Recent Blog Posts
Who Is Responsible When Someone Is Injured by a Structural Collapse?
In the state of Illinois, entities in charge of maintaining a property are expected to uphold high standards to protect those who visit and occupy the structure. When structures like balconies or porches are not properly maintained, constructed, and inspected, innocent lives may be at risk of sustaining very serious injuries. If you or a loved one have been harmed due to a structural collapse, it is possible that your injuries are a result of negligence.
Causes and Injuries Related to Structural Collapses
Structural collapses are almost always preventable and often a result of negligence. Structural collapses are frequently caused by negligence in instances involving faulty construction, foundation defects, building code violations, preventable fires and explosions, inadequate building maintenance, poor design, and insufficient building inspections.
When liable parties fail to keep up with regular maintenance or fail to properly design and construct structures such as balconies and porches, victims can suffer severe industries. While the severity of such injuries often varies depending on the structure’s distance from the ground and the way in which the structure collapsed, there are common injuries that arise from such accidents. For example, commonly seen injuries that arise from a balcony collapse include:
Understanding Social Host Liability in Illinois
As young adults begin taking part in dangerous activities such as underage drinking, many parents may believe the safer route is to allow their minor teenager and their friends to drink at their homes. However, these parents, along with other parties who willingly provide alcohol to minors, should understand the persisting risks of underage drinking. In the event of serious injury or death, Illinois law allows for the adult who provided the alcohol or drugs to be held responsible.
Drug or Alcohol Impaired Minor Responsibility Act
In 2004, Illinois passed a law that placed significant responsibility onto individuals who supply alcohol and drugs to minors. Specifically, under the Drug or Alcohol Impaired Minor Responsibility Act, when an intoxicated individual under the age of 18 seriously harms another person or property or is harmed themselves as a result of the alcohol consumption, the adult who provided the minor with the drugs or alcohol may be held liable. In regard to this act, the adult is considered the social host.
Is Overmedication a Form of Nursing Home Abuse in Illinois?
Overmedication results when elderly patients take unneeded or excessive quantities of medication. When staff intentionally overmedicate their residents, it is considered elder abuse, whereas accidental overmedication may point to nursing home neglect. Nursing home staff may purposely overmedicate their residents to better control those who are more difficult and stubborn. If you believe your loved one may be a victim of overmedication at their nursing home, it is important to act quickly to avoid further injury and hold the proper parties accountable.
What Does Overmedication Look Like in Nursing Homes?
Lethargy, isolation, confusion, and excessive sleeping are just a few of the signs that someone may notice if their loved one is a victim of overmedication. Additionally, excessive quantities of medication can lead to depression, injury, and even death. When the overmedication is chronic, not only may the resident develop an addiction, but acute medical conditions may also.
Did Inadequate Maintenance Cause Your Injury?
Individuals occupy, patronize, and utilize public properties and facilities every day. They rarely stop to consider who maintains these properties and how that maintenance, or lack thereof, could possibly affect them. Holding property owners accountable for the condition of their property and how that condition may affect their guests is an aspect of premises liability. Guests and tenants who are injured by a property owner’s negligence should be aware of their rights and what damages they may be eligible to recover
Causes and Consequences of Inadequate Maintenance
When property owners neglect to put the time and effort into maintaining their site and its surroundings, guests of the property or business can sustain unnecessary injuries. Unfortunately, it is common for these maintenance issues to not be addressed until it is too late. This sort of premises liability can occur in numerous environments including the workplace, common areas such as shopping centers and apartment complexes, stores, roadways, and public transit.
Pursuing a Pharmaceutical Drug-Related Defect Liability Claim
We trust our doctors and pharmacists to provide us with safe medications that are meant to help us emotionally, psychologically, and/or physically. Unfortunately, these medications do not always meet this standard and instead can result in harmful side effects that could result in long-term consequences. Victims who suffer injuries from pharmaceutical drug defects can work with a product liability attorney to better understand the risks of consuming such drugs and who should be held responsible.
Causes and Consequences of Defective Drugs
The sale of over-the-counter and prescription medication in the United States is regulated by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). However, FDA-approved drugs can still end up being defective, as evidenced by the thousands of drugs that have been recalled in recent years.
