Case Successes

Shareholder Lissa Hamer Scores Two Not Guilty Judgments

Wheaton, Illinois office shareholder Lissa Hamer obtained a Not Guilty verdict in a slip and fall case tried on behalf of Meijer Stores in DuPage County, Illinois.  The Plaintiff alleged that he slipped in spilled olive oil in the grocery aisle causing head trauma and soft tissue injuries, claimed that there was no clean up effort initiated and that Meijer knew or should have known about the presence of the spill but failed to act.  Lissa successfully defended liability on the basis of the Plaintiff’s contributory negligence, documenting that Plaintiff was so engrossed in his cell phone conversation that he ignored the barricade that the employee had placed around the spill, ignored the employee who told him to "watch out" and stepped over the barricade directly into the oil.  

Lissa also received a finding of Not Guilty at a UIM hearing involving traumatic brain injury.  The claimant was a motorcyclist who alleged the underlying motorist turned left across the lanes of traffic in front of him.  He was thrown approximately 150 feet landing on his head and was not wearing a helmet.  The claimant was in a coma for over a month, had multiple leg and arm fractures and after coming out of the coma, was left with left-sided paralysis.  His medical expenses were over $500,000.00.  In defense of the claim, Lissa asserted that the claimant was contributorily negligent given that at the time of the accident multiple witnesses observed him riding the motorcycle up on the back wheel at a high rate of speed as he traveled down the road.  As the accident occurred at night his front headlight would have been pointing skyward as he traveled toward the motorist and, as such, would not have been visible to the underlying driver.

Querrey & Harrow Wins Election Case

Chicago shareholder Jennifer Sackett Pohlenz recently obtained the agreement of an Illinois county which successfully resolves a lawsuit brought by her client which contested a change by the county in its method of election, changing from single-member districts to multi-member districts.  In the settlement agreement, the county in question agreed to go through referendum and allow the voters to decide the method of election issue.

Shareholder Tom Burke Scores Two Defense Results

Chicago office shareholder Tom Burke recently had back-to-back defense results on arbitrations.  The first  case was a foodborne illness case for a distributor of Tyson Foods.  The arbitrators found that plaintiff failed to prove that her condition which required her to be hospitalized, was based on a foodborne illness.  Of note, the plaintiff was a 98-year-old who was sent home empty-handed.  Tom successfully presented an expert report from a board-certified gastroenterologist indicating that the Plaintiff’s condition was more likely a partial bowel obstruction and gastroenteritis, and even if it was gastroenteritis, there was no indication that it was a food based problem.

The other was a claim against a national trucking company where an international shipping line was making a claim for a container and chassis shipped in from China which it claimed was lost at the railhead.  Tom was able to prevail by demonstrating that the shipper’s tariffs required that the railhead operator obtain a signature or some appropriate identification of the driver or agent of the carrier who was removing the container and chassis from the rail yard.  The plaintiff shipping line was only able to produce a blank “J1 form,” indicating that the carrier was scheduled to take the shipment, but not that the carrier ever actually received it.

Church’s Prayers Come True Thanks to Querrey & Harrow

Merrillville, Indiana associate John Halstead successfully defended First Baptist Church of Hammond for Chicago Title in the Indiana Lake Superior Court in the matter of City of East Chicago Department of Redevelopment vs. First Baptist Church et al.

At issue was a $400,000 mortgage that was 25 years old, held by the City on property located in East Chicago, and given to the City by the prior owner Lake County Trust.  No payments had ever been made on the mortgage by the Trust.

First Baptist was the record owner of the property and was insured by Chicago Title.  The City sought to foreclose on the mortgage.  First Baptist defended on the basis of the statute of repose which states that, if the date a mortgage expires is not evident on the face of the mortgage, then it expires by operation of law 20 years from the date of execution.  At the close of plaintiff’s case in chief, the defendants moved for judgment on the evidence, which the court granted.