Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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On May 20, 2008, Timothy Balota, 31, was driving southbound on Interstate 55 in Collinsville, Ill., when traffic came to a stop approaching a construction zone near Route 157.  Collinsville is a near east side suburb of St. Louis.  A truck was stopped behind the plaintiff’s car when the semi-tractor-trailer driven by defendant Lewis Casey rear-ended the truck at 20-30 mph.  That crash triggered a chain reaction collision, which included five vehicles. 

At the time of the crash, Balota was on his way to have staples removed from a surgery necessitated by a life-threatening accident just 13 months earlier. 

As a result of the impact of this crash, Balota sustained cervical disc injuries at C5-6, C3-4 and C6-7 with future surgery recommended by his treating physician.  Balota also suffered aggravation of pre-existing conditions in his lumbar and thoracic spine. He claimed past and future lost time as a carpenter of $485,299. 

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On March 23, 2010, two officers of the Chicago Police Department flagged down two men who appeared panicked.  One of the men told the officers that a Hispanic man wearing a white tank top had just fired a gun at him. The man directed the police officers to an alley in which the shooting occurred. 

As the officers drove down the alley, they noticed that the door to Juan Castillo’s garage was open;  two Hispanic men and a white man were standing inside.  The men were ordered to step out of the garage and place their hands on the squad car.  They complied and the two officers searched the garage.  One of the officers testified at trial that the search was brief.  Both officers were looking for a place where a gun could easily and quickly be hidden.  One of the officers opened a closed cooler and found a .38 caliber handgun with a spent shell casing and two live rounds.  The officers detained Castillo, and he was identified by the two men who had approached the officers as the man who shot at them. 

Castillo testified that the officers came into the garage uninvited.  He stated that they showed neither an arrest nor a search warrant and that he never gave them permission to either enter or search the garage.  He testified that they entered and  began opening drawers and cabinets and had to take several items off of the cooler before they could open it to see what was inside it.

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On Dec. 17, 2007, Rico Industries entered into an agreement with TLC Group Inc., in which TLC would serve as Rico’s exclusive sales representative to Wal-Mart.

Rico, an Illinois corporation that specializes in production of novelty and sports-affiliated merchandise, entered into the agreement, specifying that any change, cancellation or termination of the agreement must be mutually agreed by both TLC and Rico in writing.

Rico claimed that it was not represented by an attorney during the negotiations and drafting of the contract.  Further, Rico claimed that in the drafting of the contract, the entire length of which was under one page,  there were no other conditions in which the contract could be terminated.

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TABFG is a limited liability corporation.  It brought a lawsuit against Richard Pfeil, claiming that among other things that Pfeil had tortuously interfered with a contract.  After a bench trial, the district judge entered judgment in favor of TABFG in the amount of $957,659.68, comprised of a principal of $674,121.87 plus prejudgment interest of $279,530.36 and costs of $4,007.45.  Pfeil appealed that judgment.

In April 2003, a joint venture was formed between the limited liability companies TABFG and NT Prop Trading (NT Prop).  The purpose of the joint venture was trading securities for financial gain. 

TABFG was made up of three individual members and managers whose responsibilities were all of the securities trading for the joint venture.  NT Prop was tasked with funding the joint venture and included two members who were also limited liability corporations.  The sole member, manager and owner of one of the limited liability corporations of NT Prop were Pfeil Commodity Fund, in which Richard Pfeil was known as the “money man” for the joint venture.

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On June 10, 2010, Jeffrey Glazer was driving southbound on Route 59 in Barrington Hills, Ill., when he was rear-ended by a car driven by the defendant Richard Cabrera near Bartlett Road.  Glazer said he had slowed to check traffic signs to determine the name of the intersecting street.  The force of the crash was heavy enough to knock both rear wheels off of Glazer’s car and break the rear axle, totaling his car.

Cabrera’s vehicle sustained $4,958 in property damage.  Glazer, 61 and an accountant, contended that the collision caused central disc herniations at L1-2, L4-5 and L5-S1.  He also claimed that he had bilateral lumbar radiculopathy and a cervical strain.  Glazer underwent numerous physical therapy procedures and chiropractic treatments, and his medical bills totaled $34,417.

