As Missouri gears up for medical marijuana to possibly become available this month (with one licensed dispensary already doing a “dry run”), the nation has been slowly addressing the legality of marijuana. Just last month, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (“MORE”) Act was slated to be on the House floor, only to be delayed by urgent COVID-19 measures. This bill would remove marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and decriminalize manufacturing, distribution, and possession of marijuana. And no one ...
Illinois appeals court holds that statute on allowing only one substitution of judge applies only to the immediate case
Illinois appeals court denies marital privilege of text massages in part due to wife’s original consent stated messages same on both phones
HeplerBroom boasts several of Illinois’ premier environmental-law lawyers, and recently those colleagues were asked to prepare an amicus brief on behalf of the Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group in an appeal pending in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Prairie Rivers Network v. Dynegy Midwest Generation LLC, No. 18-3644. The matter involves the non-profit Network’s assertion that Dynegy’s Vermillion, Illinois, power station was releasing contaminants into groundwater.
Specifically at issue is the Clean Water Act’s forbidding of “any addition” of ...
In Tafoya-Cruz v. Temperance Beer Company, LLC, et al., 2020 Il App (1st) 190606, the Illinois Appellate Court First District recently upheld a trial court’s grant of summary judgment on the plaintiff’s slip-and-fall claim in favor of the defendant’s brewery. The decision is noteworthy because it provides a good example of defeating the argument of constructive notice, which is an essential element of many premises liability claims. The case also provides useful guidance for assessing whether a defendant’s internal policies/practices can trigger a legal duty to ...
On August 28, 2014, Patricia Watson suffered multiple facial fractures and other injuries while riding her bicycle in St. Peters, Missouri. Watson was riding on the sidewalk and flipped head-first over the handlebars when the front wheel of her bicycle went into a sump inlet that the City had installed on the sidewalk. Watson sued the City of St. Peters for negligence, alleging that the sump inlet was an unreasonably dangerous condition. To prevail on her claims, Watson had to establish: 1) a dangerous condition existed on the premises that was not reasonably safe; 2) the City knew of the ...
Paulette Anthony was driving down the road when a truck crossed into her lane, causing her to crash into Lisa Hearn’s vehicle. Hearn sustained serious injury. Hearn claimed to have interacted with the truck driver following the accident, but the truck driver fled the scene before police arrived. The truck and its driver were never identified. However, Hearn claimed that the truck bore ABF signage.
Hearn and her husband, Daniel, sued ABF for negligent operation of a motor vehicle. It would seem the Hearns would have an uphill battle with no identified driver and only a memory of the ABF ...
Property insurance policies typically contain provisions requiring the insured to cooperate with the insurer in the investigation and adjustment of the loss. As part of those post-loss obligations, the insured may be required, if requested by the insurer, to submit to an examination under oath and produce documents and records related to the claim. The typical policy provision is phrased as follows:
Your Duties After Loss
After a loss to which this insurance may apply, you shall see that the following duties are performed:
As often as we reasonably require, submit to and subscribe ...
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” –Michael Corleone, The Godfather Part III
Al Pacino probably doesn’t know it, but his iconic line from The Godfather Part III encapsulates the plight of hospitals pulled into medical malpractice suits due to negligent credentialing claims. That’s because plaintiffs sometimes assert this claim when they cannot prove a deviation from the standard of care on the part of any hospital employee or agent—so even if a hospital thinks that it’s out of the suit, plaintiffs can sometimes pull it back in by alleging that it ...
A person injured by another’s negligence is entitled to recover the reasonable value of the necessary medical care she received for her injuries. Although most injured parties have their medical care paid for by a third party—either health insurance or a government program—which settles the medical bills for a significantly discounted amount, in Illinois the injured party can submit the actual billed charges with a proper foundation to seek recovery of more than was actually paid for her care. In Willis v. Foster, 229 Ill. 2d 393 (208), the Supreme Court of Illinois held that ...
