Pfaff & Gill, Ltd. - Chicago Trial Lawyers

Public Citizen profiles Bruce Pfaff

2011-12-05T20:21:00.001-08:00

Public Citizen is an extraordinary group that advocates effectively for public safety and true democracy. Our firm has supported Public Citizen for many years. The organization recently profiled Bruce Pfaff, our founding partner on its site: http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=4295.

We are proud of the acknowledgement and encourage all to support Public Citizen. Excellent examples of their good work can be found at www.citizen.org.

Leg amputation from Defective Product- Record Verdict

2011-12-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

Bruce Pfaff and Matt Ports were on trial for two weeks in August in Tazewell County (Pekin, IL). They represented a young man, who, when he was 19, suffered the traumatic amputation of his left leg when it was crushed by the gantry of a MiTek RoofGlider (R) machine. The young man was employed in a truss making operation for Central Illinois Truss. The previous high verdict in Tazewell County for any kind of injury case was $970,000.

The jury awarded the exact amount Mr. Pfaff requested in closing argument: $13,544,172.71. It was the fifth time in Mr. Pfaff's career that a jury awarded everything he has requested to the penny. The RoofGlider design sold to Central Illinois Truss was incredibly dangerous and the jury saw that. The safety bar, designed to protect workers in Mr. Stone's position, failed when he contacted it and this allowed the gantry to advance, crushing the worker's leg against a steel plate for 60 minutes. It took paramedics, police and co-workers that long to free his leg from the machine.

Included in the damages were past and future medical expenses, which totaled more than $3,500,000.

Young Farm Workers Electrocuted

2011-07-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

We have followed with great sadness the news of two young ladies from Sterling, Illinois, who were electrocuted while working in a cornfield in Tampico, Illinois, as contract workers for Monsanto Corporation. Reports indicate that the young ladies were removing tassels from corn in a field and came into contact with a field irrigator system or water in which it was sitting. A co-worker reported that the field was flooded and looked like a pond. Water is a good conductor of electricity and any electric energy passing into the water could seriously injure any person in contact with the water. No reports indicate that the young ladies were aware that the water was energized or dangerous.

Monsanto has now removed its workers from the fields per published reports.

While OSHA representatives were on site, the agency reported that its report could take up to six months to complete.

Beyond the deep sympathy we have for the families and friends of the young ladies, we are disappointed that is will take OSHA months in order to get to the bottom of the problem. Prompt legal investigation using skilled work place experts should uncover the root causes of this tragedy and what can be done to prevent events like this in the future. Answers should not wait for OSHA's report.

Management and Ethical Considerations

2011-03-29T11:48:00.001-07:00

Bruce Pfaff will address a committee of the Chicago Bar Association on April 5, 2011 at 12:15. His presentation is "Management and Ethical Considerations of Solo and Small Firm Lawyers." Bruce will discuss the things he has learned in managing what started as his solo practice and then the small firm he heads over the past twenty years as well as recent amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct.

How Bad is Hospital Care for Medicare Beneficiaries?

2011-03-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

13.5% of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stays during the most recent period studied, October 2008. An "adverse event" is defined as harm to a patient as a result of medical care. An estimated 1.5% of Medicare beneficiaries experienced an event that contributed to their deaths, which projects to 15,000 patients in a single month. These data should be frightening to all of us who will likely wind up in a hospital sometime.

An exhaustive report issued by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services details these findings. It is available on line or we will be happy to supply it to you. It is publication # OEI-06-09-00090.

We always suggest to our friends and family how to help improve hospital care:
1. A family member should always be present at the hospital to protect the patient's best interests;
2. Keep a notebook of key events and people who provide care so that the next family member who comes to stay with the patient can have all the important information at her fingertips;
3. Be kind and helpful to the healthcare team--after all, you want what they want which is a healthy patient;
4. If you see something amiss, such as the patient getting a drug not intended for her, politely ask whether the medicine is really intended for this patient. Help the caregiver do the right thing!
5. Remember that healthcare workers often work 12 hours shifts and that it is a demanding job--don't be picky about the small stuff but make sure the important things are handled properly.

We Support Peaceful Protests in Wisconsin

2011-02-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

Peaceful protests are a way of life and should be. Wisconsin public employee union members and their friends should be congratulated for their peaceful protests against actions they feel are unjust.

Calls to violence against protesters should stop. As reported yesterday, a lawyer employed by the state of Indiana lost his job for advocating violence against protesters. The state did the right thing. Here is what was reported:

A deputy attorney general in Indiana recently tweeted some advice for police facing pro-labor protesters in Wisconsin: “Use live ammunition.”

The comment and others, made in response to a Feb. 19 tweet by a Mother Jones writer, have ended badly for the government lawyer, Jeffrey Cox. He is now out of a job, according to CNN, the Associated Press and Mother Jones.

