Chicago Probate Attorney

Facts: An 8-year-old child and a 2-year-old child were occupants in their relative’s vehicle. The vehicle was traveling eastbound on Interstate 80, during a snowstorm in Bureau County, Illinois, when the driver lost control of her vehicle, crossed the center median and came to a rest in the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 whereupon it was then struck by another vehicle.

Client’s Injuries: The older child was deceased at the scene. The younger child suffered a right occipital skull fracture, extending down to the condyle; severe traumatic brain injury; posttraumatic hydrocephalus; left temporal intracranial hemorrhage and contusion; subdural hygroma (interval development); ruptured spleen; bleeding in the left chest cavity; left proximal femur fracture; bronchial trauma; respiratory failure; and left liver lobe laceration.

The next of kin of the deceased child received $450,000.00. The younger child, who was hospitalized for nearly two years, received the remaining $1,650,000.00.

Case: Medical Malpractice, Will County, Illinois

Facts: Our client’s 80-year-old family member was admitted to Will County Hospital for hernia surgery. Two days later she became lethargic. Exploratory surgery revealed a laceration to the bowel resulting in infection leading to her death two weeks later.

Injuries: Our client’s family member sustained multi-organ failure septicemia as a result of leakage of bowel material into the abdomen caused by the surgical laceration to bowel.

Case: Nursing Home Neglect, Cook County, Illinois

Facts: Our client’s 68-year-old family member was admitted Nursing Home in Cook County. The next day family members at the defendant facility and discovered that their mother was in severe pain and her right leg was rotated 180 degrees. It appeared she had been given a new mattress but the same bed overnight.

Injuries: The resident was taken to nearby Hospital where she was diagnosed with a displaced subtrochanteric spiral fracture of the proximal right femoral shaft which required an open reduction internal fixation using cephallomedullary nail and LISS Plate. She was hospitalized for approximately one month until she passed away.

Facts: Our client was a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of George Street and Pulaski Road when the defendant who was operating a truck made a sharp left turn when its trailer jumped over the sidewalk, knocking our client to the ground. The rear wheels of the trailer then ran over our client’s right leg causing a degloving of his right knee and thigh, a tibial fracture, and a fibular fracture. The defendants contested the liability in this case. The case settled for $305,000.00.

Client’s Injuries: De-gloving injury of the right knee and thigh, tibial fracture and a fibular fracture.

Facts: Our client was a 24-year-old patron at a tavern owned by Ginx, Inc. Another patron, known only as “Mike,” became intoxicated, argumentative and violent at the tavern as the evening progressed. “Mike” then got into a fight with another patron of the bar and was asked to leave. “Mike” later returned to the bar within minutes and was patted down by the tavern’s bouncer. The bouncer felt what he felt was a gun in “Mike’s” pants and then asked him to leave the tavern, again. Within seconds of Mike leaving the tavern, shots were fired into the tavern through a boarded-up side door. Our client, who was not involved in any altercation that evening, was shot in the back while playing pool near the area of the boarded-up side door.

Client’s Injuries: Permanent paraplegia with paralysis from the nipple-line down, spastic bladder and bowel, broken ribs and a collapsed lung

Facts: The Defendant was operating a tractor trailer rig and made an improper right hand turn from northbound Cicero AV to Northeast bound Southwest Highway striking our client’s vehicle that was in the right turn lane making a right turn.

Client Injuries: Type I Complex Regional Pain Syndrome of the right lower extremity requiring extensive therapy and a spinal cord stimulator being implanted.

Case Results: Legal Malpractice, Products Liability and Worker’s Compensation

Facts: Our client, an employee at a Chicago area food processing company, suffered catastrophic injuries while cleaning a machine he was using at the plant.

Injuries: Traumatic amputation of our client’s right hand involving complete separation of all bones, muscles, tendons, nerves and arteries below the fingers and thumb but above the wrist with multiple attempted but unsuccessful reattachment surgeries and resulting development of right shoulder stiffness, impingement syndrome and adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder syndrome), surgically repaired with a right shoulder arthroscopy and selective capsular release but with permanent restrictions for movement and use of the shoulder.

Our clients initially retained a personal injury law firm located in the Chicago area to handle their workers compensation, personal injury and loss of consortium claims, shortly after the injury. The prior law firm then filed a case against two component part manufacturers under products liability and additional theories, having filed that case within days before the statute of limitations would have expired. After they litigated the case, a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship took place between that law firm and our clients. At that point, our clients retained Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC to take over prosecution of their case. Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC thereafter negotiated the waiver of repayment of the $665,946.05 worker’s compensation lien, but both component part manufacturer defendants sued by the initial Chicago law firm were dismissed with prejudice due to their only being component part manufacturers. They failed to name the assembler whom we alleged was the manufacturer. That party could have been easily identified had the prior law firm filed the case early enough and conducted very basic discovery. Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC then sued the prior lawyers for their legal malpractice in failing to investigate the clients’ claims; their failure to name proper defendants and their failure to file the case in a timely manner. Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC obtained a settlement of $525,000.00 allocated $425,000.00 for our client’s personal injury claim and $100,000.00 for his wife’s loss of consortium claim within days before the trial was set to begin. This was “fresh money” on top of the value of the waived $665,946.05 Workers Compensation lien.