Seidman, Margulis, & Fairman Blog

Firm News | May 17, 2014

Have you ever been driving and saw a tractor-trailer truck pulled over and wonder why the police selected that particular truck to pull over out of the hundreds out on the road? Well, according to the Illinois State Police, they are alerted to trucking companies with questionable driving records by looking at the online postings of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. That is the agency tasked with keeping tabs on the safety records of more than 500,000 over-the-road trucking companies throughout the country.

The FMCSA website uses five criteria to evaluate trucking companies: unsafe driving, hours of service, driver fitness and vehicle maintenance. A review of that website, in conjunction with another safety watch list run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, identified 184 Illinois commercial trucking companies with poor safety records and 26 with bad marks in four out of the five critical categories.

Firm News | May 9, 2014

An Edwardsville, Illinois, woman was recently killed in a crash involving three different vehicles. Another individual who was involved in the crash had to go to the hospital for his injuries. The woman who died did not make it to the hospital, but was instead declared dead at the accident scene.

The crash happened on Plum Street in Edwardsville, and it took place shortly before 7:00 in the morning. The woman was in a minivan, and an SUV allegedly moved into her path, causing the initial collision. Another vehicle that was near the first two was unable to come to a complete stop, and it ran into them as well.

Firm News | May 2, 2014

When an innocent bystander is injured or killed in a car accident, determining exactly who is at fault is critical. Many people assume that the driver of the car who caused the crash was reckless or negligent, but that is not always the case.

On Nov. 20, 2008, a young man was outside waiting for public transportation to take him to Chicago State University so that he could attend his night classes. A car that was heading east on Indiana Avenue allegedly hit an ice patch and skidded. The car jumped the curb and ultimately hit the man, who wound up losing a leg as a result of his injuries.

Firm News | April 25, 2014

The Fire Media Affairs Director says that a man was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer early Thursday morning, April 24, as he got out of another semi to take pictures of a previous accident. The collision occurred around 6:30 a.m. in the 1300 block of West Division Street. The Director says that prior to his death, the man had been involved in a minor fender-bender with a car driven by a woman in the Noble Square neighborhood of Chicago.

The man who was snapping the photographs of that accident was also a tractor-trailer driver. According to the Director that victim perished at the scene of the secondary accident although that detail has not yet been corroborated by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. The woman who was involved in the initial collision was uninjured, as was the driver of the truck which killed the victim. The Major Accident Investigations Unit is still investigating the crash at this time, although there has not yet been any mention of drugs or alcohol having played a role in this crash.

Firm News | April 18, 2014

After a serious car accident, it’s sometimes good to hear that the victims are recovering well. In this case, you’ll be glad to know that an Illinois State University student who was injured in a car accident is recuperating from back and pelvic fractures in the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City. The student was airlifted to the hospital in Iowa following the approximately 1:50 a.m. car accident that injured four people including herself. One of those individuals is still in critical condition, and the conditions of the other two are unknown.

According to the news, the driver of the car that struck the girl and three others was being driven by a 37-year-old. You may be wondering what would cause an accident so late at night, when the roads are primarily clear. The driver was charged with aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol following the arrival of police. Unfortunately, at that point, the four in the second car had already been injured and had to be treated for dangerous injuries.

Firm News | March 19, 2014

When Chicago consumers purchase products, they are under the impression that the items are safe for normal use. This is because manufacturers have a duty to keep consumers safe. When they are made aware that their products are dangerous, they have a responsibility to issue a recall and make consumers aware of the problem. But, even after learning that many of its products had stopped working, Advanced Bionics continued to sell cochlear implants to adults and children.

The defective products in question are HiRes 90K implants, which are hearing restoration devices implanted into the skull. Between January 2003 and the summer of 2005, Advanced Bionics received hundreds of reports from upset consumers who claimed that their implants stopped working. Some patients — including children — even suffered shocks to the head due to excessive moisture found in the implants. Despite the warnings, the company continued to insert the implants into children. The company finally issued recalls in 2004 and 2006.

Firm News | February 28, 2014

Many Chicago residents have suffered broken bones. Although a broken bone can be painful, it is usually not serious or life-threatening. However, one man went through multiple surgeries and amputations after his ankle was broken and his toes became infected. He filed a medical malpractice suit and was recently awarded $9.1 million.

The 45-year-old former public safety dispatcher from New York was walking to work in October 2004 when he fell on some steps. He first received treatment from one doctor, but he began to experience pain in his little toe. He sought treatment from another doctor, who performed multiple surgeries on the toe before it had to be amputated.

Firm News | February 21, 2014

From Illinois to New York and everywhere else in the United States, people expect medical products to provide them with health benefits. Unfortunately, there are times when this is not what happens. Instead, the person who uses the product ends up in a worse position.

A New York woman has filed a lawsuit against Fresenius Medical Care North America Inc. as the administrator of the estate of a relative who died after using the dialysis product known as GranuFlo. According to the lawsuit, the man was using the product to treat late-stage kidney failure. However, the solution that is used by the company is known to cause metabolic alkalosis, which can lead to sudden cardiac death.