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aircraft luggageLate last month, NBC Chicago reported on a Sunday afternoon accident involving several employees of a major airline who were hurt while traveling to their flight. Specifically, the employees were on a bus that was hit by a baggage cart. Six of the airline employees aboard the bus were transported to area hospitals for treatment of their injuries. The cause of the accident was still under investigation as of the NBC Chicago report. Airline employees who are injured in situations like this may have various avenues to seek compensation for the injuries they suffered. Anyone hurt in a situation like this should consult an Illinois aviation injury attorney about their legal options and potential compensation.

One example of a somewhat similar event took place in Philadelphia and was recently resolved by a state court in Pennsylvania. Betty, a flight attendant for a major airline, was headed home after her shift, which involved flying from Philadelphia to Miami and back. After the return flight, the flight attendant boarded a shuttle bus to ride back to the employee parking lot. While boarding the bus, Betty slipped and fell and seriously injured her left foot.

The flight attendant filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits. The key issue in her case was whether or not she qualified, under the law, as being on her “employer’s premises” when she fell aboard the bus. The flight attendant received her award of benefits, since the court concluded that the shuttle bus was integral to the airline’s business and that Betty’s presence on the bus was required by the nature of her job. These factors meant that the bus was a part of the “employer’s premises” for the purposes of workers’ compensation benefits.

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gavelIllinois law allows injured people to hold employers liable for the acts of their employees in certain situations. While the law generally says that one party cannot be liable for the criminal acts of another, the law does demand that employers “act reasonably in hiring, supervising and retaining” their employees. In order to succeed under Illinois law, you must show that the employer knew or should have known that the employee in question posed a danger to third parties (and that this problem was known at the time of hiring or retention), and this problem was the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. If you’ve been injured because an employer didn’t do enough to stop one of its employees, you may have a case and should consult Illinois injury counsel about your circumstances.

The details of one recent federal case were truly tragic. Alisha, who was from just outside Chicago, had worked for a “big box” home improvement store since she was 16. During her five-year tenure with the store, Alisha only had one supervisor. That supervisor allegedly verbally abused her at work and monitored her activity both during and outside work. The supervisor also required that she accompany him on business trips. Eventually, he demanded that she accompany him to his sister’s wedding in Wisconsin, threatening to reduce her hours or terminate her employment completely if she refused. She went. After the wedding, he raped and killed her.

Alisha’s mother, Sherry, sued the employer for wrongful death. She argued that the employer knew about the supervisor’s disturbing propensities and did not do enough. By failing to take appropriate steps, the employer was liable for the supervisor’s violent acts.

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motorhomeChances are, most people have not contemplated suing the spouse to whom they are happily married. There are certain circumstances, though, in which that can be a wise and prudent step. One of those is when a passenger spouse is injured as a result of the driver spouse’s negligence in causing an auto accident. When that happens, a lawsuit may be one of several options available. A knowledgeable Illinois car accident attorney can help you assess your case and choose a strategic path for proceeding.

One couple for whom such a spouse-versus-spouse lawsuit took place was Patricia and William from Will County. The pair, proud Illinoisans since 1971, decided to load up the motor home and two grandchildren for a weeklong vacation in Florida. On the way back, and while still in Indiana, William lost control of the motor home and slammed into a concrete wall. Patricia was hurt in the accident.

Patricia filed a lawsuit against William. This might sound a bit strange for those not familiar with these issues. However, it often may be exactly the right thing to do, even if both spouses are insured under the same auto insurance policy, in order to allow an injured spouse to collect the full recovery to which she is entitled. It is important to understand, though, that even if both spouses agree about filing the lawsuit, a contested litigation action may still result, since the auto insurer will likely put on an aggressive defense on behalf of the defendant spouse.

