Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

Archive for May, 2010

Chase Payment Protector

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

We don’t have first hand proof of this, but have been told by a consumer fraud attorney that Chase Bank on their credit cards is at times signing up clients for the Chase Payment Protector plan without it being requested. Again, we have no proof of this, but if this has happened to you we have lawyers that are interested in speaking with you. Please contact us at (800) 517-1614 with any questions.

Posted in Litigation | Comments Off

Illinois legal advice on frivolous lawsuits

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Every Wednesday we provide five legal tips based on questions received from readers. This week we are giving five examples of lawsuits that would, in our opinion, be frivolous or otherwise laughed out of court if filed. Most people contact us with legitimate cases, but every now and then . . .

If you have to ask, the answer to all the questions is “No you don’t have a case.”

-I was caught shoplifting and while running from the guards I slipped on a piece of paper that was on the floor and tore my meniscus. Can I sue them for negligence?

-Ok, I missed three days from work, didn’t call off for two of those days and I was fired. But I don’t think that’s fair because someone else I worked with blew off work and didn’t call and she still has a job. She’s the niece of my boss. Do I have a case for wrongful termination?

-I was arrested for stealing a car. I swear I didn’t do it, it must have been someone that looks like me because some witness swore it was me. So I plead guilty to avoid jail time and now this on my record forever. I want to sue for false arrest and defamation. What do you think?

-My Dad had lung cancer and was sent to hospice. I don’t think he got the treatment there that he deserved. No one would answer my questions and Dad died much sooner than I expected. Can I sue them for wrongful death.

-I went to see a lawyer about a car accident. He offered to represent me, but I declined as I was trying to avoid a lawsuit and do it myself. The attorney told me that if I changed my mind he’d be happy to help at any time. Well I couldn’t settle my case and called the attorney two days before time was going to run out to file a lawsuit. He didn’t get to me until the following week so I wasn’t able to get my lawsuit filed in time. Will you help me sue this lawyer? I feel that because of him I blew the statute of limitations.

Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. If you would like our help please contact one of our lawyers via our on-line form or call (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys for legal matters throughout Illinois. All inquiries are free and confidential.

Posted in Five Tips | Comments Off

Don’t like your criminal sentence? It’s probably too late.

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

The time to hire the right attorney is before the main part of the case has been decided. That is true for all areas of law and certainly matters in criminal defense cases in Illinois.

Recently a caller was upset because her brother received two years in jail for a burglary. She (understandably) didn’t want him to be away from his young son and was hoping that he could have his sentence changed to house arrest.

Technically you can file a motion to ask a Judge to reconsider a sentence, but the chances of him/her changing their mind is about as good as your chances of winning the lottery today, maybe worse. The Judge gives the sentence that they want to give, the sentence that they feel is appropriate.

Arguments like “he has young children that need him around” should and can be made at the sentencing hearing. No Judge will be impressed or sympathetic to arguments that are made after the fact.

If a new circumstance arises (e.g. your spouse gets terminal cancer and there is no one to watch the kids), the Judge mightbe willing to listen to a reconsideration motion, but even then I wouldn’t hold my breath or actually expect it. Most Judges aren’t wishy-washy or easily swayed, especially when it comes to over-turning their own decisions.

The other day we referred out a case to a Chicago criminal defense attorney. The client was charged with trespassing and the prosecutor wanted to upgrade the charges to felony home invasion because the drunk client walked in to the wrong house and destroyed a bunch of property. Because they had the right lawyer to begin with, the well connected defense attorney kept the charges where they were and got the case dismissed for restitution on the damages and 30 hours of community service. This lawyer did an amazing job. But if the client had plead guilty and been sentenced or gone with a lawyer that wasn’t going to fight for him, even this attorney could not have done a thing for him once the sentence had occurred.

So no matter what type of case you have, especially a criminal one, make the right legal decisions in the beginning, not when you aren’t happy with the results.

Tags: criminal defense, sentencing
Posted in Criminal Defense in Illinois | Comments Off

What Illinois medical malpractice isn’t

Monday, May 17th, 2010

We recently had a call from a woman who was understandably upset because she has been treated for an unknown illness for 18 months and no doctor has been able to tell her what is wrong with her. Her frustration was that it has been test after test after test and she still feels lousy. She wants to sue someone because she feels that doctors should be able to solve her problem after all this time.

Despite all that she has no case. When you go to a doctor or hospital there isn’t a guarantee that they are going to make you better. They don’t have to solve your problem. They don’t have to cure your disease. Quite honestly we’ve seen many times where patients have gone in with a broken bone, been told they are fine and a week later learned that they actually had a broken bone. That is usually not a malpractice suit either.

Medical malpractice lawyers in Illinois don’t just pursue cases where there is a bad result and they don’t just pursue cases where there is negligence. You need to have negligence that led to a bad result. It’s not negligent to fail to diagnose a problem unless the standard of appropriate care has been violated. An example of that would be if you went to the doctor with a pain in your chest, they did an x-ray that showed breast cancer, but said you were fine. Nine months later you have stage four breast cancer. That would be negligence that led to a bad result.

If you go to the doctor with a broken bone and they say it’s a sprain, unless your problem gets much worse then their error isn’t a case. Much worse would be if blood flow got cut off that led to an amputation or something like that. If your damages are that you walked around in pain for a few extra days or missed a week or two more of work than you would have otherwise, that is not enough to bring a lawsuit over.

Despite what some fear-mongerers want you to believe, malpractice lawsuits are rare and very difficult to win. Most doctors will go their entire career without getting sued and most that do get sued pay nothing. It’s not that these doctors never make mistakes; rather they don’t make mistakes that lead to a problem that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

Posted in Injury Cases | Comments Off

What should an Illinois defamation lawsuit be worth?

