A central Illinois grain-handling cooperative exposed workers to serious engulfment hazards when soybeans collapsed inside a Monticello bin and engulfed an employee up to their waist, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration alleges. An OSHA investigation by the at Topflight Grain Cooperative Inc. found that two workers were clearing the bin of crops and debris when…
A woman alleges a Collinsville auto dealership fraudulently sold her a car that was unsafe and in need of major repair work. Christina Mesey filed a complaint July 28 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Insta-Credit Auto Mart Inc., and Enterprise Bank & Trust Foundation, alleging violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act. According to the complaint, Mesey purchased…
A suit alleges that Pfizer, Walgreens and others failed to warn consumers of the risk of exposure to the carcinogen N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) with its over-the-counter ranitidine heart burn medicine. Joseph Bayer and Gwendolyn Culverson filed a complaint Aug. 2 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., GlaxoSmithKline LLC, Pfizer Inc., Walgreen Co., Sun Pharmaceutical and others,…
An Illinois jury on Friday refused to hold Johnson & Johnson liable for a woman’s death from ovarian cancer, which her family blamed on decades of using its talc-based powders. Relatives of the late Elizabeth Driscoll had sought up to $50 million in damages, saying J&J knew its baby powder and Shower to Shower products were dangerous. Driscoll died in…
An insurer would normally have been obligated to defend a company that was an additional insured under its coverage, but is off the hook in a case involving a worker who fell to his death from a roof because of the settlement in the underlying litigation, a federal appeals court said, in a divided ruling. An Illinois warehouse operator contracted…
A motorist claims another driver failed to stop at the intersection of Cypress Street and 12th Street in Highland, causing a collision. Audrey Kasmarzik filed a complaint July 12 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Ralph Kampwerth in the Madison County Circuit Court, alleging negligence. According to Kasmarzik’s complaint, she was driving her 2016 Ford Escape on Cypress Street…
Justin Sandbach, a former resident of Roxana and Wood River, is suing local oil refineries, alleging he developed cancer from exposure to toxic chemicals released into the community by the defendants. Sandbach filed a complaint July 16 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Shell Oil Company, individually and as successor to Shell Oil Company Incorporated, Shell Chemical LP frequently…
COVID-19 did not delay medical treatment for workers’ compensation claimants, but did decrease the amount of emergency care and other services provided to injured workers, a study released by the Workers’ Compensation Institute concludes. Research by WCRI economist Olesya Fomenko found that there were no noticeable delays in medical treatment for injured workers when the first two quarters of 2019…
