Verdicts & Settlements Archive

The plaintiff, a 10-year-old bicyclist, was struck by a school bus as she rode to school, causing her to fall and sustain fatal brain injuries. A settlement was reached with Barrington School District 220.

$1.5 million settlement on behalf of a mother in a case alleging the wrongful death of her daughter against a renal disease treatment center.

A garbage truck struck a man who was attempting to cross the street. Injuries from hitting the pavement, including blunt force trauma of both the head and chest, resulted in his death at the scene. 

While working at a construction site on Chicago's North Michigan Avenue, our client – a 50-year-old male laborer – sustained a crushed leg when a stacker was improperly loaded onto a delivery truck. His leg became entangled in a loose cable, and the stacker rolled back, pulling the cable taut and causing numerous leg fractures.

While working on the Elevated Train Tracks downtown, our client, a laborer, fell 22-feet from the elevated train tracks to the ground causing serious injuries including multiple lacerations, a depressed right frontal skull fracture with underlying hematoma causing mass effect/pressure on adjacent brain tissue causing permanent encephalomalacic change in his right frontal lobe and permanent dead brain tissue, multiple lower and upper body fractures and a rotator cuff injury. As a result of his injuries, our client was hospitalized for approximately two weeks. Following his release, our client required 24 hour home nursing care for over a month, and required periodic home nursing care. Since the accident, he has undergone seven surgeries to treat his injuries, and will likely have to undergo future surgeries as a result of his injuries.

A union carpenter was on a job site and carrying a doorway header beam when the ladder he was on gave way. The beam caused a severe gash on his neck which required surgery. He tried to return to work but was bothered by persistent migraines, headaches, neck pain, ringing in ears and other injuries that left him permanently disabled. We successfully argued that the general contractor failed to remove inadequate, medium-duty ladders for the required work and that other safety requirements were not followed.

A collision took place in May of 2018 in Mundelein, Illinois in which a 65-year-old man riding his motorcycle was struck by a vehicle driving irresponsibly during a lane change. The plaintiff was thrown from his motorcycle to the pavement, causing multiple fractures to his foot and injuries to his subscapularis muscle, requiring surgery and other medical treatments. The plaintiff had intended to work until he turned 70, but because of the injury and his line of work, he was forced to retire.

Our client sustained career-ending shoulder injuries when the car he was driving was side-swiped by a light truck in a motor vehicle collision. The defendant's insurance policy covered $1 million of the settlement, and the remainder was paid out of pocket by the defendant himself.

A settlement was reached with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet on behalf of our clients, three males who endured repeated sexual abuse and molestation by their priest, Father Leonard Mateo, between 1980 and 1982. At the time of the abuse, all victims were under the age of 11-years-old.

A restaurant patron was struck and killed when a car driven by an 85-year-old man crashed through the window of a sandwich shop. We argued in court that the restaurant, part of a national chain, should have installed protective barriers in front of its parking lot spaces which directly faced the windows. The deceased man was survived by his parents and three sisters.

A car driven by our 54-year-old male plaintiff was hit head-on at 55th and Kedzie in Chicago, IL by a vehicle operated by an uninsured individual who was fleeing Chicago Police at high speed after the officers tried to stop him for a traffic violation. Allegedly, the officers engaged in the pursuit in violation of standing orders. 

A positive verdict was secured on behalf of our client, a 53-year-old woman, who continues to suffer from chronic pain despite treatment with physical therapy, spinal injections and an anterior cervical fusion surgery after being rear ended on the Kennedy Expressway in 2006.

A settlement was reached on behalf of our client who was a patient in the Emergency Room of Englewood Hospital in Englewood, NJ, and his 62-year-old mother who was accompanying him. The plaintiffs became emotionally distressed when the hospital tried to forcefully transfer them to another hospital for treatment, calling security and the Englewood Police. Allegedly, police officers threw the patients mother to the ground and beat her son after he was handcuffed -- an attack that was captured on surveillance video.

A settlement was reached on behalf of the family of a 69-year-old who underwent colon resection surgery on June 22, 2015 during which he sustained a colon perforation that went unidentified and untreated. He developed an abscess, sepsis, and other complications that caused his death on July 4, 2015. 

A 24-year-old man's vehicle was stalled on the expressway when he was rear-ended by a Coca Cola truck traveling at high speed. The family was compensated for the loss of the male head of household and breadwinner.

Our client died from inoperable prostate cancer as the result of a doctor's failure to take a sufficient tissue sample during a biopsy. The doctor continued to rely on a negative test, despite the plaintiff's persistence of high PSA levels.

$1.2 million settlement for the family of an 83-year-old man in suburban Chicago, who died after a fall while under the watch of an in-home care provider.

