Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Drunk driving accidents often cause catastrophic injury or death because of the high speed at which they occur. A tragic example of a DUI accident occurred in the Chicago area on February 11. A drunk driver smashed into a police car that was blocking two lanes on the Eisenhower ( I-290) near Addison. The police car, which had its emergency flashers on, had responded to a call after an SUV was involved in a minor accident on eastbound I-290. The state trooper and the driver of the SUV were sitting in the squad waiting for the tow truck and for the SUV driver's girlfriend to pick him up.

An 87-year-old women seriously injured in a September crash with a Lake City, Florida, police cruiser has been moved into hospice care. She was injured when her car was hit by a Lake City Police vehicle as she attempted a turn from U.S. 90. After being under medical care since the accident, she was recently moved to a rehab facility in Cahokia, Illinois, to be closer to her sister. 

A wrong-way fatal car accident early Monday illustrates the importance of paying attention to road signs. Apparently a driver trying to make an illegal u-turn on the median instead made a three-point turn, sending him and his passengers the wrong way on Interstate 80 near Kedzie Avenue in Hazel Crest, just west of the Tri-State Tollway (I-294).

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against a downstate nursing home alleging that Granite City Nursing and Rehabilitation Center allowed a patient to fall multiple times, causing his untimely death.

Carl Bonner, Sr., became a nursing home patient in January of 2010. According to his family, the nursing home knew that he had a brain injury that caused him to fall and that required supervision and assistance to prevent falls.

A driver who killed a man in a December 30 car crash while driving in Munster, Indiana, turns out to have had his license suspended at least seven times in the past eight years. The 24 year old driver hit and killed a man who was out buying bread and milk. The victim, a 61 year old truck driver, leaves a wife, two children and grandchildren.

A recent fatal fire in a Lake Shore Drive high-rise underscores confusion over fire safety laws. A 32 year old woman stepped off the elevator on the 12^th floor and was met with a roaring inferno, estimated to be at 1500 degrees. In addition, several others were hospitalized with burns and smoke inhallation.

And this reveals one of the many issues arising from this fire. Modern buildings are required to have fire sensors on every floor and in the motor room that will prevent elevators from operating. The 21-story building was thought. to have been constructed in the 1950s and was not required to abide by Chicago's safety code, established in 1975.

A freak accident that could have resulted in serious or fatal brain injury appears to have had no lingering consequences. An Orland Park man thought he had hit himself in the head with his nail gun while working in his garage. He even took a picture of what he called a minor scratch with his cell phone.

The Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety recently released their annual report, identifying the laws that are needed in each state to improve highway safety and reduce traffic accident injury and death.  Illinois ranked relatively well, with only three areas of concern noted.