Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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Birth injury lawsuits are brought because of the catastrophic damage to an infant during or immediately after childbirth. One of the more significant injuries to a baby is cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is described as a group of disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitations that are associated with injury to the developing fetus or infant brain. Motor disorders of cerebral palsy are often accompanied by disturbances of sensation, cognition, communication, perception, behavior and seizure disorder.

When a child is damaged at birth by the negligence of an obstetrician, gynecologist or other medical practitioner, these defendants often turn to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and their supporters to defend these cases. Many of the defenses presented are based on published documents that are used by experts in the cases that are unscientific, yet are designed to negate a causal relationship between asphyxia and cerebral palsy.

Asphyxia is a major cause of cerebral palsy (CP), but these experts present testimony that would prevent a plaintiff family from proving that their child’s brain damage was caused by asphyxia. 

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Jury trials are, by design, the final arbiter of any lawsuit. In all jury trials, the case is presented to the six or twelve jurors, who then determine the facts of the case. In Illinois the decision of the jury must be unanimous. That decision of the jurors is delivered to the court officer, who reads it to the parties and attorneys and then a final judgment or order is entered. The essence of a jury trial is a focus group of the issues of the case. But rather than guess at what might develop and happen at a jury trial, focus groups and trial preparation are vital in determining how best to proceed at the real trial.

Focus groups are actually, if done correctly, simply a trial for practice. Some lawyers do focus groups over and over again before trial to try to flesh out issues, evidence and biases of potential jurors. 

Assembling a group of citizens from different walks of life to sit in judgment of facts is exactly what a trial is. The value of a focus group is to do exactly the same thing, but to do it without a final order. The techniques of focus groups are varied. Many lawyers conduct what is known as concept focus groups. Some lawyers engage in a structured focus group. Others run what are called mock trials. But all in all, focus groups are about listening rather than talking. The goal is to learn what potential trial jurors would think about a case, the facts, the evidence, even photographs. By learning what potential jurors understand about a case, lawyers will begin to understand what typical biases may surface. Everyone has biases and some prejudices. The idea behind a focus group is to very carefully dissect the responses that these practice jurors develop in deliberating a lawyer’s case. 

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Metal-on-metal artificial hips were originally thought to be more durable and longer lasting than the traditional hip implants. It was believed that the mechanical hip implants would reduce wear and lower the rates of failure and dislocation. With the advent of multiple medical studies, it was found that metal-on-metal hips were no more reliable than the traditional hip implants. However, danger of metal-on-metal hip implants subjected patients to severe side effects. One of those side effects is metallosis poisoning.

Many of the metal-on-metal hip implants contain cobalt and chromium;  when broken down in the blood stream, these can cause irreversible damage to patients. The metal-on-metal hip implants, when in regular use, grind or shred metallic particles into the surrounding body tissues  and spread throughout the bloodstream. It was found in 2010 that cobalt and chromium ions were frequently found in the blood and urine of hip implant patients. Metallosis destroys the surrounding tissue. 

In addition, the metallic particles can lodge in other organs of the body. It has been reported that metallic particles have been found in bone marrow, in the liver, kidneys and bladder. In fact, studies have revealed that high levels of metallic ions in the body can increase the risk of different cancers.

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Teodoro Ramirez was injured while working for his employer and subcontractor, Sullivan Roofing. The case was tried before a jury in Cook County against the general contractor on the project, FCL Builders. At the end of the trial, the trial judge included Sullivan Roofing on the jury verdict form for apportioning fault under Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, §2-1117. 

The jury’s verdict of $1.588 million against FCL included a finding that Ramirez was 20 percent at fault for his own injuries while FCL and Sullivan were held to be 40 percent at fault each. 

FCL appealed, arguing that Sullivan Roofing should not have been on the verdict form. 

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Jurors are pulled into courthouses bringing with each their unmovable principles, attitudes and beliefs. The goal of jury selection is the questioning allowed by the judge, in choosing the fairest possible jury. Given the fact that many prospective jurors do not want to be involved in the process at all, lawyers who handle injury or death cases need to be aware that they have to overcome a prospective juror’s hostility to lawsuits generally, perhaps because of the rise in negative publicity.

