The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a defense verdict in a multi-vehicle crash on an icy Indiana highway that caused severe injuries to motorists. The big issue in the case was which state’s law should be applied at a Cook County Circuit Court jury trial. On Dec. 26, 2007, Clifford…
All evidence is required to meet the foundation requirement of admissibility, which would include relevancy, the best evidence rule and hearsay. Under the law, the courts require authentication because before a tangible object or writing can be admitted into evidence, it must be shown that it is in fact what…
A lawsuit was filed against the Chicago Zoological Society, which operates Brookfield Zoo, on land owned by the Cook County Forest Preserve District. The case was filed by Kristine O’Toole for injuries that she suffered when she fell because of an alleged defect in the pavement. The defendant, the Chicago…
The Illinois Business Corporation Act, Section 7.75, gives shareholders the right to inspect a company’s records, “but only for a proper purpose.” The Illinois Business Corporation Act was amended in 1984, requiring shareholders to make their demand in writing, “stating with particularity the records sought to be examined and the…
The general rule in Illinois, under Section 2-610(b) of the Illinois Civil Procedure, “every allegation, except allegations of damages, not explicitly denied is admitted.” In this case, the defendant chose not to file an answer before the start of the trial. The question for the appellate court was: “Are the…
On Aug. 2, 2005, Brandy Pirrello was a resident at Maryville Academy, a facility that houses and treats minors with behavioral problems. At the time, Brandy was 16 years old. She had been admitted to the facility in early 2005 and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was at…
In a car crash case in which the plaintiff claimed injury, the jury found for the defendant, and the plaintiff appealed. The appellate court found that the plaintiff had not preserved the appealed issues and affirmed the decision of the jury and the trial court in favor of the defendant.…
Ann E. Guiffrida’s personal injury case against the owner of a bar called The Palace in downstate Hamburg, Ill., was dismissed because the plaintiff had mixed up the names of two corporations. One was The Palace Inc. and the other was Boothy’s Palace Tavern Inc. Guiffrida filed a lawsuit in…
Lawyers who handle jury trials prepare their cases typically by reviewing all of the depositions, all of the issues of damages, the pleadings, the written discovery, the law that applies and the jury instructions that may be used. That would be just the start. Some lawyers, like me, abstract all…
On Aug. 7, 2008, Frosini Xeniotis was evaluated by an oral surgeon, Dr. Cynthia Satko. One of Xeniotis’s baby teeth had never fallen out, and her adult tooth had grown in behind it. The result was just simply “not aesthetically pleasing” to Xeniotis. Xeniotis was referred to Dr. Satko by…