The Indiana Attorney General’s office explained its decision in a statement. “We respect individuals' First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility," the AG's office said.

According to Mother Jones, Cox said the protesters were "political enemies" and "thugs" who were physically threatening lawmakers, and he called the publication’s reporter a “typical leftist.”

"You're damned right I advocate deadly force,” Cox reportedly wrote.

Choose the Best Possible Hospital and Nursing Home

2011-02-24T15:18:00.000-08:00

There are many sources available to help people choose health care facilities that are well rated by governmental or private agencies. It is important to use all possible sources when your own care or the care of family and friends is at stake. We can recommend you seek out the recommendations of Blue Cross Blue Shield for hospitals, published as the Blue Star Hospital Report. The reports summarizes the results of quality and safety performance measures for 91 Illinois hospitals.

You should also compare hospitals and nursing homes in your area on www.medicare.gov.

$8 Million Wrongful Death Settlement

2010-12-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

Bruce R. Pfaff of Pfaff & Gill, Ltd., Chicago, today reported that his clients, the survivors of a 52-year-old Chicago area woman, settled their wrongful death case against the anesthesiologist who failed to intubate her and the hospital where he was on staff. The doctor will pay his full policy proceeds of $2,000,000 and the hospital, sued under the principle of apparent agency, will pay $6,000,000. The settlement was approved by the Honorable William D. Maddux this week. The case was due to be assigned to a trial judge for jury selection.

The decedent, who worked in a non-paying capacity at an area church, went to the hospital for surgery to remove an enlarged thyroid gland. General anesthesia after an “awake” intubation was planned by the anesthesiologist. Despite what the anesthesiologist said were two very small doses of a sedative, his patient suffered a respiratory arrest. According to Pfaff, the family’s lawyer,

“This respiratory arrest should have prompted immediate action by the anesthesiologist—he should have asked the surgeon, standing by to do the thyroid surgery, to do a tracheostomy. It is clear from the majority of witnesses in the OR that the anesthesiologist did not request a tracheostomy right away but attempted unsuccessfully for many minutes, with his patient in full respiratory arrest, to intubate and ventilate his patient. During this time, massive, irreversible brain damage occurred, leading to death 8 days later.”

The anesthesiologist was deposed once early in the case and the second time late in the case. In his first deposition, he said that it took the surgeon 12 minutes to complete the emergency tracheostomy. After all the other fact witnesses were deposed, who indicated that the surgeon completed the trach in 1-2 minutes, the anesthesiologist modified his testimony to say that the surgeon obtained an airway in 4-5 minutes. The surgeon, who was sued based on the indication that he took too long to do the tracheostomy, was voluntarily dismissed from the case after discovery was completed. The family made no settlement demand on the surgeon’s lawyers believing he did nothing wrong.

The anesthesiologist revealed in the second deposition that he prepared almost every entry of the anesthesia record two hours after the arrest. He explained that he went to the anesthesia monitor machine and used its “track back” features to see the vital signs, pulse oximetry readings, and end tidal CO2 readings. What he charted in the anesthesia record even after “tracking back” was “inaccurate” or “not true” per the doctor’s own testimony. He also noted he could have printed the accurate data concerning the patient from the anesthesia monitor machine but did not do so. “A doctor or nurse making a late entry must chart it as a late entry—this anesthesiologist did not do so. His record described a situation that was a false representation of what occurred in the OR. Even the anesthesiology experts hired to defend the case, Dr. Jeffrey Vender, Evanston and Dr. Kenneth Tuman, Chicago, had to admit that the false charting represented deviations from the standard of care,” according to Pfaff.

Despite the strength of the evidence of medical negligence, defense experts Vender and Tuman continued their long-standing record of testifying in support of anesthesiology defendants. Dr. Vender acknowledged to having testified at more than 150 trials as an expert, only for the defense. Dr. Tuman admits to testifying 95% for the defense in claims of anesthesiology malpractice. Both doctors denied that the defendant here provided negligent care to his patient. Plaintiff’s anesthesiology expert was Dr. Ronald Wender, Los Angeles.

The settlement proceeds, all representing loss of society damages, will be divided among decedent’s two adult children and her husband, who has since remarried.

The family was represented by Bruce R. Pfaff and Matthew D. Ports, Pfaff & Gill, Ltd., Chicago, along with William A. Vlasek, Lansing, IL. The family has requested that details of the settlement identifying them, the defendants or the case caption be omitted from any publication concerning this case in order to preserve their privacy.

Defense lawyers involved in the case were: John Smith and Howard Pikel, Pretzel & Stouffer, Chrtd., Chicago, for the anesthesiologist; Barry Bollinger and Mike Krause, Bollinger, Ruberry & Garvey, Chicago, for the hospital; and Mauri Thomas, Fedota, Childers, Chicago, for the surgeon.

