Chicago Illinois Car Accident Lawyer Blog

If you ever are in need of an Illinois Personal Injury attorney, choosing the right attorney can be a key determinant as to the outcome of your case.

Here are some questions you may wish to ask a Personal Injury attorney before hiring them to represent you:

1. How long have you been a Personal Injury attorney? (It can take years of experience to get a valuable long-term perspective of case law interpretation in a geographic region. This experience can be a critical factor in determining how a case should be handled, as well as the possible worth of a case.)
2. What is your niche or concentration within Personal Injury law? (Personal Injury law is broad - it can range from medical malpractice to auto injuries - so selecting a lawyer who is very familiar in your type of Personal Injury case is important.)
3. Do you handle cases on a contingency fee basis?
4. How much do you charge, and when will these fees be paid?
5. What were some of your results in previous cases? (Although every case is different, it is good to ask this question to get a comfort level with previous settlements and monetary awards the lawyer has attained. Also, this question may help you greater understand how much your case may be worth)
6. What are the most common types of compensation for the type of case that I have? (Each type of Personal Injury Case can have different types of compensation; it is important that you understand these different types.)
7. How many current clients do you have, and how much time will you be able to spend on my case?
8. Will you refer my case to another law firm once I become your client? (Some law firms will sign up cases and then refer them to other attorneys.)
9. Who at your firm will I deal with, an attorney or a law clerk or paralegal? (Make sure you know how the firm operates, so that your case gets the attention it deserves from an actual attorney.)
10. Does your law firm have extensive litigation experience? (Can the lawyer go before a jury and convince them of the merits of your case?)
11. Is your law firm well-known in the legal community? Do defense attorneys respect (and fear) the lawyer?
12. Is your firm aggressive? (Will they push to get the case resolved quickly - with just compensation - or will the case languish due to inaction as the statute of limitations erodes?)
13. Will you come to my home or hospital room or do I have to travel to your offices regardless of the inconvenience this may cause me?
14. From the start of my case, will you prepare the case for a trial or take the shorter path of a settlement?




Continue reading "Questions To Ask Before Hiring An Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer" »

According to a May 28 Chicago Sun-Times article titled "Man who lost leg in construction zone crash wins $7 million from city", a man has been awarded $7 million by a Cook County jury.

Don Martinelli, a 61-year-old man, lost his leg in a major crash while working at a city of Chicago construction site.

The accident happened when he was an Ameritech employee in 2002, marking underground phone cable locations near a road construction zone at Milwaukee & Leavitt in Bucktown. A motorist struck him, leaving him pinned him against his work truck - which lead to the amputation of his leg from above the knee.

Martinelli's attorney said the motorist was driving southbound on Milwaukee but followed traffic into a northbound lane to drive around a piece of construction equipment. He had to veer back in to the southbound lanes to avoid a head-on collision with another vehicle. At that point the motorist's cigarettes fell, and upon trying to pick them up, his car struck Martinelli, the attorney said.

But the attorney said the city should have ensured the area was not dangerous.

"They're responsible for making sure the construction zone is safe," he said. "You're supposed to have a flagger so you don't have a head-on collision."

But the city crews who had just started the street work had gone "for a long lunch on a Friday afternoon," the attorney said.

Martinelli, now retired and living in the Northwest suburbs, first won a $20,000 insurance settlement from the motorist. But his negligence case against the city was pending for years.

After a two-week trial and three hours of deliberation, the jury came back Friday with a $6.952 million award.

Jennifer Hoyle, a city of Chicago law department spokesperson, said via a statement: "The City is disappointed with the verdict and we will be reviewing all of our options, including an appeal. What happened to Mr. Martinelli was extremely unfortunate, but his injuries were not caused by the City but occurred when he was struck by a driver whose attention was diverted when he leaned over to pick up his cigarettes."

After Martinelli retired, he went from being the go-to handyman for friends and family to someone who has to rely on others to get many of those jobs done.

"He's lost a lot of his independence," the attorney said.

Martinelli couldn't be reached for comment, but his attorney says his client counts his blessings.

"He was in grade school at Our Lady of Angels during the fire and survived that," the attorney said of the 1958 fire at the West Side grade school Our Lady of the Angels. The blaze killed 95 people -- 92 of them children.

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) City Summary Crash Report, in 2009 (the most current year of statistics) there were 817 construction zone crashes in the City of Chicago.

The Illinois Rules of the Road p. 21 the following precautions should be followed in Construction Zones:

Construction Zones
When approaching or entering a highway construction or maintenance area, Illinois
law requires motorists to slow down, discontinue wireless/cell phone use, yield to
any authorized vehicles or workers in the area, change to a lane away from the
workers when possible, and proceed with caution.

According to a variety of news reports, including one from NBCChicago.com of May 28 titled "Model Was Drinking Before Accident: Report" the family of the woman who died has filed a Wrongful Death suit against the City of Chicago on Thursday.

Fehim Sabanovic, the father of Irma Sabanovic, a North Side woman found drowned inside a car in the North Branch of the Chicago River, filed the wrongful death suit.

In his suit, he claims the city negligently allowed barricades or traffic control devices near the accident site to fall into disrepair and failed to inspect the area. The lawsuit also claims warning signs and better barricades may have prevented the accident.

Irma Sabanovic, 25, was a model and college student. She was found dead Sunday in her car, a Ford Focus, which had been submerged in the Chicago River near the 1100 block of West Blackhawk -- the street she was believed to be driving on previous to her car entering the river.

According to Chicago Police, the last time anyone saw her was May 12, as she was heading to a nightclub at West North and North Elston avenues.

According to her lawyer, Ian R. Alexander, "Her car went in the river about 2 in the morning. I don't know if she was unconscious when she was in the water -- we just don't know what happened," noting the family wonders whether Sabanovic sat in her car, awaiting death.

It was a Chicago Police Marine Unit sonar that picked up a signal that an object was in the water off Blackhawk and Elston, not far from the club.

Cranes hoisted the Ford Focus out of the water on Sunday, near North Elston Avenue and West Blackhawk Street.

Now the family is placing blame on the City of Chicago. According to the Wrongful Death lawsuit, Sabanovic was driving westbound in the 1100 block of Blackhawk with no signal that she was heading toward the river.

"The road literally ends, and after that it drops off into the river. It's an optical illusion because it looks like you could [continue] driving down the road, and think it extends across the river. It doesn't," Alexander said.

"The city admitted through their spokesman -- their Department of Transportation spokesman told [reporters] -- that they had put a curb at the end of Blackhawk Street eight to nine inches high making it double the size of a regular curb and that was their attempt to make a barricade between the roadway and the water. That's just B.S. If you look at any other area, such as Goose Island, they put up signs and concrete barriers."

The family is seeking at least $50,000 in damages.

The city denies Fehim Sabanovic's claim. The street was well-lit with a "no outlet" sign displayed at the entrance and an 8-inch curb at the end of the street, it said in a statement.

According to the NBCChicago.com article, "Video allegedly exists showing Irma Sabanovic drinking several beers and shots of liquor over a short period of time, the Sun-Times reported, citing their source."

According to a May 11 Press Release from the CDC (Centers for Dease Control and Prevention) titled "CDC Finds Annual Estimated Cost of U.S. Crash-Related Deaths is $41 Billion" Illinois ranks 8th in total costs among states.

An excerpt:

"A new CDC data analysis looked at the costs of crash deaths by state and found that half of all costs were found in 10 states. The ten states with the highest medical and work loss costs were California ($4.16 billion), Texas ($3.50 billion), Florida ($3.16 billion), Georgia ($1.55 billion), Pennsylvania ($1.52 billion), North Carolina ($1.50 billion), New York ($1.33 billion), Illinois ($1.32 billion), Ohio ($1.23 billion), and Tennessee ($1.15 billion)."

The report also says that in 2005 crash deaths resulted in $41 Billion in medical and "work loss" costs. The costs are based on 2005 data, the most recent year for which data on such crash death costs is available.

"Deaths from motor vehicle crashes are preventable," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "Seat belts, graduated driver's license programs, child safety seats, and helmet use save lives and reduce health care costs."

According to the Press Release, CDC is releasing new fact sheets highlighting state-based costs of crash deaths, to coincide with the May 11 launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2011 to 2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety, a period of enhanced focus on protecting lives on the world's roads.

