Starting July 1st 2012 Illinois jurors will be allowed to submit written questions for witnesses on the stand in civil trials. More than half the states, and all federal circuit courts, allow this practice; this rule, recently approved by the Illinois Supreme Court, offers another opportunity for jurors to actively participate in the trial. One […]

Divorce is never easy but Illinois is one of more than 20 states that allow no-fault divorces as well as fault dissolution’s on the grounds of impotency, adultery, bigamy, desertion, cruelty or a felony conviction. Couples often seek a no-fault divorce but find that they have issues when it comes to the division of property. […]

Imagine that your elderly parent is still keeping her prized mint condition 1973 Buick Riviera in the garage. Unbeknownst to you she has also continued to pay the insurance on the vehicle though she no longer has a valid driver’s license. Her favorite seventeen year old grandson begs her to let him drive it around […]

Four years ago a taskforce led by Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State, unsuccessfully tried to persuade lawmakers to create broad restrictions on distracted driving. The state only banned texting while driving, and placed some limits on cell phone use, banning them in construction and school zones. Municipalities like Plainfield and Highland Park passed their […]

Here’s what other personal injury and workers’ compensation lawyers have been talking about over the past few weeks: Jury Instruction Social Networking (Day on Torts) North Carolina: Jail Time for Uninsured Employers (Workers’ Compensation Blog) Cell Phone Use Cited in 24% of Motor Vehicle Crashes (Personal Injury and Social Security Disability blog) NFL Concussion Website […]

Currently in Illinois, repeat speed offenders are oftentimes sentenced to court supervision and fines instead of license suspensions. According to this Chicago-Tribune article, sometimes the supervisory sentence is handed down improperly and the motivation for these types of alternate sentences is to allow the chronic speeder to avoid a license suspension. However, as reported in […]

Are brake-override systems necessary? Should they be mandatory for all new vehicles? Federal regulators seem to think so. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration just recently proposed that all automobile manufacturers implement design changes in future vehicles that would include a brake-throttle override system. A number of car manufacturers already include this feature […]

It may surprise you to learn that it wasn’t until 2003 that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began to sometimes use female crash test dummies when simulating crashes to determine the safety of vehicles. Why does it matter whether female crash test dummies are used? Well, because as explained in the ABC.com article, […]

Many of us fondly recall the Jetsons cartoon from our childhoods. It was a show that still seems incredibly futuristic, and yet many of the inventions envisioned in the Jetsons aren’t yet a part of our reality. But one concept–driver-free cars–is already a possibility in 2012. Search engine leader Google is currently testing driverless cars […]

if you’re injured as a result of an automobile accident with an emergency services vehicle that is responding to a call, are you be able to receive compensation for your injuries? Well, the answer is–it depends. In Illinois, in many cases, responding emergency vehicles maybe held to be immune from liability, but ultimately, the facts […]