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taxi cabIn your pedestrian injury case, you’ll need many things to give yourself a strong chance of success. One of these things is an experienced Illinois car accident attorney, who understands the facts of your case, the law in Illinois, and how to present your case in a way that holds liable all those who are responsible. In a recent case involving a nurse struck by a cab driver, the Illinois Appellate Court upheld an $897,000 verdict that found the cabbie negligent for hitting the plaintiff and the cabbie’s employer liable for its “willful and wanton” conduct in failing to do a better job vetting the driver before hiring him.

Margaret, the plaintiff, was a woman who worked as a psychiatric nurse at a hospital in suburban Chicago. On her way to work one day in 2011, a taxi cab driver hit her. The driver was driving slowly but still managed to knock the woman all the way to the ground. The impact caused the woman to suffer significant damage to her left shoulder. This damage included rotator cuff tendinopathy and glenoid labral tear/shredding. Despite years of physical therapy, Margaret’s doctor diagnosed the problem as permanent and something that “will likely cause her pain and restrict some activities for the rest of her life.”

With a personal injury case, such as a pedestrian-versus-vehicle accident, the plaintiff’s case may often revolve around demonstrating that the defendant driver was negligent and, if that driver was working when the accident occurred, that the employer is vicariously liable for the driver’s negligence. Depending on the facts of your case, though, this may not be the only way to pursue recovery for your damages.

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little boy sleddingWhat was supposed to be a fun wintertime school trip for some Northern Illinois elementary students ended with one of those children making an unscheduled visit to the emergency room. The second-grade girl from DeKalb suffered facial injuries after a sled in which she was riding overturned, according to an ABC 7 report. Some types of school injuries may entitle a student or her family to seek compensation in court. While successfully suing a school district or school employee is generally more complex and can be more challenging than suing a private person or entity, that definitely does not mean that you should give up and should not pursue your options. A knowledgeable Illinois injury attorney can provide you with valuable advice about your rights and which avenues may be available to you to obtain compensation.

The DeKalb students’ sledding trip took place at Russell Woods in nearby Genoa. The injured girl’s parents thought the nature of the activity would be something different than what actually took place. “I thought it was going to be like, not going downhill, but like little kids running with a little board or something, plastic and sliding on the ground slow,” the girl’s mother told ABC 7.

Instead, the event did involve the children sledding downhill. The girl had not been sledding before and didn‘t want to participate, but she was told to play with the other children. A first trip was uneventful, but a second trip involved an older (and presumably larger) child joining the second-grade girl and the teacher giving them a “big push.” The girl stated to ABC 7 that “she pushed me too fast.”

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Several different business entities, from General Motors to Uber to Google’s parent (Alphabet), have been striving to perfect the technology for self-driving vehicles. Toward that end, Uber had been conducting tests in three U.S. cities and Toronto until a recent accident in Arizona left a pedestrian dead, the car accidentNew York Times reported. While the accident remained under investigation, and fault had not been placed on the Uber vehicle or the pedestrian, the ridesharing company still decided to cease testing all self-driving vehicles. With each new technology that hits the roads, there are new possibilities for accidents and injuries. If you’ve been hurt in a vehicle accident, you should contact an experienced Illinois car accident attorney about your situation.

The fatal Uber test occurred in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe. According to police, a 49-year-old woman named Elaine was crossing the street outside the crosswalk on a Sunday night at around 10:00 pm. An Uber Volvo that was in fully autonomous self-driving mode struck the pedestrian, and the woman ultimately died from her injuries. While Arizona law currently allows companies like Uber to test its vehicles with no one in the driver’s seat, there was a human in the driver’s seat when the fatal accident in Tempe took place.

Uber had been conducting tests with its self-driving vehicles in four cities prior to the fatal accident in Arizona. Those cities included Phoenix, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Toronto. The company suspended all of those tests everywhere, pending the results of an investigation into the Arizona fatality.

