To what extent is a railroad carrier liable under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) to an employee injured while at work? The Supreme Court of the United States considered this very issue in a recent case that arose in Illinois, CSX Transportation Inc. v. McBride, No. 10-235. McBride was a locomotive engineer for CSX […]

The Illinois Supreme Court addressed an interesting issue earlier this month: whether the Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions on the standard of care for professional negligence correctly stated the law in Illinois. This issue was considered in Studt v. Sherman Health Systems, 2011 WL 2409897. In Studt, the plaintiff filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the […]

If an employee slips and falls on snow and ice that accumulated outside of a building at which she worked, who is liable for the injuries? Does the snow removal contractor bear some responsibility? In March, the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, addressed that very question in Williams v. Sebert Landscape Company, No. 1101794. […]

Now that we are in the middle of the winter, activity at ski resorts across the country is in full swing. Skiing remains a popular winter sport for many, but it is, nonetheless, a dangerous activity. The most common injuries occurring at ski resorts include: Collisions with other people or objects Ski lift accidents Resort […]

A federal court recently ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $1.8 million $700,000 in actual damages and $1.1 million in punitive damages to an 82-year-old man from Minnesota who claimed that he was injured by the antibiotic Levaquin. The drug is an antibiotic used to treat infections such as pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, as well […]

The recent report published in the Archives of Surgery in October 2010 paints a grim picture regarding surgical errors. According to the report, there is a “persisting high frequency of surgical ‘never events, or errors that are entirely preventable and should never occur, despite the fact that hospitals must abide by a universal protocol of […]

DePuy Orthopaedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson, recently recalled two of its popular hip replacement systems the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System due to a higher-than-normal failure rate of the devices. Despite the devices’ marketed success since they were approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in […]

Tannehill v. Costello, No. 1-09-0868, addressed this unusual issue. In it, the Appellate Court, First District of Illinois considered whether the defendant owed her neighbor a duty of care under the rescue doctrine. The facts in Tannehill are simple. The defendant was at home, recovering from surgery, when she experienced pain that concerned her. She […]

In Turner v. Illinois Gas Company, No. 2-08-0878, the plaintiffs brought suit after they were seriously injured when their rental home was destroyed by a natural gas explosion. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant was liable for their injuries due to its negligent failure to inspect the gas piping in their home and warn them […]

The United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois addressed the issue of a store owner’s liability for a shopper’s slip and fall allegedly caused by a loose floor mat in Gentry v. Shop’n Save Warehouse Foods, Inc., — F.Supp.2d —-, 2010 WL 1433410 (April 7, 2010). In Gentry, the injured plaintiff was […]