An appeals court in Illinois on Wednesday ruled an electrical worker’s negligence lawsuit that stemmed from a 2020 attack by a co-worker having a psychotic episode is barred due to exclusive remedy. Kamil Kordas sued Bob’s All Bright Electric, claiming, among other things, intentional misconduct and negligence after his co-worker and son of the business’s owner, Thomas Clarizio, struck him…
A chemical company with a manufacturing plant in north suburban Gurnee has become the latest to settle hundreds of lawsuits claiming emissions from its manufacturing process caused people living nearby to develop cancer. On Sept. 19, Cook County Circuit Judge Kathy M. Flanagan agreed to dismiss 440 lawsuits against Vantage Specialty Chemicals Inc., all of which sought to make the…
A state appeals panel has agreed Monsanto doesn’t have to defend itself again in a lawsuit from plaintiffs who allege Roundup exposure caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Michael Evard, Sue Wiechmann, Michael Orrel and Ronald Bryan were among many blood cancer patients who sued numerous corporations in connection with exposure to the Roundup herbicide as well as polychlorinated biphenyls,…
The Illinois Appellate Court ruled Monday that a woman’s neck injury was not part of her overall workers compensation claim, reversing a circuit court ruling that ordered an insurer to cover the expanded claim. As documented in Jacqueline Sumner v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, et. al., Jacqueline Sumner was injured while working for PlaceSmart/NOTS Logistics. This temporary employment agency sent…
The family of a line cook who died after eating shellfish off-hours to which he was allergic is entitled to a $4.8 million jury award, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled Tuesday. Angel Rivas worked at the restaurant where he ate the shellfish in an employer-provided meal. As documented in Rivas v. Benny’s Prime Chophouse, LLC, Luz Rivas, his widow filed…
Energy company ExxonMobil has pledged to appeal what it calls an “irrational verdict” delivered by a Chicago jury this week, which awarded $32 million to a woman who slipped on spilled oil at an ExxonMobil facility while working as a truck driver. The jury delivered the verdict on Sept. 22 in Cook County Circuit Court at the close of a…
A woman suing an abortionist for allegedly badly botching an abortion at his Champaign clinic will need to publicly identify herself if she wishes to continue with her case, because too many news pieces, including interviews with her and her lawyer, have been produced about her case, unfairly victimizing the man she is suing, a Champaign County judge ruled. And…
In January 2022, Elmer Waggoner arrived at a hospital with COVID-19. By March 3, he was negative for the virus — and on March 29, he was dead. He’d developed necrotizing fasciitis from a bed sore. By then, the state emergency declaration for COVID had also expired. But an attorney for dozens of doctors and three anonymous hospitals argued before…
The Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases during the first week of September, including one involving a dispute over a $2.8 million workman’s compensation reimbursement request filed with the Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau. The hearings will be held Sept. 4 in the Supreme Court Courtroom at the Indiana Statehouse. Beginning at 9 a.m., justices will hear…
A divided Indiana Supreme Court on Monday reversed an appeals court decision and upheld a $700,000 judgment in favor of the estate of an intoxicated Indianapolis man who died in 2018 after being run over by an IndyGo bus. The 3-2 ruling sided with the trial court in the case, affirming the jury’s finding that Michael Fergerson was not negligent…
