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Settlements can be an effective and beneficial way for both parties to resolve a case without having to go through a trial. However, some settlements can be thrown out if they are not approved by a judge, causing the litigation process to continue.

Personal Injury Settlements in Illinois

Although a plaintiff has the freedom to decide whether or not to file a claim, once a claim is filed in Illinois, the plaintiff does not always have the freedom to voluntarily dismiss a case. Some claims, such as class actions and claims by minors, may require court approval.

In Illinois, an approved settlement generally results in a voluntary dismissal of the case for the plaintiff. Generally, such a dismissal is taken “with prejudice,” which means that the claim cannot be brought again. In addition, the court that granted the dismissal generally retains jurisdiction of the case to enforce the terms of the settlement. Finally, it is important to note that if a claim is settled, normally it cannot later be challenged unless there was a mistake or fraud.

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In a recent case, a woman filed suit against a hospital and her doctor for battery after undergoing a medical procedure. She alleged that she had not given her informed consent for having an intrauterine device (IUD) implanted. About a year after she had the IUD implanted, she found out that her IUD had not been approved by the Federal Drug Administration because of the location to which the device had been shipped.

She filed the complaint but failed to file a medical expert affidavit, as required by state laws. In this particular state, the law required that plaintiffs filing medical malpractice actions file an expert affidavit along with the complaint. However, the woman argued that her claim did not require her to file the expert affidavit because this was a battery claim rather than a medical malpractice claim. Ultimately, the state’s supreme court disagreed, holding that a battery claim against a medical provider based on a lack of informed consent also requires the filing of a medical expert affidavit.

The court held that even though the claim filed was a battery claim, it still had the same requirements of a general medical malpractice claim. Since cases involving the issue of informed consent generally consider the professional standard required in such cases, they are subject to the same requirements no matter which claim is alleged. There is a question of what the professional standard is in obtaining informed consent. As a result, a medical expert affidavit was required, stating that the expert supports the allegations in the claim.

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Recently, many reports have amassed indicating that consumers in Hawaii have become seriously ill as a result of coming into contact with Hepatitis A. One resident in Oahu dined at a sushi establishment called Genki Sushi Restaurant. The man has filed a lawsuit against the restaurant and a supplier, Koha Foods, which provided imported scallops to the sushi restaurant. According to some reports, these scallops are believed to be the source of the Hepatitis A outbreak. Nearly 170 people have fallen ill with the disease, requiring over 45 hospitalizations starting in June 2016. Although the overwhelming majority of these cases are on Oahu, some of them have also occurred on Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii. Many tourists visiting Hawaii became ill during their stay and then traveled to other locations.

The State of Hawaii has put an embargo on the scallops and any distributors that use them. There are some 10 restaurants in the Genki Sushi chain that may be providing and serving the infected scallops. The scallops were diced and served raw with mayonnaise alongside a rice ball that was wrapped in seaweed. At these sushi restaurants, the fare was served on a conveyor belt, and customers then pull the items off the conveyor belt as they travel past them.

Hepatitis A is a contagious virus that targets the liver and can cause serious illnesses and complications. Typically, Hepatitis A spreads through contaminated food or drinks or when the victim comes into close contact with someone who is a carrier of the virus. The symptoms giving signs that an individual has contracted the disease may not manifest for several weeks after the individual has been exposed. These symptoms often include nausea, fatigue, stomach pain, joint pain, jaundice, and dark urine.

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In a recent case, a woman had surgery done at a hospital and subsequently suffered a stroke. The woman filed a products liability claim against the manufacturer of one of the medical devices in the surgery. However, when the complaint was originally filed, it did not name the hospital or the doctor as defendants. It also did not state a claim for medical malpractice. Several months later, the woman requested to file an amended complaint to add the defendants and allege medical malpractice. She then filed the amended complaint almost four months after the original complaint.

