January 2024 Newsletter

Collins Law Firm Year in Review

Happy New Year and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2024! We secured many millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for our clients in 2023 and hope to provide the same outstanding representation to all our clients in 2024. As a result of our work, our firm was selected as a “Best Law Firm” by Best Lawyers for 2024. Here are some other highlights from 2023:

Environmental Division

The Collins Law Firm’s environmental division had a stellar year in 2023. Partner Shawn Collins served as the court-appointed co-lead of the Plaintiffs Executive Committee (PEC) in In re Willowbrook Ethylene Oxide Litigation, involving more than 870 plaintiffs who had contracted cancer after breathing carcinogenic “ethylene oxide” emitted from a local factory. After years of battling the defendants, Shawn and the PEC secured a $408 million settlement in that toxic tort litigation. Shawn and Margaret Galka also successfully settled a toxic tort/civil rights case against a large multi-national corporation on behalf of a woman who developed cancer after being exposed for years to the company’s toxic chemical. Due to their success on environmental cases, the firm was rewarded in the following ways:

• Shawn Collins and Margaret Galka received the 2023 Trial Lawyer Excellence Award for obtaining the “Highest Reported Illinois Verdict or Settlement ($363 million verdict) for an Individual Plaintiff” from the Jury Verdict Reporter and Law Bulletin Media.
• Shawn Collins was chosen as a national Environmental MVP for 2023 by Law 360 due to his work on the In re Willowbrook Ethylene Oxide litigation.
• The firm was chosen as a national finalist for ALM/Law.com’s Elite Trial Lawyer Awards in the mass torts category.

Personal Injury Division:

Our personal injury attorneys Edward Manzke, John Risvold, and Joseph Catalano were also quite successful, recovering more than $7.3 million for the firm’s injured clients. These included several successful settlements on the Courthouse steps, while trial was ongoing or while preparing for jury selection. Our personal injury attorneys had several six and seven figure recoveries in cases involving major trucking accidents, nursing home abuse and neglect, and medical malpractice in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. In 2024, the firm is preparing for several jury trials involving serious injuries and wrongful death, caused by commercial vehicle crashes, medical negligence, and dangerous and defective products. These cases include a rear end semi-crash that caused our client a traumatic brain injury, a car crash that resulted in our client undergoing major spine surgery, a catastrophic injury from defective commercial fireworks, and the failure of a doctor and hospital to perform a cesarean section surgery in a timely manner. Our personal injury attorneys continue to work extremely hard to get justice for our clients, inside and outside of courtrooms throughout the state. Other lawyers and law firms regularly refer their clients to us, or co-counsel with us, knowing that our personal injury attorneys are willing to take the fight to those who would do harm to our clients.

Commercial Law Division:

Commercial lawyers Robert Dawidiuk, Len Hudson, and Katharin Ebbesen ended the year with an impressive list of successes, including:

• The Firm obtained a very favorable outcome in a high-stakes business dispute, defending several officers and directors accused of breaching their fiduciary duties and defrauding a company of millions.
• Trial win in Grundy County: complete defense verdict on $2.2 Million construction lien issue.
• Trial win in Will County on breach of contract involving purchase/sale of luxury vehicles.
• Trial win in DuPage County on behalf of commercial real estate owner on real estate matter.
• Favorable settlement on behalf of developer in complex real estate case involving a multi-million-dollar development.
• Complete win in EEOC Hearing & appeal on behalf of National Bank client.
• Two appellate victories on real estate and business litigation matters.
• Represented national clients in numerous successful actions including obtaining a high-six figure settlement for our client (the plaintiff) against a west coast convention center.
• Won on summary judgment in high stakes matter for international organization wrongfully sued by a Romanian entity.
• Successfully represented United States Bankruptcy Trustee in obtaining substantial settlement for bankruptcy estate in contested multijurisdictional matter.
• Won judgment for community bank client against national bank.
• Obtained dismissal with prejudice for international client wrongfully sued in Cook County action.
• Closed $165 Million in commercial loans.
• Closed $85 Million in commercial transactions.

Lawyer Recognition:

• Shawn Collins, Edward Manzke, and John Risvold were designated as “Best Lawyers” for 2023.
• Shawn Collins, Edward Manzke, John Risvold, Margaret Galka, Norm Berger, and John Sopuch have been selected as “2024 Super Lawyers” in Illinois.
• Shawn Collins and Robert Dawidiuk were honored as “Leading Lawyers” in 2023 for their work.
• Shawn Collins was chosen as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by the National Trial Lawyers Association again in 2023.