Illinois Injury Law Blog

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a measure into law this week that requires fraternity and sorority houses to install automatic fire sprinkler systems. The law will also require housing units to have backup power supplies for all smoke detectors.

“Fire safety starts at home. These important new laws help ensure that the smoke detectors where you live don’t fail when you need them the most, and help make our college students safer,” said Governor Quinn. “These laws will help prevent potentially tragic situations like we saw last year at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.”

In fact, at least three fires have occurred at fraternity or sorority houses in Illinois in recent years. The law gives the homes until 2019 to comply. Our Chicago injury lawyers think that is an absurd time frame. Frankly, these homes should have sprinklers before the start of fall semester. Anything else is gross negligence on the part of both the property owner and the university.

Fires in apartment houses, hotels, dorms or other group-living environments are very, very serious because of the risk posed to multiple tenants. When basic safety features like sprinkler systems and smoke alarms are not present, a property owner can and should be held responsible for the serious injury or death that results. Just as an Illinois premise liability lawsuit would seek to hold a business or property owner reliable for other acts of negligence that result in serious or fatal injuries to customers, occupants or invited guests.

Other types of Chicago premise liability claims may include:

Slip and fall cases

Faulty handrails or stairwells

Cracked or broken pavement or sidewalks

Dark or uneven walkways

Negligent security

Assault on business or landlord property

Swimming pool accidents

Dog attacks

Elevator and escalator accidents

Collapsing porches or railings

A person who suffers serious injuries as a result of a property owner's or landlord's negligence, deserves to be compensated. And a Chicago accident attorney can help ensure that the problem is corrected and that future residents or guests are protected from suffering similar injury.

Continue reading " Sprinklers in fraternity houses need now -- not in 10 years; Illinois premise liability claims should hold landlords responsible " »

The federal government has taken the long-overdue step of mandating new safety measures for baby cribs and essentially ending the manufacture and sale of drop-side cribs, CNN reported.

Our Illinois child injury lawyers encourage parents to check their baby cribs frequently for dangerous safety hazards. Loose or missing screws or brackets, and split or missing mattress supports, slats or railings are common hazards that can increase the risk of an infant's serious injury or death.

More than 36 infant deaths have been blamed on drop-side cribs in the past several years. The new rules are expected to go into effect next year and will essentially ban the manufacture and sale of drop-side cribs, regardless of whether that particular model has been recalled or identified as posing a safety hazard.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled more than 100 children's products this year, including at least a dozen models of drop-side cribs. Common hazards include falls, suffocation and children who get their heads caught between a mattress and railing. The dangers are blamed on poor construction and design, including faulty hardware, poor wood quality and dangerous gaps created by mattress support failures. The new rules would forbid retailers from selling cribs that do not meet the new safety standards.

Many hotels, motels and child-care facilities would also have to purchase new cribs.

Just last week, Pottery Barn Kids drop-side cribs became the latest recall issued by the federal government. About 82,000 cribs were recalled because of a risk of entrapment, suffocation and fall hazards.

Here is a list of child products the government has recalled.

Here is a list of toys the government has recalled.

Continue reading " Government's plan to forbid sale of drop-side cribs will reduce risk of Illinois child injuries " »

A Chicago railroad crossing accident forced a trucker to bail out of his rig on Monday morning. The truck became wedged on the tracks, with traffic both in front and behind him, when an approaching train forced him to run for his life.

The crossing at Nagle Avenue near Avondale Avenue is on the Northwest Side and was featured that same day on the front-page of the Chicago Tribune as one of the area's most dangerous. This week's crash is the sixth in as many years at the busy intersection.

The state rail safety office said the crossing was being operated by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which reported that the City of Chicago is responsible for the intersection's operation.

Other dangerous railroad crossings in the area include 119th Street west of I-57 and Chestnut and Lehigh avenues in Glenview.

Earlier this month, The Federal Railway Administration put Illinois on a list of 10 states with the highest number of railroad crossing accidents. The states must produce a plan to improve railroad crossing safety by August 2011. Seventy-eight Illinois railroad crossing accidents were reported last year.

Illinois officials pin the blame for the high number of accidents on the fact that the state has the second-highest number of crossings in the nation, after Texas. Comparing states based on the number of collisions per-vehicle traveled would place Illinois 34th.

The federal government rejected that methodology and has ordered the state to submit a plan to improve crossing safety. The Illinois Commerce Commission reports that 16 people were killed and 40 were injured in crossing accidents in the last year.

Continue reading " Motorists at increased risk for railroad crossing accidents in Chicago " »

The Consumer Products Safety Commission estimates that 200 people a day will be seriously injured by fireworks over the Fourth of July holiday and the National Fire Protection Association reports that fireworks were responsible for 22,500 fires in 2008.

Those figures include 1,400 structure fires and 500 vehicle fires. Our Illinois accident attorneys also remind parents that children are the most frequent victims of fireworks accidents, accounting for about half of all injuries each year.

The National Fire Protection Association provides the following safety tips:

*Leave fireworks to the professionals and do not use consumer fireworks.

*Attend a public display and keep away from fireworks storage or launching areas.

*Never allow children to handle fireworks.

The CPSC reports that 8,000 people were treated at the emergency room for fireworks injuries last year. About two-thirds of those cases occurred in the month surrounding the Fourth of July holiday.

Fireworks injuries included:

1,200 firecracker injuries

1,000 sparkler injuries

300 injuries from bottle rockets

More than half of all injuries were burns. Other injuries included objects in the eyes and cuts and bruising. Thirty percent of injuries occurred to the hands, while 27 percent of victims suffered eye injuries and 15 percent had head, face or ear injuries.

In many cases, victims were injured by malfunctioning fireworks, which could result in an Illinois product liability claim. Malfunctioning fireworks were responsible for 78 percent of all injuries.

22 percent resulted from early ignition
22 percent from errant flight path
17 percent from tipover
13 percent from smoke or debris

Guests of commercial fireworks shows can also be injured by falling debris or as a result of a number of other causes. Those injured during a fireworks show in Illinois may also be entitled to collect damages for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering and other compensation as allowed by law.

Continue reading " Illinois fireworks injuries can result from consumer mishaps or professional shows " »