Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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James Folta had stopped working at Ferro Engineering 41 years before he was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. He claimed that while working for Ferro Engineering he was exposed to “tremendous amounts of airborne asbestos fibers.” According to the lawsuit, Folta knew that exposure to asbestos dust was dangerous, but Ferro Engineering did not warn him and did not provide respiratory safety equipment.

By the time Folta received the fatal diagnosis, the statutes of repose had expired for claims under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act (the statute is 25 years) and the Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act (the statute is 3 years after the claimant stopped working for the employer).

As Folta had no other available course of action, he filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County claiming that his mesothelioma was caused by the negligence of Ferro Engineering. Because of the exclusive-remedy provisions found in the Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Diseases statutes, the lawsuit was dismissed. Continue reading

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Leona Smith, the mother of Perry Powell, was appointed guardian of her son’s person but not his estate after a judge ruled that Powell was disabled because of severe mental disability. Powell’s father died, allegedly because of medical malpractice. Attorneys were hired by Smith, who then acted as special administrator of the decedent’s estate to litigate a wrongful-death claim for her deceased husband, Powell’s father.

The wrongful-death medical malpractice case was settled, but the lawyers who handled it failed to follow the requirements of Section 2.1 of the Illinois Wrongful Death Act.

Powell would have shared in the settlement proceeds, which exceeded $5,000. According to Section 2.1 of the Illinois Wrongful Death Act, the probate court must be in charge of supervising the administration and distribution of those funds.

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A case against the automaker General Motors was first settled and then refiled after it was revealed that GM had chosen not to report the ignition switch defect to the public for more than 10 years. This was claimed to have been fraudulent concealment.

In this particular Georgia case, the parents of a 29-year-old woman, Brooke Melton, refiled a lawsuit against General Motors because new facts were revealed that related to the automaker’s knowledge that long predated the settlement. She was killed in a GM car in 2010 when the ignition switch on her Chevrolet Cobalt failed and caused the crash that tragically ended her life. General Motors and the family of Melton settled her wrongful-death action last year.

After the refiled lawsuit was put in place, GM moved to dismiss the case by motion. The Georgia judge presiding denied the motion. In fact, the presiding judge ordered that General Motors begin the discovery process by producing written materials and documents that had been requested by the Melton family attorneys. In addition, General Motors will be subject to written discovery by depositions to be taken of GM personnel as the case moves along.

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Brooke Melton, 29, died allegedly because of the General Motors’ ignition switch flaw. Her case had been pending for a period of time when it was settled by General Motors in October 2013. The settlement was reached before General Motors was found to have been downplaying and otherwise concealing the ignition switch problems from consumers and lawyers involved in these tragic cases.

Although the Melton case was settled, the Melton family lawyers want to reopen the case and show that General Motors was guilty of fraudulent concealment regarding the switch problem. If the Meltons are successful in reopening this case, other settled injury or death cases arising from the ignition switch defect may be reopened for further consideration.

Today the lawsuits or claims management of the many ignition switch injury cases are being handled by attorney Kenneth Feinberg, whose group has settled hundreds of the GM death and injury claims from crashes that were caused by the ignition switch defect.

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On Nov. 27, 2008, Galissa Brown walked out of the Nitro Nightclub in west suburban Stone Park, Ill., at about 1 a.m. She began walking with some of her friends to their car. The police had already been called to this nightclub because of 4 or 5 stabbings. It had been a violent night.

Two blocks from the nightclub, Brown was the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Brown was taken to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., and pronounced dead at 1:58 a.m. Neither the vehicle nor the individual driver was ever identified.

On Nov. 23, 2009, Reginald Brown, Galissa’s father, filed a lawsuit against Nitro under the Liquor Control Act of 1934, which is also known as the Illinois Dram Shop Act.

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General Motors has been accused in the deaths of at least 13 individuals because of its deliberate concealment of a defect linked to the faulty ignition switch in more than 2.59 million vehicles. Some lawyers have revived lawsuits because of injuries or deaths as a result of the recalled GM vehicles. It has been reported that GM is concerned about punitive damages. In one case that was settled in September for $5 million, an adviser warned GM of a “substantial adverse verdict” if a jury learned about the fact that GM knew about the defect for almost a decade before it acknowledged the problem.

