Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

Archive for December, 2009

Illinois lawyers advice- Never ever co-sign

Monday, December 21st, 2009

About once a week we get a call from someone who is either the defendant in a lawsuit or is about to be. The typical story is usually something like this:

My niece couldn’t get a car on her own so I agreed to co-sign for it. She was supposed to make monthly payments, but she stopped. Now they are coming after me. It’s not fair because I don’t have the car and don’t want it. What do I do?

If you co-sign, you are just as responsible for payments as the person you co-signed for. Whatever agreement this person had with their niece is irrelevant. The bank wants their money and they will get it from whoever they can get it from.

If you want to protect your credit you need to pay off the debt. If you want to get the money back, you need to sue the person you co-signed for.

Moral of the story is that you NEVER EVER co-sign for someone no matter how reliable you think they are.

And while we are at it, don’t ever loan a friend money expecting that they will pay back. This is all a recipe for disaster.

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Tags: co-sign "civil litigation"
Posted in Did You Know? | 1 Comment »

Illinois personal injury lawyers- Do you still want to be the cool parent?

Friday, December 18th, 2009

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I remember when I grew up that there were some “cool parents” that would let their kids and friends drink beer in the house. We all loved those parents and those parties.

Of course kids being kids, over the years a lot of teenagers have drank too much and gotten injured, some even killed from driving drunk. The Illinois legislature made it a felony for a parent to knowingly allow a child to have a party with alcohol in their house. In fact a Deerfield man was convicted of this charge recently.

Even if a minor chooses to drink, if they get hurt at a party you condoned, you face liability for any injuries that they sustain. Typically damages are paid out of your home owner’s insurance policy, but nothing stops an injured person from going after everything you have.

So in today’s world, if you are the cool parent you can get convicted of a felony, go to jail and lose everything you have in a civil lawsuit. Not sure about you, but when the time comes I will be the uncool parent.

Tags: "personal injury lawsuits" alcohol
Posted in Injury Cases | Comments Off

Illinois Criminal Defense Lawyers- Sometimes it’s easier not to fight

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

A woman recently called us because her son is being threatened with criminal prosecution for not registering with the selective service. There is a Federal law that requires males 18-24 to register with the military in case there is a draft. It also allows military recruiters to have their contact information.

This mother does not want her child to join the military which is certainly her prerogative. There is nothing illegal about being anti-war or not wanting your child in the military. Reasonable people can disagree about this.

But the reality is that there is a law in place. Part of that law requires you to register for a draft. We haven’t had a draft in this country since the 1970′s and given how wars are fought now it’s not likely that it will happen anytime soon.

In other words, this family needs to pick its battle. By registering as the law requires, no harm will be suffered. If a military recruiter comes calling you can politely decline. If for some reason a draft is put in to place then you can deal with it at that time. But to risk a felony is just not smart and accomplishes nothing. The Government will prosecute you if you don’t register because they want to send a message to anyone else thinking of not following the rules. Since following the rules has no real harm, our advice was to not fight, register and go on with your life.

On a side note, I remember getting this letter when I turned 18 and having the same thoughts about what I would do if drafted. I’d like to believe I would have served our country. Reality though is that here we are 20 years later and there still isn’t a draft and there is none in sight.

Tags: "criminal defense lawyers Chicago" "selective service"
Posted in Criminal Defense in Illinois | Comments Off

Illinois legal guidance- There is no such thing as a dumb question

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Every Wednesday we post five legal tips based on questions we have had from callers. This week we are going with a theme. The following questions have been asked and we assumed that the answers were obvious. But you know what happens when you assume . . .

I live in Indiana. Can I hire a Chicago attorney for my Indiana divorce?

You “could” but it’s probably not a good idea. It would cost you a ton of money because you’d have to pay for their travel time. On top of that, it’s likely that Chicago attorneys won’t know the local Judges and that can often be the difference between winning and losing. So unless there is something really unique about your case, we suggest you look locally.

I was arrested for shoplifting. I have thought about getting an attorney, but I thought that would make me look bad in front of the Judge. What do you think?

Judges in Illinois actually hate when people aren’t represented and they certainly won’t hold anything against you if you hire a lawyer. And on top of that you can go to jail if convicted so the Judge probably won’t let you proceed without a lawyer.

My husband co-signed on a car for our niece and she has stopped paying the loan. Can they sue him? He’s never driven the car.

