» CASES IN THE NEWS

A federal jury recently returned a verdict against Carlos Estes in his sexual harassment suit against Teyonda Wertz, his boss at the Illinois Department of Human Services. Estes was a driver/special assistant for Wertz, who is Chief of Staff for the Illinois Department of Human Services. The portion of the case that got the most attention arose out of a trip E… Read More

Pharmaceutical giant Merck has agreed in principle to settle all remaining Vioxx lawsuits. The company has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to plaintiffs in 27,000 pending cases. The settlement was cobbled together after juries from New Jersey to California had heard about 20 cases. In the very first case a jury awarded $253 million dollars, but Merck had prevailed… Read More

The Chicago Police Department is not having a particularly good month when it comes to lawsuits. Just a week after a 4 million dollar settlement to a man who claimed he was brutalized with a screwdriver, the Department was back in a federal courtroom in another civil case. This one didn’t work out well for the CPD either. The case originated from a 2001… Read More

A St. Louis county jury recently awarded a St. Louis woman $95,000 in punitive damages in a whistleblower trial Michelle Fleshner, 35, had sued Pepose Vision Institute, claiming that she was terminated by Dr. Jay Pepose because she had coooperated with a U.S. Department of Labor investigation of Pepose Vision Institute regarding wage and overtime practices. Ms… Read More

A south suburban teenager, Travis Alexander, has agreed to settle his lawsuit against a south suburban Chicago Police Department. Alexander sued the Riverdale Police Department after he was tasered and attacked by a police dog. Alexander was 17 at the time of the incident. He and a friend were walking home from a store when they were stopped by a police office… Read More

As reported last week, a New York jury recently hammered Madison Square Garden[MSG] and its chairman, James Dolan in a sexual harassment suit. Anucha Browne Sanders had sued MSG, Dolan and New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, claiming she had been subjected to a hostile work environment due to crude comments and sexual advances from Thomas. She also alleged tha… Read More

According to a recent article in the Chicago Sun-Times, the next fight for Chicago heavyweight Andrew Golota might take place in a Chicago courtroom. Golota is being sued by a Chicago woman after a traffic accident in April, 2007. The woman, Juliet Mendez, is claiming that Golota blew a stop sign and slammed into her car. The lawsuit claims that Mendez suffere… Read More

As I described in my August 21 post, titled ILLINOIS HEALTHCARE SERVICES LIEN ACT was getting a run-around from a medical collection company with respect to my client’s hospital bill. The underlying personal injury case had settled and an agreement was reached as to the amount the hospital would be paid for my client’s outstanding bills. Just one h… Read More