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Determining Liability in a Slip and Fall Accident
It might come as a surprise to some people, but slip and fall accidents are incredibly dangerous. The National Floor Safety Institute estimates that falling accidents account for 21.3 percent of visits to hospital emergency rooms or around eight million, which is the leading cause of visits. Slip and falls are responsible for one million trips to the ER. The injuries can vary from fatal or merely nuisances such as a sprained ankle.
The possible causes are all around you. Most accidents occur due to one of the following situations:
- stairways that are damaged, narrow or damaged
- handrails in need of repair
- flooring that is uneven or wet
- cluttered floors with cords, hoses, wires, floor mats and boxes
New Illinois Rules Regarding Civil Settlements
Recently, Governor Quinn signed Public Act 098-0548 into law, officially amending the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure. The amendment generated a statutory section regarding settlements and liens for civil cases. If you believe you have the grounds for a personal injury case that may be influenced by the new civil settlement requirements, you should discuss the specifics and potential impacts with your personal injury attorney.
The statute, 735 ILCS 5/2-2301, puts into place explicit deadlines regarding the exchange of settlement documents and payments once a civil case has reached settlement. For victims of personal injury who are receiving payments for their damages and suffering, these payments are of critical assistance in helping them to pay off bills and close the gap with missed work time. The new statute puts penalties on defendants (inclusive of entry of judgment and associated costs) if the settlement draft is not provided by the defendant within 30 days of settlement document receipt.
Chicago-area Business Cited for Safety Violations by OSHA
OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is responsible for keeping workers safe at their jobs. They regulate businesses by setting safety guidelines that should be followed. They are also responsible for enforcing penalties for lapses in safety.
Recently in Illinois, the Arlington Metals Corp was reviewed by OSHA investigators for possible violations. The administration was alerted to the breaches in health standards by the United Steel Workers Union. They issued a complaint to OSHA that the metal strip and coiling plant was hazardous to the health of the employees.
OSHA investigators investigated the company on multiple occasions looking for safety violations. Seventeen violations were found to be serious, which means that the violations can cause serious or even death. A serious violation is also considered one that the employer should have been aware of and addressed to ensure workplace safety. For example, the Arlington Metals Corp had not trained their staff in fire protection, written a respiratory protection program, and there were no guardrails on dangerous machining equipment. The company was also cited for some other-than serious violations. These types are safety issues which put employees at risk for injury but not death or severe harm.
Violence in Schools
Students often have disagreements or small fights at school, but what happens when a small fight turns into someone getting seriously injured or a violent threat is thrown out in the tussle? What happens is the victim may need serious medical treatment that his or parents cannot pay for. A personal injury attorney can help.
There has always been violence in schools, but it seems to be on a steady rise right along with teen gun violence. In two academic years in the early 2000s alone, “…85 young people died violently in U.S. schools. Seventy-five percent of these incidents involved firearms,” as reported by the Constitutional Rights Foundation.
An increase in students’ accessibility to firearms may be a cause to the increase of violence at schools. Forty-two percent of students interviewed in a National Institute of Health study said that they could get a gun if they wanted to.
Motorcycle Safety Tips
Although the weather has not quite warmed up yet this spring, many people are eager to head outside, whether it’s to play at the park, work in the garden, drive with the windows down, or to go out on a motorcycle. This is the time to prepare yourself for the open road and dangers of riding on a motorcycle so that you can avoid an accident on your motorcycle in the unpredictable spring and summer weather.
Discovery News’s Meaghan O’Neill shared the following tips for safe motorcycle driving:- Before hopping on your bike, take a motorcycle safety course. Many states require a skills test to be taken before issuing a motorcycle license and many also require the driver to go through a safety course. If your state does not require it, you should still consider taking the class. You will learn how to respond to an emergency situation, certain motorcycle laws for your state, how to avoid dangerous situations, and other helpful tips.
Troubles with Mild Brain Injuries
People can suffer from brain injuries for any number of reasons. Frequently, the brain is injured in sporting incidents and car crashes. When a brain is injured, the victim does not always know immediately because the injury can be mild and can have no outer symptoms, or delayed symptoms.
It is important to seek medical assistance after suffering from a head trauma. After seeking medical help, seek legal assistance to learn all of your rights as a victim.
The Brain Injury Association of America offers important information to victims of mild brain injuries and their families:
- The recovery is not always quick. Although there are general guidelines for mild, moderate, and severe brain injuries and their recoveries, results can vary greatly between individuals. It could take a few weeks or several months to fully recover;
- Recovery is not a steady process. It is normal with brain injury recovery to have “good days” and “bad days,” so it is important to not overdo anything, even on your good days. The healing process take times, and it cannot be rushed;
Motorcycle Safety Tips, Part 2
Motorcycles are very dangerous vehicles because in the event of a crash, there is nothing to protect the passengers from hitting the other vehicle, the road, or any other objects in the area. That’s why Discovery News’s Meghan O’Neill has shared safety tips with readers to stay safe as the weather warms up and people pull their bikes out of the garage.
Here are the last five tips, continuing from a previous post about motorcycle safety:
- Leave enough space. Even though motorcycles are much smaller and lighter and they need less space to come to a stop than cars, they still need quite a bit of space to remain safe. It is better to leave too much space than not enough, so brake early. Many bikes also do not have anti-lock brakes, so slamming on the brakes is not an option on many motorcycles like it would be in a car.
Social Media in Lawsuits
The danger social media can play in the outcome of a court case was amplified in a recent wrongful death case. Not only was the plaintiff sanctioned by the court, but his attorney was as well.
In 2010, Isiah Lester, of Virginia, was awarded $6,227,000 plus $2,350,000 in interest for the death of his 25 year-old wife Jessica. Jessica was killed in 2008 when a truck owned by the Allied Concrete Company had come around a corner on just two wheels, flipped and landed on top of Jessica’s car. The concrete truck, weighing over 60,000 pounds, crushed Jessica. The driver later pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He lost his commercial license and spent 30 days in jail.
Lester filed the lawsuit against both the driver and the concrete company. During the trial, Lester’s attorney, Matthew Murray, received a request for discovery from the defendants’ attorneys. They were requesting content Lester had on his Facebook profile. Also attached to the motion was a copy of a photo of Lester wearing a shirt which read “I love hot mom” and holding a beer can.
New Report Unfavorable for Commercial Carrier Watchdog
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OSHA Issues 2014 SST Plan
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, (OSHA) recently announced its yearly inspection plan, specifically targeting areas that have the highest rates of injury and illness occur in the workplace.
The 2014 Site-Specific Targeting (SST) program is based on results the agency conducted in 2012 of companies in industries which are in high-hazard industries surveyed over 80,000 companies. In the appendix of the plan, OSHA lists descriptions of the industries of the companies they surveyed, which included air transportation, automobiles, construction materials, courier services, department stores, groceries, manufacturing, medical facilities, poultry products, scrap and waste, trucking and warehousing.
The results were then used to come up with the plan, which is geared for companies in non-hazard industries which have 20 or more employees.
Included in the plan is a checklist to be used by compliance safety officers. This checklist should help the officers with inspection and scheduling procedures.
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9631 W. 153rd St., Suite 32, Orland Park, IL 60462
708-966-2408