For more information please contact Bruce Pfaff at (312) 828-9666 or by e-mail.

Speeches on Current Legal Issues

2010-11-14T18:44:00.000-08:00

Bruce Pfaff last week gave speeches on topics of interest for practicing lawyers: first, for the Illinois State Bar Association, Bruce commented on the new Illinois Rules of Evidence, and second, for the Chicago Bar Association, Bruce presented "Fun and Games at Trial," explaining that trials should be interesting and engaging in order to be successful.

New Awards and Professional Recognition

2010-10-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Bruce Pfaff has just received three significant professional awards for his work:

He was named one of Illinois's Top Ten Lawyers for 2011 by Superlawyers, a lawyer rating service.

He was named Chicago Product Liability Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers, another lawyer rating service.

He received one of six Trial Lawyer Excellence Awards given at the 50th Anniversary Celebration for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

Bruce greatly appreciates the professional recognition and the great contributions that his firm's lawyers and non-lawyer personnel have made to his (and the firm's) success.

Bruce Pfaff to Present at ITLA's Update & Review Seminar

2010-08-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

Bruce Pfaff will be giving at presentation entitled, "Product Liability Update," at the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s Update & Review Seminar on October 1, 2010 at the Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago. For more information, see www.iltla.com.

Bruce Pfaff recognized as one of Chicago's Best Lawyers

2010-06-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

Bruce Pfaff has been identified as one of Chicago's Best Lawyers in the 2010 edition of Best Lawyers in America in the fields of personal injury litigation, product liability litigation and medical malpractice law. These prestigious honors result from polls taken of lawyers in the Chicago legal community.

In the field of medical malpractice, Bruce was listed with six other plaintiffs' lawyers as best in Chicago. Bruce was listed along with only two other plaintiffs' lawyers as best in product liability law, and among 20 other plaintiffs' lawyers ranked as Chicago's Best Lawyers in personal injury law.

Bruce greatly appreciates the professional recognition that Best Lawyers in America has given him, but he recognizes that his successes would not be possible without two excellent law partners, Mike Gill and Matt Ports, and a dedicated staff of paralegals and legal assistants. The firm collaborates on all cases in the office so any lawyer's success reflects the efforts of all firm members.

Publication concerning Product Liability Law

2010-06-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

Bruce Pfaff authored an article for the American Association for Justice's Product Liability Spring 2010 Newsletter "Risk Utility and Consumer Expectations Tests in Strict Product Liability Cases." The article is an outgrowth of his research on this important issue in all other states. To read the article, go to: http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/xchg/justice/hs.xsl/12415_12418.htm.

Firm's Recent Pro Bono Efforts

2010-05-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

In recent weeks, Bruce Pfaff has completed two major pro bono projects. He drafted lengthy technical amendments to the Village Code of Barrington Hills that will help improve equestrian activities in the village while also preserving the rights of non-equestrians. He has been actively involved in that project for 1 1/2 years and with luck, the proposals will be adopted by the Village Board. He will testify before a village board this evening.

Yesterday, Bruce testified before a special committee appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to create a code of evidence law for the state. Evidence rules are presently set by Illinois common law. The Supreme Court is seeking to codify the rules and Bruce, along with a small group of colleagues, presented an analysis of the proposed code in a comment and in testimony.

The written materials from both projects are available on request; please contact the firm.

Setting the Record Straight About Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration and NHTSA

2010-03-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

Letter to the Editor, Pioneer Press, 3-24-10

I have to disagree with Mr. Kotin on a number of issues. Toyota has not issued a recall for anything related to "computer software." Lawyers and engineers studying these issues on behalf of consumers have argued for many months that Toyotas have defects in their computer systems. Toyota has vigorously denied this. NHTSA, which has been slow to act in this crisis, has not ordered a recall relating to Toyota's computer systems.

Toyota, belatedly, has issued recalls relating first to floor mats and then to accelerator pedals. There have been reports of sudden unintended acceleration with Toyota vehicles that have been through the floor mat and accelerator pedal "fixes." In those situations, I suspect that there are problems that go beyond floor mats or pedals. Neither NHTSA nor Toyota has been forthcoming with a satisfactory explanation.

A reliable source for information on Toyota sudden unintended acceleration is www.safetyresearch.net. Its head, Sean Kane, testified before Congress on the topic of Toyota defects. Its website has a thorough report available: http://www.safetyresearch.net/Library/ToyotaSUA020510FINAL.pdf.

