After refusing to consider settlement in the case against an off-duty Chicago Police Officer who loudly used his office when threatening and eventually savagely beating Karolina Obrycka, a female bartender, the City is now willing to pay damages in exchange for limiting some very damaging precedent against the City, especially regarding tortious acts committed by its police officers.
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Two Chicago police officers who arrested a man filling up his tires at a gas station air pump were found liable for violating that man's civil rights by wrongfully arresting him. The facts speak for themselves, but it must be noted that the Chicago Tribune observes that the City's Corporate Counsel failed to settle this case despite some very unsettling facts, including the fact the Chicago police officers changed their story regarding the Plaintiff and they both failed to appear at the aggravated battery hearing for the Plaintiff.
TMZ, courtesy of CNN, reports that a former Price is Right model has been awarded an $8.4M verdict for gender discrimination at her workplace. The award includes over $700,000 in compensatory damages and $7.7M in punitive damages. The model alleged in a 2010 complaint that the producers of the show
A Cook County jury awarded an iron worker, who fell at a jobsite and was left paralyzed and in need of 24 hour care for the rest of his life, $64 million in total damages. The company responsible is planning an appeal but the case is a lesson to both workers and construction companies in compliance with workplace safety procedures and policies. OSHA compliance is critical for the long term survival of both workers and companies.
Blessed with qualified immunity and tort immunity generally, the City and its employees often hide behind either a blue wall of silence, like the Chicago Police has thrown up regarding the off-duty cop body slamming a female bartender, but also the City's Corporation counsel as is the case where the Chicago Police arrested a mentally ill California woman in Midway Airport and detained and released her into a south side neighborhood where she was eventually raped and fell off a building, ending up horribly injured. The CPD failed to adhere to department protocol related to the treatment of mentally suspect offenders and ignored clear evidence and fellow colleague appraisals regarding the mental health of the plaintiff.
The Chicago Tribune reports that a Colorado resident has won a $7.2 million judgment against a Central Illinois microwavable popcorn manufacturer and distributors of the product. This product liability action resembles the litigation over mesothelioma due to asbestos from the 1960s and on. In this case, the chemical in the fake butter in microwavable popcorn has led to a serious lung issue in one user who consumed massive quantities of the product.
A jury awarded a University of Michigan student $4.5 million based on the actions of a former Michigan assistant attorney general who wrote negatively about the student on his personal blog.
You know the old saying, an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client. Well, the foolish former assistant attorney general represented himself and stubbornly went down with his own ship. Relying entirely on a First Amendment defense, he refused to accept a settlement offer to apologize and retract his comments that the student used alcohol to entire minors to have sex with him. A Chicago woman was recently awarded $5 million by a jury for a doctor’s error. The doctor performed a hysterectomy after a cesarean section. The Chicago personal injury and medical malpractice lawsuit involved experts that disagreed with the doctor’s diagnosis that a hysterectomy was necessary. The jury deliberated for four hours before awarding the plaintiff the $5 million dollar verdict. Read more about the suit: Woman Awarded $5 Million After “Unnecessary” Hysterectomy | NBC Chicago .
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AuthorRishi Nair owns Nair Law LLC and practices as Of Counsel at Keener and Associates, P.C. Archives
October 2013
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