Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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After much deliberation, two years ago Illinois lawmakers crafted a more lenient law for the transferring of juveniles to adult courts for some serious crimes. The idea was to give judges the clear opportunity to judge or to use their discretion for juveniles charged with serious crimes who were  16 years of age rather than to simply automatically transfer these juveniles to the adult court system. The new amendment increased the mandatory transfer age from 15 to 16 for crimes such as first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault.

Ronald Patterson, a juvenile, was just 15 years old when he was arrested for allegedly committing rape.  He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 36 years in prison in an adult court after he was automatically transferred there. The issue now is whether the new law on automatic transfers, part of the Juvenile Court Act, should be applied to juveniles retrospectively. The new law and the applicable age change would have made a significant difference had the law been applied back in 2014. Should Patterson be allowed to be re-sentenced under the current law?

The nine-page Illinois Appellate Court opinion written by Justice P. Scott Neville stated that in applying the Statute on Statutes, that unless the legislature specifically says the amended provision does not apply retroactively, it generally should apply in such fashion.

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In a new piece of legislation, 735 ILCS 35/1, et seq., Illinois joins more than three dozen other states in enacting some form of the Uniform Interstate Deposition and Discovery Act. The act creates a simpler means in which to conduct discovery out of state. This will make it easier for lawyers in Illinois to issue subpoenas for out-of-state discovery in a pending local case.

The limitation of the new statute will allow Illinois lawyers to conduct discovery outside of Illinois in those states that have adopted the same or similar act.

The act requires minimal judicial oversight and eliminates the need for obtaining a commission, local counsel and filing a miscellaneous action in the state in which the discovery is being done. Gov. Bruce Rauner signed SB45, enacting the law in Illinois on July 20, 2015. The law applies to actions that were pending as of Jan. 1, 2016.

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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) concluded at an all-day conference that deadly truck underride crashes could be prevented when passenger vehicles crash into a tractor-trailer truck or straight struck from behind.

In underride crashes, a passenger car crashes into the rear of a tractor-trailer truck and the car ends up jammed under the truck, flattening the passenger compartment and injuring or killing the car’s driver and passengers. Underride crashes are extremely dangerous and many times lead to serious injuries and/or death. Underride incidents also can occur when bicyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists slide under the truck body.

There are federal rules and regulations that require trailers and some straight trucks to be equipped with rear underride guards, which are steel bars designed to prevent vehicles from sliding under the backs of trucks or trailers. The same rules and regulations imposed by the federal government have been in place since 1953. Now there is movement to amend rules of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is considering a new standard for the guards to make them stronger.

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On Oct. 12, 2010, the plaintiff Christina Marshall was driving southbound on Route 71 in Ottawa, Ill.  When stopped behind a line of backed up traffic waiting for a school bus to drop off children, the driver traveling behind Marshall slammed on his brakes and swerved his van onto the northbound lane to avoid striking the plaintiff’s vehicle. The driver behind the van, the defendant, Callie K. Steith, 27, also braked but was unable to stop in time and rear-ended the Marshall vehicle.

Marshall, 25, contended that the impact caused a herniated C5-6 disc, which led to an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.

The defendant argued that Marshall made an unnecessary sudden stop, the view of Steith of the roadway in traffic was obscured because it was downhill, the crash was low speed with minimal impact and Marshall suffered only a neck strain.

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In 1983, Alma and Israel Zivin executed a mutual last will and testament. The will stated that upon either the death of Alma or Israel, all property would go to the other. The will further stated that in the event that they both died or upon the death of their survivor, 50% of their estate should go to the specified family and friends and the remainder would pass to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in New York City.

The Zivins had no children. Israel passed away in 1984 and his estate was bequeathed in accordance with the terms of the will to Alma.

In 2004, Alma signed her own will, which expressly revoked any and all prior wills. Her new will made specific bequests of personal items and gave the remainder of her estate to a “pour over trust” with no provision made to Hebrew University.

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Two questions were certified for immediate appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court in a case against a school bus company, First Student Inc.  The case was brought on behalf of a student who alleged that the misconduct of a driver accused of sexually abusing a student could put the corporation owner at a heightened duty of care to the child.

“A private contractor providing student transportation services owes the students it transports the same duty of care imposed on a common carrier – that is, the highest standard of care,” the Second District Illinois Court of Appeals concluded.

The court considered this other question: “Does this quasi-common carrier standard of care necessarily require that common carriers be held vicariously liable for their employee’s intentional torts, such as sexual assaults, that are committed outside the scope of their employment, without regard to whether they have any knowledge of any such propensity?”

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Mildred Thomas was shopping at the CVS drugstore and asked the clerk to check the price of a chair that was stacked with other chairs in a metal bin on a 6-foot shelf. As the clerk reached up and moved the chair to look for the price, multiple chairs and the bin itself fell from the shelf. One of the chairs hit Thomas on the head.

Thomas, 58, was taken to a hospital emergency room complaining of soreness to her head. Later radiology imaging showed no abnormalities, but she did develop severe headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, and memory issues.

A neurologist later diagnosed a head injury. When Thomas’ severe headaches persisted, she was treated with pain injections and other cognitive therapies.

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There are more than 1,200 lawsuits pending against Johnson & Johnson by women who used talc powder products for feminine hygiene and now claim they developed ovarian cancer.

In a three-week trial in Missouri state court, the jurors deliberated for a day before returning a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. This is the second St. Louis, Mo., trial regarding Johnson & Johnson and baby powder talc.

In this case, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay a total of $55 million to Gloria Ristesund of South Dakota. The jury’s verdict was made up of $5 million in compensatory damages and another $50 million in punitive damages. This verdict was entered just four months after Johnson & Johnson lost a $72 million lawsuit involving the same Johnson & Johnson baby powder talc, which has been associated with ovarian cancer.

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On Oct. 18, 2011, Shama Khan was a passenger in her husband’s car, which was stopped at a red light on eastbound Grand Avenue (Route 132) near Stonebrook Drive in Gurnee, Ill.  The defendant Shawn Tabin, 72, was driving his car eastbound and then rear-ended the car behind the Khan vehicle, which was pushed into the back of Khan’s car.

The plaintiff Shama Khan, 48, maintained in the lawsuit that was filed that the impact of the collision caused her to suffer a protruding cervical disc, which was unoperated, cervical radiculopathy, lumbar radiculopathy, post-concussion syndrome, short-term memory deficits and depression. Her medical expenses were alleged to be $38,375.

The defendant Shawn Tabin claimed that the middle driver, third-party defendant Gregory L. Burton, ran into the plaintiff’s car before Tabin’s car rear-ended Burton and caused him to hit her a second time, which was supported by Khan’s claim that she felt two separate impacts to the back of her husband’s vehicle.

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On April 7, 2010, Jeffrey and Stephanie Hadary were involved in an automobile crash with Carlos Velez. Velez was driving a car owned by Hertz Corp.  Both the Hadarys and Velez were insured; the Hadarys had insurance through Safeway Insurance Co. They paid a monthly premium of $57. The Hadarys’ policy included underinsured motorist coverage up to $100,000 per person or $300,000 per occurrence.

Velez did not carry insurance through Hertz, but was insured through American Access Casualty Co. for a maximum of $20,000 per person or $40,000 per occurrence.

In line with Illinois law, Hertz was required to insure the operator of its rented cars at a minimum of $50,000 per person or $100,000 per incident. The Hadarys recovered $40,000 from American Access as Velez’s insurer, but this amount did not cover their extensive injuries from this incident.

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