» CASES IN THE NEWS

Saw on Twitter that the California legislature had approved a $20 million dollar settlement to the family of Jaycee Dugard[pictured above] the woman kidnapped as a child and held captive for 18 years by paroled sex offender Phillip Garrido. While being held, Dugard lived in a backyard shack on Garrido’s property. Additionally Garriodo fathered two childr… Read More

Just hours after finding the body of 3 year old Riley Fox[pictured above] near a Will County, Illinois creek in 2004, investigators located two shoes less than 100 yards from the body. The shoes had been discarded by Scott Eby[pictured below] who recently confessed to the murder. Eby discarded the shoes because they had become muddy when he dragged the poor ch… Read More

The May 28,2010 Chicago Tribune had a disturbing story about how authorities failed to take action years ago when charges of sexual assualt were raised against a Chicago area gynecologist. The article, written by Megan Twohey, describes how in 2002, Dr. Bruce Sylvester Smith, allegedly sexually assaulted a patient during a pelvic exam. Immediately after leavin… Read More

Wow – for some reason I didn’t see this. In my April 23 2010 post, I discussed the $1.4 million dollar jury verdict against the Boy Scouts of America. The verdict, on behalf of plaintiff Kerry Lewis, represented only the compensatory damages for the sexual abuse he endured back in the 1980’s at the hands of Scoutmaster Timur Dykes[pictured be… Read More

A Portland, Oregon jury recently awarded compensatory damages of $1.4 million to Kerry Lewis, 38[pictured above] in his sexual abuse trial against the Boy Scouts of America[BSA]. The abuse had taken place in the 1980’s when Lewis was a young boy. The verdict, in light of the evidence, is hardly surprising. Lewis was a member of a Boy Scout troop sponsore… Read More

Very interesting decision recently handed down from the Illinois First District Appellate Court. Chiropractors aren’t going to like this one In Montes v. Mai, plaintiff Montes was a passenger in a car that was struck by a Mai’s vehicle. Dr. Fernando Perez, a chiropractor with Neck and Back Clinic in Chicago provided treatment to the plaintiff. The… Read More

The Illinois Supreme Court recently released an opinion – Interstate Scaffolding v. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission – that provides some much needed protection to Illinois workers. Jeff Urban was an Interstate union carpenter. On July 2, 2003 he suffered a work-related injury to his head, neck and back. After he was injured, Urb… Read More

Last week the Chicago Tribune ran an article by Ameet Sachdev on a sizable verdict recently handed down by the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. The case involved Dena Lockwood[pictured above] a working mom, who took a job with Professional Neurological Services in 2004. She paid a price because she was a parent. Lockwood’s commission rate was lower… Read More