Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has found five safety violations that carried a proposed penalty of $158,015 against an Illinois roofing company.  The company, Affordable Roofing and Exteriors, Inc. of Trenton, Ill., was cited after inspections at three job sites where workers were improperly using fall protection during the installation of shingles on residential roofs. Since 2009, Affordable Roofing has been cited in five inspections for similar violations by OSHA.

The inspections were carried out in 2013 in Granite City and Belleville, Ill.

At each job site inspection, OSHA found that there were willful violations for failing to ensure that workers used fall protection while doing their work on residential roofs. 

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Keith Kreinik was injured in a motorcycle accident.  The statute of limitations for his injuries would have run two years from the date of his accident, Sept. 2, 2007 to Sept. 2, 2009.  In the meantime, on Aug. 29, 2009, Karen Kreinik was allowed guardianship of Keith and filed a lawsuit against Ali Hosseini and Magnum Motors, the company that Keith was working for at the time of his motorcycle accident. 

It took more than 15 months for Karen to secure service on Hosseini, during which time Keith died.  Kreinik finally obtained service on Nov. 22, 2010.  Exactly a year later, the trial court granted Hosseini’s motion to quash service, stating that it was improper because the process server appointed by the court was not the one who actually served Hosseini. 

On Dec. 1, 2011, Kreinik served Hosseini.  On Jan. 3, 2012, Hosseini moved to dismiss the complaint with prejudice since Kreinik “failed to exercise reasonable diligence.”

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On March 25, 2011, Lance Wright, a 50-year-old bicyclist, was on a public sidewalk heading southbound past a Walgreens store at its parking lot at 5431 S. Harlem Ave. in Chicago, Ill. The bike he was riding collided with the defendant’s car as it was leaving the parking lot. Wright argued that he was riding along the lot’s driveway when the defendant, John Holcomb, drove his car into the left side of Wright’s bike. 

The impact of the bike and the car threw Wright into the hood of Holcomb’s car, injuring Wright’s back and shoulder.

Holcomb drove Lance Wright to the hospital. Lance sustained a herniated disc at L3-4 and L4-5 and underwent two series of lumbar injections to help with his pain.  Surgery was recommended at a cost of $51,847. 

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The number of highway deaths in the United States in 2012 rose to 33,561.  This was an increase of more than 1,000 deaths from 2011.  This data was provided preliminarily by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The same report of data from NHTSA revealed that the number of deaths of occupants in large trucks and semi-trailer trucks increased substantially for the third consecutive year.  The increase was 8.9% in 2012 from the previous year. 

According to NHTSA information, there were 697 large truck occupant deaths that occurred in 2012. That was a 20% increase in fatalities of large truck occupants from 2011. 

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In 2011, Gloria Won intended to purchase a residence from Grant Park 2 LLC. Since the deal she anticipated fell apart, Won filed a breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit against Grant Park 2. In that suit, Won alleged that Grant Park 2 chose not to meet the contractual closing date and willfully intended to deprive her of the return of her earnest money deposit that she gave for the intended purchase.  In responding to the lawsuit, Grant Park 2 filed an answer, affirmative defenses and counterclaims.

In August 2011, Won filed a motion for summary judgment.  The motion was denied by the court, which found that there were issues of fact existing regarding an oral agreement that would have extended the closing date.  However, after hearings discussing the issue of fact in the case, Won refiled her motion for summary judgment again in January 2012.  Grant Park 2 filed a cross-motion for summary judgment in response. 

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Under a federal rule issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that was passed on Nov. 21, 2013, new tour buses and buses that provide services between cities must be equipped with seatbelts.  This new federal rule goes into effect beginning in November 2016. 

This safety measure was initiated by accident investigators.  The movement to require safety belts on buses has been an ongoing battle for more than 50 years. 

Beginning in November 2016, all new motor coaches and some other large buses must be manufactured with seatbelts, which includes a 3-point lap-shoulder belt.  Unfortunately, this federal rule doesn’t apply to school buses or public city transit buses.  It seems odd that it wouldn’t provide for the safety of children as well as adults on public buses. 

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Illinois law provides for losses suffered when an Illinois insurance company goes bankrupt, is liquidated or cannot meets its obligations.  The Illinois Insurance Guarantee Fund is available to step in when an insurance company fails.

In this case, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed and remanded a decision written by the Fifth District Appellate Court in the case of Roy Dean Rogers II. Rogers, age 18, was struck by a car driven by John Winterrowd in 2009.  Roy died as a result of this incident and his injuries.

Winterrowd was intoxicated at the time.  Rogers’s parents received in settlement two insurance payouts.  One was for $26,550 from Winterrowd’s insurance company and another $80,000 was received from the Rogers’s own automobile insurance company.

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On Feb. 19, 2009, Georgene Paz was eastbound on Palatine Road at Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, Illinois, when she was rear-ended by 41-year-old Richard Ahlman. Paz, age 52, drove herself to Central DuPage Hospital right after the crash complaining of lower back and neck pain.

She continued to treat with her primary care physician and received physical therapy for lower back pain radiating into her right leg through mid-April 2009.

Paz argued that her  back pain and radiating symptoms continued and were ongoing when she slipped at work and landed on her rear-end in July 2009, which  resulted in another emergency room visit and more physical therapy.

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Often an obstetrician will order levels of medicine to induce labor and the medication may lead to obstetrical malpractice. A treating obstetrician may be found to be negligent by prescribing doses of labor induction medication, such as oxytocin, that may induce or augment labor, but may lead to serious birth injuries to the unborn fetus.  Oxytocin is a natural hormone found in humans, but the synthetic version is prescribed to help with contractions in the second and third stages of labor.

The use of what are known as high-alert or off-label medications to ripen the cervix or induce and augment labor can result in the mother’s contractions being too strong or too frequent or even too long, which may cause serious and permanent damage to the fetus. 

Accordingly, medical professionals in labor and delivery should be clear on understanding uterine activity and its effect on the fetus’s ability to be oxygenated. In addition, as is usually the case, the fetus’s heart rate must be monitored.

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Phusion Projects Inc. manufactures and distributes the alcoholic beverage Four Loko. The product contains alcohol in addition to caffeine, guarana, taurine and wormwood. Guarana is a plant that has one of the highest concentrations of caffeine in any plant. It’s often used as a supplement to energy drinks, including this one. Taurine is an organic acid or an amino acid that some research shows may be a contributing factor to improved athletic performances. Wormwood is an herb. Some uses of wormwood are said to be for digestive disorders and to increase sexual desires and stimulate the imagination.  Wormwood is also used for healing wounds and countering insect bites. It is also used in some alcoholic beverages, such as vermouth and absinthe. 

Phusion purchased insurance coverage from two members of the Liberty Mutual Group. Both of the insurance policies contained clauses that excluded coverage for bodily injury or property damage when Phusion could be held responsible by reason of causing or contributing to intoxication.

Phusion was sued by five separate plaintiffs. All of them alleged that the consumption of Four Loko caused their injuries in whole or in part.

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