Illinois Injury Law Blog

For the second time this month, a fan has fallen to their death at one of the nation's elite professional sports' venues. The USAToday reports that a 23-year-old fan fell to his death from a ledge at Soldier Field during Sunday's Chicago Bears game.

A week ago, a toddler fell 50 feet to his death at the Staples Center at the conclusion of an L.A. Lakers game.

Our Chicago premise liability lawyers understand that the holidays are a dangerous time for accidents on business property. While fatal injuries at sports venues are relatively rare, more mundane accidents occur quite frequently as a result of holiday crowds. Slip and fall accidents, parking lot accidents, and accidents involving merchandise falling from high shelves are just a few of the more common ways in which people are injured on business property.

Whether a major sports venue or your local big box store, business and property owners have an obligation to ensure the safety of customers and invited guests. When wet floors, loose railings or faulty design result in a serious or fatal accident, a property or business owner can and should be held responsible.

In Sunday's accident, the 23-year-old fell to his death shortly before 5 p.m. as the Bears played the Philadelphia Eagles. The fall happened on the west side of the stadium, where the victim fell from a balcony between two columns and landed on a small roof outside the stadium.

Common causes of premise liability cases in Chicago include:

-Slip and fall accidents

-Accidents in dark or dangerous parking lots

-Loose handrails or faulty stairwells

-Collapsing porches

-Merchandise falling from high shelves

-Crowd or evacuation accidents

-Negligent security

-Elevator and escalator accidents

Continue reading " Tragedy at Soldier Field highlights risk of Chicago premise liability accidents " »

Our Chicago injury lawyers wish each of you a happy holiday season and encourage you to take extra precautions in keeping children safe around cars at family gatherings.

Backover accidents occur on an average of 50 children in the U.S. each week. As a result, 48 of those children are sent to the hospital with injuries while two others result in death. The common age of the children for these types of accidents is 12-23 months. Most often this tragedy happens in the child’s own driveway. More disturbing is the fact that 70 % of the time the driver is a family member or somehow related to the family.

Kids and Cars reports that between 2004 – 2008 almost 42% of non-traffic fatalities involving children under the age of 15 were caused by backover accidents.

As vehicles get larger so do their blind spots. This is a significant factor in backover accidents. Consumer Reports found that some vehicles have a 50 foot long blind spot. For example, an experiment showed over 20 children fit in the blind spot of someone sitting in a large SUV. Over 60 % of backover accidents involve large size vehicles.

Tips to prevent this tragedy:

-Count the number of children playing near your vehicle before you get in and look to see that you can see all of them from inside the vehicle before moving.

-Roll down the windows and turn off the radio when reversing your car so that you can hear any child approaching the vehicle.

-When putting your car in reverse to back out of a driveway or parking spot, have complete control of the vehicle in order to stop immediately.

-If your car is moving in reverse, check all mirrors and look over both shoulders until it is safe to put your car in drive.

Though some vehicles come equipped with detection devices (back-up cameras, warning sounds) nothing takes the place of checking around your vehicle.

Continue reading " Children at risk of backover accidents in Illinois during holiday gatherings " »

Earlier this month, Earl Bennett, a National Football League wide receiver for the Chicago Bears, was involved in a Chicago car crash with another passenger vehicle. Though he was not at fault, the accident made national news because of his status as a pro athlete. With the change of seasons and winter driving just around the corner, is is a reminder to all of us of the dangers most take for granted during their daily commute.

An article by ESPN stated Bennett was driving a 1973 Chevy Impala in the early morning hours on Monday when he was rear-ended by someone driving a Pontiac Sunfire. The accident was not a result of someone driving under the influence but rather the other vehicle failing to reduce speed before crashing into the Chevy Impala.

Bennett had tweeted shortly after the accident that he was thankful to be alive. All too often when two vehicles are involved in a car crash, fatalities occur and victims aren’t as fortunate as these two drivers were Monday morning. Late-night/early-morning crashes are particularly notorious for causing serious or fatal injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently reported that in 2008, Illinois had 445 passenger car fatalities which accounted for 62% of all reported passenger vehicle car crash fatalities.

The NHTSA also showed that Cook County alone reported a total of 272 fatalities in 2008 not specific to any passenger vehicle type. During 2005-2009, Chicago and the surrounding cities in Cook County decreased total fatalities involved in vehicle crashes from 379 in 2005 down to 264 in 2009. This statistic related to fatalities per 100,000 people was 7.19 lives taken in 2005 down to 4.99 fatalities in 2009.

If you find yourself needing to drive late at night, take some precautions before getting in your vehicle with the following safety tips:

-Walk around your vehicle to make sure all safety lights are working properly.

-Give your front windows a wash periodically as dirty windows offer less visibility.

-Reduce your speed allowing a 4-5 second gap between vehicles so that you can stop if needed.

-Be alert for pedestrians or bikers who are not wearing bright colored clothing or a safety light.

-Take plenty of breaks while driving.

Continue reading " Athlete's nighttime Chicago car accident a reminder of dangers " »

Both sides reached a confidential settlement in the case of a Chicago firefighter left paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. The Chicago Breaking News Center reports the settlement came after a hung jury in the civil trial against Harley-Davidson.

Our Chicago motorcycle accident lawyers represent clients and families dealing with serious or fatal motorcycle accidents throughout Illinois. Such accidents frequently lead to very serious, debilitating injuries. As such, it is important to hire a law firm with the experience and resources to thoroughly investigate your case and determine whether there are multiple parties responsible for the crash. In this case, the law firm decided a defective product claim against Harley-Davidson was warranted. While the terms were not disclosed, it is likely that the firefighter and his family were able to make a better recovery than would have been possible without the defective products litigation.

The 52-year-old firefighter sued the motorcycle company, claiming a faulty motorcycle led to the 2004 crash on an Arizona highway. The company said driver error was responsible for the crash. The wreck paralyzed the victim from the chest down and he requires 24-hour care.

A jury deliberated this week after a trial last month. Jurors reportedly told the judge on Tuesday that they were unable to reach an agreement.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports there were 5,290 fatal motorcycle accidents in 2008. More than 96,000 riders were injured. Illinois motorcycle accidents claimed the lives of 121 riders that year.

Continue reading " Settlement reached in personal injury lawsuit, defective product claim for Chicago firefighter paralyzed in motorcycle accident " »