$990,000.00
Plaintiff's decedent, M age 6, was playing with his siblings and a 5 year-old girl outside the front of the apartment his mother and stepfather had leased from Defendant, two weeks earlier. Although the children were instructed by their mother to stay in front of the apartment building, Plaintiff's decedent, his 4 year-old brother and the 5 year-old girl left the vicinity and  walked within the fenced apartment complex.

Behind the last apartment building they came upon a pool which either the Plaintiff's decedent nor his parents knew existed.  Said pool was enclosed by a fence and a gate which was supposed to be chained and locked.  However, the lock had been cut off earlier at the direction of Defendant by his workers who had been unable to find the key.  Rather than replace the lock, Defendant instructed his workers to merely wrap the chain around the gate.  As the pool had not been opened for use or maintained since the end of 2002, it had partially filled with black septic water to a depth of 5 feet in the deep end which normally would be filled to a depth of 9 feet.  The shallow end was totally empty.  The depth and opaqueness of the water in the deep end prevented visualizing that it had steep inclines on all sides which had become covered in slime which would severely impede anyone who might try to get out of the pool. Additionally, multiple debris, such as leaves, garbage cans and equipment were hidden beneath the surface of the pool by the water's lack of clarity.  Apparently, the children entered the pool area and subsequently the 5 year old neighbor girl walked into the empty shallow end of the pool by way of the concrete steps. She thereafter allegedly was caused to slip on the slime covered concrete incline, where the deep and shallow ends met, causing her to not only fall into the water, but also to be unable to extricate herself.  Upon seeing this, Plaintiff's decedent went to her aid and pulled her from the water.  However, in so doing, he was himself caused to fall into the deep end of the pool from which he was unable to escape.  Within minutes, a tenant in the adjacent building, who heard the commotion, entered the pool in an attempt to rescue Plaintiff's decedent.  However, he was unable to locate his body due to the condition of the water and being further hampered by debris and poor footing.

Ultimately Plaintiff's decedent was found by paramedics who likewise were severely impeded in their rescue efforts resulting in his being submerged for over fifteen minutes. He was rushed to Christ Hospital suffering from severe anoxic encephalopathy where he remained in intensive care for seven days until his death. 
Comments: Policy limits of $1,000,000.00

$315,000.00 On 65/09/01,
Plaintiff (F-40 yrs) was traveling northbound on Elizabeth St, in Crete, IL. Defendant was traveling eastbound on Division St and failed to stop at the stop sign and struck the Plaintiff's vehicle causing it to spin around to face south on Elizabeth St. Plaintiff suffered shoulder and neck injuries which required C5-6, C6-7 anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion.

$490,000.00 On July 27, 2004,
Plaintiff, (F-42), was driving a Ford E-150 van, headed east on Black Road at or near its intersection with Frontage Road in Joliet when Defendant, who was headed west on Black Road, failed to yield the right of way to Plaintiff and turned left in front of her. After impact, Plaintiff's van flipped and rolled over several times in an end to end fashion. While Plaintiff was using her seatbelt at the time of this accident and her air bag did deploy, her van windows were down, and her left arm/elbow became pinned under the van at some point during the rollover process causing extensive injuries.

Surgery was performed the same day and consisted of irrigation and debridement of the open wounds, repair of muscle lacerations, application of external fixator, repair of open wounds, closed reduction and percutaneous pinning of the left middle finger. A second and third procedure were necessitated by the non-union of the bone. It became necessary for Plaintiff to use a bone stimulator which must be worn for ten hours a day. She has attended over 121 physical therapy sessions in addition to regular doctor visits. Plaintiff's treating physician has opined that Plaintiff has developed post-traumatic carpal tunnel syndrome which is directly related to the initial injury. While the condition is tolerable at this time, it will worsen and, ultimately, will require carpal tunnel release at a cost of approximately $12,000.00, including six weeks of physical therapy. Plaintiff has permanent loss of rotation of her forearm and flexion and extension of her wrist, as well as decreased flexion and extension of her index finger. Plaintiff's physician opined that she has a 25% loss of use of her upper left extremity resulting in permanent pain, disability and weakness.

$8,000,000.00 MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
Beginning in 1991, defts misdiagnosed M-40 pltf’s genetic disorder(Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency) as asthma, resulting in loss of over 75% of pltf’s lung function, leaving him a pulmonary cripple and diminishing his life expectancy by 15-20 years. If identified by a simple blood test, progress of the disease could have been halted by serum replacement therapy and pltf’s emphysema prevented. Due to his extended treatment for asthma with steroids, pltf also developed osteoporosis and suffered multiple vertebral fractures. NOTE: this is the first known case involving the misdiagnosis of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Defeciency.

