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 fined Cold Drawn Inc., a St. Louis steel manufacturer, for $52,000 after finding more than two dozen safety violations.

OSHA investigated a worker’s electrocution at the St. Louis Cold Drawn plant. Cold Drawn manufactures cold-finished steel bars at plants in St. Louis, Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Opodaca, Mexico.

The Cold Drawn worker was electrocuted on May 15, 2013 when he reached into an electrical panel box to retrieve work gloves.  The gloves were stored in a box at the company’s St. Louis manufacturing facility. Of the many safety violations, 19 of them were considered serious.

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Hubert Walker represented a class of truck owner-operators who sued Trailer Transit Inc., a broker of trucking services, for breach of contract. The lawsuit was filed in an Indiana state court. The underlying lawsuit concerned a lease agreement between Walker, who owned and operated a long-haul truck and trailer transit. Under the contract, Trailer Transit leased Walker’s equipment and Walker picked up and delivered shipments arranged by Trailer Transit. 

The parties’ agreement required Trailer Transit to pay Walker 71% of the gross revenues derived from the use of the truck, less all items intended to reimburse trailer transit for special services.

Walker alleged in his complaint that Trailer Transit violated the lease agreement with him and hundreds of other truckers by charging “add-on fees” to customers that exceeded the costs of special services. Because the overcharge fees were not intended to be reimbursed to Trailer Transit, Walker maintained that the truckers were entitled to a portion of those fees under the lease agreement. The complaint alleged that the truckers would be entitled to 71% of the overcharge.

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The Illinois Appellate Court has upheld a $1.9 million Cook County jury verdict for injuries to a man who was riding his bike on a city street that was under construction.

In July 2007, the city of Chicago was resurfacing an intersection, which altered the otherwise safe bicycle path. While under construction, the alteration resulted in a raised structure in the roadway and a shallow gash not readily visible to bikers.  The alteration by the city was the proximate cause of the biker’s injuries, the court concluded.

In upholding the jury verdict, the appellate court upheld the Cook County’s judge’s refusal of a special interrogatory on the grounds it was prejudicial and implied several questions inside one “deceptively brief” question.

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Marbella Smilovitz, 51, brought her car to the defendant McGrath City Honda for repairs to fix a flat tire.  It was July 31, 2010.  The dealership is located at 6720 W. Grand Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 

The McGrath employees brought Smilovitz to her car in the service area to show her the flat tire while her car was raised up about 6 feet on a hydraulic lift.  Smilovitz then asked an employee to lower the car so she could take out her cell phone from the center console. She stood next to the car as it was being lowered. One of the employees of McGrath claimed that he was standing next to Smilovitz and planned to get her phone for her once the car reached the floor. However, she started stepping toward the car before the lift had fully reached the ground and her left big toe was pinched under the arm of the metal hydraulic lift. 

Smilovitz sustained a degloving injury to the tip of her big toe with loss of skin and toenail requiring skin grafting. There was permanent scarring on the end of her toe. She had $63,977 in medical expenses.

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On June 3, 2008, the plaintiff, Richard Girden, who was a right side rear-seat passenger in a Land Rover, was stopped on southbound Route 59 at 119th Street in Will County, Ill.  Another vehicle, driven by Fidel Ramirez, was stopped behind the Land Rover.  The Girden vehicle had been stopped for about a minute when the defendant Kathryne Niswonger’s vehicle drove into the rear of the Ramirez vehicle, pushing it into the Girden Land Rover.

At the time of the impact,  Girden, 50, was seat-belted and facing to his left lane with his two-year-old granddaughter, who was in a car seat in the middle of the back seat. His hips and shoulders were turned to his left. His right leg was extended under the front passenger seat. 

At the time of the crash, there appeared to be no damage to the Land Rover. Girden denied injury to the police at the scene.  However, two hours later, Girden experienced pain and pulling in his right hip when he tried to pick up his granddaughter. 

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Cynthia Madden was killed by a BNSF train after her car stalled on the railway crossing in May 2007 near Moline, Illinois.  The Madden family brought a lawsuit against the railroad claiming negligence, specifically that the warning indicators for the train approach had all occurred fewer than 20 seconds before the train reached the crossing. It was alleged that the shortfall was in violation of federal safety regulations.

After a hearing, the magistrate judge ruled that the plaintiff had not made out a prima facia case of negligence and granted summary judgment in favor of the railroad. The Madden family appealed.

The appellate court noted that an event recorder at the crossing recorded all the warning indicators triggering about 30 seconds before the incident.

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The amendment to the Illinois Vehicle Code expands the existing ban on e-mailing while driving.  The new act goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2014. The law prohibits the use of all electronic communication devices while driving with a few narrow exceptions. 

Except for hands-free telephone use, GPS navigation, CB and Ham radios and emergency situations, Illinois drivers will be prohibited from using electronic communication devices.  This would obviously include handheld mobile telephones, texting and e-mailing. 

The new law reads this way:  A person may not operate a motor vehicle on a roadway while using an electronic communication device.  The Public Act 98-0506  originally contained words at the end of the current act that read: “. . . to compose, send or read an electronic message.” The way the law is written now, there should be no confusion.

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On April 10, 2010, Daniel Coile, 33, went to Shepherd’s Closet, a store, to pick up a desk purchased by his mother. Coile was told that he would need to load the desk into his car by way of a loading dock at the rear of the store.  Shepherd’s Closet or Closet Two is located in Gibson City, Ill.

At the loading dock there was an unsecured railroad tie that went along the face of the dock. While Coile was attempting to load the desk, he placed his left foot on the railroad tie to get closer to the dock, but the tie slid as he lifted the desk causing his left knee to twist.

Coile suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee and required reconstructive surgery and physical therapy. As a result of his injury, Coile was unable to work for 4 months as a deputy sheriff.

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Kreisman Law Offices’ attorney Robert Kreisman has completed the mediation skills training certificate program at Northwestern University. The 40-hour, five-day intensive training was completed on Oct. 4, 2013.

In acquiring these training skills, Robert Kreisman will offer his services as a mediator, a facilitator mediator, arbitrator and evaluative mediator in civil cases of all kinds. 

The 40-hour program included simulated mediation settings, co-mediation, negotiations and work with mediation coaches.  The coaches were experienced professional mediators.

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As a parent, I am constantly proud of my sons’ achievements. Just last week, my youngest son, Alex, became a member of the Illinois Bar by receiving his notice that he passed the July 2013 Illinois Bar examination. Not everyone passes the bar, not because they don’t try, but because it’s hard. It’s an achievement that anyone can be proud of. Alex is exceptional in many ways.  He has always worked very hard no matter what he tries to do.

On my desk and surrounding me in my office are photographs of my sons, David and Alex, pictured as babies, boys and now young men. Both of them bring pride and joy to me for all of the things they do.

For Alex, he may be one of more than 45,000 new graduates of America’s law schools. The law school training and knowledge that he has gained is another valued tool that he will carry with him forever.

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