim of sexual abuse or are inquiring on behalf of a friend or family member who has suffered a sexual assault, contact Hurley McKenna & Mertz immediately to confidentially discuss these claims.

The Penn State sexual abuse scandal reveals a pattern of conduct that the trial lawyers at Hurley McKenna & Mertz are well-acquainted with—a man in a position of power at a loved and respected institution uses his position to abuse children, and the officers of the institution not only refuse to stop the evil conduct, but actively work to protect the abuser. In our experience, that same pattern has consistently played out when we investigate allegation of sexual abuse by priests and brothers affiliated with the Catholic Church.

Abuse experts see many similarities between the Penn State scandal and Catholic Church scandals in cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee and Boston:

Child sex abuse expert Kenneth Lanning, who worked in the FBI for 30 years, said the abuse suspects in Boston and at Penn State share similar profiles as “acquaintance molesters,” who have access to children, do good things for them and often are seen so far above reproach that people don’t believe even obvious signs that something is wrong.

He said institutions such as Penn State and the Boston archdiocese also have similar profiles, as successful and respected organizations, with strong motivation to preserve their reputations. That can lead to bad decisions to avoid negative publicity, even if there’s no malicious intent, he said.

“Any youth-serving organization can have these problems,” he said. “But I think when you have a youth-serving organization that has a certain aura about it, or status about it, then I think there’s at least a strong potential that that can influence their decision-making process and how they handle things.”

However, the Penn State sexual abuse scandal also reveals: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Even if you or a loved one were sexually abused long ago, you may still be able to pursue claims against the religious organizations involved in the abuse. If you are a victim of sexual abuse or are inquiring on behalf of a friend or family member who has suffered a sexual assault, contact Hurley McKenna & Mertz immediately to confidentially discuss these claims.

Bishop Robert Finn of the Catholic Church has been indicted by a grand jury for failure to report suspected child abuse in Kansas City. According to a related civil lawsuit, the bishop was first warned about a priest’s inappropriate interest in young girls in 2006. Then, in May 2010, the bishop received a letter from the principal of a Catholic elementary school complaining about the same priest’s behavior with children. Finally, last December, a computer technician found lewd photographs of young girls on the priest’s computer.

Parents were not notified about the allegations against the priest or the photographs found on his computer. In the five months following the discovery of the photographs, the priest was allowed to attend children’s birthday parties and host Easter egg hunts. Also, the priest presided over a young girl’s First Communion with the express permission of the bishop.

To make matters even worse, less than three years ago the bishop agreed, as part of $10 million lawsuit settlement, to immediately report anyone suspected of child sexual abuse to law enforcement.

Police are concerned that numerous children may have been victims of sexual abuse by the priest.

Victims of child sexual abuse face severe psychological harm, which, in many cases, continues throughout their adult lives. As a Chicago personal injury lawyer, I am pleased to see that church officials are now facing criminal sanctions for enabling clergy sex abuse by covering up incidents and not reporting them to law enforcement.

Continue reading "Bishop Faces Criminal Charges for Failing to Report Abuse" »

Many are talking about Saturday’s tragedy at the Indiana State Fair. Minutes before the country sensation, Sugarland, began their set, a forceful 70 mph gust of wind blustered through, knocking the giant stage down and trapping fans underneath.

Rain had been in the forecast, along with thunderstorms, and Fair officials warned the possibility of an evacuation. However, the same officials expressed hopes of the show’s continuation. But it was all too late, when two minutes later the dark storm clouds and winds came through, knocking down the stand.

At this time, the death toll is 5, and roughly 40 others have reportedly been injured.

While Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, calls the event a “fluke,” many are questioning whether or not the wind could have been predicted and whether or not necessary precautions could have taken place to ensure the safety of the State Fair-goers.

Hoosiers are no strangers to precarious weather - an ABC news article reports that this section of Indiana is sometimes known as “tornado alley.” Similar speed and strength winds struck the area in April 2006 at an outdoor John Mellencamp concert. Winds also struck in May of 2004, when a tornado touched down south of the Indianapolis Speedway, interrupting the Indianapolis 500 racing.

As a Chicago injury lawyer, I am suspicious of the high winds being a “fluke” event. In a “tornado alley,” I believe that there should be better evacuation plans and precautions implemented to ensure the safety of its residents. Considering a tumultuous past weather history, it is not out of question to expect and demand this type of precaution. It is up to concert organizers, weather officials and law enforcement to ensure this.

Many of us in the legal world have been talking about the recent trend in recalled medical devices. Product liability and personal injury lawyers are especially concerned with the continually failing devices, and are concerned about the government process—one that is too rash and too lax on testing—that gets these devices on to the market.

MSNBC.com features an article on a recent device failure and its current investigation. In “Risky pelvic mesh highlights worries about FDA process,” Rita Rubin investigates a device called surgical mesh, intended to counter receding organs. Rubin specifically writes about Janet Holt, a woman who was affected by the uncomfortable organ slippage. When her bladder slipped out of place, her doctor recommended a surgical mesh device to prop up her insides. Unfortunately, this device only escaladed Ms. Holt’s problems, increasing her pain, and leading to multiple surgeries in order to remove the device, which had slowly eroded into her vagina.

