A Jury Verdict Research found that the median money damages award for personal injury lawsuits that go to trial in Illinois is $26,624. Plaintiffs receive damages in 51 percent of cases that go to trial.
Unlike average jury verdict statistics, median jury verdict data blunts larger cases, including the approximately 8% of jury verdicts in Illinois that were over $1 million.
A study by Jury Verdict Research found that the median (as opposed to average) verdict in Illinois in personal injury lawsuits that go to trial is $27,220. Plaintiffs receive damages in 51% of Illinois personal injury lawsuits cases that go to trial. Putting these numbers in context, they are in the neighborhood of the rest of the country; the nationwide median personal injury verdict is $34,550, and the nationwide plaintiff recovery probability in personal injury lawsuits is 52%. The most common injuries were back and neck strains (20%), spinal nerve injuries (11%) and head injuries (10%).
Nursing Home Negligent in Death, Lawsuit Claims
The Chicago Tribune has a story of a lawsuit involving the death of an 89-year-old nursing home resident. In the nursing home neglect lawsuit, the family of woman alleges that staff members at the Arbor of Itasca nursing home failed to investigate when the patient triggered an alarm as she apparently wandered into a courtyard during freezing weather. Suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, she was later found frozen to death.
Nursing home lawyers tend to shy away from cases where the patient is almost 90 years-old. But this case has jury appeal because the facts are so extreme.
The Chicago Tribute reports that Provena Mercy Medical Center in Illinois has agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle a medical malpractice lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy who allegedly suffered brain injury during birth. In the malpractice lawsuit, Plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that doctors and staff at failed to respond to the child’s reaction to the drug Pitocin.
The Chicago Times reports on a $9.8 medical malpractice settment on behalf of the family of a 27-year-old mother of nine who died in Stroger Hospital three years ago after bleeding during a pregnancy. According to the medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the family’s lawyer, doctors at the hospital failed to give Dickerson blood-clotting products in a timely fashion after she began bleeding and collapsed in August 2005 while 31 weeks’ pregnant. Thankfully, her baby survived.
Two units of Johnson & Johnson were orded to pay $16.6 million to the family of a Chicago-area woman who died after using a Duragesic pain-patch. This is the 4th consecutive pain pump verdict against for Johnson & Johnson in the pain pump litigation. Last month, a Florida jury awarded $13 million to the family of a woman who died after using a similar patch.
If you have a Duragesic pain patch case, call our attorneys at 800-553-8082.
Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit against the city Park Ridge can move forward because the city is not immune from a lawsuit. An Illinois trial court had granted the city’s motion for summary judgment.
This wrongful death case is gathering attention because of it bizarre facts. A 15 year-old boy’s father called 911 and reported that his son was unconscious and needed resuscitation. Paramedics arrived 5 minutes later but did not treat the patient. We have no idea why. The father called back at about eight hours later. When the paramedics arrived, the boy was in cardiac arrest. Tragically he died at the hospital of a overdose of cocaine and opiates, records show.
Bizarre facts. The a lawyer for the city of Park Ridge says he cannot talk about the case until in comes out in court. Please.
Chicago lawyer Louis Cairo has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Cook County nursing home, alleging that the nursing home employees were woefully ill-equipped, causing the death of a 67 year-old man. The lawsuit alleges that staff members at Hampton Plaza Health Care Centre on 9777 Greenwood Avenue did not have the necessary training or equipment to adequately respond to a fire. The Plaintiff’s nursing home lawyer said that residents were awakened not by smoke alarms, but by people banging on doors to alert others of the fire. This is not exactly a sign of effective smoke detectors.
If you substitute the word “nursing home” for “restaurant” in this story, it would make me skeptical as to whether the restaurant was negligent, as opposed to a plaintiffs’ lawyer trying to manufacture a case because he has a death case (probably a high profile death case, as many fire deaths can be). Because it is a nursing home, I find myself nodding along, “Yes, they didn’t have fire detectors. That sounds about right.” I don’t think I’m alone. That is a sad commentary on nursing home care in this country.
In litgation that is a byproduct of the Ford Explorer rollover lawsuits, Ford Explorer owners will be “compensated” in a settlement because of the loss of value of the Explorer because of the perceived rollover danger. This settlement covers about 800,000 people who purchased Explorers in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas.
Unfortunately, the only people who will get a significant recovery will be the lawyers who brought these claims. Explorer owners will only be eligible for vouchers for $300 to purchase new vehicles Ford or Lincoln Mercury vehicles (or $500 off the Ford Explorer). Practically, the car dealers will just negotiate a higher sales price on the car the sale of the car, reducing the list price less than they otherwise would.
Accordingly, this settlement is worthless to everyone except for the lawyers bringing these claims. The frustrating thing about this is that 800,000 people see this settlement and think, “Geez, what a scam, the only people that really profit from this are the lawyers.” For personal injury victims and their lawyers, this does not help when one of these 800,000 people shows up on a jury.
Lawsuit Information Center Blog