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So why should you, a lawyer who wouldn’t touch workers’ compensation with a ten foot pole, care about the fact that Governor Quinn will sign into law the workers’ comp reform bill tomorrow? 1. It will make your potential clients even less able than before to maneuver the system. Do…

As widely anticipated or feared, the much-ballyhooed and disputed workers’ compensation reform bill will become law Tuesday, June 28th, 2011, when Governor Quinn signs the measure. Readers of this space already know the potentially anti-worker actions contained in the new law-to-be, including…

This gives a nice summary of some of the changes that will become law September 1st. Readers of this blog are well-aware of our feelings about these changes and their negative effect on the workers of Illinois. Workers’ Compensation Act House Bill 1698 (Raoul, D-Chicago; Bradley, D-Marion) rew…

Many of you who have followed all of our posts on the continuing saga of workers’ compensation “reform” in Illinois have asked about whether the Governor has signed the bill (HB 1698 and all of its amendments) yet. The answer, surprisingly, is “no.” What does this mean?…

In an interesting recent opinion, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the current version of Illinois Pattern Jury Instruction 105.01 does not accurately state the law on institutional negligence. Studt v. Sherman Health, Docket No. 108182 is the case. Because, let’s face it, the general publ…

A huge win for injured individuals, as well as their lawyers, is a rather complex and mind-numbing decision that came down recently in the case of Haro v. Sebelius, No. CV 09-134, TUC DUB, United States District Court D. Arizona, May 5, 2011. To explain this decision in a fairly simple way, this mea…

The Chicago Bar Association Solo and Small Practitioner Committee, of which I am co-chair, is proud to hold it’s last meeting of this fiscal year on Tuesday June 7th at 12:15 p.m. at the Chicago Bar Association at 321 South Plymouth Court. The topic is How to Implement Twitter, Blogging, and S…

Workers’ compensation reform (or whatever you want to call it) has arrived in Illinois. This was a huge reversal of the vote in the Illinois House just a few days ago when the reform attempt only garnered 55 votes, with 60 votes required. This time, with Speaker Madigan arm twisting and with G…