» CASES IN THE NEWS
That Lyft ride home may not be as safe as you think.
February 28th, 2020
As first reported by Cathy Bussewitz in the New York Times last month, Lyft, the popular ride-share company is facing multiple allegations of sexual assaults by drivers. Dozens of women have filed suit against Lyft over the last several months, claiming that they were sexually assaulted by Lyft drivers. Caroline Miller[pictured above]is one of the women making…
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In Alabama the "Stand Your Ground Defense" is of no comfort to battered women.
February 25th, 2020
In the January issue of the New Yorker, Elizabeth Flock wrote this compelling article on Brittany Smith – a battered Alabama woman[pictured above] who shot and killed the man who had savagely attacked her. The article detailed how Smith, a young woman in her thirties, was finally feeling good about life in January of 2018. Smith had battled her share of…
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Holding a bar liable for criminal acts of third parties requires showing the injury resulted from the same risk present in prior incidents.
September 25th, 2019
The Illinois Appellate Court handed down an opinion last week dealing with the sufficiency of proof when trying to hold a business owner liable for the criminal acts of third parties. In Witcher v. 1104 Madison Street, Toney Adewoye was a patron of Plush Restaurant back in late 2011. The restaurant is located a mile or so west of downtown Chicago. He was with…
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Categories: CASES IN THE NEWS
Nasty gender discrimination case against Morrison & Foester gets nastier....
September 11th, 2019
Karthryn Rubio had an article on Above the Law today about the rather nasty gender discrimination case that seven female attorneys have filed against Morrison & Foerster. [Morrison & Foester for good or bad, is known in the legal world as “MoFo”.] For those not familiar with MoFo, it is a gigantic law firm with over 1,000 lawyers and office…
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Categories: CASES IN THE NEWS
Texting about veal parmigiana dinner while driving = $235,000 settlement
February 4th, 2019
Saw this story by Robert Storace online recently. Dasantila Rook was driving home from her job at a Connecticut restaurant in July of 2015. She was taking food home to have dinner with her husband. All well and good. Dasantila got into trouble when she decided to text her husband about dinner. She was describing what sounded like a delicious veal parmigiana di…
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Categories: CASES IN THE NEWS
Tags: texting and driving
Illinois Appellate Court squashes "one free rape" argument after guest attacked at Holiday Inn.
January 24th, 2019
I read the opinion in Gress v. Lakhani Hospitality quite some time ago and meant to post about it. But the opinion got buried with other papers and finally resurfaced the other day. The opinion provides much needed clarity to what a plaintiff must show – and perhaps more importantly what a plaintiff is NOT obligated to show – when it comes to hotel…
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Au pairs strike back.
January 10th, 2019
Colleen Slevin of the Denver Post had an article in the Denver Post the other day about $65.5 million dollar settlement against several companies that bring young women to the United States to work as au pairs. [An au pair is typically a young woman, from outside the United States who comes here to provide live-in child care to families]. The underlying lawsui…
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Categories: CASES IN THE NEWS
Illinois Appellate Court gives green light to asbestos case alleging conspiracy amongst manufacturers to hide the risks.
December 7th, 2018
Jones v. Pneumo Abex, LLC is an interesting asbestos decision out of the Fifth Appellate District in Illinois. And it likely has asbestos manufacturers concerned. In Jones, the plaintiffs, John and Deborah Jones, sued Pneumo Abex and Owens-Illinois for injuries John suffered due to asbestos exposure when he worked in construction. John Jones never worked for e…
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Illinois Appellate Court sticks yet another fork in the phantom injury defense.
October 11th, 2018
Defense lawyers have been suggesting other causes of injuries since the Stone Age. The Fifth Appellate District, in Campbell v. Autenrieb recently handed down a decision that does a nice job of explaining exactly when such testimony is permissible. In Campbell, the plaintiff was injured when an unleashed dog lunged at Campbell and caused him to fall. Campbell…
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Categories: CASES IN THE NEWS
Tags: phantom injury
Tort of retaliatory discharge just got a little broader in Illinois.
August 22nd, 2018
A decision out of the Federal District Court in Chicago appears to have broadened the tort of retaliatory discharge a bit. In Van Pelt v. BonaDent, plaintiff Tad Van Pelt had been recruited to work as a sales representative for BonaDent, Inc. a dental lab. Van Pelt was hired as an at will employee. In 2015, Bonadent purchased a laboratory in Chicago. Van Pelt…
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Categories: CASES IN THE NEWS
Tags: retaliatory discharge