$2,009,000.00 after 18% off verdict $2,420,526.00 for pltf negligence Pltf.
Age 49, a carpenter, was using a 10-inch miter box saw when in rising from use of saw on floor, wheel on unguarded right side struck his left hand, amputating one-third around the thumb. Thumb was sewn back on and palm repaired, but a year later index finger had to be removed and other fingers are unable to grasp, numb and have pain, due to tendon injury. Inventor had testified he designed guards for both sides but deft omitted right side because most users are right-handed.

$1,950,000.00 MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
Male 44 yr old cabinet maker’s August 1996 chest x-ray was misread and defendants failed to diagnose his lung cancer until May, 1997, when it was Stage III and had metastasized to his brain. He died in Sept. 1997 (survived by wife and 3 grown children)

Seven figures Allegedly,
student, M-12 was struck and killed at a Joliet corner because Pace Suburban Bus did not employ safety procedures or equipment such as a "stop arm" in violation of federal school bus regulations. The Pace bus route had been created specifically to take children to and from Washington Junior High School, and was a "de facto" school bus according to the Estate. Child is survived by his parents, a twin brother, and 3 sisters.

$875,000.00
Def doctor used vacuum-assisted delivery of newborn when it was not indicated. Deft’s actions caused newborn to sustain multiple intracranial hemorrhages and mild cognitve deficits.

$750,000.00 MED MALPRACTICE
M-41 with a family history of heart disease was brought to the E/R, complaining of bilateral arm pain, nausea, and light-headedness -- but was sent home. He returned via ambulance 4 hours later, in full cardiopulmonary arrest, and died shortly thereafter. Autopsy found 99% arterial occlusion.

$750,000.00
67 year old Plaintiffs’ decedent, Lois Siadek, sought care and treatment for abdominal pain at the emergency room at Silver Cross Hospital, Joliet, Illinois, and was admitted for further evaluation and management. A CT scan was performed and a provisional report was issued stating diffuse ascites through abdomen/pelvis and no definite acute inflammatory process noted. Based on Plaintiffs’ Decedent’s history, physical examination and CT scan, doctors did not feel she had a surgical abdomen at that time. The following day a formal report of the CT scan was dictated, noting that there was free air in the abdomen, strongly suggesting a perforated viscus and advised clinical correlation. However, this report was placed into Plaintiffs’ Decedent’s chart without any physician or medical personnel being notified of these findings. Upon discovery of the formal report, Plaintiffs’ Decedent underwent emergency abdominal surgery to repair a perforated sigmoid diverticulum. The misreading of the provisional CT scan was not discovered until two days later, resulting in a forty-eight hour delay in Plaintiffs’ Decedent’s care and treatment.

Following surgery, Plaintiff’s Decedent developed peritonitis, organ dysfunction and septic shock leading to her ultimate demise approximately three weeks later.

$500,00.00
Plaintiff was working inside chute which sent coal into the hopper to crush the coal. The job was to change the shafts & gears. Chute is 5 ft. Wide - 6 to 8 ft. deep. Plaintiff was working on ladder (using it as a platform) propped at an angle to keep chute door open, was moving down ladder to view another area and ladder gave way. Plaintiff dropped and his ankle got jammed between ladder and chute resulting in a tri-malleolar fracture of his left ankle.

$525,000.00
F-30 TMJ symdrome when struck by attache case after opening overhead luggage compartment on Southwest Airlines flight.

$485,000.00
M-Pltf was driving car northbound Rte. 41. Dft was driving semi dump truck Southbound on Rte. 41. Dft made a left hand turn in front of Pltf blocking the road. Pltf struck Df at rear tires. Plft suffered head injuries, back and neck pain and shattered left knee cap requiring surgery.

$481,500.00
Plaintiff was a passenger in a 1996 28' Checkmate Convicor cabin motorboat which hit a wake and slapped down on the water at an angle. Spinal injury - Plaintiff is a paraplegic. ($500,000.00 policy limits)

$410,000.00
M-49, disc rupture, no fusion. No hoist for pulling up machine in Dresden Nuclear plant, Morris.

$274,960.00
Deft doctor prescribed Norplant, a time release birth control device implanted into the arm with side effects of pain and bleeding. When pltf F-22 developed these symptoms, Deft failed to removed the Norplant, but instead attributed her symptoms to a dysfunctional uterus and performed a hysterectomy.

$219,830.00 ANIMAL INJURY
Deft F-56 was walking her two granddaughters, ages 2 and 4, along with their dog, a 1.5 year old lab/Shepard mix. The dog was leashed and was in the custody of the 4 year-old. Pltf F-65 was walking along on the same sidewalk. When they got to a corner, the dog barked at pltf and tried to jump up and put its paws on her in a reportedly friendly manner. Pltf stepped backward away from the dog, fell and broke all the fingers on her right hand. Pltf underwent surgery for pinning and casting and later had the pins removed. The fractures healed with the fingers slightly rotated towards her little finger. This caused a severe disability and constant pain.