Although there is no evidence that pelvic mesh provides benefit, surgical mesh is not getting pulled off the market, despite the rising adverse events the products are causing: “From 2006 to 2007, the FDA received more than 1000 reports of adverse events related to the mesh in women treated for pelvic organ prolapsed or stress urinary incontinence. From 2008, when the FDA first revealed its safety concerns, to 2010, the agency received nearly 3000 more.”
These failing devices are a part of a series of unfortunate events; multiple medical devices are failing and continuing to fail without FDA action. But, all of these defective products and adverse events could be avoided. Rubin cites a study of 113 recalls from 2005 to 2009 found in the journal Archives of internal Medicine reports, “Of those [113 recalls], only 21 of the devices had been required to be tested on patients before receiving FDA approval.”

Continue reading "Defective surgical mesh sparks more questions about FDA’s testing process " »

I recently watched the new HBO documentary, Hot Coffee – a documentary that illuminates how big corporations spin media and promote “tort reform” for their own business interests and in doing so, undermine the court system. Specifically, personal injury law and personal injury lawyers become targets; our work thought to be petty, greedy, or—a popular term—“frivolous.” Of course, as a personal injury lawyer, I feel the incredible importance of this type of law; I’m reminded how of the three branches of government, the courts are the one equalizing branch. No matter how rich or poor you are, how powerful or not, anybody can seek justice through the courts. Whereas the executive and legislative branches are dominated by powerful interests, in the judicial realm, citizens can hold those powerful interests accountable for wrongdoing. Seeking justice and using the court system is a constitutional guarantee. Hot Coffee reveals how propaganda—both throughout the media, and big business and “tort reform” proponents—can really hurt that constitutional guarantee to a fair and free trial and instead works to promote big companies’ financial interests, and undermine the courts’ equalizing capacity.

The documentary is divided into four vignettes, each vignette exposing an example of how big business interests and “tort reform” advocates undermine the constitutional right to the courts. Beginning with the infamous story of the hot McDonalds coffee lawsuit, the film documents Stella Liebeck’s plight to hold a huge corporation responsible for their dangerously and unreasonably hot coffee. Media propaganda made her case look petty and “frivolous,” while in reality, the near-deathly spill of scalding coffee led the once spry and active 79 year old onto a downward spiral of health and to her subsequent death. Third degree burns required painful, expensive and dangerous skin graph surgery. Ms. Liebeck sought the courts for financial help and to raise awareness, but her case was twisted into a media-frenzy that made Ms. Liebeck a household name for all the wrong reasons. The facts of her case were exaggerated by the media, and this distortion fostered much negative sentiment surrounding personal injury law. Her case not only shows how media can affect law, but is also symbolic for the intricacies of the legal system in general; even with all the loop holes and injustices, the media distortions and the interests who seek to undermine, there is still great power that an ordinary citizen can harness through the legal system, and Ms. Liebeck used that power to change law and ensure the safety of others.

The next section focuses on how “tort reform” advocates are really hurting families who desperately need financial compensation after medical malpractice. Many states are enacting caps to actively limit the amount of money that someone can receive in a medical malpractice or personal injury case. This cap really hurt the Gurley family of Omaha, Nebraska. Colin Gurley was born with brain damage and cerebral palsy because of medical malpractice at birth. While the family was originally awarded $5.6 million, which would have been substantial for quality care for his life, because of a state-mandated cap, he could only receive $1.25 million, which will not pay for the high volume of care he will need throughout his life. This cap renders Colin forever reliant on his family, on tax payer money, and unable to sustain a happy life. Also, an unfortunate victim of “tort reform” backers, the next portion tells the story of Oliver Diaz, of the Alabama Supreme Court, who was targeted by Carl Rove and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because he was perceived to stand in the way of “tort reform.” He was indicted and ostracized with false charges, and his judicial career was ruined. Although the court found him not guilty, he didn’t have the funds or the media power to compete with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and their media power. Again, the financial interests of big business power undermine the equalizing power of the courts.

The film’s final vignette focuses on a woman named Jamie Leigh Jones, who was an unfortunate victim of one of the successes of tort reform. While she was working overseas for KBR/Halliburton, she was violently gang raped by the men in her barracks. Because of a mandatory arbitration clause she had signed in her contract to work for Halliburton, she accidentally waived her rights to a fair and unbiased trial. This portion documents Jamie’s extreme heroism and bravery in holding a big corporation accountable and demanding a trial to confront her attackers. She worked closely with Senator Al Franken, who was able to pass the first bill to ban mandatory tort reform in sexual assault and rape cases in the government branches.

Our court system is a privilege and necessity, and “tort reform” supporters disregard the equalizing power of the courts, and the incredible power the courts give citizens to hold their oppressors accountable for their actions. As a personal injury lawyer in Chicago, I worry about future caps on medical malpractice and personal injury cases in Illinois, and I worry what it will mean for my clients. Watching Hot Coffee only reminds me of why I do what I do, of the incredible power in the courts equalizing potential, in the undeniable right to seek justice in our country. And that ought not to be undermined.

Continue reading "HBO Hot Coffee documentary uncovers "tort reform"" »