The hospital and the doctor then moved for summary judgment, alleging that the filings were untimely. In the jurisdiction where the case arose, a medical malpractice action must be filed within two years of the cause of action accruing. The original complaint was filed just one day before the two-year statute of limitations had run. Thus, by the time the woman amended the complaint, the new claim against the defendants was not timely. The court granted the defendants’ motions because the claims were filed against them after the statute of limitations had expired. The state supreme court agreed, resulting in the dismissal of the claim.

Amending a Complaint and Its Effect on the Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations is the time period during which a plaintiff can bring a certain kind of claim. The period of time varies depending on the type of claim and the jurisdiction, or the place in which it is filed. Often, the time begins to run from the date of the injury, the date that an injury was discovered, or the date that it should have been discovered.

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One of the most horrific events that can happen to a community is chemical dumping or other toxic spills. Once a dangerous chemical is released into the environment, it can have irreversible and devastating impacts that can lead to serious health consequences or even death. Recently, a plaintiff from West Virginia was awarded $5.1 million in a lawsuit alleging that major international chemical maker DuPont acted recklessly when it dumped toxic waste into waterways in the state. The plaintiff, a 56-year-old man, suffered testicular cancer as a result of coming into contact with C-8, a chemical agent that DuPont uses in manufacturing Teflon.

Filed in October 2013, the lawsuit alleges that DuPont released waste material containing C-8 from its Washington Works Plant located in Wood County “directly into the air, the Ohio River, and unlined non-hazardous waste landfills in the vicinity of the plant and local drinking wells.” The lawsuit also claims that DuPont knew the substances would contaminate the surface waters and the subterranean waters.

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In a recent case, a man’s decision to forego optional safety equipment later prevented compensation for his injuries. The man was riding his lawn mower when the mower fell off the edge of an embankment and rolled on top of him. He was trapped under the lawn mower, and tragically he died from suffocation. The man’s wife alleged that the lawn mower manufacturer was negligent because the machine did not come with a rollover protection system. However, the defendant pointed out that the man had the option of adding the rollover protection system when he bought the lawn mower, which he neglected to purchase.

A federal appeals court dismissed the plaintiff’s case, holding that, according to the optional equipment doctrine, a manufacturer generally will not be found negligent if a purchaser had the option of buying safety equipment that would have prevented the accident. The court explained that the doctrine may apply where a buyer is knowledgeable regarding the product’s use and the availability of the safety feature, there are normal circumstances in which the product without the optional equipment would not be unreasonably dangerous, and the buyer can balance the risks and benefits with regard to the buyer’s use of the product. Since the rollover protection system was an option when the man bought the lawn mower, the manufacturer could not be held negligent for failing to install the equipment.

The Optional Equipment Doctrine in Illinois

The optional equipment doctrine arises in the context of negligence in manufacturing. It is not exactly a defense, but instead it is a way a defendant can show that it fulfilled its duty to the purchaser. That is, the defendant, by informing buyers that an optional feature is available and can make the product safer for certain users, may have satisfied its duty to make a product safe.

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A nine-year-old boy in Maine has become seriously ill as a result of consuming ground beef contaminated with E. Coli O157:H7. The boy’s mother purchased PT Farm beef sometime in June 2016 and prepared it to serve to her family. Roughly five days after the family ate the meat, the boy began exhibiting signs of a serious illness. Common symptoms associated with E. Coli infections are diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. After the boy’s symptoms did not improve, his mother took him to the hospital, where he was admitted for several days.

The child is only one of about 14 individuals who have become ill as a result of consuming contaminated beef from PT Farm. The victims are located in a wide swath of states, including Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The illnesses have been recorded as occurring between June 15 and July 10, 2016.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service, along with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, have been actively involved in investigating the source of the outbreak. On July 26, the public entities announced that they had identified E. Coli in raw beef provided by PT Farm. They initiated a recall that covered some 8,800 pounds of the raw beef. Some of the brand names under which PT Farms beef is sold include Chestnut Farms, Robie Farm, Miles Smith Farm, and PT Farm. Some of the product may come frozen.

