What’s New

We are pleased to announce that Jason Friedl, King Roy, and Mark Mickiewicz have been made partners.

King Roy has been named a Rising Star for Civil Litigation Defense for the second straight year in 2012 Illinois Super Lawyers.

Brad Purcell and Jennifer Simms earned a not-guilty verdict in the Section 1983 civil rights case of Mendez v. Kreissler, Court No. 09 CV 2276, tried in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. The jury returned its defense verdict in 15 minutes.

King Roy obtained a not-guilty verdict in a premises liability jury trial in Lake County, Illinois. The plaintiff asked the jury for an award of $120,000.00.

After obtaining summary judgment on coverage, Tom Underwood, Mike Sanders, and R.J. VanSwol obtained summary judgment on damages in the amount of $3.8 million in the Northern District of Illinois in a case relating to insurance carriers' obligations to an additional insured.

Mark Mickiewicz obtained summary judgment in Cook County, Illinois, in favor of a construction subcontractor, where the court found that the plaintiff was entitled to no monetary damages.

Jason Friedl obtained summary judgment on behalf of restaurant in a premises liability action based on no duty to protect a patron against a fight in an adjacent parking lot.

Brad Purcell will be conducting two seminars on the topics of "Handling Premises Liability Claims and Litigation" and "Evaluating and Investigating Construction Accident Litigation" at the upcoming PLRB Claims Conference in Orlando, FL, on April 17 and 19, 2012.

Mike Sanders obtained summary judgment in Sangamon County, Illinois, in favor of an insurance carrier where the court found that there was no insurance coverage for claims against the insured for faulty workmanship and breach of contract. The court held that the allegations did not constitute an occurrence as defined by the policy and that the insured breached the policy's notice provisions.

Tom Underwood removed a legal malpractice action to arbitration and obtained a favorable resolution through a consent award with no payment on the claims against the client firm.

Jon Schaefer succeeded in transferring venue from Grundy County, Illinois, to Ogle County, Illinois, of a $2,000,000 products liability lawsuit filed by Grundy County related to a fire loss involving one of its maintenance buildings, and then obtained a dismissal of his client from the litigation.

Jennifer Simms obtained the dismissal of an action against a municipality on the grounds of failure to state a cause of action, where the plaintiff failed to allege that the municipality had notice of a defective condition.

Melissa Karczewski obtained summary judgment in a construction negligence case.

Jason Friedl obtained dismissal with prejudice based on the anti-subrogation rule and waiver in an action where a restaurant landlord's insurer sued the tenant to recover for fire damage.

Tom Underwood represented an excess carrier in a double-death construction accident case and used the Illinois doctrine of targeted tender to allocate the entire settlements to the subcontractors' insurers.

Jim Dower succeeded in transferring venue from Cook County, Illinois, to Will County and Stephenson County, Illinois, for two personal injury lawsuits arising out of construction accidents.

Mark Mickiewicz obtained dismissal of a Section 1983 claim in federal court in favor of a municipality which repossessed certain vehicles from a local dealership.

Jon Schaefer obtained a very favorable settlement in a negligence lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana allegedly arising out of the failure of a fixed ladder on a milk tank trailer.

Tom Underwood obtained the dismissal of complaints against four individual attorneys before the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission in connection with defending the claimant's pending civil suit against their firm.

Mark Mickiewicz, Jason Friedl, Brad Purcell, and Tom Underwood presented an update on Illinois law at Society Insurance in October 2011. Mark Mickiewicz spoke on valuing a personal injury claim; Jason Friedl, liability in the service industry; Brad Purcell, recent issues in civil liability; and Tom Underwood, recent issues in insurance coverage.

Jason Friedl obtained dismissal of an action against a used car dealership that had no duty with respect to the plaintiff's product-liability claims.

Tom Underwood and R.J. VanSwol obtained a favorable result in a declaratory action filed against an insurer when the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the suit in response to their motion to dismiss.

Mike Sanders obtained judgment in Cook County, Illinois, in favor of an insurance carrier where the court found that the allegations against the insured nursing home were not covered by the particular insurance policy at issue. The insured had been sued by the family of a former resident who had suffered burns over her entire body due to the alleged negligence of the nursing home. The court held that the policy at issue covered only certain designated operations that were not implicated by the plaintiff's suit.

Brad Purcell conducted a seminar on "Evaluating and Investigating Construction Accident Litigation" at the following events: the PLRB Claims Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 4-5, 2011; the Specialty Trades Insurance Program, Risk Control Workshop in Chicago, Illinois, on August 17, 2011; and the West Bend Fall Claims Conference on October 12, 2011.

Jason Friedl obtained dismissals of consumer fraud claims against a corporate officer and salesman at a used car dealership based on the application of arbitration agreements.

R.J. VanSwol and Tom Underwood, as monitoring counsel for an excess carrier, facilitated settlements as to over 20 plaintiffs in multiple-fatality bus accident case litigation pending in two states.

Jon Schaefer obtained favorable settlements in two product liability lawsuits filed in Decatur, Illinois, alleging that the plaintiffs sustained catastrophic burn injuries after a worker unbolted a small mandoor, and scalding water, steam, and ash were released. His client was the manufacturer of the multi-story power cogeneration boiler built in the early 1990s.

Mark Mickiewicz successfully negotiated several settlements of multiple class action lawsuits alleging total damages often in excess of $50,000,000.

Tom Underwood and R.J. VanSwol prevailed against motions to dismiss in two federal declaratory judgment cases relating to coordination of coverage among multiple insurers.

Jason Friedl obtained dismissal with prejudice on behalf of alleged property manager based on the court's ruling that the allegations were insufficient to establish the defendant's relationship to the property at which the plaintiff sustained injuries.

Tom Underwood, Mike Sanders, and R.J. VanSwol provided coverage opinions to facilitate favorable resolutions for insurers in areas include employment law, construction, civil rights, intellectual property, healthcare professional liability, the hospitality industry, and automotive coverage.