I also disagree with Mr. Kotin's assertion that "The system works like this: The government recommends a recall, and after much negotiation, manufacturers usually comply and offer either refunds or repairs." Most of the time, the government receives many reports of occurrences and does not recommend a recall-- even where a recall is warranted. NHTSA has a long history of missing opportunities to order prompt recalls of unsafe products; it took civil jury verdicts to expose the dangers of the Ford Pinto gas tank design, not NHTSA. Just an example.

The way to protect the public is to have a strong enforcement mechanism against those who design and manufacture unsafe products. That mechanism should be part governmental and part by private lawsuits to redress harms caused by unsafe products. Our governmental agencies have let us down in recent decades and need to step up to the plate.

The idea of fixing something after it is out in the public domain is inherently less reliable than the manufacturer doing its job right before selling the product. Safety begins with designing hazards out of products; if that is not possible, then the manufacturer must guard against the dangers of its design. Simply issuing a recall notice is no substitute for safe product design or good corporate behavior.

Sincerely, Bruce R. Pfaff, Pfaff & Gill, Ltd., Trial Lawyers, Chicago.

Toyota Recalls in the Face of Deaths and Injuries

2010-02-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today, workers at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration demanded documents from Toyota Motor Corp. to evaluate whether Toyota issued its recalls "in a timely manner." U.S. law requires automakers to notify the federal agency within five days of identifying a safety defect. The law also requires a prompt recall when a safety defect is identified.

It is good news that NHTSA is taking this step to evaluate Toyota's conduct. Too many people have been injured or killed in Toyota runaway vehicles (also called "sudden unintended acceleration" cases) for the federal government not to step in to enforce the law. If Toyota has violated its reporting or recall responsibilities, it can be fined millions of dollars. Such an action would provide an important safety incentive for all other manufacturers. For many years our federal agencies have been toothless and more interested in protecting corporations rather than consumer rights. Today's action is a sign that the Obama Administration is taking its responsibilities to protect consumers seriously.

The trial lawyers at Pfaff & Gill, Ltd. have been working to protect consumers from auto defects for thirty years and will gladly help any family who has been harmed by unsafe vehicles or other products.

Pfaffs Triumph in Florida Golf Event

2010-02-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

Bruce Pfaff was able to accept a very generous invitation from his friend, Chris Pfaff (no relation), to play in the Invitational Tournament at the Country Club of Florida last weekend. In addition to having a great time in the sun, they earned a close victory over the other teams in the low handicap flight, especially Marshall Duane and his guest, J.R. List. Their victory was aided in small measure by the constant genial abuse they took from their cart-driving caddy, Chris's father, Stu Pfaff, aka "Bozie" or "the Little Squirrel." The club and its hospitality were delightful.

While Bruce was having fun on the golf course, we are overjoyed to report that the Illinois Supreme Court did exactly the right thing by holding that caps on medical malpractice damages are unconstitutional. We will gladly forward you a copy of the court's opinion in LeBron v. Gobblieb, as well as the friend of the court brief that Bruce prepared on behalf of the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association. Call or e mail us and we will pass along the documents. This decision means that victims of medical malpractice in Illinois are entitled to recover all damages they prove to a jury-- and that the Legislature cannot limit those damages.

Friend of the Court Brief to Preserve a Fair Verdict

2010-01-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

Bruce Pfaff yesterday filed a motion in the Illinois Appellate Court for leave to file a friend of the court ("amicus curiae") brief in support of a plaintiff whose son was shot and killed by a City of Chicago employee. The tragic event was captured on a surveillance camera at a CTA stop. In the case, Pleasance v. City, plaintiff received a jury award of $12.5 million. The Appellate Court last month reversed the verdict and directed that the case be retried.

We believe that the appellate court made substantial errors and have joined in the plaintiff's request for a rehearing. Bruce Pfaff's brief was filed on behalf of the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association, the premier plaintiff trial lawyers' organization in Illinois. He has chaired that group's Amicus Curiae committee on a volunteer basis since 1994 and has prepared more than thirty friend of the court briefs on different issues of importance to personal injury clients.

In the brief filed on behalf of the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association, Pfaff argues that the jury instructions that the appellate court criticized were perfectly proper for use in the case. He also noted that if the appellate court felt that the award was too high, they should directly address that issue rather than send the family back to the trial court for another trial and perhaps another appeal. Justice delayed is justice denied in many cases.

For copies of the brief, please contact Bruce Pfaff directly.

Landmark Auto Product Liability Case Settles

2009-10-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

In a landmark Illinois case, Bruce Pfaff and Michael Gill successfully settled the claims of an south suburban man who died because the seat on his 1996 Escort failed during a rear impact. Because of the seat failure, our client was thrown into the rear seat/rear window area of his car and he suffered a fatal head injury. The firm tried the case to a record $27,000,000 jury verdict in 2005 against the rear ending motorist, Ford Motor Company and Mazda Motor Company.After two trips to the appellate court and the Illinois Supreme Court, the judgment against the manufacturers was reversed because the high court changed the law concerning defective products and required a new trial. During the third day of trial proceedings in Cook County, the case settled.