"It's tragic to hear that anyone dies on our nation's roads. But it's especially so when the person who loses his or her life is a child or teenager," said Linda Degutis, Dr. P.H., M.S.N., director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. "Child passenger safety laws and comprehensive graduated driver licensing laws are proven to protect young lives. We encourage states to strengthen and enforce these laws to help keep more of our young people safe."

To prevent crash-related deaths and reduce medical and work loss costs, CDC's Injury Center recommends that states consider the following strategies:

• Primary seat belt laws, which allow motorists to be stopped and cited for not wearing seat belts. Seat belts reduce the risk of death to those riding in the front seat by about half.
• Strong child passenger safety policies, which require children to be placed in age- and size-appropriate child safety and booster seats while riding in vehicles.
• Comprehensive graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems, which are proven to reduce teen crashes. GDL systems help new drivers gain experience under lower-risk conditions by granting driving privileges in stages. The most comprehensive GDL systems have been associated with up to 40 percent decreases in crashes among 16-year-old drivers.
• Universal motorcycle helmet laws, which require riders of all ages to wear helmets. Helmet use can reduce the risk of death in a motorcycle crash by more than one-third and reduce the risk of brain injury by 69 percent.

"These preventable costs are a reflection of the terrible suffering of American families whose loved ones are killed or injured on the roads," said Norman Mineta, chairman of Make Roads Safe North America and the longest-serving Secretary of Transportation in U.S. history. "Today, on the launch of the first-ever Decade of Action for Road Safety, occurring in 30 cities across our nation and 50 countries worldwide, it is time for all of us to take action to save lives at home and around the globe."

The report contains a page with statistics specific to Illinois. Among the various statistics is one indicating that the total crash-related death costs in Illinois are $1.32 Billion annually, composed of $15 million in medical costs and $1.31 Billion in work loss costs.

Other statistics found in the report concern the percentage of total cost broken down by "type of road user." Within this categories, "motor vehicle occupants" has the largest percentage, incurring 47% of total costs.

Another statistic is the total costs by age group. In this category, "young adults" has the largest percentage, incurring 46% of total costs.

As to how can costs of motor vehicle crashes be reduced, the CDC indicates two areas of preventative measures, crash prevention and injury prevention (if crashes do happen).

According to a variety of sources, including the NBC Chicago story "Charges Pending in Sidewalk Crash", a truck accident occurred involving a city vehicle on Saturday afternoon (May 21) at 12:20pm.

The Streets & Sanitation Ford F-150 pickup truck was northbound on State Street when the driver lost control and struck adults and a child at 6 E. Cedar St., according to police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.

Charges are pending Sunday morning against the Streets and Sanitation worker who police say had been drinking before the accident.

Three witnesses said the driver "looked intoxicated" and was calmly smoking a cigarette after the crash.

Responding officers had the submit to field sobriety tests, a witness said, adding that the driver had difficulty walking in a straight line.

Police, who believe alcohol was involved, said the 61-year-old driver would be charged Sunday morning.

The city employee driving the city truck was part of a "loop unit". According to officials, the employee was in the middle of a shift that began at 6 a.m. He was required to submit to drug & alcohol testing after the accident, which is standard procedure.

Police reported seven people were injured: a 34-year-old man and 25-year-old woman, who went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital; a 58-year-old man, 23-year-old woman and 27-year-old man who went to St. Joseph's Hospital; a one-year-old girl who went to Children's Memorial Hospital; and a 27-year-old man who went to Advocate Illinos Masonic Medical Center.

The child was in good condition by about 2:30 p.m., while a woman in her mid-20s believed to be the child's caregiver was in very critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police said.

None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, said Fire Media Affairs spokesman Larry Langford.

The police department's Major Accidents Unit is investigating the crash.

A May 4 entry on this blog relayed the unfortunate news of a pedestrian death involving a bus.

Now, the family of the woman killed by the bus has filed a Wrongful Death lawsuit, according to a Chicago Tribune article of May 17 titled "Lawsuit filed by family of woman killed by bus."

