Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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A truck driver, the plaintiff, Joseph Streetman, was operating a Penske truck on a highway when he was rear-ended by a pickup truck that had just been rear-ended by a tractor-trailer driven by Walto Hendricks. Hendricks was driving for his employer, Gardner Trucking.

Streetman, 77, was taken by ambulance to an emergency room where he was evaluated and released. He was later referred to an orthopedic surgeon and underwent a cervical fusion, lumbar laminectomy, and shoulder surgery.

Streetman had medical expenses that totaled $415,000. He also had a claim of lost income of $55,000.

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Jia Huan Xu was crossing the street in a pedestrian crosswalk at a Brooklyn intersection when she was struck by a New York City Transit Authority bus. The bus was turning left from the opposite direction.  She was just 15 years old at the time.

The bus stopped while one of the vehicle’s front tires was on her left thigh. It took fifteen minutes for the bus to be lifted off her. Xu suffered severe degloving injuries necessitating multiple surgeries, including skin graft procedures.

She continues to suffer from physical limitations. She sued the New York City Transit Authority alleging that the bus driver chose not to yield while she was in a pedestrian crosswalk.

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A U.S. District Court judge in Chicago has denied employer Marsh USA’s summary judgment motion on Count V on Juanda Lynn Jordan’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) complaint. The complaint alleged that Marsh USA violated the FMLA’s anti-retaliation provision for exercising her right to medical leave because it honestly (though perhaps mistakenly) believed she had failed to provide appropriate documentation for additional time off when it terminated her employment.

The District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly examined two 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinions: one where a firing that was based on the employer’s mistaken belief didn’t violate FMLA and another where the mistake didn’t provide a defense.

“An employer may be entitled to summary judgment on a retaliation claim where, based on a mistaken belief, it terminated an employee for reasons unrelated to the employee’s protected activities. Yet an employer is not entitled to summary judgment where it based its motivation for terminating an employee, or at least a key component of it, on a mistaken belief that the employee was ineligible for the FMLA’s protection.

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In a jury trial over a 3-day period in 2018, the jury returned the verdict in favor of the plaintiff, a restaurant waitress, Raona Pearson. The damages for her injuries were awarded against the defendant, Pilot Travel Centers LLC. Pilot filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), which was denied by the trial court as were both parties’ motions for directed verdict at the close of all evidence.

Pilot appealed the verdict and the court’s denial of motions for directed verdict.

From the evening of April 7, 2016, Pearson was working as a waitress at a Denny’s restaurant located inside of a truck stop in East St. Louis, Ill. The truck stop was owned by the defendant, Pilot. Both customers and employees of Denny’s had available to them public restrooms located within Pilot’s truck stop. Denny’s did not have public restrooms of its own.

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Bahram Yahyavi was driving a Dodge Charger in the course of his employment with a car dealership when his vehicle was struck by a forklift driven by a then-employee of Capriati Construction Corp. The forklift’s forks penetrated the car’s front end from the passenger’s side, causing the front windshield to cave into the car.

Yahyavi suffered a severe neck injury that required conservative care and later a five-level cervical fusion.

His past medical expenses were more than $491,000. His past lost wages and lost earnings capacity was proved to be $300,000.

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The engineer who was in charge of supervising a construction project for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago reportedly conceded he had not been aware of the hazardous condition that allegedly caused a 30-foot fall by a contractor’s employee. The question that attracted dueling amicus curiae briefs in the Illinois Supreme Court was whether the Water District was entitled to an immunity for discretionary policy decisions under Section 2-201 of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act.

With two of the seven Illinois Supreme Court justices dissenting, the Supreme Court concluded that Section 2-201, which grants immunity for acts or omissions involving discretionary policy decisions only applies if the defendant presents “evidence of a conscious decision by its employee pertaining to the conduct alleged to have caused the plaintiff’s injuries.”

And “if the employee was totally unaware of the condition prior to the plaintiff being injured, he or she could not possible have exercised discretion with respect to that condition.”

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Zachary Spencer, who had autism, was walking to his parents’ home one night on a street with no sidewalk. Michael Hornaday, a Papa John’s Pizza delivery driver, braked when he saw Spencer in front of him. However, the Hornaday car slid into Spencer, severely injuring him.

Spencer, 24, suffered multiple fractures, two broken teeth, and a moderate traumatic brain injury.  He underwent surgery, inpatient rehabilitation and dental work.

Spencer now walks with a limp, experiences pain and fatigue, and is unable to read for any length of time.

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Cook County’s court system has received a $2.5 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, an initiative aimed to reduce the number of people in jail and address racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

“Local jurisdictions are proving it possible for cities and counties to rethink local justice systems from the ground up, despite challenges and an ever-changing political environment,” said Laurie Garduque, MacArthur’s Director of Criminal Justice.

“MacArthur remains committed to supporting jurisdictions as they set ambitious reform goals and pursue smart solutions that safely reduce all jail populations, address disparities and eliminate ineffective, inefficient and unfair practices.”

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Elijah Simone was riding his bicycle through an intersection when Bruce Jameson’s motor vehicle was turning left in front of him and struck him. Simone, 23, suffered a neck fracture at C6-7. The neck fracture required a fusion surgery.

Simone’s medical expenses were more than $474,000. He was an assistant at a pharmacy, and his lost wages totaled $15,000.

Simone sued Jameson, alleging that he made a negligent left turn.

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Marina Kolchinsky and her mother, Lidia Kolchinsky, were severely injured in a car collision with a tractor-trailer in Illinois. They sued the truck driver and the two companies that contracted with him. The Kolchinskys filed in federal court based on diversity of citizenship. Illinois law controlled.

The district court entered partial summary judgment in favor of Western Dairy Transport LLC and WD Logistics LLC, concluding that the driver was an independent contractor. This was done so that the Kolchinskys could not hold the companies responsible for the driver’s alleged negligence.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago affirmed the summary judgment for these two companies, ruling that the district court properly classified the driver as an independent contractor.

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