The case highlighted the dangers that exist in front seats of cars and light trucks that are weak. The seat is the main safety device to protect a person in a rear impact and if it fails to stay upright, the seat occupant will be accelerated toward the back of the car where he can hit rear seat occupants or structures in the vehicle, causing severe injuries or death. This is the second seat defect case the office has tried against Ford Motor Company with success. The firm has also successfully represented plaintiffs in seat defect cases against other manufacturers.

A scene photograph taken by the Chicago Police Department shows that it was a significant impact (the Escort was hit by a Cadillac doing 55-60 mph) and that the driver's seat failed to stay upright in the crash.

Post-Operative Negligence Causes Brain Injury and Leads to $9.9 Million Settlement

2009-08-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois, will pay $9,900,000 in voluntary settlement of a case brought on behalf of a boy, then 18 months old, who suffered brain injuries due to negligence post-operative care at that institution in April 2003. The child developed post-operative bleeding that went undetected and untreated by the physician overseeing the child’s care in the pediatric intensive care unit which led to his arrest and brain damage, according to Bruce Pfaff, Pfaff & Gill, Ltd., Chicago, one of his lawyers.

Investigation in the case revealed that the physician assigned to supervise the child’s post-operative care was not sufficiently qualified for the assignment under hospital protocols. The doctor had spent years in different residency programs without having completed them. He was not a specialist in cardiac care, and did not know how to treat the child when his lab values began to deteriorate. He did not treat the child’s deterioration or call for help in a timely fashion.

The hospital was put in an awkward litigation position when all of the other physicians involved in the care identified the resident as the one who was in charge of the child’s care overnight on April 24. In his videotaped deposition, the resident denied that he was in charge of the care, effectively leaving a fact finder to understand that no one was taking responsibility or providing care for the boy during the most important moments of his life.

The case was principally prosecuted by Gary Cohen and Stuart Grossman of Grossman Roth, PA, Miami, Florida. The firm has a well-deserved national reputation for excellence in medical malpractice cases, and they brought Bruce Pfaff in to assist in this case which would have been tried within the next year in Cook County. The hospital was represented by Brian Fetzer of Johnson & Bell. The settlement terms were approved July 30, 2009. S.D. v. Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center. For further information, please contact Bruce Pfaff, (312) 828-9666.

Bruce Pfaff named one of the Best Lawyers in America

2009-08-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

Bruce Pfaff was notified of his inclusion in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. He was elected in the specialties of Medical Malpractice Law, Personal Injury Litigation and Product Liability Litigation. For over a quarter of a century, Best Lawyers® has been regarded – by both the profession and the public – as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States.

For information on how our firm can help you, please contact us at info@pfaffgill.com or 312 828 9666.

Design Defect in Garage Door Opener Leads to Brain Injuries and $9M Settlement

2009-07-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

A judge in Rockford, Illinois, last month approved a $9,000,000 settlement to compensate for brain injuries sustained by a boy, then 4 years-old, who was trapped under a garage door. The young man likely activated the wall switch of the garage door operator and tried to exit the garage. Before he was able to leave the garage, the door contacted him and pinned him to the ground. The “contact” safety reverse system that was supplied with the garage door operator failed to reverse the door, and he was asphyxiated for 5 or more minutes before his mother found him. Paramedics worked to resuscitate the child for 45 minutes before a heart rate could be restored. As a result of the asphyxial event, the child suffered massive brain injuries. He requires custodial care for the rest of his life.

The event occurred in May 2005. The family retained Jeremy Bergstrom, a Rockford, Illinois lawyer who did the initial investigation of the case and served as co-counsel after he retained Bruce Pfaff of Pfaff & Gill, Chicago, Illinois, to take the lead in the case. Pfaff and his firm concentrate in representing people in product liability and other serious injury occurrences (www.pfaffgill.com). They filed the case in 2006 against the company responsible for the design of the garage door operator, claiming it was unsafe in its design, causing these injuries. The case settled in April 2009, and the settlement was approved the following month by the judge overseeing the case. The defendant and its insurers paid $9,000,000 to settle all claims made.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers uncovered many unpleasant truths about the garage door operator industry during the investigation. While consumers in America take for granted the electric eye safety systems (classified as “non-contact” safety reverse systems), those have only been required in garage door operators sold since January 1, 1993. “The ‘non-contact’ safety systems are clearly preferable to the ‘contact’ safety reverse systems that were sold on almost every garage door operator in America before 1993,” according to Pfaff. In order to function, the “contact” safety reverse equipped door had to strike an obstruction, such as a child, sense that it struck an obstruction, and then, it should reverse. “There were three recognized failure modes for the ‘contact’ reverse systems uncovered in our discovery,” Pfaff said. One of them was operable in this case: if the garage floor settles, the door operator may complete its cycle before the obstruction is sensed by the door operator, and the door will crush the obstruction and not reverse. That is what happened in this case, leading the door to exert approximately 280 lbs. of downward force on the child as he lay under it. The downward force of the door not only entrapped the boy, but it prevented his lungs from expanding, asphyxiating him.

