News From The Firm
Adam Chaddock successfully defended a component home manufacturer at trial. Plaintiff sued a component home manufacturer claiming breach of contract, actual agency, and apparent agency. Adam obtained summary judgment on the breach of contract and actual agency claims. The apparent agency claim went to trial. Plaintiff's evidence of apparent agency at trial included: (1) a phone conversation with the component home's representative and information from the website, both of which Plaintiff argued evidenced that Defendant directed and required use of the local builder and that Defendant controlled the local builder; (2) the inclusion of Defendant's promotional materials and signage at the local builder's showroom; (3) the use of Defendant's logos in the local builder's advertisements; (4) the local builder's owner's testimony that he had an exclusive agreement to build the Defendant's product in a defined territory; (5) Defendant's participation in pricing portions of the underlying construction contract; and (6) Defendant's logo on some of the contract documents. The jury deliberated for 1 hour and 10 minutes before returning a verdict in favor of our client.
Mike Mersot obtained a favorable bench trial result in a Peoria County case. The plaintiff, a farmer, brought an action for damages to his corn crop against the clients, farmers of adjacent land. Plaintiff alleged that he incurred a loss of 24-30 half-mile long rows of corn due to overspray or drift of glyphosate weed killer, commonly known as Round Up. At trial, the plaintiff introduced numerous photographs of stunted young corn plants as well as documents purporting to show a yield loss amounting to over $8,000. The defense case primarily centered around the testimony of chemical company representatives who inspected the field prior to harvest and determined that, at most, part of a single row of corn was damaged. The plaintiff requested $8,050 in direct damages and over $2,000 in associated costs. After taking the matter under advisement, the judge awarded the plaintiff $131.25 in compensatory damages and his filing fee, a mere 1.6% of the damages sought.
Dennis Merkley recently successfully defended a heating and cooling company and its employee accused of negligence arising out of a motor vehicle accident. Plaintiffs were passengers on a city bus that was rear-ended by defendants' work van. The trial consisted of six witnesses including two M.D.s. Surveillance footage from the bus' interior cameras was introduced at trial. The jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants and against both plaintiffs.
Matt Maddox and Chris Galanos recently received a favorable ruling from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the trial court's statue of limitations dismissal of plaintiff's Section 1983 action. In a lawsuit filed two years and ten months after the incident, the plaintiff claimed that our physician client violated the civil rights of a prisoner at the Sangamon County jail by not properly treating him for alcohol withdrawal and that this failure to treat caused his death. The Court rejected the plaintiff's claim that the limitations period should have been tolled as the sole beneficiary of plaintiff's estate was a minor child.
Mike Kraft obtained summary judgment for his client, a general contractor on a home construction, in a case filed by homeowners who claimed damages in excess of $300,000 for an alleged breach of contract.
Pursuant to his efforts at a fact-finding conference with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Mike Kraft forced a voluntary withdrawal of a former employee's age discrimination and Americans with Disabilities Act claims against our employer client.
On November 23, Laura Petersen gave a Continuing Medical Education presentation entitled "2011 Healthcare Law Update" at Pekin Hospital.
Laura Petersen, Matt Smith, Lisa Heinz, Nancy Honings, Sandy Jensen, Mindy Schweigert and Sue Sidell recently registered and completed training to become volunteers for Peoria District 150's Reading Buddies program. They will be assigned to assist with third grade students at Irving Primary School.
The QJHPC employees again participated in the annual Neighborhood House Toy drive by overflowing the toy box with new toys to be distributed to Central Illinois families.