Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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Deshaw Nelson fractured his right femur in a car crash in 2007. The defendant in the case, Donald Artley, was driving an Enterprise Rent-A-Car vehicle. In January 2010, Nelson filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County alleging his injuries were caused by the negligence of the defendant Artley. On May 4, 2010, after Artley defaulted, a default judgment was entered against him in the amount of $600,000. Nelson then initiated citation proceedings against Enterprise Rent-A-Car in June 2010.

A month later, Enterprise answered and asserted that it was only responsible for $100,000 per occurrence for the liability for its cars’ drivers under the rental agreement and the Illinois Vehicle Code. Enterprise had already paid $75,000 to two other people injured in the same car accident. Enterprise argued that it was only required to pay Nelson the remaining $25,000.

In September 2011, Nelson filed a petition with the court against Enterprise for turnover order for the entire $600,000, plus interest and costs. Nelson argued that when Enterprise applied for a certificate of self-insurance with the state, it said it retained a risk of loss for third-party liability up to $2 million per occurrence.

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On June 21, 2014, Robert Kreisman was one of the several hundred attendees at the Ed Paschke Center VIP grand opening. The Ed Paschke Foundation, in collaboration with the Rabb Family Foundation and its partners 3M, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University, honored Ed Paschke’s passion and extraordinary talent for the arts with the opening of this fabulous museum located at 5415 W. Higgins Road, Chicago, Ill. It’s located in Chicago’s Jefferson Park neighborhood, which is on the city’s northwest side.

The grand opening corresponded with the artistic legacy and celebration of Ed Paschke, who also would have celebrated his 75th birthday on June 21, 2014.

The organizers of the event were led by the foundation executive director Vesna Stelcer and her husband, Lionel Rabb. More than 500 people attended the event. They were entertained by music, great food and drinks. The museum is fabulous with a wide range of Ed Paschke artistic works that his children Mark and Sharon Paschke made available. The museum is open daily and has a schedule of events coming up.

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Julie Abrams was injured at the Oak Lawn-Homewood Middle School on April 19, 2012 during a ceremony inducting her as a member of the National Junior Honor Society. Julie fell at the program because of an allegedly “dark, non-illuminated, elevated, unmarked, uneven surface.” Julie required shoulder surgery as a result and expended $35,800 in medical bills for that injury.

In a lawsuit brought by Julie’s family against Oak Lawn-Homewood Middle School, it was contended that the cafeteria/auditorium — known as the Cafetorium — was “public property intended or permitted to be used for recreational purposes” under Section 3-106 of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act. The school asked that the Cook County Circuit Court judge dismiss Julie’s negligence case because of tort immunity. The trial judge denied the school district’s motion, but certified the question for immediate appeal.

This was the question presented to the Illinois Appellate Court for answering: “Where an injury occurs on an area of public property which has both recreational and non-recreational purposes, should Section 3-106 immunity apply when said area is located within a public school where the primary character of the area and overall facility is educational and non-recreational?”

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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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An Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a decision by a Cook County Circuit Court judge relating to a guaranty. In 2001, Paul Steiner and Ricky Nelson, representatives from Superior Wine Selections, submitted a credit application to a wine distributor, Morand. With the application, Steiner and Nelson each tendered a personal guaranty. The guaranty required Steiner and Nelson to pay fully and promptly for any amount due the wine distributor. The agreement stated that “the guaranty shall be continuing, absolute and unconditional and shall remain in full force and effect until written notice of its discontinuance shall be actually received . . . and also until any and all indebtedness existing before receipt of such a notice shall be fully paid.”

In addition, Steiner and Nelson waived notice and stated that the guaranty “shall be binding on the undersigned jointly and severally, and upon their legal heirs, legal representatives, successors and assigns of the undersigned and each of them.”

In 2002, Southern Wine and Spirits of Illinois purchased Morand — the wine distributor that received Steiner’s and Nelson’s personal guaranties. In May 2003, Superior began using Southern as a wholesale distributor — unaware that it had purchased Morand.

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Walter Rutland, 49, was riding his bike in the right lane of a state road that had recently been resurfaced. He moved to the right to avoid a car approaching from behind him. The bicycle’s front tire came on to a drop-off between the newly resurfaced road and a fringe area that had not been resurfaced. Rutland lost control of his bike and fell.

As a result of his fall, he was hospitalized with spinal injuries; an MRI showed swelling at C1-7. He underwent decompression infusion surgery at C2-7, but the injuries resulted in complete quadriplegia. Rutland is now only able to walk about 25 feet. He requires a wheelchair for longer distances to move about. He also requires assistance with most of his daily tasks.

Rutland’s past medical expenses totaled about $700,000 and his future medical expenses and life-care costs were estimated to be about $4.5 million.

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The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part a decision of a Cook County Circuit Court judge. In this case, Osep Armagan filed a lawsuit against Michael, Kathy and Stephen Pesha, individually and as agents for Gold Dust Coins. Armagan claimed that he gave Gold Dust 253 gold coins for safekeeping. When he later demanded that the coins be returned to him, the defendants refused to do so.

Gold Dust denied all of the material facts alleged in the plaintiff’s complaint, and then the plaintiff served Michael Pesha with a request to admit facts. The request was sent on Nov. 18, 2010. Pesha filed his response with the Clerk of the Circuit Court and mailed his response to Armagan on Dec. 17, 2010. On Dec. 30, 2010, Armagan moved to deem all requested admissions of fact admitted because of the late receipt of the response. Armagan argued that the response was not served on him within 28 days as required by Illinois Supreme Court Rule 12. According to that rule, service by mail is considered completed after 4 days after mailing, meaning that the Gold Dust notice was completed on Nov. 22 and service to Armagan was completed on Dec. 21, one day past the 28-day deadline.

Pesha argued that he served his response in a timely fashion by filing it on Dec. 17. The court granted Armagan’s motion and ordered all requested facts admitted.

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On May 20, 2010, the plaintiff, Bernard Fay, 47, was stopped at a red light at an intersection in Skokie, Ill. Fay was waiting to make a right turn on red and pulled forward to see if traffic was clear before proceeding. However, the defendant, Elisa All, thought that Fay had turned and her car rear-ended his car.

Fay sustained a nondisplaced fracture of the coronoid process in his left jaw, which was not operated on, two fractured molars requiring a crown on one and a filling for the other, neck pain that required chiropractic care for one year and bulging discs at C5-C6 and C6-C7 with internal disc disruption requiring a future 2-level fusion. Fay lost time from his job as a stationary engineer.

The defendant, All, admitted liability but argued that Fay did not need the future neck surgery and that his disc pain was a diagnosis by exclusion based solely on subjective complaints. She also maintained that Fay told his chiropractor in June 2011 that he was 100% improved.

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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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