Yes, when you co-sign you are just as responsible for the payments as the other person on the loan. By the way, we suggest that you NEVER co-sign for someone.

My grandma didn’t have a will, but she told everyone that she wanted her house to go to me. How can I get it?

Her verbal request without a will or trust means nothing. The only way for you to legally get it is for her proper heirs to do what is called a quit-claim transfer to you or for all of her heirs to reject their inheritance except you.

Last spring I got busted for a fake ID and now the Secretary of State is suspending my license. Is that legal?

Yes. You can apply though for a restricted driving permit to drive for work and school.

Tags: "estate planning" custody
Posted in Five Tips | Comments Off

Did you sign a waiver? That doesn’t give someone a right to be negligent

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

One of the most common questions asked of Illinois medical malpractice lawyers by potential clients is, "Do I still have a chance at a case even though I signed a waiver before the operation?"

The answer is yes. No one can legally get you to sign a form that says that they are allowed to screw up. They might, wisely so, advise you of some of the possible bad outcomes of a surgery. If you get hurt over something that’s a predictable risk of a procedure you probably don’t have a case anyway. For example, it’s not uncommon to have a colonoscopy and end up with a nicked colon that requires additional surgery. Waiver or no waiver, that is almost never a case.

But if you go in for surgery and are given no much anesthesia, resulting in brain damage, the doctor can’t defend himself by saying that you signed a waiver. Or if they try it won’t be successful.

I run a lot of distance races and every one that I enter requires me to waive my right to sue anyone for any reason. If you are running the Chicago Marathon for example, if you break your ankle because Gatorade at a drink station caused you to slip, you probably wouldn’t win a lawsuit because that’s a foreseeable risk of doing a marathon.

On the other hand, if you were running in the marathon and a car being driver by the race director veered in to your path hitting you, you would certainly have a case if you were hurt.

Getting hurt doesn’t mean you have a case. And signing a waiver doesn’t mean you are out of luck.

Tags: waivers negligence "assumption of risk"
Posted in Injury Cases | Comments Off

Looking for an annulment in Illinois? You probably need to go to Church

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Every so often we get a call from someone who has been married just a few days, weeks or months who realizes that they made a big mistake. The quickest we’ve seen was someone who got married at City Hall in Chicago in the morning and called us that afternoon to try and get out of it. Hey, it happens to the best of us.

Most of these callers want to get their marriage annulled. Most also have no idea what that means, but I think they believe it will be quicker and cheaper.

You can only get a legal annulment in Illinois if you haven’t consummated your marriage (sex), can show that you were forced to marry under duress (literally a gun to your head or other threats) or if you can show that you weren’t aware what you were doing when you agreed to get married. Beyond that, even if you’ve only been married for a day, annulment is a Church term.

If you can’t get an annulment you need to get a divorce just like everyone else. There is no quickie solution for a big mistake like this, but at least there shouldn’t be many issues to fight over.

Tags: annulment divorce
Posted in Illinois Family Law | Comments Off

Tweeting, blogging and lawsuits in Illinois

Friday, December 11th, 2009

One of the problems with the legal system is that it doesn’t catch up with technology very well. A recent CNN article highlighted Courtney Love being sued for something she posted on Twitter. A woman in Chicago was also sued for saying something negative about her landlord. And hundreds of people have been sued for defamatory posts that they have put on blogs.

While the law is slow to adapt, we don’t get the debate when it comes to these types of posts.

The law is clear, you can always write truth, you can’t make things up. So if you write it on a blog or a tweet or in a newspaper article we think that you have to follow the same standard.

All this said, there are very few successful lawsuits in Illinois for slander, libel or defamation because it’s really hard to prove that you actually suffered a harm. I could post a blog that says a certain lawyer is terrible, but if that doesn’t hurt his business or he can’t show it, he probably won’t have a case against me.

Someone like Courtney Love is more likely to get sued for a Tweet because lawyers know that she is rich and they can probably make a recovery against her. On the other hand, if your co-worker blogs about how lazy that you are, even if you could win that case, chances are that there isn’t much to collect.

As a FYI, generally in Illinois you have one year from the date something is written or said to sue for slander or libel. So if you think that you have been harmed you should act fast. And if you are the author of a post you should write facts or opinions only.

Tags: Twitter blogging slander libel "defamation of character"
Posted in Litigation | Comments Off

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