The Wrongful Death lawsuit argues that the bus company should not have hired the driver.

The bus driver, David Soto, is currently jailed on aggravated DUI charges in the death of Justyna Palka, 24. Officials say Soto, 47, had cocaine in his system at the time of the May 3 accident at the intersection of Illinois and Columbus Drive.

The Wrongful Death lawsuit argues that Pontarelli Group Charters should not have hired Soto, given an investigative alert and two prior convictions, and should have known of the alleged cocaine use.

"Pontarelli's utter failure to ensure that its professional drivers were appropriately qualified resulted in a truly unnecessary loss of life," said an attorney involved in the lawsuit. The suit was filed May 17 in the Cook County court system.

In the days following the accident, Pontarelli's co-owner said he didn't know about Soto's criminal history until after the accident. At the time, the co-owner didn't say whether Soto had gone through a background check before hiring.

Continue reading "Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed In Chicago, Illinois Fatal Bus Accident " »

The Illinois House of Representatives passed legislation that would now require back-seat passengers to start wearing seat belts.

The bill passed by a 61-55 margin and now will go to the Senate. If it becomes law, Illinois would join eleven other states that require back-seat seat-belts to be used.

"We've had people in our area killed and maimed who hadn't had a seat belt on in the back seat," said Rep. Mark Beaubien, R-Barrington Hills, the bill's chief House sponsor. "Totally unnecessary."

According to today's Lake County News-Sun story titled "House passes bill requiring back-seat passengers to use seat belts" in 2009, on a nationwide basis, 1,095 back-seat passengers not wearing seat belts died, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Back-seat passengers 19 and under are now required under Illinois state law to wear seat belts, but ever since Illinois passed its first seat-belt law in 1985 adults have been exempted.

Since 1985, seat-belt usage has steadily risen in Illinois, with nearly 93 percent of front-seat occupants wearing their seat belts as of last June, according to an IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) survey.

And after Illinois gave police the explicit authority to pull over motorists strictly for not wearing seat belts, traffic fatalities have declined. Between 2005 and 2009, traffic deaths dropped by 33 percent, according to IDOT.

The legislation exempts various passenger types, such as taxi passengers, school-bus occupants, those riding in the back of an ambulance, or those with physical infirmities that would make it difficult to wear a seat belt.

Critics say the bill micromanages citizens about a personal decision; as well, these critics say they have not seen conclusive evidence that requiring back-seat seat-belt compliance will be a lifesaver.

The IDOT 2009 Crash Facts and Statistics Report (pdf) contained the following concerning auto accidents:

"In 2009, the state of Illinois became a safer place to travel in an automobile as a result of our successful efforts to improve traffic safety. Illinois finished the year with 911 fatalities - the lowest number of people killed in auto crashes since 1921 - and fewer than 89,100 injuries. Motorists wearing safety belts in 2009 reached an all-time high, with a 91.7 percent usage rate, and then increased even more to a record-breaking 92.6 percent in subsequent months."

Alderman Edward M. Burke (14th) proposed a restriction in an effort to stop what he referred to as an "epidemic" of texting while driving. Under the proposal, cell phones sold in Chicago after January 1 would be required to have a special feature that allows parents to block kids from texting while driving.

"This law would put parents in the driver's seat when it comes to stopping teens from texting while driving," Burke said via a written statement. "By giving parents the option of temporarily turning off their kids' texting ability, we could potentially save many lives and many people from being injured on our roadways."

Twenty-eight percent of young people surveyed between the ages of 16 and 19 have admitted to texting while driving.

Burke noted that in 2009, 5,474 people were killed nationally in what is termed "distracted driving." An estimated 994 of those people died in traffic accidents while cellphones were involved.

The Chicago City Council has been at the forefront of the crackdown on distracted driving. As an example, in July 2005, Chicago became the nation's largest city at the time to prohibit motorists from using cellphones without a hands-free device.

Three years later, the City Council banned texting while driving.

The new ordinance states, "No person shall sell, offer or expose for sale ... cellular devices ... unless said cellular devices are equipped with a feature that allows an authorized user to disable the data services while the devices are in a motor vehicle being driven at a speed greater than 5 miles per hour."

