Chicago Injury Lawyer Blog

Winter is almost here and we will soon be using our snowblowers to clear our driveways and sidewalks. While these machines make our lives easier, they can be very dangerous. Researchers at North Dakota State University have outlined many of the dangers which give rise to snowblower injuries. (See NDSU findings). Most snowblower accidents result in debilitating injuries.

Snowblowers, like other machines, must be manufactured and sold in a condition that is reasonably safe for foreseeable uses. If potentially dangerous conditions cannot be eliminated from the design of the machine, the manufacturer must adequately warn of the condition. Most product liability cases involve either inadequate designs or inadequate warnings. Other types of product liability cases involve material failure and inadequate testing.

At Hurley McKenna & Mertz, we would prefer that you be careful and never encounter a dangerous product. Unfortunately, even careful users are injured by dangerous products. I have represented many victims of dangerous products and have obtained millions of dollars for my clients. If you or someone you know has been injured by a dangerous product please call Hurley McKenna & Mertz for a free consultation.

The Chicago Tribune should be commended for its reporting of the increasing numbers of workplace injuries among immigrants. In the series, Throwaway Lives, the Tribune observes: While fewer American workers are killed yearly on the job, that’s not so for Latinos. An explosion of immigrant workers has created a throwaway workforce. Hungry for money, they take the most dangerous jobs. They rarely complain, and when hurt, rarely get help.

The laws in Illinois exist to protect everyone, citizens, visitors, non-citizen workers, and illegal immigrants. Nobody in Illinois has a right to subject any worker to illegal conditions.

Hurley McKenna & Mertz remains committed to representing the rights of all injured persons, regardless of citizenship. If you or someone you know has been injured, please call the experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz for a free consultation.

A man died earlier today after being involved in an explosion at an outdoor party. Full Story. Another party goer put a keg of beer in a fire that had been set in a barrel to keep people warm. Seven people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, including burns and shrapnel wounds, police said.

The keg, which was likely under pressure, likely reached explosive pressure when heated by the fire. This careless and irresponsible act resulted in unimaginable suffering for the victims and their families.

Civil laws exist to protect victims of this type of negligence. The attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz are highly skilled at investigating these types of incidents and at obtaining maximum results for persons injured by carelessness and negligence. If you or someone you know has been injured, feel free to call the experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz for a free consultation.

A seven year-old boy was savagely bitten by his stepmother's Rottweiler in Merrillville, Indiana on Friday. The dog bites were so bad, the boy had to be airlifted to The University of Chicago Hospital. Some of the wounds were so serious emergency responders "could see all the way to the bone." (See the full story.). Incidents like this leave not only severe physical scars, but the victims are often injured mentally and emotionally as well. People attacked by animals deserve compensation.

Victims of animal attacks are protected by Illinois law. The Illinois statute at issue protects not only victims of dog bites, but other animal attacks as well. In fact, I presently represent a young woman who suffered severe facial injuries when she was kicked by a horse on her aunt's property.

The experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz represent victims of all types of injuries, including animal attacks. If you or someone you know has been injured, please call the attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz for a free consultation.

I was in a store earlier today and observed an accident waiting to happen. In the toy section, there were several displays with six-inch long metal posts sticking straight out into the aisle, only eighteen inches above the floor. (View image">Photos; ). I saw two children bend down to look at toys in the area and nearly poke their eyes into the posts.

I told a store employee what I had observed. I was told the store would remove the posts. I waited for fifteen minutes and nothing changed. While I was waiting, I saw another child fall near the display. Any one of these children could have been blinded by this dangerous display.

Lawyers sometimes get cast in a bad light, but I truly believe that our surroundings are safer due to lawyers and the consequences and accountability lawyers obtain for their clients in the courthouse. I am certain that our surroundings are safer than they would be if corporations were allowed to make their decisions solely on the basis of profit.

The experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz have recovered millions of dollars for our injured clients and their families. Many of those clients have been injured in or around stores and other retail establishments, including by dangerous displays. If you or someone you know has been injured, including injuries in stores, please call Hurley McKenna & Mertz for a free consultation.

Medical devices, machines, and other products injure and kill thousands each year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintains a list of recalled medical devices. In addition to those products on this list, though, there are many different products that are dangerous or worn-out that kill and injure people in health care settings.

The experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz have represented numerous clients who were injured or killed by medical devices. Oftentimes, these cases arise out of situations where medical malpractice has been committed. We have also represented clients who have been injured by medical products at work.

If you or someone you know has been injured by dangerous medical devices or medical products, please contact the experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz for a free consultation.

Boating accidents are often preventable and boating fatalities nearly always avoidable. With the proper maintenance and with the proper safety equipment readily accessible, the dangers of boating are minimized.

A large commercial fishing vessel capsized off of the coast of Alaska last week, killing two men and injuring a third man. See story. Only one of the men was wearing a survival suit. While the cause of death is presently undetermined, it is likely that the proper survival gear would have prevented the two deaths.

While commercial fishing and boating are potentially dangerous, accidents can be prevented. It is important that the craft be properly maintained and that all crew and passengers be familiar with the location and operation of safety gear, especially fire extinguishers and life preservers. For a full list of the safety gear required by the U.S. Coast Guard, see here.

The experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz are available to represent those injured in boating accidents and the families of those killed in boating fatalities. There are Illinois laws that protect victims of boating negligence and Federal laws that protect those persons injured and killed during the scope of their work as maritime employees. For a free no obligation consultation, please contact the experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz.

IBM and Sony are recalling more that 500,000 batteries used in laptop computers. See full story. This is a new recall and does not include the 4.1 million faulty batteries recalled earlier this year by Dell. There are certainly tens of thousands, it not hundreds of thousands, of dangerous batteries being used in Chicagoland computers.

The faulty batteries are dangerous becasue they pose a fire hazard. The faulty batteries should be immediately returned to the manufacturer.

If you have had difficulties with the batteries at issue, please contact the experienced attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz. At Hurley McKenna & Mertz, we have recovered substantial awards for our clients who have been injured by dangerous products.

A man was killed and three others injured in a construction accident earlier today (AP article). Unfortunately, accidents like this happen frequently, often with fatal consequences. There is no presently known cause of the accident, but the investigation is ongoing, and will likely reveal that the accident was preventable.

Construction accidents often occur as a result of poor communication between persons on the work site. Often, contractors mistakenly believe that they have delegated their responsibility for workplace safety to others, without clearly communicating their intent. Other times, general contractors allow subcontractors onto the site before the site is made safe. In construction accidents, the resulting injuries are often devastating to the worker and his or her family. Not only are the injuries severe and the medical bills substantial, but the injured worker is often unable to return to full employment.

At Hurley McKenna & Mertz, we take pride in the fact that by comprehensively investigating all of our cases, we are able to obtain maximum results for our clients. We will travel to all 50 states to represent those injured in construction accidents.

A recent study shows that the ad campaign begun by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Illinois Campaign for Legal Reform and the Illinois Civil Justice League is really just false advertising. The ad campain attempts to argue that Illinois is a bad place to conduct business becasue of a plaintiff-friendly court system. A recent article in the Edwardsville Intelligencer demonstrates that Downstate Illinois is seeing a boom in building and construction and an explosion in sales in recent years.

These findings demonstrate that personal injury lawsuits are not forcing companies and doctors to leave Illinois. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Civil Justice League should be more concerned about the outsourcing of good-paying jobs than they are about lawsuits.

Jury trials are constitutionally protected in Illinois. Lawsuits benifit the aflicted and the injured and make wrongdoers take responsibility for their actions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and The Illinois Justice League should take responsibility for their false and misleading actions as well.

Hurley McKenna & Mertz remains steadfast in its efforts to expose the fallacies of the arguments of those who attempt to limit the rights of its clients.