New Bridge: A New Rotator Cuff Injury Treatment

There is a new technique to surgically repair rotator cuff injuries that may be superior to traditional methods. If you or a loved one has been involved in a truck/slip-and-fall accident, a Chicago trip and fall attorney from the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. can help you file your personal injury claim. Contact us today for a free case evaluation – 312-263-1080.

Man Sues for Trip and Fall on Set Of Public Enemies Film

A man has filed suit in Cook County because of injuries he sustained in a trip and fall accident that was allegedly caused by rubber cobblestones on a movie set. If you or a loved one has been involved in a truck/slip-and-fall accident, a Chicago trip and fall attorney from the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. can help you file your personal injury claim. Contact us today for a free case evaluation – 312-263-1080.

Proving Liability in an Outdoor Slip and Fall Accident

Proving liability is crucial in a personal injury claim involving an outdoor slip and fall accident. Contact a Chicago injury lawyer at the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. for a free evaluation of your case – 312-263-1080

Inclement Weather and Outdoor Slip and Fall Accidents

If you have been injured in an outdoor slip and fall accident that was weather-related, you may be wondering if you have grounds for a personal injury case. Contact a Chicago personal injury attorney at the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. for a free evaluation of your case – 312-263-1080

What do I do if I’m involved in an indoor slip and fall accident?

You may be wondering what to do if you have been involved in an indoor slip and fall accident. You may be eligible to receive compensation for injuries sustained. Contact a Chicago personal injury attorney at the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. for a free evaluation of your case – 312-263-1080

Compensation for Indoor Slip and Fall Accidents

If you have been injured in an indoor slip and fall accident, you might wonder if you are entitled to compensation. Contact a Chicago personal injury attorney at the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. for a free evaluation of your case – 312-263-1080

Student seriously injured in West Chicago high school PE class accident

Shortly before the Christmas break, a student at Community High School in West Chicago was seriously injured when she fell approximately 20 feet to a rubberized floor while participating in a rope obstacle course.  The exact cause of the fall is currently under investigation by school authorities.

Falls from heights frequently produce serious injuries which is why extensive safety precautions were required for this particular obstacle course.  According to the news story, there were a number of safety measures, including the use of harnesses.  These were obviously not enough to assure the safety of this student.

Cases involving accidents at public schools, especially those involving physical education classes, are always exceedingly difficult because of the various immunities that public schools and teachers have negligence suits.  Additionally, although liability waivers are not enforceable for children, it is a reasonable guess that the district obtained a waiver for the student to participate in the obstacle course. 

There are also a number legal doctrines which could make recovering compensation in a slip and fall suit difficult for this injured student.  Because of this, as experienced Chicago personal injury lawyers, we would recommend considering a defective product suit against the harness manufacturer, if the investigation shows that one is warranted.

CDC releases statistics regarding causes of unintentional injury

The Centers for Disease Control released the results of its study of the most common causes of emergency room treatment in hospitals for the 2007 calendar year.  For all age groups except one, the leading cause of emergency room treatment was slip and fall accidents.  In the one age group (ages 15-24) where it was not the leading cause, it was second.

It was a little surprising to see that fall accidents were more common that car crashes as a cause of hospital treatment, but it does serve as proof that many people suffer serious injuries as a result of falls.

Man falls from Rogers Park porch after railing gives way

A man was injured in a fall from a porch to an apartment building on the 7300 block of North Winchester yesterday evening.  The fall happened when the railing to the porch gave way and the man fell to the ground from the second story porch.  He was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston in critical condition with head injuries.

I wrote earlier this summer about the City's failure to inspect porches for code violations.  This was the subject of a series of articles in the Chicago Tribune. 

Even though there was likely no citation written in advance of this accident, the property owner had a legal obligation to maintain the porch in a safe condition, including complying with all applicable City building codes.  This means that the responsibility for this fell to the landlord (if this was a rental apartment building) or the condominium association (if this was a condo building).

You can be certain that there will be City inspectors out in short order doing inspections that should have been done a long time ago and that there will be work done to repair the porch.  As experienced Chicago personal injury lawyers, we would strongly recommend that (1) photos be taken to document the condition of the porch, as evidence of repairs done after the accident may not be admissible at the trial of this case and (2) that experienced investigators contact current and former residents of the building to obtain witness statements to help establish the landlord's notice of the defective condition of the porch. 

Man falls to death down elevator shaft

A Cabrini Green resident died yesterday when he fell down an elevator shaft.  According to witnesses he was walking near the doors of the elevator when he fell against the doors.  The doors gave way and he plunged to his death.

This accident will certainly result in an Illinois wrongful death suit, and there are certain to be some legal issues which will be disputed:

• In Illinois elevator accident suits, the owner of the building is normally regarded as a common carrier, owing the highest duty of care for the safety of users of the elevator.  Since the man was not actually on the elevator, will this be treated as a slip-and-fall negligence case?  If so, the man's family will have to show that the CHA either knew or reasonably should have known about the condition of the doors.
• In many elevator accident cases, the building owner has handed responsibility for maintaining the elevator off to the a contractor.  How will the jury allocate fault between the parties?

