Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Norman Berger Joins the Collins Law Firm as Of Counsel

August 7, 2017 | Shawn Collins

After serving as co-counsel to The Collins Law Firm in many ground-breaking environmental cases over the last 18 years, Norman Berger has joined the Firm as of counsel, where he will help lead the Firm’s efforts to demand clean up and financial compensation for the families they represent who have been put in harms’ way by dangerous chemical contamination.

Norm’s long track record in this area is extraordinary:

He has been litigating environmental cases for over 30 years, beginning with his work as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois enforcing environmental laws in the 1980s. He participated in many of the major Superfund cases in the Midwest during the early years of Superfund enforcement in the late ’80s and early ’90s. He tried one of the first Superfund private cost recovery cases in federal court, and has since been involved in litigating environmental cases under the federal Superfund statute, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and many State statutes nationwide. For the last 18 years, together with The Collins Law Firm, Norman has represented individuals and families whose homes have been contaminated by industrial pollution, resulting in diminished property values, property damage, and serious health issues. Their efforts in this area have resulted in remedies ranging from mandatory property cleanup to the provision of clean water supplies to monetary reimbursement for property damage and medical expenses in excess of $65 million. This includes negotiating a $7.2 million settlement in a toxic tort case for a client whose childhood exposure to chemicals caused cancer.

Are We Ready to Take on the Fossil Fuel Industry Over Global Warming?

July 25, 2017 | Shawn Collins

The world is heading for a potential climate catastrophe and a recently released report has unmasked the biggest corporations responsible. The report entitled “Carbon Majors: Accounting for Carbon and Methane Emissions 1854-2010”, by researcher Richard Heede, “offers the most complete picture to date of which institutions extracted the fossil fuels that have been the root cause of global warming since the Industrial Revolution.”

In other words, this report lists which corporations are responsible for the majority of the carbon dioxide emissions that are fueling climate change. It’s obvious that energy corporations would be on this list. What is surprising is how few corporations can be responsible for so much. A full 63% of carbon dioxide emissions since the 1850s can be traced back to only 90 of the largest fossil fuel and cement producers in the world. Predictably, the United States accounts for a large share of these corporate giants. Among the nefarious 90 are the 21 American corporations listed below:

Chevron Texaco

Shocking Report Reveals Suburban Roads are More Deadly than Chicago Streets

July 15, 2017 | Margaret Collins

A new report by the Active Transportation Alliance, a Chicago based nonprofit dedicated to making streets safer for pedestrians, bikers and motorists, is surprising people in the Chicago suburbs.

Why?

Because it reveals that traffic fatalities in the suburbs in 2015–the latest year for which statistics are available–outnumbered those in Chicago by a margin of nearly 3 to 1. This is shocking to suburbanites who assume that Chicago, with its snarl of traffic, is a much more dangerous place to drive.

The Facts Don’t Lie: Motorcycles Really are Dangerous

July 10, 2017 | Shawn Collins

It is, of course, not “news” that riding a motorcycle is dangerous. The latest statistics (as of 2015) published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) help us understand why:

(1) It’s much more dangerous than riding in a car. NHTSA says that motorcyclists were 29 times more likely than car occupants to die in a crash.

(2) Wearing a helmet can save your life. 40% of motorcyclists killed in crashes were not wearing a helmet. Unbelievably, only 19 states require all motorcyclists to wear helmets, while three states-Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire-have no helmet use laws at all.

If You’ve Been in a Car Accident, Be Sure to Get a Police Report

July 9, 2017 | Shawn Collins

If you’ve been in a car accident, the first priority is to attend to any medical needs, particularly if there is a medical emergency.

The next priority is to get the police to come to the accident scene. The report which the police prepare after visiting the accident scene serves many important functions, including helping you get a better settlement of your case with the other driver’s insurer.

Here’s why:

Full Size SUVs Named Safest Cars on the Road

July 8, 2017 | Shawn Collins

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has studied vehicle safety for the years 2012-2015 and recently announced that there were 11 cars and SUV’s that were not involved in a single fatal crash during those four years. Here’s the list:

· Audi Q7 SUV

· Volkswagen Tiguan 2 wheel drive SUV

Smart Tips on How to Stay Safe Riding a Motorcycle

July 7, 2017 | Shawn Collins

Consumer Reports gives us the grim statistics: a motorcyclist is 30 times more likely to die in a crash than someone riding in a car.

But lurking just below these statistics is the proof that, if they will make just a few changes, motorcyclists will dramatically reduce their chance of serious injury, or worse, while riding. Consumer Reports notes, for example, that a huge percentage of motorcycle fatalities involve speeding (48%) or alcohol (42%). So, simply not speeding or drinking alcohol makes an enormous and positive difference in safety.

Here are some other things to do to make riding significantly safer:

What Should You Do if Your Groundwater is Contaminated?

July 5, 2017 | Shawn Collins

Tens of thousands of Americans will learn this year that the water just underneath their home-their groundwater-is contaminated with chemicals that some nearby factory dumped probably decades ago, and left to bleed down through the soil, infiltrate the groundwater, and ultimately migrate into your neighborhood.

I’ve been representing families in exactly this predicament for nearly 18 years. This is what I’ve learned they should be doing/asking in response to this news:

(1) Talk to an experienced environmental lawyer about your legal rights and options. Contaminated groundwater, and what to do about it, involves some complicated legal, scientific, and sometimes political issues. Also, while you are going to need access to accurate information, and quickly, in order to make good decisions to protect your family, those most likely to have the information-the polluter and sometimes government-may not want to give it to you. A lawyer can help you get it.

The 25 Deadliest Cars and Trucks on the Road Today

July 4, 2017 | Shawn Collins

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released its list of the 25 most dangerous vehicles on the road today, based on the number of fatal accidents in which its drivers/passengers were involved between 2011 and 2015. Here is that list (also see the link below for important detail as to why each vehicle is on the list):

Hyundai Accent sedan
Kia Rio

The Latest Car Safety Features: Are They Making Us Worse Drivers?

July 2, 2017 | Shawn Collins

As I’m writing this, I feel like the old man yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn…..but I feel the question needs to be asked:

“Are all these new car safety features making driving safer, or do they lull drivers into thinking that the car will take care of problems that occur on the road so that the driver doesn’t have to?”

I am concerned especially about young drivers, who have grown up learning to place great faith in technology. Do they place too much faith, for example in: