A bipartisan bill newly introduced in Congress aims to “modernize” the federal workers compensation system by allowing physician assistants and nurse practitioners to diagnose, certify and oversee treatment for federal employees injured on the job. The proposal, titled the Improving Access to Workers’ Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act and introduced Tuesday on the Senate floor, would amend the Federal…
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced a $120 million settlement with Monsanto Company (Monsanto) and affiliates Solutia Inc. and Pharmacia LLC over the environmental and health effects of Monsanto’s decades-long production of polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs. Raoul’s office filed a 2022 lawsuit alleging the company was aware of the chemicals’ toxicity while publicly denying any knowledge of the danger…
An Illinois Appellate Court upheld a lower court’s decision, rejecting a Berwyn police officer’s challenge to the commencement date and amount of his disability benefits. The officer, Michael Vokac, was injured in March 2020 and had been receiving benefits under the Public Employee Disability Act, but disputed when his pension benefits should have started and how much they should be….
Roughly 70 former employees of a Metro East factory tied to the Manhattan Project, and the spouses of deceased workers, have become the first group in Illinois to receive workers’ compensation for radiation exposure. “I am literally a landmark decision,” said Larry Burgan, one of the former employees of Spectrulite Consortium Inc. That old Spectrulite facility that straddled the municipal…
Nursing professionals should carefully document patient care to avoid malpractice claims, which experts say are increasing in severity. From 2020 to 2024, the average total incurred cost of malpractice claims involving nursing professionals increased by 12.5% to $236,749, according to a report released recently by the Hatboro, Pennsylvania-based Nurses Service Organization, a division of Aon Affinity, in collaboration with CNA…
The daughter of a former Indiana Department of Correction inmate failed to prove a doctor’s liability in the inmate’s death from Hepatitis C complications, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday in affirming a district court’s summary judgment order. The circuit court ruled that the appellant, Skyler Tackett, presented insufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find appellee Dr….
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision that Evansville police officers did not use excessive force on a man who died following a violent 2019 struggle, in a case which sparked nationwide publicity and an investigation by the Associated Press and Frontline. The plaintiffs, the family and estate of Edward Snukis, sued the City of Evansville…
An Indianapolis woman is suing the maker of the Fitbit smart watch, alleging a defect in her watch’s battery caused it to overheat and gave her thermal burns. According to the complaint, filed July 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Nicole Hutchison’s Fitbit Versa 2 watch caused a “substantial burn” to her wrist. The…
Pipemaker J-M Manufacturing has filed its latest attempt to show fraud on the part of asbestos lawyers they claim coach witnesses to say they worked with its products decades ago. The alleged scheme now involves Sokolove Law, whose lead-generation capabilities give Simmons Hanly Conroy extra firepower to overwhelm defendants with lawsuits. J-MM had already sued the Simmons firm for racketeering,…
The family of a woman from India who died in a 2019 airliner crash could receive nearly $35 million from Boeing, under a jury verdict and negotiated settlement with aircraft maker Boeing. On Nov. 11, a federal jury in Chicago awarded nearly $28.5 million to the family of Shikha Garg. However, under a settlement reached near the conclusion of the…