These are important legal issues which will have a dramatic impact on the ultimate amount of compensation recovered by this man's family.  In any serious case such as this where there are complicated legal issues, we strongly recommend consultation with an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer.

City cuts back on porch inspections

After the 2003 Lincoln Park porch collapse disaster which resulted in a wrongful death accident which claimed the lives of 13 people, the City of Chicago implemented an intensive porch inspection program to identify buildings which were susceptible to porch collapse accidents.  The inspection program resulted in several building owners being cited and required to make repairs or replace the porches on their buildings.  The City also updated its building code to impose stricter safety requirements. 

With the public outcry following the Lincoln Park porch collapse accident having died down, the City has scaled back its porch inspection program, and according to a recent Chicago Tribune story, the City's position is that it is up to tenants to let the City know when there is a potential safety issue with the porch at their building.  They claim that once the City is notified, the building will be inspected -- after a delay that may last several weeks.

The Tribune also listed several factors that may be indicators that a porch is not safe.  Safety problems with a porch are indicated by:

• Split or rotting wood;
• Evidence of water damage;
• Loose, rusting, or missing hardware or bolts;
• Loose or missing anchors where the porch attaches to the building;
• Excessive movement or wobbling when the porch is walked on; and
• Loose or missing handrails or railings.

Tenants are of course at risk for injuries from dangerous porches for reasons other than the porch collapsing.  Other kinds of porch accidents might include:

• Tripping and falling on loose floor boards or stairs;
• Falling through rotted boards or railings;
• Loose railings giving way;
• Loose handrails giving way resulting in a fall due to loss of balance;
• Uneven or excessively steep stairs causing a fall due to loss of balance.

Because stairways are part of the common areas of an apartment building, it falls to the landlord to make sure that these are kept in reasonably safe condition, including complying with all building codes.  When an accident happens in an apartment building, injured tenants should hire an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer to identify the correct legal entities which should be sued as defendants in the case and to identify the relevant building code violations.

Verdict in Home Depot falling merchandise case

A Cobb County, Georgia jury has returned a verdict for $1.5 million against Home Depot in a suit where a shopper was injured by falling merchandise.  The man was shopping at the store when a pallet of plywood fell 24 feet from a forklift and struck the man.  He suffered injuries to his neck and was disabled from returning to construction work.

With the growth of big box retailers, falling merchandise has been an increasing source of injury to customers and lawsuits against big box retailers.  Before the development of the big box retailing industry, stock not on display was placed in back storerooms, out of the way of customers and were brought out as needed or when purchased.

The big box retailers have largely done away with the stock rooms in favor of stocking merchandise on high storage racks.  With the advent of this method of storage, customers have suffered many injuries as a result of being struck by falling merchandise.  This may not have been foreseen when this method of retailing was devised, but the risks of going this route have certainly become apparent through experience. 

To their credit, big box retailers have become more proactive in trying to eliminate some of the risks to customers associated with this method of stocking the stores, but even with improvements in technique, injuries still occur, and when they do, the big box retailers can be held liable for the resulting injuries.

One thing that will be required to effectively prosecute a falling merchandise case is other prior accident and incident reports.  Big box retailers know that these reports are trouble for them because they will show the defendant's knowledge of the hazards of stocking stores in this method, and will fight tooth and nail to avoid turning them over.  Also, many of these retailers are equipped with extensive sophisticated security systems which are intended to prevent shoplifting.  The odds that a falling merchandise incident will be caught on tape is actually pretty high, so one thing that will have to be done in the wake of a falling merchandise accident is to get a letter to the retailer advising them to preserve the security tapes for later use and review.  These are good reasons why anyone injured in a falling merchandise accident should hire an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer.

Lack of Chicago elevator inspections increases risks of safety hazards

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the City of Chicago is short on staffing for elevator inspectors, and as a result, many elevators do not have current elevator safety inspections and other elevators with safety deficiencies are left in service.  This increases the risk of an elevator accident due to poor manitenance.

The article properly notes that many building owners keep their elevators well maintained and bring in crews regularly to do work on the elevators.  This is in part to prevent suits for elevator accidents.

It is important to know that the lack of inspections does not relieve the building owners and their contractors of the responsibility for making sure that elevators are in safe working order.  In fact, building owners are considered common carriers as to elevator passengers.  This means that they must exercise the highest degree of care for the safety of elevator passengers to make sure that there are no accidents.  This strong legal standard creates a powerful incentive to be proactive in making sure that there is proper elevator maintenance.

However, having city inspections are important to help assure the safety of people who use elevators in buildings where the owners are not as diligent in maintaining the elevators.  The City of Chicago is leaving those people at risk by not having enough safety inspections of elevators.