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In a recent case in front of an appellate court, a woman slipped on a piece of watermelon at a grocery store and then sued the store for her injuries. About six feet away from where the woman had fallen, a man had been handing out samples of watermelon to customers. However, the woman did not know how long the watermelon had been on the floor, and there was no evidence that the watermelon was on the floor for any length of time. The woman argued that the store was negligent because it knew or should have known that the floor was wet and posed a danger to customers. She argued that handing out watermelon samples in a high-traffic location created a dangerous condition for customers.

That state’s supreme court granted a dismissal of the case. The court found that there was no evidence that the store created the dangerous condition through its employee’s distribution of the watermelons. It also found that the store did not have constructive knowledge of the dropped watermelon because there was no evidence of how long it was there. Finally, the court rejected the woman’s argument that the state should adopt the mode-of-operation rule, which looks at a business’ particular mode of operation in creating a dangerous condition, and under which the plaintiff is not required to prove that the store had notice of the condition. Since it rejected this approach, the case failed.

Mode of Operation Liability and the Illinois Approach

Generally, in slip-and-fall cases, a plaintiff must prove that the property owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition that caused the injury. That means that the plaintiff must prove through some evidence that the store had actual knowledge of the condition or that it existed for long enough that the store had constructive knowledge, or should have known, of the condition.

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A recent case being brought by a mother in Texas highlights the many not-so-obvious ways that contamination can result in serious injuries and even death. According to her complaint, the woman’s son died tragically as a result of her apartment complex’s failure to address contamination leaking from a cesspool. The mother was 22 weeks pregnant when she became so ill that her physicians were required to prematurely induce labor in an attempt to save her baby’s life.

The doctors concluded that the plaintiff had a severe E. coli infection, resulting from water in the cesspool leaching into various places on the property. As a result of her infection, her unborn baby developed a bacterial infection called chorioamnionitis. This infection, which targets the uterus, is commonly derived from E. coli. The baby was unable to survive and died roughly two hours after the induced delivery.

The mother and her husband lived at the apartment complex starting in December 2013. The family first noticed that they were experiencing health issues around June 2015, including urinary tract infections, diarrhea, and vomiting. Other residents at the apartment complexes reported experiencing similar health maladies. The plaintiff first learned that she was with child in November 2015 and became seriously ill in February 2016. During that same month, a company was hired to work on the apartment complex. They reported that a large cesspool had been discovered underneath the building and that it had contaminated the drinking water for the building. They also submitted a proposal to fix the problem, but the apartment complex has done nothing to fix the cesspool. The apartment complex operator denies having received a report identifying E. coli on the premises and denies that the plaintiffs ever reported their illnesses.

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Strange, unexpected acts happen every day. Thus, even when an individual or entity may have acted negligently, they are not always held responsible if an unusual or unexpected event occurs, thereby causing harm. In order to prove a negligence claim in this type of situation, a plaintiff must prove the elements of duty, breach, causation, and damages. Additionally, in order to have a successful claim, a plaintiff must show that the defendant’s negligent conduct caused the injuries at issue. Causation in a negligence claim requires a showing of both factual cause, or “but-for” cause, and proximate cause, or “legal” cause. Generally, this requires that the plaintiff show that the resulting injuries were foreseeable, rather than merely a remote result of the breach.

However, if another act occurs that intervenes after the defendant’s conduct or contributes to the harm, that act may amount to a “superseding” cause, which can cut off the defendant’s liability. In order to be a superseding cause, the subsequent act must break the chain of causation between the defendant’s negligent conduct and the resulting harm. That is, generally it must be something that could not be reasonably anticipated by the defendant.

The Effect of “Acts of God” on Causation in Negligence Claims

Generally, an individual is not expected to foresee unusual or extreme conditions, often referred to as “acts of God” in legal claims. If one of these conditions occurs, usually it will amount to a superseding cause because it was not foreseeable. This means that the defendant may not be liable for the resulting harm. However, whether an occurrence is an “act of God” or not depends heavily on the facts of the situation and what is expected under the circumstances. Also, it is often considered a fact for a jury to determine, which would require the case to go to trial in order to be decided.

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