Chicago Injury Attorneys Blog

This past Sunday, as *most of the country rolled their clocks back and people gained an extra hour of sleep, many drivers who were still on the road faced a new set of potentially dangerous side effects due to the end of Daylight Saving Time. While people may have slept in another hour on Sunday morning there is a high chance that the time they eventually went to bed on Sunday evening didn’t change. By the time everyone headed out to start their commutes on Monday morning, their bodies had not yet adjusted to the new wake up and sleep schedule and now driving is riskier than it was a week ago.

Driving in general is dangerous. There are multiple hazards around every corner and staying safe is sometimes tricky. If drivers are aware that their behavior contributes to increased risk of accidents, they can take steps to avoid unnecessary risks. Year after year, Illinois car accident attorneys notice five major factors that contribute to vehicle crashes more often in the 4 weeks after Daylight Saving time ends.

1. Fatigue

Wednesday, November 22nd – Office and Reception Switchboard close at 3:30pm cst 

Thursday, November 23rd – Closed

Friday, November 24th – Closed

With summer wrapping up, many Midwest residents are making time to get outside and participate in the final music festivals and street fairs around the region. Fairs and music festivals can be exciting events for the performers and especially for their fans, who flock by the tens of thousands to see their favorite artists. This excitement can turn into something much worse when a festival promoter fails to do a proper job of ensuring the safety of concert attendees.

In the past 10 years, injuries have become more prominent at music festivals and concerts. However, attendees have also become more aware of their rights to take legal action whether it’s in the California deserts at Coachella, the Tennessee hilltops at Bonnaroo or the middle of the Chicago Loop at Lollapalooza. Regardless of the location of the concert or the genre, if you have suffered injuries, you have rights.

Chicago’s very own Riot Fest has faced its fair share of lawsuits in the past decade. The annual fest, which will be held September 15-17th this year, generally features punk-rock genre bands and moshing or slam-dancing. Most recently in 2017, two young women and their families sued the organizers of the show after both women were crushed by other concertgoers during separate crowd surfing incidents. One woman ended up with a broken ankle at the show after a crowd surfer fell onto her and crushed her leg. The other had a fracture in her neck and a head injury. Both successfully filed suits against the fest.

For many people in the U.S. Labor Day means the unofficial “last” day of summer, the start of the new school year and the start of fall sports. For Katz Friedman it means so much more and entails many of the principles on which our firm was founded.

Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. Having the first Monday in September be a day off from work has been significant for American workers since the late 1800s. At the peak of the industrial revolution, working conditions in factories, mills, mines and most other industries were very unsafe. The average worker, many of whom were young school aged children, were often required to work 12 hours a day, six days a week, in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces. Workers began holding strikes and rallies that called for shorter workdays and better conditions. During this time period most of the labor unions as we know of them today were born, and memberships in unions were at their peak in the period leading up to the late 1960s.

In 1953, when labor union memberships were at an all-time high, Harold Katz represented the United Auto Workers, and Irving Friedman was a trial Attorney for the National Labor Relations review board. Although the two labor lawyers met as opposition, they inevitably joined forces and went on to have a 50+ year partnership to fight for economic justice for workers across Illinois.

Looking for some of our past blogs and newsletters about road safety?

Well look no further, the links to all of our previous articles are below…

Summer 2021 Highway Safety

One of the objectives of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act is to ensure the financial security of workers injured and disabled as a result of on-the-job injuries. Although the law provides the injured worker with weekly paid benefits known as temporary total disability (TTD) and compensation for permanent partial and permanent total disability, there are limitations and in many cases exclusions on the amount of compensation the injured worker could receive for missed overtime hours after the injured worker became partially disabled. Fortunately, injured workers are finding a remedy for some of that lost overtime income with a claim for temporary partial disability benefits (TPD).

“I’m truly shocked at how many insurance claims adjusters deny this pay to injured workers,” said Christopher Mose, Katz, Friedman, Senior Trial Attorney.

Attorney Christopher Mose successfully recovered TPD benefits for lost overtime for an employee of Komatsu Mining Systems in Peoria, Illinois. In that case, the employer refused to pay the injured worker and at trial denied responsibility under the law. The arbitrator awarded the injured worker over $7,000 in TPD benefits as the evidence established the employer limited him from working overtime hours during the temporary period he was restricted as a result of the work injury.

Earlier this year, Christopher J. Johnson obtained a jury verdict against Fed-Ex in excess of $1 million dollars following a successful trucking accident trial. Christopher was also successful in obtaining our client post judgement and rarely awarded pre-judgement interest on the jury verdict resulting in a total recovery of $1,178,586.06.

Our client was injured when a Fed-Ex double-trailer truck rear ended his vehicle on I-64 in downstate Illinois near St. Louis. As a result of his injuries, he required surgery but fortunately recovered and was able to return to his regular work. Katz Friedman’s, partner, Philip Bareck initially filed the workers’ compensation claim which was contentious as his employer denied payment and claimed no workers’ compensation insurance. Phil fought for and received weekly time off checks directly from the company (which is quite rare) and kept the case pending to protect our client’s workers’ compensation rights until the verdict became final. Our client was incredibly grateful for the legal work provided to secure his recovery. Katz Friedman continues to represent those injured in workers’ compensation and truck/vehicle accidents throughout the State of Illinois.

“Although to get to this result, we had to take approximately 15 depositions of witnesses and doctors and invested one week of trial time, I am thrilled we were able to convince the jury to award our client greater compensation than the defendant was willing to pay,” said Christopher J. Johnson. Christopher continues to pursue justice for victims of personal injury cases including car and truck accidents, slip and fall and other personal injuries in Chicago and throughout the State of Illinois. Christopher takes pride in his ability to guide his clients through life changing events for the best outcomes.