Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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Thomas Miles, age 54, commuted to work regularly by bicycle. He was riding his bike northbound on California Avenue in Chicago on July 14, 2008 in the marked bike lane when he came upon a patch of wet cement in the street. The defendant Tai Plumbing had dug a 3-foot-wide trench across the northbound lanes to connect water and sewer lines for a building being developed by Forte Construction. On the day of this incident, the Tai Plumbing workers had filled the trench in the street with cement and moved operations to the sidewalk area without covering the wet concrete.

The front wheel of his bike sank into the wet concrete and caused his bike to stop suddenly and flip Miles over the handlebars. He landed head-first on the pavement. Miles suffered spinal subluxation fractures of the neck at C2-3. The injury required a fusion operation. For two and a half months, Miles was unable to swallow, requiring a feeding tube. In addition, Miles suffered from an incomplete spinal cord injury, constant paresthesia in both arms from elbows to fingertips, spasticity in both hands and balance problems. Miles had more than $358,000 in medical bills related to these injuries. 

At trial, Miles argued that Tai Plumbing chose not to comply with the pubic way construction permit by failing to employ flagmen at the work site. In addition, it was alleged that in failing to supply clear and positive tracking control, Tai Plumbing was also negligent. There were no warning signs posted.

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In a breach of contract case, the issue was whether a party defendant was a necessary defendant in this federal court case filed in Chicago. Two of the defendants, Nafeesa Moosabhoy and Aymen Tyebjee, moved to dismiss the complaint that Shabbir and Munira Nomanbhoy filed in federal court. 

The court found that the complaint satisfied the requirements for diversity jurisdiction because Shabbir and Munira were residents of California. They sought relief in the amount of $1.3 million in damages. Moosabhoy and Tyebjee  were residents of either Illinois or Texas. However, another obligor under the agreement, Zehra Vahanvaty, who Moosabhoy and Tyebjee alleged breached the contract, was a resident of California. Vahanvaty was claimed to be a necessary party under Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and as a result diversity of citizenship would be destroyed. For diversity of citizenship federal jurisdiction, the plaintiff and defendant must be residents of different states. 

In support of the motion by Moosabhoy and Tyebjee, they argued there was no diversity of citizenship. They relied on the Seventh U.S. Circuit of Appeals stating that, “A contracting party is the paradigm of an indispensible party.”

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George Harris was a passenger seated in the rear third row of a 2004 Chevy Ventura van when he was returning home from work at Union Pacific Railroad with five others in his carpool. It was July 10, 2009, — a Friday during evening rush hour — and the van was traveling southbound on the Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstate 90/94) in the local lanes just north of 63rd Street. The van came to a standstill in traffic. 

At about 4:36 p.m., just before the split with the Skyway entrance, the van was in the third lane from the left.  The two left lanes were for entering the Skyway entrance, 1,200 feet ahead. 

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On Sept. 21, 2010, Wayne Vroman claimed that his car was hit by a vehicle owned by Midwest Groundcovers, LLC, and driven by Judy Wenciker, a Midwest employee.  Two months later, Vroman filed a negligence lawsuit against Midwest and Wenciker. 

On Jan. 10, 2011, the defendants’ lawyer filed a motion to preserve certain evidence in the case. Submitted as evidence for this hearing were records of e-mail correspondence between the defendants and plaintiff’s counsel in which plaintiff’s counsel asserted that an agent of the defendants had stipulated to liability.

In response, the defendants maintained that the person who had allegedly stipulated to liability had no authority to do so. The defendants also said that the person was an agent for Midwest’s insurance carrier, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co. The defendants’ motion to preserve the evidence was granted. 

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                                                  A $2.24 million verdict was entered in favor of a 36-year-old electrician working as a groundman for an aerial lift truck at a booth at the International Machine Tool Show at Chicago’s McCormick Place in August 2006. The plaintiff, William Purnell, came upon a steel beam that was blocking the path of the aerial truck.

The steel beam was 22 feet long, 3 feet high and weighed 1,800-2,000 pounds. The beam was located in an area that was prohibited as a “no-freight” aisle. The beam had been left there by riggers working for the defendant GES Exposition. 