A 17-year-old male student at a private U.S. boarding school was groomed and abused by a female teacher more than 30 years his senior. When the student tried to end the abuse, the teacher abused the power of her authority and docked the student’s grades. The student graduated in 2016 and has needed years of psychiatric treatment and therapy. The case was settled for $1.2 million, one of the largest settlements involving a male victim and a female perpetrator. 

A $1.181 million settlement was reached on behalf of our client, a female driver whose vehicle collided with the rear of a commercial vehicle that was unsafely stopped on a Chicago area expressway.  As a result of the collision, the victim sustained severe injuries, including spinal cord injuries, requiring substantial medical treatment and long-term hospitalization.

In a wrongful death case, the family of a pregnant teenager received death benefits after she was struck and killed in the middle of the street by a speeding car. The 26-week-old fetus also did not survive. All insurance limits were exhausted in the case.

We represented the unrestrained passenger in the not-at-fault van in this car collision case.

A 39-year-old female sustained an open-book pelvic fracture, a right intraarticular comminuted distal radius fracture with significant dorsal comminution, extremely sital fracture fragments, a concussion, a traumatic brain injury and other injuries as a result of being hit by the left-turning defendant while operating her motorcycle - which she had been licensed to do for twenty years. Our client claimed approximately $325,000 in past medical expenses and approximately $40,000 in past lost wages.

In 2012, our client, the mother of a 22-year-old bipolar young man, had reached out to the Walworth County Police Department after her son had locked himself in his room with a knife. The young man, who had a long history of struggling with bipolar disorder and depression, should have been treated properly for his emotional state of distress. Rather treating him as a criminal, sheriff’s deputies hastily kicked in the boy’s door, shooting and killing him within a few minutes after arriving at his residence.

A $1 million settlement was reached in a motor vehicle collision case in Grundy County, IL on behalf of our plaintiff, a woman in her 30s, who was rear-ended in July of 2018 and sustained cervical disc herniations from C3 – C6 and underwent a three-level disc replacement surgery on her back more than one year after the collision. The defendant driver, who had been driving his employer’s vehicle, fled the scene of the crash and removed from that vehicle a decal with the logo of his company, NHA Transport. The investigation revealed that the driver had previously been cited for using an electronic device while operating a motor vehicle in 2014; driving with a revoked/suspended license on four occasions in the 1990s; driving without valid license twice in the 1990s; and failing to use a turn signal in 1994. The lawsuit included counts against NHA Transport for willful and wanton hiring, retention, an entrustment of the vehicle on these bases as well as the basis that the vehicle had a company logo on it. 

A 24-year-old was on the defendants' premises in May of 2015 when he fell and suffered injuries that caused his death. Allegedly, the property manager and owner had notice of the dangerous condition for over twenty years, but failed to prevent access to the area.

A $1 million dollar settlement was reached on behalf of a 47-year-old truck driver who fell while closing the rear roll-top door on his trailer. To close the rear roll-top door, the plaintiff had to climb onto the rear of the trailer. He sustained herniation’s that required decompression and fusion. Post-op he developed failed back syndrome, suffered chronic pain and weakness in his lower extremities, and has been unable to return to work in any capacity. Allegedly, the deft should have ensured there was a non-slip surface on the rear of the trailer, or installed steps or a handle or an alternative way to close the door that did not require climbing on the trailer.

Our client suffered a stroke as a result of the doctors' failure to follow up with his transitory ischemic attacks. He is now permanently impaired.

The family of a deceased man received a settlement of $1 million, arising out of the failure by his physician to perform a cystoscopy that would have diagnosed late-stage muscle invasive bladder cancer.

While attending a party on the roof tops of two buildings that were joined by a ramp, our client, a 19-year-old female was crossing over a Plexiglass covered shaft when the Plexiglass shattered and she fell two stories to the ground below, hitting the sides of the buildings as she fell. She sustained a shattered vertebrae, which caused paraplegia, and developed post-traumatic stress disorder.

While undergoing TLIF surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, there was a drop in SSEP which surgeons should have recognized and responded to by removing the hardware. The surgeons also failed to remove the bone that impinged our client’s spine leaving her suffering with drop foot, chronic pain and the need to use a walker or cane.

While undergoing a minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (“TLIF”) surgery, our client’s SSEP neurological vitals dropped dramatically. Rather than removing the “cage”, which was designed and sold by the operating physician, or stopping surgery, he continued on. Following surgery, the 62-year-old registered nurse and mother of three grown children lost all feeling and use of her lower extremities and was diagnosed with foot drop. Her injuries have required extensive inpatient hospital treatment rehabilitation, pain management therapy and other medical treatment.

27-year-old Jimmy was a passenger in a party bus that was northbound on I-294 near Lake Cook Road in June of 2017. At a curve in the road, Jimmy lost his balance and fell against the passenger door -- which opened. He landed on the pavement and tragically died on impact.