This would apply to the seller. Violators would be punished by fines ranging from $100 to $500 for each offense. The ordinance would take effect on Jan. 1.

The ordinance was co-sponsored by Aldermen Michelle Harris (8th), Anthony Beale (9th), Ray Suarez (31st) and Richard Mell (33rd), and it also applies to other devices, including tablet computers and text pagers.

Suarez said (quoting Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White) "When you text and drive, no one is at the wheel."

Texting while driving is already illegal in Chicago and around the state. However, 40 percent of those recently surveyed by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority said they didn't know about the ban.

More on this story concerning texting while driving can be found at the Chicago SunTimes story of May 4 titled "Ald. Burke calls for special feature to block texting while driving."

According to the focusdriven.org site, one statistic highlighting the dangers of cellphone and texting use during driving is the following:

"Drivers using cell phones behind the wheel miss half of the information in their driving environment. Texting while driving increases your chances of a crash by up to 8 to 23 times."

The Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area is already one of the most congested traffic areas in the country. Cellphone and texting, which distracts drivers, adds another risk to the area's driving environment. Automobile Accident cases caused by cellphone and texting usage would typically be handled by Chicago area Personal Injury Attorneys.

On Tuesday night a woman, Justyna Palka, was struck and killed by a tour bus in the Streeterville area in downtown Chicago.

According to a May 4 story in the Chicago Tribune, titled "Woman killed by bus was 'a really smart girl, a really creative girl'", Palka, 26, was walking in a crosswalk on Columbus Drive at Illinois Street - with the light and therefore the right-of-way - when the bus turned into the intersection and hit her at about 6:50 p.m., police said.

Witnesses and other pedestrians tried to stop traffic while a person in hospital attire tried to resuscitate Palka.

According to a witness, after the bus hit the girl, the bus driver got out of the bus. According to a witness, the bus driver "was shaken up," as it appeared the bus driver may not have seen the girl.

According to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Joe Roccasalva, Palka was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition. She was pronounced dead at 7:04 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The driver remained in custody this afternoon but no charges have been announced.

According to Justyna Palka's personal Web site, she was born in Krakow, Poland and grew up in Dortmund, Germany. She moved to the United States in 2005. She graduated from the School of the Art Institute in 2009 with a bachelor's in fine arts with a concentration in visual communication.

According to Jack Rooney, the president of Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago, Palka worked as an art director and graphic designer at the firm.

Early Saturday a Chicago car accident in the West Side Lawndale area left two dead.

The accident occurred about 3 a.m. in the morning in the 1300-block of South Kostner Avenue. While initially, authorities said three people died in the crash, that figure was later changed to two fatalities.

While relatives of those who died in the crash refused to comment, a number of grief-stricken people gathered at the scene of the collision.

Said witness Shante Robinson, ""We just came running down and instantly we saw the baby right here on the ground. We're just like, 'Oh my god,.'"

The two car crash was a "head-on" collision, according to the ABC / Channel 7 story titled "2 dead in in head-on crash in Lawndale."

According to accident investigators, the crash happened when a 2003 Mazda SUV carrying 11 people traveled north on S. Kostner, and for a reason unknown crossed the center line and headed into oncoming traffic, hitting a 1995 Ford Probe. The Cook County Medical Examiner said the impact caused the SUV to flip over, killing a 19-year-old man and a woman in her 40s.

The driver of the Ford probe, who was the only occupant of that car, was not taken to the hospital.

Rescuers on the scene say several people were thrown from the SUV because they were not wearing seatbelts. The surviving passengers were taken to area hospitals in various conditions, ranging from serious to critical.

The accident brought many emergency personnel and ambulances to the scene, given the number of people involved.

According to Marquita Riddle, who knew at least one of the crash victims who died, said ""We don't know exactly where they were coming from or what happened. I was awakened early this morning."

As of 5 p.m. Saturday, no charges or citations had been issued. The Chicago Police Department's major accident investigation unit is investigating.

According to IDOT, the Illinois Department of Transportation, in 2009 there were 911 fatalities in Illinois car accidents. Should you or someone you know be involved in an automobile accident in Chicago, seeking the counsel of a Chicago auto accident lawyer as soon as possible is recommended.