When Purnell attempted to move the beam out of the way, the beam toppled over and landed on his left foot. He suffered severe crush injuries to the foot causing compartment syndrome, which led to a surgery and foot fusion. 

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A February 25, 2013 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine has reported a connection between acute pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer with the use of the diabetes drug, Januvia. The study also noted that there was increased risk of thyroid cancer. The JAMA Internal Medicine journal report found that hospitalized patients with pancreatitis were two times more likely to be taking either Januvia or Byetta than diabetic patients who did not have pancreatitis.

The reported side effects to Januvia are similar to those reported earlier for Byetta, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Byetta is another type II diabetes medication. Lawsuits have been filed in California against the maker of Byetta, alleging patients were not adequately warned about the risks associated with the drug.

Consumer Reports published an article warning patients to speak to their physicians about switching from Januvia to another diabetes medication. The drug manufacturer of Januvia denies that there is any harm in taking its product. However, independent studies indicate a high risk of injury from Januvia. The Federal Food & Drug Administration has not yet issued a warning about the potential harm associated with the taking of Januvia and thyroid or pancreatic cancer.

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On May 3, 2013, an overflow crowd at the Union League Club of Chicago welcomed Michelle Alexander, professor of law at Ohio State University Law School. Professor Alexander is also the author of the bestselling book, The New Jim Crow; Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness.  The book was on the New York Times bestseller list. 

Professor Alexander was introduced by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. 

U.S. Congressman Danny Davis of the 7th Illinois Congressional District was one of the many honored guests who attended.

 

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A federal court jury in St. Louis found that the driver of a tractor-trailer, Ilija Kuresevic of Fort Worth, Texas, was responsible for the crash in the early morning hours of Feb. 26, 2010 in Effingham County, Ill.  The injured party, George Reaves Jr., a St. Louis County truck driver, rear-ended another truck driven by Kuresevic on Interstate 70 in Illinois. 

Reaves claimed that the Kuresevic truck stopped or almost stopped in the roadway at 3 a.m., which was the reason for the crash. 

Reaves’s lawsuit said that when his UPS tractor trailer rear-ended Kuresevic’s truck, Reaves was seriously injured. He claimed that he injured his head, face, back and other parts of his body, including the loss of the tip of his tongue.Reaves was also rear-ended by another truck.

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Benjamin Faught rear-ended Luis Gavino’s car on southbound Interstate 94 in Deerfield, Ill., in the early morning hours of Oct. 3, 2009.  The impact caused the plaintiff’s car to spin several times and crash into a cement median strip.

Gavino, 57, sustained a posterior tibialis tendon tear, located on the inner side of the ankle and aggravation of pre-existing arthritis in his left ankle. This required surgery to the tendon and an ankle fusion. Gavino also had a neck, shoulder and back soft tissue injury.

The defendant, 22-year-old Benjamin Faught, admitted to consuming seven vodka drinks prior to the crash. He pleaded guilty to a charge of DUI. The defendant admitted liability, but evidence of alcohol intoxication was permitted pursuant to the plaintiff’s agreement to withdraw a punitive damage claim as part of the high/low agreement.

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Justin Hasty, 24, was a Wonder Bread deliveryman making a delivery to the Jewel Store in Aurora, Ill., when he slipped and fell in an employee break room. Hasty was directed to the room by a Jewel employee. Before this incident, the break room was being stripped and waxed by an independent contractor, defendant Score Group, Inc. Jewel hired an independent janitorial management services company to clean its stores nationwide. The janitorial service company then contracted the work at this store to the defendant Score Group.

Because of his fall, Hasty sustained spinal injuries resulting in three separate low back fusion surgeries. This left his entire spine fused from T-12 to S-1. He has a permanent 20-pound lifting restriction. He is unable to return to his work as a delivery driver.

Hasty argued that there was special cleaning work going on, which made it the responsibility of Jewel to warn him of the dangerous condition and direct him not to use the break room.

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