Friday, May 14th, 2010

A lot of people are “defamed.” It’s a false statement that hurts your reputation. Whether it’s spoken (slander) or written (libel), you have one year in Illinois to file a lawsuit from the time it is first stated, not from when you discover it.

Despite how often people are defamed, defamation lawsuits are very rare. This is mostly for two reasons. First, if your unemployed neighbor says that you stole their lawn mower and you sue them because it’s not true, even if you win how will you collect? Second, and most importantly, what is a lawsuit for defamation in Illinois really worth anyway?

If your neighbor says that you stole their lawnmower, how are you really hurt? If you lose a friend over it, did you have that friend anyway and if so, how much money is that friendship worth? It’s not like a car accident where we can measure some damages by looking at medical bills.

Take for example a recent caller who owns a business that is fairly successful. A local newspaper ran a column about someone who was charged with a major drug crime and instead of showing the picture of the actual criminal, the paper put a picture of this reputable businessman. He found out about it from some family members and friends. The error occurred because his name and that of the criminal are similar.

Now it’s surely embarrassing and if he could prove he lost actual business over this it would be a case where there would be damages. But how do we prove that someone didn’t hire him? It’s probably difficult to quantify. There are definitely damages there, but is it worth $10,000.00 or $300,000.00 or some other number? To some people it would be shocking and to others, not so much.

A few years ago, Illinois Supreme Court Justice and former Chicago Bear Bob Thomas sued a paper for libel after they indicated that he traded his bench vote for a political favor. He sued and won $7 million (later reduced to $4 million). Although that was wrong to say, what damages did he suffer? He didn’t lose his job? You can speculate that it made for awkwardness when he heard a case, but are millions of dollars justified? I have no idea. Some people would say it’s not enough.

The defense to all of these cases are either it’s the truth (can’t sue for that) or it’s my opinion (can’t sue for that either). If you’ve been defamed we understand how frustrating that must be. But you should take a step back and figure out is this just some-one’s opinion and if it’s not, what provable harm did I really suffer?

Tags: defamation
Posted in Litigation | Comments Off

Would you take legal advice from this man?

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

In case you don’t recognize him, this is former Cubs fan nightmare Milton Bradley. He’s not known for a cool temper or for making very good decisions. He’s flipped off fans, gone after fans, gone after announcers, pissed off teammates and is generally one of the least liked people in baseball. I don’t know him personally, but he doesn’t seem like a smart man or a class act.

Recently Milton was sued by his former landlord in Chicago for allegedly not paying rent and allegedly destroying some of the apartment property. In turn Milton is suing for not having his security deposit returned. (Note that we know nothing about this case and who is right or wrong).

Milton has hired a very big and reputable law firm to represent him. They have offices throughout the country and list more than 30 practice areas on their website, most of which are targeted toward corporate clients (class action defense, complex bankruptcy, securities litigation, toxic tort defense, etc.). Do you know what practice area isn’t mentioned? Landlord-tenant law.

Now the Illinois and Chicago Landlord Tenant Acts are not hard to get up to speed on. Milton has also hired a firm with many brilliant lawyers. If I had to make an educated guess, he was probably referred to them previously for another matter or by an agent or business manager. That said, it’s probable that the attorney who is handling his case hasn’t handled a ton of matters in the landlord/tenant court. That of course doesn’t mean that they can’t do a good job, but we don’t think that gives Milton the best chance of a good result.

He’s probably also paying a higher fee than he would if he hired someone who does nothing but landlord/tenant work every day or a smaller firm that handles hundreds of those cases a year.

The case will probably work out fine, but since you probably don’t make the millions that Milton does, if you are faced with a similar situation we think you are best served by hiring a lawyer who is very narrowly focused in his/her practice and can demonstrate a history of success in that area of law. We are big believers in predictors of success and giving yourself the best chance for success. This is true no matter what area of law your case involves.

So if you want advice on hiring the right attorney look to us. If you want to know how to alienate a fan base or teammates, turn to Milton.

Posted in Litigation | Comments Off

Illinois legal advice on mistakes made in family law

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Every Wednesday we provide five legal tips based on questions received from readers. Today’s tips involve the five biggest mistakes made in family law.

1. Getting legal advice from your ex: About once a day I hear something like, “My ex told me that if he has custody of the kids three days a week that he doesn’t have to pay child support.” When someone who does not have your best interests at heart is giving you legal advice you should just smile, nod your head and walk away, forgetting everything they told you. People drive themselves crazy when they listen to their ex about what could happen.

2. Signing a birth certificate when you aren’t 100% sure you are the father: If you do this and don’t revoke it in time, even if you are later proven to not be the father you will be in the eyes of the law and could end up supporting a child that isn’t yours.

3. Making verbal agreements. Verbal agreements are not enforceable. Even if it is amicable, get the agreement entered in to by a Judge so it is official. Otherwise don’t be surprised if you start a new relationship and your ex doesn’t like it, resulting in you having to now enter in to an expensive court battle because nothing is official.

4. Allowing your attorney to bleed you to death. “Bleeding the file” is a term that lawyers use for other attorneys who make battles when there are none, just so they can charge the client a lot of money. Don’t let your attorney create a phony battle over an issue you don’t care about and insist on monthly itemized billing statements so you can keep on top of your legal tab.

5. Failing to get divorced when you are separated and have no plans of getting back together. We are all for trying to work it out if you can, but if you stay married you allow your spouse to continue to have rights to any pension you accrue. They also have rights to any other income. Win the lottery and they get half. Get in to a car accident, they get half. They might also be able to make medical decisions for you if you get ill.