The garage door operator industry in the 1980s was well aware of these risks. The two leading companies in the industry during the 1980s were Chamberlain and Genie. Starting in 1981, Chamberlain began to offer a “non-contact” reverse system, an electric eye similar to those in current use, as an option for its garage door openers. Few consumers bought them because the company charged $30-50 extra for this feature. Genie followed suit in 1986, offering its version of an electric eye safety system as an option. Genie’s experience was similar to that of Chamberlain: few consumers bought them because of the added $50 charge and inadequate marketing and disclosure of the risks of entrapment. Pfaff believes that had those risks adequately been conveyed to consumers, reasonable consumers would have clamored for the electric eye safety devices.

The way to enhance safety of products is not to offer safety devices as an expensive option. Genie and Chamberlain were both aware that less than 5% of their consumers purchased the non-contact safety reverse device during the 1980s. They should have known that their garage door openers would predictably kill and maim children without those safety devices. Nevertheless, safety was offered only as a high cost option.

What changed this?

Extensive, bad publicity for the industry arrived in June of 1989. That month, Katie Fritz was killed in St. Paul, MN when the Genie garage door opener in her family’s home entrapped her. It had a “non-contact” safety reverse system that failed to protect her due to the disconnection of a wire essential to the functioning of the “non-contact” safety device. The door operator was not equipped with an optional electric eye safety system. This was one of more than 200 similar incidents that Pfaff and his office uncovered in their investigation. What made this one different were the actions of Katie’s mother and her lawyer, Shawn Barch of St. Paul, MN. “Ms. Barch did more for garage door operator safety in America than any other lawyer,” Pfaff said. Aside from bringing to public attention through many interviews in the public media the horrifying events of the Fritz occurrence and what could have been done to prevent it, Ms. Fritz worked with the Minnesota legislature to pass a garage door operator safety statute. It was the first such statute in the country. While it did not mandate electric eye safety systems, it enlightened many legislators and consumer safety advocates around the country to garage door operator safety deficiencies. Other states began to discuss statutes, and naturally, the proposals across the country were not uniform. This lack of uniformity in proposed regulations is what energized the garage door operator industry to arrive at a conclusion they should have reached years earlier: the industry leaders, Genie and Chamberlain, in 1990 fully embraced the idea of a mandatory national standard for garage door operator safety that would include a requirement that garage door operators would have non-contact safety reverse systems.

Federal legislation to accomplish this was proposed in the spring of 1990 and it was passed. Unfortunately for consumers, the law required garage door operators to sell products with the preferred safety systems beginning on or after January 1, 1993. While that lead time may have been convenient for the manufacturers, it continued to expose consumers to unsafe garage door openers in the intervening years.

In the Rockford case, the garage door operator was manufactured in December 1990 and installed the next year. The homeowner at the time was deceased by the time of the May 2005 event, so it is not known whether that person was ever offered the optional safety device. We do know that he did not purchase it. The suit alleged that the manufacturer of the garage door opener was fully aware of the benefits of “non-contact” safety reverse systems in December of 1990, yet negligently choose to supply their garage door operators without those devices. “It was clear from the depositions of past employees of this manufacturer that they choose not to equip all of their garage door operators with ‘non-contact’ safety devices because they were afraid of losing sales,” Pfaff indicated.

This photograph shows how the garage door in question crushed a container of antifreeze when testing by a government investigator after the occurrence:

If the contact reverse system had functioned as intended, the door would have reversed and not stayed down as it did in this picture and on the day of the occurrence. If there had been a “non-contact” reversing system, once the obstruction broke the beam of the electric eye, the door would have reversed and not caused injury.

Because of a quirk in Illinois law, due to the age of the product, plaintiffs could not pursue a strict liability claim against the manufacturer of the garage door operator – they were limited to negligent design theory. Plaintiffs were prepared to prove that the industry as a whole was negligent in 1990, following the precedent of In Re Hooper, 60 F.2d 737 (1932). Illinois adopted In Re Hooper in the landmark decision of Darling v. Charleston Memorial Hospital, 33 Ill.2d 326 (1965), and it remains a very potent theory in negligent product design cases.

