Stephen W. Heil and Zachary G. Shook successfully defended a physical therapist and a physical therapy clinic sued for malpractice in allegedly causing burns to a patient’s back from hot pack treatment.  The Cook County, Illinois jury returned a verdict for the defendants and specifically found that the burns to the plaintiff’s back were not caused by the professional negligence of the defendants.  Perez v. Athletico of Oak Park LLC, et al., September 27, 2016.

On September 19, Jeanne Zeiger and the Cray Huber coverage team obtained summary judgment in a $3 million rescission case for Minnesota Lawyers Mutual in federal court.  The case involved a solo patent practitioner who mishandled dozens of patent applications.  Judge St. Eve found in MLM’s favor and rescinded three years of professional liability coverage.  Click here to read the Opinion.

On September 15, members of Cray Huber participated in the Race Judicata 5K run/walk presented by Chicago Volunteer Legal Services.  Race Judicata is the only running event geared towards Chicago’s legal community with proceeds benefiting CVLS, which provides free legal services to Chicago’s poor and working poor families.

Stephen W. Heil and Zachary G. Shook recently obtained summary judgment for a defendant optometrist sued in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois for injuries allegedly caused by the defendant’s care.  Click here to read the Court’s Opinion.

Adam Carter was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, the state’s preeminent community of defense attorneys.  On June 24, Adam attended the IDC’s annual meeting and awards banquet where he was installed as a new Board member.  He will serve a three-year term.

On June 16, Jeff Siderius conducted an online WebEx client training session on Illinois target tenders and how they are used.

On May 16, the Cray Huber appellate department won a victory on behalf of its client physician when the First District Appellate Court upheld the circuit court’s denial of the plaintiff’s motion to convert the physician from a respondent in discovery to a defendant.  Click here for details.

On May 23, Stephen W. Heil participated in an Athletic Trainers Concussion Panel that focused on concussion evaluations and return to play policies.

Adam C. Carter co-authored the new Monograph for the IDC Quarterly entitled, “Just When You Thought You Knew Who You Represented:  A New Decision May Upset the Law Regarding Attorney Liability to Third Parties.”  Monograph, IDC Quarterly, Volume 26, Number 2.

Daniel Cray and Benjamin Beringer successfully defended the actions of a neurologist and his employer in a medical malpractice suit brought on behalf of a patient rendered a quadriplegic by post-surgical complications.  The injured plaintiff’s wife also sued after giving up her job to be her husband’s 24-hour-a-day attendant care giver.

Plaintiff argued the neurologist failed to appreciate and act upon an emergency situation where plaintiff’s blood pressure was not perfusing his spinal cord.  The Cray Huber attorneys argued that the lower blood pressure was not an emergency and was due to medications, including two narcotics.  The defense also argued that the proximate cause of plaintiff’s quadriplegia was a rare and unpredictable reperfusion injury occurring after an acute decompressive laminectomy.

The jury deliberated nine hours before rendering its verdict.  Plaintiffs had asked for $40,000,000, including almost $10,000,000 in past and future medical and $2,000,000 in future salary and benefits.  After the verdict, the following testimonials were received from the neurologist and the president of the neurology clinic:

Testimonials

“Dear Dan:

You (most especially you), Ben and Rodney, not only restored my trust in the justice system, but also made me appreciate your profession in its pursuit of the truth.  Your going out of your way to meet with me at various odd times demonstrated your professionalism and was very reassuring.  I must say you stand out among the lawyers I have ever met.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“Dear Dan and Ben:

I hope you were able to get a few days of rest after the enormous and exhausting work you put in defending me.  I do not believe I had anyone ever fighting for me as hard as you did.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart not only for your exceptional expertise and professionalism, but especially for the genuine respect, trust and compassion toward me.  I truly felt being among friends from the first minute to the last.  I want you to regard me as your friend as well.  And I want you to know that I would be honored to do a good deed for you someday too.  I would also like to offer my personal thanks to Rodney for his dedicated work on this case for many years.”