St. Louis Injury Lawyer Blog

A motorcycle rider from St. Clair County, Illinois has filed a motorcycle accident lawsuit against a road construction company and a car driver from Collinsville.

According to an article in the St. Clair Record, the two men collided on Interstate-55 headed west toward East St. Louis as the Collinsville man merged quickly into the Harley rider's lane to avoid road construction. The accident caused the biker's leg to break in several places.

The lawsuit, filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court, holds both the company that was doing roadwork on the interstate and the car driver responsible for their negligence and loss of consortium. The plaintiff alleged that the construction crew failed to provide enough signs to warn drivers of construction, which promoted reckless driving.

With the advent of text messaging, email, and browsing the internet by phone, reckless driving in construction zones has become a problem in Illinois. As such, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has established National Work Zone Awareness Week, which was observed in 2011 from April 4 to 8. IDOT wants Illinois drivers to know that text messaging impairs drivers, and even using a phone in an Illinois work or school zone is now illegal.

Continue reading "St. Clair County, Illinois Harley Rider Sues Collinsville Driver for Wreck" »

A Subway restaurant became the defendant of a food poisoning lawsuit when 41 people allegedly became ill after eating at the same Illinois location.

MySuburbanLife.com reports that two couples had filed suit against the same Subway after discovering their food had been infected with the potentially lethal Shigella sonnei bacteria. One of the plaintiffs had been hospitalized for four days and was experiencing serious symptoms to the point of fearing for her life.

The restaurant closed for a health department investigation. The article reports that this type of bacteria can be spread not only by eating contaminated food, but also from person-to-person contact. The bacteria can be prevented with frequent hand washing.

The Illinois Department of Public Health estimates that 250,000 cases of food poisoning occur each year in the state. Although most cases are not serious and go unreported, in rare situations, food poisoning can cause hospitalization and/or death. Symptoms can show up anywhere between 30 minutes and two weeks of ingesting contaminated food.

Continue reading "Illinois Subway Restaurant Faces Food Poisoning Lawsuit" »

A woman whose husband died from a house fire has filed a wrongful death claim against the Pontoon Beach, Illinois man who started the nearby bonfire.

According to an article in The Telegraph, the late husband was visiting his friend and had fallen asleep inside his friend's house when a bonfire the host had started caught the house on fire. The coroner ruled the death an accident, as the late husband had been intoxicated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that deaths from fires are the third most common cause of death in the home. In 2009, one American citizen died in a fire every 175 minutes on average, while fire-related injuries occurred every 31 minutes.

Continue reading "Pontoon Beach, Illinois Widow Files Wrongful Death Suit" »

A Dupo, Illinois man shot by a municipal police officer is making plans to obtain legal counsel and file a police violation lawsuit against the officer and the police department.

According to an article in the Belleville News-Democrat, a police officer arrived at the man's house due to a domestic disturbance call. At first, the man refused to come out. When he finally did, the officer spotted a weapon of some sort in his hand -- thinking it might possibly be a gun -- and shot him immediately. The bullet went through his arm and into his chest, which caused tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

As it turned out, the object in the man's hand was a baton used by police. The police department found no wrongdoing in the officer's actions, and there are no criminal charges being made against either the man of the officer. Although the man does not wish for the officer to receive jail time, as he admitted he was clearly intoxicated and not fully in control of himself, he did wish to obtain damages from the city for medical bills and pain and suffering.

As of the News-Democrat article's publication, no lawsuit has been filed yet in St. Clair County Circuit Court, but the man said he had contacted a lawyer.

Continue reading "Dupo, Illinois Police Shooting May Lead to Police Violation Lawsuit" »