In 2015, a City of Roosevelt, UT police officer responded to a call of a suicidal man with a gun. The 36-year-old male had escaped from a hospital, but had been cornered, and was pointing a gun at his own head – never threatening to harm anyone else. As our client was handing over the gun, the officer opened fire--discharging two bean bag rounds and a live third round, which killed him. Estate alleged excessive force claims under Section 1983.

A male HVAC worker sustained extensive injuries to his wrist, shoulder and ankle, which required a total of 13 surgeries, after falling from a hospital roof where he was working. As part of the settlement, the HVAC worker’s employer waived $787,452 of its workers’ compensation lien, increasing the settlement value to about $1.69 million.

A dedicated 51-year-old electric worker and family man lost his life after his aortic dissection was allegedly not timely diagnosed by Ira Asher, MD and La Grange Memorial Hospital in La Grange, Illinois. According to the American Heart Association, aortic dissection is a life-threatening condition that occurs when blood leaks from the aorta. The leak is often caused by a tear in the inside wall of the aorta. The most common symptom of aortic dissection is sudden and severe chest pain or upper back pain. The mortality rate is as high as 80% if untreated, and increases 1-5% per hour over the first several hours, making early diagnosis and treatment critical for survival. His family received a settlement of $925,000.

Romanucci & Blandin and Public Justice secured a comprehensive settlement that was called "stunning" by a higher education sexual trauma consultant, based on not only the high dollar amount but because of the other components to bring education, awareness and an improved Title IX process to the college involved.

As our client and his wife were crossing the street under the "el" tracks in Chicago's Loop, a 16-foot-long piece of fiberglass angle guard, weighing approximately 25 pounds, fell from the track, striking the man in the occipital region of the head and the left shoulder, causing a traumatic brain injury and partial rotator cuff tear.

A 59-year-old woman died when her physician misdiagnosed the patient's paralysis as Bell's palsy when, in fact, she was suffering from a stroke.

A significant settlement was secured on behalf of our clients, two former altar boys on the Southside of Chicago, who were sexually abused by Father Norbert Mayday, a Catholic Clergyman who had been imprisoned and moved around due to previous offences.  The boys were 10-13 years old, and the offense happened 35 years ago at St. Bede the Venerable Elementary School. Maday is no longer living, but in light of recent favorable case law permitting Illinois childhood sexual abuse victims to pursue justice in the courts, these victims were able to achieve some measure of justice for what happened to them. 

A settlement was reached involving a 75-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s Disease who was sexually abused on a bus in southwestern Illinois during 2016. The plaintiff’s transportation was arranged by an adult day care center that was aware of her vulnerability. She was raped on an empty bus by the driver, and there was not a video camera nor a chaperone in the vehicle, even though the bus company had at least one prior sexual assault of a passenger.

The 34-year-old plaintiff entered the Alden-Wentworth Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, Inc. with severe mental illness including schizoaffective disorder, depression, deep psychosis, and expressive language disorder. During her stay she allegedly suffered neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and developed multiple pressure sores throughout her body which became infected. She also suffered dehydration, malnutrition, and significant weight loss. Her condition led to osteomyelitis, sepsis, and ultimately her death in 2014.

In September of 2008, a male carpenter fell from a ladder while installing gutters on a single family home under construction in Wilmette, Illinois. He sustained an L3 burst fracture which necessitated a vertebrectomy at L3 and two fusions.

Our client, a truck driver, was driving eastbound on Interstate 70 near Greenfield, Indiana, when the left outside tire on his fifth axel blew out, causing him to pull off the road and exit the cab to address the emergency. Another truck driver – the defendant in the case – was also traveling eastbound on Interstate 70. As the defendant approached the disabled semi-tractor trailer, his vehicle drifted to the right, across the white fog line, striking our client and killing him instantly.

A worker for Nicor Gas Company suffered injuries and traumatic arthritis due to an injury caused by an explosion resulting from an improperly marked gas line.

The plaintiff, a 51 year-old retired police officer, died of a heart attack as the result of the Defendant physicians failing to properly recognize the his cardiac conditions a month prior when complaining of chest pain. The defendants failed to put the plaintiff on appropriate medication which would have likely prevented his fatal heart attack.

In May of 2014, a female child was stillborn -- allegedly because the defendants failed to recognize signs of fetal distress and timely perform a C-section.

The plaintiff, a 43-year-old airline maintenance mechanic, was driving a van on the O'Hare Airport tarmac when he was hit by a Hudson General refueling truck. Allegedly, the truck driver ran a stop sign and collided with the plaintiff's vehicle when he took his eyes off the road to retrieve something that slid off the dashboard. Our client sustained an ulnar fracture, left and right ulnar impaction syndrome necessitating ulnar head resection, and a broken middle finger - which required surgery being done. 

The plaintiff was injured in a motor vehicle accident and suffered foot and ankle injuries resulting in multiple surgeries.

Settlement obtained for a client who suffered significant spinal injuries when his car was struck by a Cook County, Illinois snowplow.