If consumption of a medication results in negative side effects, including severe side effects that outweigh the potential benefits of the medication, the drug is considered defective. There are multiple manners in which a pharmaceutical drug-related defect can transpire. A drug may result in dangerous and unexpected side effects if it was not adequately tested or if it was manufactured incorrectly. Additionally, drug defects also include drugs that are improperly or insufficiently labeled and fail to include necessary warnings.
5 Major Differences Between Car and Truck Accidents
Although the number of car accidents far exceeds the number of truck accidents, the latter undoubtedly cause more serious damage. This is due to the fact that trucks weigh 20 to 30 times more than the average car. Here are 5 major differences between car and truck accidents that may affect your personal injury claim.
1. Commercial Vehicles Are Subject to Additional Federal Laws
Since they often travel between states, large commercial vehicles must adhere to not only state and local regulations, but also federal laws. These federal laws are generally in place to regulate the amount of driving allowed within a specific period of time, as well as how much cargo they can hold. Additionally, truck companies and their drivers are required to register with both the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT).
Can I File an Injury Claim for a Shared Fault Car Crash?
Car accidents are often caused by a “perfect storm” of events. One driver may be busy changing the radio station or checking text messages while the other is traveling above the speed limit. It might be raining. The road may be filled with potholes. Countless issues can lead up to a serious collision. When someone is hurt in a car accident involving shared fault, can they still recover compensation? Who is responsible for medical bills, car repair costs, and other damages?
You Can Still Get Compensation If You Were Partially at Fault
Personal injury laws vary from state to state. In some states, an injured person may not recover monetary damages if their actions contributed to the injury-causing even in any way. Fortunately, Illinois personal injury lawsuits are subject to a legal doctrine called modified comparative negligence or modified comparative fault. This doctrine allows an injured person to recover financial compensation as long as their share of fault is less than 51 percent. In other words, an injured person is able to pursue damages as long as their actions did not contribute to the injury more than the other parties’ actions. Consequentially, you may be able to recover financial compensation for car accident injuries even if your own behavior contributed to the crash.
Can I Sue an Apartment Complex or Landlord for Injuries I Suffered on the Property?
Apartment living certainly has its advantages. However, one major disadvantage of living in an apartment or rental house is that the tenant has little control over the property’s upkeep. When a landlord fails to keep a rental property in a reasonably safe condition and a tenant is harmed as a result, the tenant may be able to sue the property owner for damages. The tenant may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages caused by missed work, pain and suffering, and more.
Injuries Caused by Negligent Landlords
Whether a landlord is an individual or a company, the landlord owes tenants a legal “duty of care.” The landlord has an obligation to keep the premises free of obvious hazards that could cause injury. If a landlord fails to uphold this duty and a tenant is injured or killed as a result, the landlord may be liable for damages. Some common examples of unsafe conditions include:
Who Pays for Medical Bills and Other Costs from a Construction Accident Injury?
If you or a loved one were hurt in a construction accident, you may be facing steep medical bills that place a significant financial strain on your family. The cost of doctor’s visits, imaging tests, surgery, medication, and other medical needs can exacerbate the financial burden created by being out of work.
Depending on the circumstances of a construction accident, an injured worker may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost income, and other costs resulting from the accident. Some injured workers are also entitled to compensation for non-financial harm including their physical pain and emotional suffering.
Determining the Liable Party in a Construction Accident
Construction sites are full of potentially deadly hazards. Although a number of laws regulate construction site safety, accidents still occur. When a worker is injured in a fall accident, machinery accident, trench collapse, explosion, or another type of construction accident, the results can be life-changing.
What You Need to Know About Medical Malpractice in Illinois
When you are sick or injured, you go to the doctor or a hospital to receive medical care. When that medical care injures us further or makes us even sicker, it can be frustrating and stressful. Unfortunately, medical malpractice is not all that uncommon in the United States. According to data from the National Practitioner Database, there have been more than 58,000 instances of medical malpractice payments or adverse actions taking place since the beginning of 2020. If you have been a victim of medical malpractice, there are likely various questions that you have relating to your case. Here are some of the most common questions and their answers.
Is There a Time Limit to File a Claim for Medical Malpractice?
With nearly any case that you file with the court, there is such a thing called the “statute of limitations.” This is simply just a law that states how long a person can wait before they are no longer able to file a lawsuit and have it heard in court. In Illinois, most people must bring a case in court within two years of the medical malpractice incident. However, in some cases, the statute of limitations may be extended to four years.
