Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a Cook County trial judge’s order regarding the effect of an attorney’s lien notice sent to a defendant’s attorneys rather than the defendant directly.

Randy Brown was the owner and operator of a Harold’s Chicken Shack in suburban Broadview, Ill., until Jan. 15, 2009. On that date, the building’s roof collapsed, and the restaurant was destroyed.

The building was leased to Brown by Tap Investment LLC. It was managed by Universal Realty Group. Tap and Universal were defendants in this case. Brown sued both companies and their principals. His lawsuit was filed on Aug. 2, 2010, and the complaint was signed by a lawyer with the law firm representing Brown. The law firm was based in Naperville, Ill.

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On Sept. 8, 2011, the defendant 31-year-old Anna Tudzich, was driving a car that rear-ended John Dodaro’s car on southbound Harlem Avenue near 47th Street in Lyons Township, Ill. The 30 mph impact caused Dodaro to experience immediate neck and back pain and significant damage to his pickup truck and the defendant’s vehicle as well.

Dodaro was a 40-year-old carpenter who was transported from the scene by an ambulance. He alleged that the collision aggravated his pre-existing degenerative lumbar disc and caused a new onset of cervical pain. Dodaro had longstanding prior lumbar complaints and had undergone physical therapy one day before this crash. However, the plaintiff had no previous history of cervical complaints.

An MRI that was done in October 2011 showed herniated discs at C5-6 and C6-7 with a small herniation at C4-5. Dodaro underwent a cervical epidural injection in February 2012 and bilateral cervical facet joint injections in April 2012. Dodaro’s treating orthopedic surgeon said he would require future cervical spine surgery although future medical expenses that were originally claimed were withdrawn at trial.

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Marilyn Bowers was seriously injured when she was standing at a convenience store and an underinsured motorist drove into the building, seriously injuring her. Bowers and her husband were named insureds under an auto policy that General Casualty Insurance Co. issued for their three vehicles.

Each vehicle was listed on the declaration page as having underinsured motorist coverage with limits of $250,000 in return for separate premiums for $24 for a Chevrolet and $29 each for a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix and a 2005 Ford F-150 pickup truck.

On the insurance document regarding information on the policy it read: “The coverage listed below applies separately for each vehicle and are provided where a premium is shown. The limit of liability applies separately for each vehicle.”

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The Illinois appellate court has reinstated a product-liability lawsuit against a distributor in which there was a default judgment against the manufacturer of the product. In this case, the manufacturer was not subject to jurisdiction, and the plaintiff wasn’t able to satisfy the judgment. Nevertheless, the court ruled that the plaintiff may reinstate the lawsuit against the distributor.

In 2009, Jeff Chraca was unpacking a shipment of golf cart batteries. Chraca was employed by Chicago Battery Co. Chraca was lifting and carrying the batteries with the aid of a black strap that came with the shipment of batteries. The strap broke suddenly and Chraca wrenched one of his shoulders and his neck.

Chraca filed a worker’s compensation claim in 2011 and then filed a strict tort product-liability action against U.S. Battery — the company that sent the batteries and the strap to Chraca’s employer. However, U.S. Battery did not manufacture the strap; instead, it merely sent it along with the battery shipment.

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A federal jury has entered an $11 million verdict for victims of the design defect of the 1996 Toyota Camry.

The jurors indicated that Toyota was 60% at fault for the 2006 crash that left two people dead and two seriously injured. They also found that another defendant, Koua Fong Lee, who had insisted that he tried to stop his car before it slammed into another vehicle, was 40% at fault for the crash. Lee and his family members, the family of a girl who died and two others who were seriously injured, sued Toyota Motor Corp. in the United States District Court in Minneapolis, Minn.

The lawsuit alleged this crash was caused by the acceleration defect in Lee’s Toyota. Toyota maintained that there was no design defect and that Lee was negligent and the sole cause of the crash.

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Allen Zunner got out of his car to pump gas at a convenience store gas station when he fell on black ice and diesel fuel, which had settled on the concrete pavement around the gas pump. Zunner, 53, suffered a massive torn right rotator cuff injury and underwent two surgeries.

Zunner’s medical expenses were more than $44,000. Although the second surgery was a success, Zunner has limited range of motion in his right shoulder. He also has scarring at the surgical site.

Zunner sued the convenience store claiming that it chose not to warn customers about the known leaky gas pump. The lawsuit also claimed a failure to maintain the gas pump and the surrounding area around it. There was no lost income claimed by  Zunner.

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Deanne Berrey was working for Curry Ice when she was injured in a car accident caused by Sheri Campbell who only had $100,000 in liability insurance coverage.

Berrey sued Campbell and also collected $103,224 in worker’s compensation benefits. In addition, Berrey claimed underinsured-motorist benefits under a $1 million policy that Travelers Indemnity Co. sold to Curry Ice.

Campbell’s insurer settled with Berrey for $100,000 but paid all of the policy proceeds to Curry Ice because of Curry’s worker’s compensation lien. When the arbitrators considered the underinsured motorist (UIM) claim, it decided that Berrey’s damages totaled $310,000. Travelers claimed that Section D.2.4 of its insurance policy permitted it to reduce the award ($310,000) to $210,000 because Berrey had already technically received $100,000 from Campbell’s insurance policy, which was paid directly to Curry Ice.

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In October 2006, Stericycle Inc. entered into a contract with RQA Inc. to buy a segment of its business for $8 million.

Stericycle acquired the unlimited right to use RQA’s software. In addition, the two companies entered into a non-competition agreement. In 2010, the two companies contracted again, this time entering into an asset purchase agreement for $18 million.

One of the assets purchased was RQA’s “Recall and Retrieval Business Services Unit,” which was called the RR assets. The agreement made note that Stericycle would be refunded a portion of the purchase price if Stericycle did not achieve certain pre-set revenues.

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On Nov. 18, 2009, 33-year-old Jessica Gaurilidhis was driving eastbound on Interstate 55 in stop-and-go traffic when her car was rear-ended by the defendant, 22-year-old Katelin McLernon. Gaurilidhis’s car was pushed into the car in front of her, causing front and rear damage to her SUV.

She suffered a loosening of her naturally lax left shoulder ligaments, which resulted in partial subluxation of her shoulder. She underwent two capsulorrhaphy procedures to tighten the ligaments. This surgery is complicated and sometimes leaves the patient unable to recover full range of motion. The surgery uses sutures to repair or tighten the capsule that houses the complex workings of the shoulder. The physical therapy after surgery is strenuous, difficult and painful. She also sustained a SLAP tear, surgical scarring and muscular disfigurement to her shoulder and spent $153,702 for medical expenses associated with these injuries. She did not claim any lost time from work.

On a partial motion for summary judgment that was filed on behalf of Gaurilidhis, the defendant was found by the court to be negligent, but the defendant argued at trial that the plaintiff’s injuries were not caused by this crash.

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Late in 2002, the developer of 1717 S. Prairie Ave. in Chicago, Ill., retained the defendant Hansen & Hempel Co. to complete the masonry work for a 23-story condominium complex. When the building was nearly finished in March 2004, it started to experience water leakage. The condominium association, Board of Directors of the Prairie District Homes Tower Condominium Association, hired an engineering firm to design and implement a repair that was estimated to cost over $6,500,000.

Because of the report on the defects to the building, the association filed a lawsuit wherein the case was tried to a jury on the sole issue of breach of implied warranty of habitability.

The plaintiff board of directors of the condominium association contended that 90% of the through-wall flashing in dams installed by the defendant masonry company were either missing or installed improperly and claimed that because of those material defects it allowed water to penetrate the inner cavity of the building.

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