Posted on August 16, 2019 in Personal Injury

James P. McKay and Philip P. Terrazzino obtained a $212,000 verdict for Chicago Police Officer Yvette Lozano for injuries she sustained in an automobile collision while in the line of duty. Following a trial at the Daley Center in front of Judge Ann Collins-Dole, a Cook County jury reached the verdict in favor of Officer Lozano.

On August 28, 2015 at 10:15a.m., Officer Lozano was responding to a home invasion in progress with her lights and sirens activated when her squad car was struck by a driver who failed to stop and pull to the right as required by statute. As a result of the crash, Officer Lozano sustained a right elbow injury and vertigo. She missed one year of work due to her injuries.

After undergoing a long recovery and intense physical therapy, she returned to work with the Chicago Police Department and now works in an office role. “We are pleased that justice prevailed and that Officer Lozano will be compensated for her medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering,” Terrazzino said. “It took four years and a two-week jury trial, but the jury system got it right in the end.”

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 Posted on July 30, 2019 in Truck Accidents

By: Eddie Hettel

The victims of tragic truck crashes and their families are limited in their ability to recover adequate compensation. Under existing U.S. law, commercial motor carriers are only required to carry a minimum of $750,000 in insurance coverage. Despite a congressional mandate that requires insurance levels to be regularly updated, that number has not moved since 1980.

Truck crashes often result in life-threatening injuries and in the worst cases, death. When victims suffer such injuries, or their families lose a loved one, there are often significant financial burdens to bear. Victims that survive these horrific accidents are often left with life-altering injuries that require significant medical treatment. Additionally, the families of victims who suffer death in such accidents are left without the financial support of the deceased.

The existing law is out of date and disregards the immense costs endured by the victims of commercial trucking accidents. New legislation introduced by Illinois Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia aims to modernize the current law. This bill, known as the INSURANCE Act, provides a long-overdue increase to the amount of insurance that commercial motor companies are required to carry. If passed, it will raise the minimum liability insurance requirements for carriers and adjust it to the rate of inflation and rising medical costs.

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 Posted on June 10, 2019 in Personal Injury

Thousands of companies rely on third-party vendors to ensure that they are hiring safe individuals with no criminal history. The dominant firm in this industry, Sterling Talent Solutions, employs people across the globe to perform background checks using its own software.

According to Buzzfeed News, much of the work involves international, low-paid employees sorting through records, despite the emphasis on technology. Offshore workers contend that the working conditions have “led to manual errors, problems with technology, and even panic attacks and injuries from the stress and repetitive nature of the work.” Additionally, workers contend that records databases can be incomplete, and they do not always have enough information to determine whether a job applicant has been convicted of a crime.

Nearly 200 lawsuits have accused Sterling of various failures with their background check procedures. These include instances where violent criminals go unnoticed by Sterling’s background checks and go on to harm others through their newly attained employment.

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 Posted on May 21, 2019 in Personal Injury

By Eddie Hettel

Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft have consistently pushed back against government efforts to increase the level of scrutiny for their screening processes. Less stringent background checks lead to more drivers on the road and increased profits. However, this comes at the expense of passenger safety. The disturbing frequency of crimes perpetrated against rideshare passengers by their drivers raises questions about the thoroughness of Uber and Lyft’s vetting procedures.

A recent investigation discovered that a man accused of torture and mass executions found full-time employment as a driver for Uber and Lyft. Yusuf Abdi Ali is a former Somali military commander who had been a rideshare driver for 18 months.

A simple internet search of Ali’s name reveals the horrific nature of his alleged crimes committed as a military commander during Somalia’s civil war. These atrocities were also detailed in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary that presented eyewitness accounts of killings committed under his direction. Ali entered the United States on a visa through his Somali wife who previously became a U.S. citizen. His wife was later found guilty of naturalization fraud.

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 Posted on May 07, 2019 in Personal Injury

By Tim Tomasik

Over the past few years, a large number of people have been the victims of assaults by rideshare drivers working for companies like Uber and Lyft. While these companies have stated that the safety of their passengers is a top priority, incidents in which passengers are harmed by drivers continue to occur with alarming regularity. At Tomasik Kotin Kasserman, LLC, we have been leading the fight to hold these companies responsible for the violent assaults committed by drivers against passengers.

