Monthly Archives

December 2018

All Mayoral Candidates Say Alderman Should Not Oversee Comp Program

By Workers' Compensation No Comments

All 14 candidates for Chicago mayor agree that the embattled head of the city's workers' compensation program should step aside or that the program should be managed by a separate city agency. The Chicago Sun-Times asked the candidates if longtime Alderman Ed Burke, who as head of the City Council's Finance Committee oversees the comp program, should step down from that…

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COA: Negligence claim rightly denied in fatal heart attack wreck

By Personal Injury, Workers' Compensation No Comments

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment to a man’s estate in a negligence lawsuit, finding his incapacity to drive due to a heart attack was not reasonably foreseeable. While driving to Bloomington for Thanksgiving with Wanda Denson as a passenger in his vehicle, Delmer Dillard suddenly declared he was not feeling well, slumped over and…

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AmTrust: Restaurant injuries cost employees 30 days of work on average

By Workers' Compensation No Comments

AmTrust Financial Services has released a new report that finds that injured restaurant workers miss an average of 30 days of work. The AmTrust Restaurant Risk Report is based on more than 84,006 claims AmTrust collected from restaurant clients between 2013 and 2017. Highlights of the report include: Cuts, punctures and/or scrapes account for a third of all restaurant claims…

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Tensions, confusion, lawsuits mount concerning Sterigenics emissions in Willowbrook

By Personal Injury No Comments

Willowbrook Mayor Frank Trilla said with tensions and confusion mounting over claims surrounding emissions from a local medical device sterilization plant, his community has “more questions today than we had three months ago.” “Nothing is more important than finding out from U.S. EPA officials were our residents safe before this, are they safe now and will they be safe in…

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Progressive aldermen move to strip Burke of $100M-a-year worker’s comp program

By Workers' Compensation No Comments

Progressive aldermen moved Wednesday to strip the Finance Committee chaired by Ald. Edward Burke (14th) of control over Chicago’s $100 million-a-year worker’s compensation program. The move by Ald. John Arena (45th) and his Progressive Caucus colleagues comes nearly two weeks after the unprecedented federal raid on Burke’s ward and City Hall offices. Sources have told the Chicago Sun-Times that the…

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Woman who severed finger on the job must seek redress via Worker’s Compensation Act

By Workers' Compensation No Comments

A woman whose finger was severed in an accident at an Elkhart County assembly plant must seek relief via the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Act after the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of her negligence complaint against the company she worked for at the time of the injury. In Eshanya Walls v. Markley Enterprises, Inc., 18A-CT-266, temporary staffing agency…

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Workers’ comp costs declining in Illinois

By Workers' Compensation No Comments

In the span of less than a decade, the costs paid by Illinois employers for workers’ compensation insurance dropped from third highest in the nation, as compared to other states, to 22nd on the list. That steep decline in relative workers’ comp premiums tracked with the implementation of a 2011 state law passed at the urging of the state’s business…

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Trial lawyers: EPA admission of fault in Sterigenics emissions measuring won’t matter to lawsuits vs company

By Personal Injury No Comments

As federal environmental regulators reassess their controversial measurements of emissions from the Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook, a group of lawyers representing Willowbrook residents are continuing unfazed in their lawsuits against the company, based largely on findings in a federal report that relied heavily on the allegedly faulty data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Since September, lawsuits against Sterigenics have…

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COA: Lake County court overstepped in awarding fees in Illinois case

By Workers' Compensation No Comments

A Lake County court lacked jurisdiction to award nearly $2 million in attorney fees arising from a permanently injured man’s Illinois worker’s compensation case. The Indiana Court of Appeals on Wednesday vacated the judge’s order on fees entered in the man’s guardianship case. An appellate panel vacated Lake Superior Judge Marissa McDermott’s order for Hartford Insurance Co. to pay $1.9…

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