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carAs a driver on the roads (or a passenger in a vehicle), one faces many potential risks. There are aggressive (“road rage”) drivers, distracted drivers, drunk drivers, and careless drivers, to name a few. All of these types of drivers have the potential to cause accidents that inflict serious harm. Unfortunately, another category is injuries caused by high-speed law enforcement chases. In two instances in recent years in the Chicago area, high-speed pursuits have inflicted fatal injuries on innocent drivers. Both of those cases settled, with each family receiving several million dollars in their respective settlements. Whether your injury was related to a high-speed police chase or another type of liability, you should make sure you have a knowledgeable Illinois car accident attorney to help you put together a strong case.

The first of the two accidents took place in May 2013. Jacqueline was headed to a funeral at around 10:15 a.m. when an SUV ran a red light and crashed into her car. The South Side accident left the occupants of the SUV, two police officers, injured and Jacqueline dead. The officers had been chasing an individual who was a suspect in a home burglary, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Although there was no evidence found indicating that a weapon was involved in the crime, Chicago police engaged in a high-speed chase. The pursuit involved numerous red lights at which the suspect and officers “blew through” red lights. The officer who struck Jacqueline hit speeds of 74 mph as the chase moved through mostly residential areas of the South Side. The officer’s SUV was going an estimated 68 mph when it slammed into Jacqueline’s Pontiac sedan, according to the Tribune report.

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The Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education is presenting its 5th Annual Workers’ Compensation Institute program featuring Appellate Court Justice William Holdridge, Honorable retired Judge Keith Brown, Workers Compensation Chair Joann Fratianni, Commissioner Michael Brennan, Arbitrator Stephen Friedman, Katz Friedman Attorneys Philip Bareck, Frank Bertuca and David Barish along with other leading lawyers in the Workers Compensation Community.

Please consider attending this seminar on March 1st or watching the live webcast. Click here for more details.

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busAccidents that involve pedestrians and buses can often have catastrophic results. The injuries an accident causes can be dramatically life-altering. In these cases, as with any case, it is important to make sure that your case focuses on all of the details, factual and legal, great and small, from expert witnesses to the instructions a judge gives the jury before they start deliberating. An experienced Illinois pedestrian accident attorney can give you the help you need in making sure your I’s are dotted and T’s crossed.

One recent case in which the detail of jury instruction content was vitally important was the case of a woman named Patricia, who was struck by a bus in Champaign. The February 2015 accident caused such profound damage to the woman’s legs that doctors had to amputate. These types of accidents often require large damages awards to compensate the injured person, since the injuries suffered frequently alter almost every aspect of the injured person’s life. It may alter the course of the injured person’s employment, marriage, family relationships, hobbies and activities, and more.

The pedestrian sued for the damages caused by her severe injuries. At trial, the mass transit district conceded that it was negligent, which meant that the only issue the jury had to resolve in the case was damages. After its conclusion, the jury awarded Patricia more than $9 million.

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snowy roadIt is once again winter in Chicago, and with it have come cold temperatures, snow, and dangerous driving conditions. With the winter weather inevitably come slick roads and weather-related accidents. Recent news stories of fatal vehicle accidents should remind everyone of the profound importance of taking extra care when there is snow and ice on the roads. If you’ve been hurt in a vehicle accident occurring in winter weather, you may have a legal claim for damages. You should contact a knowledgeable Illinois car accident attorney about your situation and potential case.

A downstate accident has served once again as a tragic reminder of the dangers that can become involved when weather conditions combine snow and ice with multi-ton semi trucks. 29-year-old Kacee was a passenger in a vehicle traveling along Interstate 39 in McLean County. At some point, her vehicle became involved in a crash with a semi truck. The driver of Kacee’s vehicle was treated at the hospital. Kacee was killed. Roads in that area at that time were reported to be “snow-packed with slick spots,” the Pantagraph reported.

Just a few days earlier, CBS Chicago reported on an accident involving a car and a snow plow that took place in south suburban Chicago. The driver of the car was attempting to make a left turn when the plow, which was traveling straight ahead, crashed into the vehicle. One of the passengers in the car later died from his injuries.

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