The police report showed that the defendant Cabrera, 57 and a mechanic, told the investigating officer that he was distracted when his cell phone rang and when he looked up he didn’t have time to stop before he crashed his vehicle into the rear end of the Glazer car.

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On July 17, 2009, Kristen Henson was driving in the left lane of northbound Illinois Interstate 94 in West Deerfield Township when a car driven by the defendant, Steven Teeters, rear-ended her car.  Henson, 35, was a retail purchaser. She alleged in her lawsuit that the crash caused headaches and soft tissue injuries to her neck, lower back, tailbone and pelvic area injuries. 

The headaches and neck injury healed shortly after the crash, but Henson claimed that the low back, tailbone and pelvic injuries were permanent and continued to cause pain and limitations in her daily activities.

The defendant, Steven Teeters, admitted that before the collision his eyes were closed briefly and therefore he did not notice that Henson’s car was moving slowly or slowing down.  Teeters said that because he had his eyes closed he didn’t react fast enough to avoid the impact. Teeters admitted fault, but contested the nature, extent, duration and causation of Henson’s injuries.

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago has affirmed the decision of a district court judge regarding the conviction of Henry R. Brown. Brown was convicted after a jury trial of conspiring to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and was sentenced to life imprisonment because of his prior convictions.

On appeal, Brown argued that the district court should have prevented the prosecutor from introducing information obtained from a GPS system that law enforcement officers attached to a car in 2006.  It turned out that the car the GPS unit was attached to was owned by one of Brown’s confederates, Kevin Arms.  Arms alerted police that Troy Lewis was driving the vehicle to Milwaukee to deliver 10 kilograms of cocaine for Arms, Brown and their co-conspirators.  The police used the GPS device to locate the Jeep and perform a stop in Racine, Wis., where the drugs were discovered.

At Brown’s trial, Lewis and Arms testified against him.  Brown argued that the installation of the GPS should be considered reasonable only if the police first obtained a warrant with probable cause.  The panel rejected that argument.

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In November 2006, Jose Lopez lent Jesus Quintana $20,570.  The purpose of the loan was for Quintana to purchase a car.  There was no written agreement for the loan, just an oral contract. 

According to Lopez’s lawsuit, Quintana defaulted on the loan by choosing not to make his payments in November 2009.  Lopez filed a lawsuit to collect the balance of the loan.  Quintana responded by moving to dismiss.

Quintana raised the statute of frauds, seeking to bar Lopez’s suit because he wanted enforcement of an oral agreement that would not be completed within a year of the date agreed upon in violation of the statute of frauds.  The statute of frauds is a legal principle that requires certain contracts to be reduced to writing.

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A Cook County jury signed a verdict of $38,681 related to an Aug. 13, 2010 rear-end car crash.  The plaintiff, Christina Pervomskaya, was stopped in a line of traffic on Waukegan Road in Glenview, Ill., when she was rear-ended by Sally Langan’s motor vehicle. 

Pervomskaya, 28, suffered a concussion, post-concussion syndrome, headaches and neck, back and shoulder strains. She worked as a dental hygienist and missed 4 days of work because of this incident.  The defendant, Langan, denied that Pervomskaya was injured to the extent that she claimed and that some of her medical care was not necessary.

Before trial, the demand to settle the case made by Pervomskaya’s counsel was $40,000.  The attorney asked the jury to return a verdict of $80,000.  The offer made by the defendant before trial was $45,000.

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The U.S. District Court certified a class of property owners in Roxana, Ill., which is a small town across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.  In the lawsuit it was claimed that Shell Oil, together with its subsidiaries, was responsible for the leakage of poisonous benzene and other contaminants into the groundwater under the class members’ homes. 

This case, filed as a diversity lawsuit, charged that the defendants were responsible for the nuisance and related torts in violation of Illinois common law. The property owners sought a remedy for the damages, which they say were primarily the effect of groundwater contamination.

The defendants petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for leave to appeal the certification of the class.  The court of appeals decided to grant the request in order to clarify class action law.  See Blair v. Equifax Check Service, Inc., 181 F.3d 832, 835 (7th Cir. 1999). 

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