Generally, lawyers are thrust into meeting prospective jurors with little or no opportunity for preparation for the venire or the group brought in. Depending on the venue, a lawyer should take whatever opportunities are given to increase the odds of de-selecting and empaneling the best possible and fairest jury. 

It is important to know in advance the law of the venue and the process for jury selection in a particular courtroom.  It’s advisable to file a trial brief on the law in advance of every case to ensure that the lawyer is familiar with the local law and the court’s process. Judges differ in style from court to court. If a lawyer is familiar with the judge, that is an advantage in understanding the judge’s process for questioning motions to strike a juror with or without cause and paneling the jurors. 

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According to a recent study and a New York Times report, dietary supplements containing high concentrations of green tea extract result in up to 20 percent of liver injuries in patients who turn up in hospitals. This new data was analyzed by a national network of liver specialists. 

Dietary supplements are regularly purchased at nutrition stores promising weight loss or build up of muscle mass.  Many who take dietary supplements are young, but the studies show that middle-aged women and men are also often buying these products. 

Americans spend $32 billion a year on dietary supplements. The dietary supplement distribution is by and large unregulated. 

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has published recent data showing that the number of large trucks (those weighing more than 10,000 lbs.) involved in deadly crashes has risen. In 2011, 3,608 trucks were involved in fatal crashes. The 2011 numbers are an increase of 3 percent from 2010 and a 12 percent increase from 2009.

In the United States, 3,757 individuals died in large truck crashes in 2011. More than 80,000 were injured in truck-related crashes.

Even though the numbers are rising, truck drivers or professional drivers abide by the traffic and highway laws in most cases. More than 83 percent of truck drivers compared to 65 percent of drivers of other passenger vehicles use their seat belts. Truck drivers are much less likely to be drinking alcohol when driving than other motorists. 

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DePuy Orthopaedics is the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The company has agreed to pay $2.475 billion to settle what amounts to thousands of claims related to patient injuries suffered as a result of defective ASR hip implant parts.  The settlement was approved by U.S. District Judge David A. Katz of the Northern District of Ohio. Judge Katz is overseeing the consolidated multidistrict litigation (MDL) of more than 10,000 DePuy claims.

The ASR XL Acetabular and ASR Hip Resurfacing Systems were recalled in August 2010 after reports that there was an unusually high rate of that device failing within five years after being surgically implanted.  

Individuals who had this hip replacement device implanted have suffered a number of different kinds of ailments. For one, because of the metal-on-metal parts contained within the hip system, patients have developed metallosis, which is metal poisoning. Shavings from the metal-on-metal device move from the hip ball into the hip socket, causing small metal particles to enter the bloodstream. 

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Lawyers are often lured into the prospect of settlement by casually agreeing to sign off on mediation agreements proposed by either the mediator or the opposite counsel. The obvious purpose of mediation is to resolve disputes that would be costly with an unpredictable result. Settlements are good for both parties in that they save time and money.  Litigation alternatives are expensive and results are unknown.

However, the importance of mediation agreements stands out in the process. State law in Illinois governs some of the inner workings of mediations. The law is found under 710 ILCS 35/, which is the Illinois Uniform Mediation Act (IUMA).

One of the advantages of mediation is confidentiality. The confidentiality aspect of mediation is that a caucus with the just mediator and a party and counsel is a conference in confidence. This condition should be set out in the agreement.  The importance of the confidentiality of mediation is that settlement communications are inadmissible, both in federal and state courts. But there are distinct differences between confidentiality and privilege should the case not settle. 

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Sandy Parrish, the administrator of the estate of Karen Parrish, filed a wrongful-death and survival action against physician Michael Jones, D.O., and other medical providers. The suit stemmed from what was alleged to be the negligent care of Karen Parrish, resulting in her death. 

On Dec. 30, 2004, Parrish was admitted to Adena Regional Medical Center and diagnosed with an acute peripheral-nerve disorder. She was then transferred to a rehabilitation center and was under the care of another defendant physician, Christopher Skocik, D.O. 

In the lawsuit, the Parrish family alleged that the medical staff treating Karen had been negligent by choosing not to prescribe the appropriate anti-coagulation therapy. It was further alleged in the complaint that as a direct and proximate result of that negligence, Karen died prematurely suffering a cardiopulmonary arrest and hypoxia due to a pulmonary emboli with saddle embolus and deep-vein thrombosis.

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