The Rockford case was fully prepared for trial and settled as a result of a day-long mediation with Howard Priess of Naperville, Illinois. Mr. Priess had a long career as a prominent lawyer defending and prosecuting injury cases in Illinois before his recent retirement and assumption of mediator duties, Pfaff said. Mr. Priess had credibility on both sides as he had litigated cases with all of the participants in the mediation. Without Mr. Priess’s involvement, the case would likely have been tried.

For further information concerning garage door operator safety issues, contact Bruce Pfaff at (312) 828-9666 or through our website at www.pfaffgill.com

Burr Oak Cemetery Lawsuits

2009-07-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

The recently uncovered scheme by several Burr Oak Cemetery employees has shocked thousands of Chicago families. Pfaff & Gill, Ltd. has been contacted by a number of victims to investigate and prosecute claims against the conspirators, as well as the corporate entities that have profited off the cemetery while turning a blind eye to the goings on in Burr Oak.

Families of persons buried in the cemetery have filed lawsuits against the owners and employees of Burr Oak Cemetery. The cemetery manager and three Burr Oak Cemetery employees are suspected of digging up hundreds of bodies and leaving them in the open air on a vacant lot on the cemetery grounds.

Burr Oak Cemetery is owned and operated by Perpetua, LLC, an Arizona corporation. The four employees, Carolyn Towns, Keith Nicks, Terrence Nicks, and Maurice Dailey, have been arrested and charged with body dismemberment.

If you have family members buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery and wish to pursue legal action, call Pfaff & Gill, Ltd. at 312-828-9666. You may also contact us through our website at www.pfaffgill.com.

Civil Lawsuit Filed in Sexual Assault Case

2009-06-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Pfaff & Gill, Ltd. recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a young woman who was injured at a Michigan campground when a man entered the showers at the camp and sexually assaulted her. Following the events at the campground, the man was arrested, charged, and later sentenced to a year of prison. The defendants in the lawsuit include the local group that organized and supervised the outing for negligent supervision and for their role in allowing the man to attend the camp. The owner of the campground was also named a defendant for failing to provide proper security and locking devices on the women's showers.

The case is pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County and seeks compensatory damages for the young woman. For more information, please contact Matt Ports at Pfaff & Gill, Ltd.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed in Stem Cell Cardiac Injection Case

2009-06-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

Pfaff & Gill, Ltd. recently amended their lawsuit arising out of the wrongful death of a 74-year-old gentleman who died at Rush University Medical Center. The amended complaint claims that investigational protocol 24779 was negligently developed by Baxter Healthcare Corporation, with the collaboration of Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries. The subsidiaries supplied products used in the protocol.

During the course of the June 6, 2007 procedure, the patient's left coronary vein was lacerated, apparently by the MyoStar injection catheter developed by the J & J subsidiaries. The patient died after the laceration caused cardiac tamponade and arrest.

The case is pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County and seeks compensatory damages for the patient's surviving wife and their children.

For further information on the case, please contact Bruce Pfaff at Pfaff & Gill, Ltd.

Giving Back

2009-06-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Photo: Christy Belue, second from left, on Friday June 5th, at the plaza at NBC-5 Chicago,

with other volunteers promoting Chicago Cares' upcoming Serve-A-Thon.

Around the Pfaff & Gill office, we call her the goddess of scheduling. But when legal assistant, Christy Belue, isn’t busy working her magic on behalf of the firm, or busy raising her three sons, or giving blood, or donating a kidney, she takes pride and pleasure in giving back to the Chicago community. Through Chicago Cares, the city’s premier volunteer organization, Christy found SOS Children’s Villages Illinois. At the urban village, located on Chicago’s Southside, SOS provides a viable alternative to traditional foster care. Children that are orphaned, abandoned, neglected, or abused, live together with their siblings in private homes.

“At SOS, they attempt to keep large families of foster children together,” says Christy. “I volunteer twice a month (at the Village). I spend an evening reading to 3-6 year old children. During the first half hour of this program volunteers read with children and the second half hour the volunteers work on a related craft with the children. I believe I get more out of it than the children. It’s so they can have some one-on-one attention for an hour; for one hour they are the center of one adult’s attention.”

Chicago Cares is the city's premier volunteer organization. The organization provides opportunities for individuals and businesses to improve the Chicago community through participation in creative, structured group volunteer programs that address Chicago's most pressing needs. This coming Saturday, June 13, 2009, is Chicago Cares’ 16th Annual Serve-A-Thon. To learn more about how you can take part in this citywide day of service, click here.

“My son, Jamal and I are going to be roadies Saturday morning, since we can’t commit to the entire day. We are going to welcome and check-in volunteers, hand out lunches, usher, distribute goody bags, help with buses and direct traffic. I’m sure it’s going to be fun! And this way I get to spend some time with my middle boy.”

Visit us at http://www.pfaffgill.com/ to find out more about some of the other charities and community service organizations we support.

