Medical Malpractice vs. Product Liability in Meningitis Lawsuits
A fungal meningitis outbreak which has caused 19 fatalities and afflicted 400 people in 19 states has been linked to contaminated steroid injections. Victims and their families have begun filing...
View ArticleIllinois Supreme Court to Hear Workers Comp Case
The Supreme Court of Illinois is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case of Skokie Castings, Inc. v. Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund. The case arises from a Skokie Castings employee who sustained...
View ArticleStudy Shows Race-Based Disparity in Illinois Workers’ Compensation Awards
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health have released a study that shows workers’ compensation settlements awarded to white, non-Hispanic construction workers in...
View ArticleWoman Allegedly Files Fraudulent Workers’ Compensation Claims
A woman living in McHenry, Ill., faces multiple charges after being arrested for filing fraudulent workers’ compensation claims against three separate employers. Tracy Williams, 43, is charged with...
View ArticleIllinois Businesses Illegally Classifying Employees as Independent Contractors
State agencies including the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission are joining together to crack down on businesses that improperly classify employees as independent contractors. In contrast to...
View ArticleNurse Working for State of Illinois Wins Workers Compensation Award
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC) has decided a case of a nurse who slipped and fell during an authorized break in favor of the worker. The nurse, who worked for the State of...
View ArticleAMA Impairment Guidelines May Negatively Impact Injured Workers
As part of reforms in the Illinois workers’ compensation system, impairment ratings promulgated by the American Medical Association (AMA) are now used by doctors and arbitrators to decide the workers’...
View ArticleEmployers Who Allegedly Failed to Obtain Workers Comp Insurance Are Indicted
Three Illinois employers have been indicted by a Cook County grand jury on Class 4 felony charges for allegedly failing to obtain workers’ compensation insurance. If convicted, the employers face 1 to...
View ArticleBLS Releases Data on Nonfatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released final data from 2011 on nonfatal on-the-job illnesses and injuries that required days away from work. The rate of such...
View ArticleFormer Illinois Police Officer Charged With Workers Comp Fraud
A former police officer for the village of Maryville has been indicted by a grand jury in Madison County, Illinois on charges related to an alleged fraudulent workers’ compensation claim. Richard...
View ArticleIllinois House Votes Unanimously to Outsource Workers Compensation
On May 30, the Illinois House passed legislation on a unanimous vote to outsource the state’s workers’ compensation system. The bill, HB 2958, would require the Department of Central Management...
View ArticleFatal Workplace Injuries On the Rise in Illinois
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released its final data on fatal injuries in the workplace in the year 2010. While such on-the-job deaths have been decreasing nationwide for some time,...
View ArticlePainkillers May Increase Cost of Work Injuries
Insurance companies that reimburse employees for workplace injuries, pay billions of dollars every year, mainly for major accidents. Recently, another cost has emerged: payments to workers with routine...
View ArticleStudy Shows Safety Inspections Protect Workers and Do Not Hurt Businesses
Researchers have determined that random inspections of businesses in the United States have a measurable impact on the risk of workers being hurt on the job. Inspections lower the danger for workers,...
View ArticleChanges to Workers’ Compensation Have Not Saved Businesses Money
To date, there is scant evidence that changes in workers’ compensation laws have resulted in decreased costs for Illinois businesses. State lawmakers passed legislation in 2011 curtailing workers’ comp...
View ArticleMother of Woman Who Died After Abortion Files Lawsuit Against Planned Parenthood
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Planned Parenthood and Northwestern Memorial Hospital by the mother of a woman who died shortly after she had an abortion in July. According to the Cook...
View ArticleDrew Peterson Seeks to Dismiss Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Drew Peterson’s lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against the former Bolingbrook police officer, who was found guilty of murdering his third wife. The action came just...
View ArticleSwitching Surgeons Leads to Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Two recent Chicago medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed over the same alleged misdeed: patients were operated on by a different surgeon from the one they were promised. Patients sometimes go to...
View ArticleWrongful Death Lawsuit Against Michael Jackson’s Doctor Dismissed
Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson’s father, has dismissed his wrongful death lawsuit against the singer’s doctor, Conrad Murray, who was convicted of causing his death. Court filings show that Joe Jackson...
View ArticleFederal Grand Jury Subpoenas Chicago Workers Comp Records
A federal grand jury has issued a subpoena for records spanning six years of Chicago’s workers’ compensation program. The subpoena was issued to the Finance Committee of Chicago’s City Council....
View ArticleIllinois Older Driver Laws Among Toughest in Nation
More seniors are on the road than ever before, and certain aspects of aging present a traffic safety risk. States have responded by tightening driver’s license requirements for older drivers, and the...
View ArticleState Trooper Who Caused Fatal Crash Will Not Receive Workers Compensation
Matt Mitchell, the former Illinois State Police Trooper who pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in a car crash that killed two women and injured two others, will not receive workers’ compensation...
View ArticleIllinois Supreme Court Rules Against Child Injured by Moving Train
The Illinois Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision overturning a $3.9 million jury award against three different railroad companies. The plaintiff was 12 years old when he was injured trying to...
View ArticleDoctor Burnout Leads to More Medical Mistakes
According to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a large number of doctors in the U.S. suffer from burnout at work, which can lead to dangerous mistakes as well as medical...
View ArticleNumber of Workers Comp Cases Is Decreasing
The number of new workers’ compensation cases filed is decreasing in Chicago and throughout the state of Illinois. According to data from the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC), in fiscal...
View ArticleFirefighter Will Not Receive Workers Comp Benefits After Horseplay
A firefighter/paramedic who was injured after giving a coworker a bear hug will not receive workers’ compensation benefits, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC) has ruled. The...
View ArticleBirth Injury Lawsuit Filed Over Brachial Plexus Injury
The mother of a child that suffered a brachial plexus injury during delivery has filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court claiming that the attending physician was negligent during the pregnancy...
View ArticleIllinois Mother Files Lawsuit Over Baby’s Death
An Illinois mother has filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court seeking damages for a birth injury that resulted in the death of her child. The plaintiff, Portia Williams, claims that Jackson Park...
View ArticleIllinois woman claims she was fired after filing workers’ compensation claim
A former employee of an Illinois rehabilitation center has filed a lawsuit, claiming that she was fired after filing for workers’ compensation benefits. Penny Lucas claims that she suffered an injury...
View ArticleBill seeks to limit workers’ compensation
An Illinois state senator has introduced legislation that would alter the state’s workers’ compensation law. State Senator Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) introduced a bill that would require “primary...
View ArticleIllinois workers’ compensation report shows benefit payments have dropped
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has said that the state legislature must make business-friendly changes to the state’s workers’ compensation laws, or he will not sign off on a tax increase meant to...
View ArticleIllinois Appellate Court rules employer must pay workers’ compensation...
The Illinois Appellate Court recently ruled that an employer could not avoid a judgment for payment of the full workers’ compensation benefits owed to the estate of a deceased coal miner, in spite of...
View ArticleIllinois Appellate Court addresses when a traveling employee begins to travel
The Illinois Appellate Court Workers’ Compensation Commission Division addressed the question of when a traveling employee’s travel actually begins. The case, Pryor v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation...
View ArticleIllinois construction companies face heavy fines for exposing workers to...
Two Illinois companies face heavy fines for exposing workers to deadly asbestos fibers. Joseph Kehrer and two companies affiliated with him, D7 Roofing and Kehrer Brothers, violated numerous health and...
View ArticleIllinois Appellate Court rules police officer injured at home is entitled to...
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Appellate Court ruled in December that an injury sustained by a police officer while loading his duty bag into his car at home was compensable. The case involved the...
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