Mother files excessive force lawsuit against police

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

BY LEEANN SHELTON Staff Reporter January 23, 2013 4:12AM

A mother filed an excessive force lawsuit Tuesday against the Chicago Police Department and two officers, claiming they roughed up her 13-year-old son last summer after breaking up a group of boys drumming on buckets.

The mother, who filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court, claims her teenage son was with his friends, drumming on buckets near the corner of 67th Street and Ashland Avenue last July 31, when a police car approached them.

The boys ran from police because they thought someone complained about the noise, the woman claims.

Mother files excessive force lawsuit against police

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Suit: Cops Tasered man who eventually suffered brain injury

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

BY DIANA NOVAK Staff Reporter July 24, 2012 3:04AM

A woman is suing Chicago Police for allegedly Tasering her husband who is now in a coma.

Sandra Cardiel claims her husband Jose Lopez was trying to tell police he did not need medical attention when they Tasered him and he hit his head on the ground in July 2011, putting him in a coma with a traumatic brain injury, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court Monday. The city also is being sued.

Lopez was walking with a friend in the 2400 block of South Albany when he mentioned he was having some chest pains, according to the suit. His friend called 911 even though Lopez told him repeatedly he was fine, and a Fire Department ambulance, fire truck and a group Chicago police officers arrived at the scene.

Suit: Cops Tasered man who eventually suffered brain injury

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Surgical Robot Examined in Injuries

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

By JOHN CARREYRO

The da Vinci has been billed as a breakthrough in the quest to make surgery less invasive. With its four remote-controlled arms and sophisticated camera, it enables surgeons to operate through small incisions with greater precision and visibility.

At Wentworth-Douglass, however, the robot has been used in several surgeries where injuries occurred. One patient operated on days after the hockey game was so badly injured that she required four more procedures to repair the damage. In earlier robotic surgeries, two patients suffered lacerated bladders.

There’s no evidence to suggest the injuries at Wentworth-Douglass were caused by technical malfunctions. Surgeons who use the da Vinci regularly say the robot is technologically sound and an asset in the hands of well-trained doctors. But they caution that it requires considerable practice.

Surgical Robot Examined in Injuries

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Toyota settles wrongful death lawsuit

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

By ANDREW DALTON Associated Press January 18, 2013 2:28AM

LOS ANGELES — Toyota Motor Corp. has settled what was to be the first in a group of hundreds of pending wrongful death and injury lawsuits involving sudden, unintended acceleration by Toyota vehicles, a company spokesman said Thursday.

Toyota reached the agreement in the case brought by the family of Paul Van Alfen and Charlene Jones Lloyd, spokeswoman Celeste Migliore said. They were killed when their Toyota Camry slammed into a wall in Utah in 2010.

Toyota settles wrongful death lawsuit

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North Aurora couple say teen neighbor installed wireless video camera in their bedroom

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

Axis 213 PTZ IP Video CameraBy Clifford Ward, Special to the Tribune 9:27 p.m. CST, January 16, 2013
A North Aurora couple who say their teenage neighbor set up a wireless video camera in their bedroom are suing him and his parents.

The lawsuit was filed late last month in Kane County court on behalf of David and Katerina Speers.

They allege that their 16-year-old neighbor planted the camera while he was baby-sitting at their house. The teen and his parents live next door to the Speerses, according to the suit, and the teen had baby-sat for the family a number of times over the last two years.

North Aurora couple say teen neighbor installed wireless video camera in their bedroom

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Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

David Kirby

The federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, better known as “vaccine court,” has just awarded millions of dollars to two children with autism for “pain and suffering” and lifelong care of their injuries, which together could cost tens of millions of dollars.

The government did not admit that vaccines caused autism, at least in one of the children. Both cases were “unpublished,” meaning information is limited, and access to medical records and other exhibits is blocked. Much of the information presented here comes from documents found at the vaccine court website.

Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism

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Chicago nears $32M settlement in police lawsuits

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

By The Associated Press

CHICAGO – A Chicago City Council committee preliminarily approved settlements in two police misconduct cases Tuesday that would cost the city nearly $33 million, including $22.5 million to a California woman that apparently would be the largest to a single such plaintiff in the city’s history.

The full City Council is expected to sign off on the settlements Thursday.

The bigger of the two would go to the family of Christina Eilman, who will require care for the rest of her life for severe brain injuries suffered in a 2006 fall from a 7th-floor window at a Chicago housing project where she had just been raped….

Chicago nears $32M settlement in police lawsuits

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City Council To Weigh $22.5M Settlement In Bipolar Woman’s Lawsuit

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

CHICAGO (CBS) – The city’s Law Department is proposing a $22.5 million settlement in a federal lawsuit filed by the family of a bipolar woman who was raped and nearly killed in 2006, after she was released from police custody in one of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods in 2006.

Christina Eilman, 21 at the time, was arrested on May 7, 2006, after allegedly causing a disturbance at Midway International Airport, according to court records. She suffered from bipolar disorder and, according to experts, was in an acute manic phase at the time.

She was taken to a South Side police station and held overnight. Despite calls from her parents telling police she suffered from bipolar disorder, police released her near the Robert Taylor Homes public housing project, without any assistance, and dressed in a cutoff top, short shorts, and boots.

City Council To Weigh $22.5M Settlement In Bipolar Woman’s Lawsuit

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3 teachers, union sue CPS, allege racial bias

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

School overhauls target South, West side campuses with higher percentages of African-American staff, educators say
December 27, 2012, By Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune reporter

Three Chicago Public Schools teachers who lost their jobs this year said in a lawsuit that the district’s process for “turnaround” schools is racially discriminatory because it targets West and South side campuses with a higher percentage of African-American teachers and staff.

The teachers, Donald L. Garrett Jr., Robert Green and Vivonell Brown Jr., are joined in the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Chicago Teachers Union. The lawsuit asks for class-action status, saying the district discriminates against African-American teachers and paraprofessionals when it selects schools for “turnaround” based on performance, “resulting in the termination of all employees of the schools.”

3 teachers, union sue CPS, allege racial bias

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Lawsuit filed after Illinois trooper’s death

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Jeffrey Friedman, P.C.

Posted: Jan 10, 2013 3:07 AM CST Updated: Jan 10, 2013 3:07 AM CST

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) – An attorney has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the widow of an Illinois State Police trooper who was killed in a tractor-trailer crash.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports that Swansea attorney Thomas Keefe filed the lawsuit on behalf of Trooper Kyle Deatherage’s wife, Sarah Deatherage. Kyle Deatherage died Nov. 26 when a Georgia trucker lost consciousness and his tractor-trailer struck and killed the trooper.

The lawsuit was filed against trucking company DOT Foods Inc. and the truck driver. DOT Foods Inc. corporate counsel Jim Tracy said the firm had not yet seen the lawsuit and had no comment.

Lawsuit filed after Illinois trooper’s death

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