A recent incident which took place in the Chicago suburbs is only the latest demonstration of rideshare companies’ failure to address these safety issues. In the early morning of May 2, 2019, a woman in Elk Grove requested a ride using the Lyft rideshare app. During the trip, the driver sexually assaulted her twice before she was able to escape and call 911, according to police. The driver was subsequently arrested and charged with criminal sexual assault and kidnapping.

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 Posted on May 01, 2019 in Medical Malpractice

By Tim Tomasik

Everyone expects to receive quality medical care when they see a doctor or go to the hospital, but one aspect of medical treatment that is often overlooked is the manner in which doctors interact with patients. In many cases, overworked doctors may feel that they do not have the time to offer a kind word to their patients and give them the extra emotional attention that lets them know that their needs are being met. However, a recent study has demonstrated the importance of compassion, and a doctor who neglects to provide their patients with the proper care and attention may actually be causing them harm.

Study Finds That Compassion From Doctors Is Important For Patient Health

Some doctors have been known to experience “burnout” after many years of providing medical care to patients. Two doctors at Cooper University Health Care recently conducted a study to address this and find a way to help improve both doctor well-being and patient care. In their new book Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference, they describe how they found that when doctors and other health care providers take the time to connect with their patients emotionally, it not only improved patient outcomes, but it also decreased overall medical costs. In fact, the study even found that doctors who took extra time to demonstrate compassion felt that they had more overall time to care for patients.

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 Posted on April 18, 2019 in Food Poisoning

By Tim Tomasik

In the United States, we expect the food purchased at restaurants and grocery stores to be safe to eat. Unfortunately, incidents in which people contract foodborne illnesses are all too common. This was demonstrated recently when a large number of people became ill after consuming ground beef. People who have experienced a food poisoning injury should contact an attorney to determine their options for pursuing compensation from the parties responsible.

E. Coli Illnesses Reported in Six States

In March of 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began receiving reports of E. Coli infections in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia. As of April 12, 2019, 109 cases have been reported, and 17 of the victims have been hospitalized. The CDC believes that ground beef is the source of the infections, but it has not identified a supplier, distributor, retailer or brand of meat which may be responsible.

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 Posted on March 19, 2019 in Aviation Litigation

By Tim Tomasik

Following the deaths of 157 people in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane on March 10, 2019, Boeing is under scrutiny for potential design defects in 737 MAX airplanes. This was the second plane crash of a Boeing 737 MAX in less than six months; a Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing 189 people.

While both crashes are still under investigation, it appears that a faulty flight safety system may be to blame for these incidents. An investigation by BEA, the French aviation bureau, found that there were clear similarities between both crashes, and the sensors and software which are intended to prevent stalls may have caused pilots to lose control of these planes.

It has also been alleged that flight crews were not given adequate training about changes to these systems. As a result of the potential dangers to passengers, countries around the world have grounded all Boeing 737 MAX planes until these issues have been addressed.

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 Posted on January 25, 2019 in General

Shawn Kasserman of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman recently had the opportunity to teach constitutional law to the eighth-grade class at Dirksen Elementary School through the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s program, Lawyers in the Classroom. This program partners attorneys throughout the Chicagoland area with local schools to teach constitutional law to children in second through eighth grade. On January 15, 2019, Shawn taught Dirksen’s eighth grade class about the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures in the context of schools. The students discussed possible violations under the Fourth Amendment and debated whether these violations had any merit.

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 Posted on January 24, 2019 in Personal Injury

By: Tim Tomasik and Lindsay Proskey

Uber investigators are overworked, underpaid, and in many cases have no experience qualifying them to examine thousands of serious reported incidents, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN. The 26-page memorandum revealed employees on Uber’s special investigation unit (“SIU”) routinely faced “serious level of stress and anxiety” related to massive caseloads handling the most severe incidents reported to the company, including verbal threats, physical and sexual assault, rape, theft, and serious traffic crashes. The internal document highlights the ride-share giant’s concerns about lost revenue from riders who learn about specific cases and hold a lasting impression that Uber is “unsafe” and “not worthy of their trust” after acknowledging CNN had actually underreported the incidence of sexual assaults.

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