In addition, GM should be concerned about the cost-cutting features related to the ignition switch. If these cases were to go to a jury, the jurors would learn that the ignition switch problems that have been highlighted by some reports, articles and now lawsuits could have been avoided by a repair that would have cost the company an incredibly small amount, perhaps less than $1 per vehicle. The repair work would have avoided all of these accidents, injuries and deaths.

The delay in acknowledging the deadly ignition switch defect would show a jury how indifferent the company was to the safety of vehicle owners and their passengers. In fact, GM may have been able to fix the ignition switch defect for as little as 57 cents per vehicle. Because of that fact, it goes without saying that lawyers will highlight the fact that such a little bit of money to repair the ignition switch would have avoided the many traumatic deaths and injuries suffered by vehicle owners and occupants, if not for GM’s focus on profits over people.

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The Paxil drug maker, GlaxoSmithKline, LLC (GSK) is defending product-liability lawsuits in Chicago’s federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois. GSK manufactures the antidepressant Paxil, which is the brand-name of paroxetine hydrochloride.

In one of the many lawsuits that are pending, a 2010 suicide took place just six days after the man started to take the generic version of Paxil. The wife of the decedent filed a lawsuit in federal court under diversity jurisdiction against GSK and Mylane, who is the maker of paroxetine, which was part of the medicine taken by the decedent.

The lawsuit alleged that the paroxetine label used at the time of the decedent’s death failed to warn users of an increased risk of suicide in adults.

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In a tragic and grisly death case, the decedent, who was 48, had just dropped off her daughter at school and was driving out of the school’s parking lot when she stopped at a red light. A tractor-trailer driver for Albuquerque Redi-Mix Inc. and Quintana Enterprises Inc. struck the decedent’s car. The tractor-trailer rolled over, pinned the decedent in her vehicle while 25 tons of sand poured out of the truck.

Although desperate efforts were made to rescue the driver, she suffered asphyxiation and died at the scene. She was survived by her husband, two adult children and a minor child.

The family brought a lawsuit, which included the husband of the decedent suing the truck’s driver, Redi-Mix, Quintana Enterprises and its owners for negligent hiring, retention and supervision, negligent entrustment, violation of federal regulations and New Mexico statutory law and vicarious liability.

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On July 19, 2007, Jose Torres was a day worker hired by Brandenburg Industrial Services Co., a contractor responsible for labor, material, equipment and supervision. The contractor agreed to provide all of the safety measures necessary for the demolition of the Gutmann Leather operation and tannery on the Chicago River. Gutmann had closed in 2006, and it chose to demolish its tannery. The tannery had been in operation since 1870.

Gutmann hired Gabriel Environmental Services because of federal Environmental Protection Agency guidelines regarding heavy metal contamination caused by the tannery’s operation. Gabriel was hired to assess the site, plan what action needed to be taken and hire a contractor to prepare the Gutmann property for sale. Gabriel also was to supervise the work that was being done in the demolition. Gabriel hired Brandenburg to do the demolition work.

In turn, Brandenburg hired Windy City Antique Brick Co. to retrieve, organize and haul away bricks at the site. Jose Torres was killed when a front-end loader owned by Brandenburg and operated by another Brandenburg employee ran into him.

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The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a decision dismissing Six Flags from a Cook County lawsuit. The case arose following the death of Thomas Lee of Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Lee was a heavy equipment mechanic for a Wadsworth, Wis., contractor hired by Six Flags to dismantle the structure of its Splashwater Falls ride.

In March 2008, Lee and his co-workers disconnected and removed a motor on the ride’s platform, leaving an opening 43 feet above the ground.

As Lee was connecting cables from a crane to equipment, he fell through the opening and died. His wife, Donna Lee, filed a lawsuit against Six Flags in Cook County in July 2010 alleging that the theme park owner knew of the dangerous conditions and failed to exercise reasonable care to protect workers who were working on dismantling the ride.

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