Bruce Pfaff co-author of article in CBA Record

2009-06-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

In May 2009, the CBA Record, the monthly journal of the Chicago Bar Association, published a scholarly article by Bruce Pfaff, co-authored by defense trial lawyer John Stalmack and Kent Law Professor Nancy Marder. The article is entitled "The Right to Submit Questions to Jurors," and makes a strong case for trial judges in Illinois to permit jurors to submit written questions for witnesses to answer. In current Illinois practice, it is rare for jurors to get the chance to submit questions. The authors feel that this should change. After a witness is questioned by the lawyers, jurors should be given the chance to submit written questions which are then reviewed by the court. If the questions are appropriate, the judge reads them to the witness and the jury is given the information they need to decide the case.

For article reprints, please contact tdaley at pfaffgill dot com

Not All Work in May

2009-06-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Bruce Pfaff was part of the winning Texas Scramble team at the Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Dornoch, Scotland on May 24. Bruce had the pleasure of teaming with the club's Captain, Jim Campbell, far left, the incomparable Sue, and Jamie Pfaff, his college golf teammate, far right. The team's gross score was 63 and they had a net 58.4, defeating a foursome from London by half a shot.

Proving Medical Negligence in an Anesthesia Death Case

2009-05-12T13:13:00.001-07:00

We are privileged to represent the estate of a woman who died in the OR at Advocate South Suburban Hospital because the anesthesiologist gave her drugs to paralyze her breathing and he then was unable to place a tube in her airway to ventilate her. She went into arrest and suffered brain death. It is a terrible loss for her family that was entirely preventable.

The medical records from the hospital don't show what people were thinking at the time. The surgeon ultimately did an emergency tracheostomy to try to save her life but it came too late. He did not even write an operative report about what happened. The anesthesiologist did his best to defend his poor care in his deposition, but as luck would have it, a nurse in the operating room was willing to give what we believe to be truthful and damning evidence against him.

In response to the question "what did the anesthesiologist say in the OR?" she testified he said "F***, maybe I should have used the fiberoptic scope to intubate her."

Sad, but true. That is only one of the things the doctor did wrong in this case. You would think a case like this is so obvious that it would never come to court, but that is not how hospitals and doctors defend these cases. We expect a trial at the end of this year.

Garage Door Safety-Dijion Sanders

2009-05-12T06:25:00.000-07:00

The tragic loss of Dijion Sanders on May 9, 2009, in Chicago should remind us all of the great dangers that garage doors pose. News reports indicate that he died when an overhead garage door fell on his back in the 9200 block of South Saginaw in Chicago. His family has suffered a great loss that should have been prevented.

Garage doors can fall from the open position because of manufacturing defects with springs and other parts of the door assembly or due to careless maintenance or installation. Equally dangerous, however, are garage door openers that are unsafely designed. For more than 20 years, the garage door operator industry and the Consumer Product Safety Commission have known that young children often push the button and try to race out of the garage before the door closes. Poorly designed garage door openers have no electric eye beam system that will stop the door from closing when a person passes through the door opening. Older garage door operators were only supplied with "contact safety devices" that were designed to stop and reverse if they contacted a person or obstruction. However, there are known failure modes for those designs and they don't prevent injury or death as well as the electric eye beam systems.

Bruce Pfaff and Matthew Ports of Pfaff & Gill, Ltd., along with co-counsel Jeremy Bergstrom, recently settled a lawsuit for an 8 year old boy who suffered cardio-respiratory arrest and brain damage when a garage door closed on him at the family's home. The child, four years old when injured, apparently pushed the button and tried to run out of the garage. We don't know whether he tripped or if the closing door knocked him down, but the pressure of the door (more than 280 lbs. of force) on his lower back caused the cardio-respiratory arrest and brain injury. The door had an automatic opener that was not equipped with an electric eye beam safety system. The "contact reverse system" failed and the door pinned the child. We learned of hundreds of "entrapment" injuries and deaths from garage doors in our investigation which would have been prevented by safe practices by manufacturers, installers or maintainers of doors and door operators.

After an intense three year legal battle, the case was settled in federal court for $9,000,000.00. The money will be administered by a trust bank under supervision of the probate court to provide for the child's future needs.

For further information about garage door safety issues, please contact Bruce Pfaff at 312 828 9666 or bpfaff at pfaffgill dot com.

Welcome

2009-05-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the redesigned blog for Pfaff & Gill, Ltd. - Chicago Trial Lawyers! Our attorneys, Bruce R. Pfaff, Michael T. Gill, and Matthew D. Ports, will use this vehicle to share information and news with our colleagues, clients, and friends about the legal system and our current activities. As we work to get the blog up and running again, please visit our website at www.pfaffgill.com to learn more about our firm, and be sure to check back here soon for updates.