De novo review of underinsurance arbitration awardsBy Michael J. MarovichMay 2004Victims of automobile accidents often face defendants who lack the resources or the insurance coverage to pay a fully compensatory award of damages.
E-Filing has come to DuPage CountyBy James F. McCluskeyNovember 2004Effective November 15, 2004, by issuance of Order number M.R. 18368, the Illinois Supreme Court has approved the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court as a site for the initial implementation of an electronic filing pilot project.
Edited surveillance videotape of plaintiff ruled inadmissibleBy Michael J. MarovichOctober 2004It is often a plaintiff attorney's nightmare to learn that the defendant or his insurance carrier has videotaped the plaintiff and has caught him or her doing activities that they claimed they were not capable of doing.
Electronic case filing in the Central District of IllinoisBy Michael P. McCuskeyOctober 2004The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois implemented its new automated Case Management/Electronic Case Filing system (CM/ECF) on September 1, 2004.
Opening statementBy John M. StalmackOctober 2004Illinois Supreme Court Rule 235 governs the opening statement.1 As soon as the jury is impaneled, the attorney for the plaintiff may make an opening statement.
Paramedics and the extent of statutory immunity: Through the looking glassBy Ronald A. RothMarch 2004In Antonacci v. City of Chicago, 335 Ill.App.3d 22 (1st Dist. 2002), the First District discussed the extent of statutory immunity in considering whether a failure by paramedics to defibrillate a heart attack victim and the failure to perform an EKG to determine whether he needed to be defibrillated constituted a failure to properly treat a myocardial infarction, a failure to properly diagnose a myocardial infarction or a failure to properly examine a patient with a myocardial infarction.
Personal Jurisdiction.com: How much “interactivity” is enough?By Kris R. MurphyDecember 2004Is a company which maintains Internet web pages which are accessible in Illinois, but has few or no other contacts with the State, "transacting business" in Illinois such that an Illinois court could properly exercise personal jurisdiction over it?
Query: The Fiduciary Shield Doctrine. Have the exceptions swallowed the rule?By John B. KinkaidNovember 2004This sometimes obscure but very important rule implemented to protect employees of foreign corporations doing business in Illinois from the improper exercise of our court's jurisdiction has been with us since 1959.
Some deadlines really are finalBy Daniel T. GillespieMay 2004As Justice Smith wrote in this unanimous In re Estate of Lucy J. Kunsch opinion, "Rule 216 is not a suggestion, but rather a rule that must be strictly obeyed and enforced." Some deadlines must be met. Some final dates really are final.