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1.5 million Americans sustain traumatic brain injuries annually and 75% of those injuries are considered “mild” according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) is commonly overlooked and not diagnosed. The Chicago injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer have represented accident victims with MTBI which are often difficult cases since the defense attorneys usually present a “hired gun” neurologist, psychiatrist or neuropsychologist expert to claim that the plaintiff is either malingering or he or she is imagining his or her symptoms.

As a result of an impact to the head or of a sudden strong movement to the head, an accident victim that suffers a MTBI may experience a brief change in mental status such as confusion, disorientation or loss of memory. The accident victim may also experience a brief loss of consciousness. People with MTBI may have normal MRI and CAT scans and still have cognitive and concentration problems, headache, memory problems, mood swings and other problems that persist. Sometimes close friends, family members and loved ones will notice the changes even more than the person with MTBI. However, victims of MTBI will often look and act normal to people who do not have a close relationship with the person with MTBI. The Chicago injury attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer believe it is important to speak with close friends and family members of persons with MTBI to see if they noticed a change in the injured person after the accident. The accident victim may also need to see a specialist such as a neurologist, psychiatrist or neuropsychologist to properly diagnose the condition.

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Illinois reported 110 fatal motorcycle accidents in nine months in 2008 and 113 in 2009. A high percentage of these fatalities occurred in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics suggest three ways that will reduce motorcycle crashes, injuries and fatalities.

Increase helmet use:Helmets are 37% effective in preventing fatal injuries to motorcycle riders and 41% effective for passengers (NHTSA 2009) In 2008, 41% of motorcycle rider fatalities and 51% of motorcycle passenger fatalities were of riders and passengers who were not wearing a helmet. NHTSA estimates that 823 of these motorcyclists would have lived if they wore a helmet.

Reduce alcohol impairment In 2008, 30% of fatally injured motorcyclists had a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit of .08 (NHTSA, 2009)

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Illinois motorists are required by Illinois law to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk. However, the Chicago injury lawyers of Zneimer and Zneimer have handled many cases for pedestrians who were hit and injured in a crosswalk in Chicago by motorists that did not stop. Most Chicago residents are probably aware that cars do not stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk in Chicago. Be that as it may, the law on the books in Illinois states as follows:

Pedestrians’ right-of-way at crosswalks

(a) When traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation the driver of a vehicle shall stop and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be a danger.

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With the aim of reducing injuries to children who are involved in car accidents, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA) have changed their recommendations for car seats and children. It is now suggested that infants remain in rear-facing seats until they reach the age of two. Based on research, rear facing seats support infants head and neck better in a car accident. The Chicago car accident attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer have handled cases for children injured in automobile crashes and have seen the most serious injuries for children not put in a car seat as required by Illinois law.

The NHSA has also changed its recommendations regarding elementary school children. Before, parents were advised to keep their children in booster seats until they are 8 years old. The new recommendation is that children should be kept in a booster seat until that are at least 4 feet 9 inches tall.

Illinois law requires that children under the age of 8 years old be secured in the appropriate child safety seat. Persons in violation of this law are subject to a $50.00 fine for the first offense and $100.00 fine for subsequent offenses.

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Mayor elect of Chicago Rahm Emanuel has stated that he will prioritize the construction of protected bike lanes for certain Chicago streets. As Chicago injury lawyers, the law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer has handled many cases for bicyclists who were hit by cars or by car doors opening while riding in the painted bike lanes. In short, painted bike lanes offer little or no protection for bicyclists. Some cities such as Portland, Oregon and Montreal, Canada offer extensive networks of protected bike lanes rather than just a simple line demarcating a dedicated lane on the street. Protected bike lanes are different from dedicated bike lanes because they use a buffer such as parked cars, a raised curb or flower planters to separate bicycle traffic from automobile traffic.

A new study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health confirms that protected bike lanes are safer. Researchers studied nine years of crash report data from Montreal’s extensive network of protected bike lanes and found that injuries were 28 percent lower on protected bike lanes than on comparable roads without protected bike lanes.

Protected bike lanes would make sense in Chicago, especially for the the streets that have a high volume of bicyclists commuting to work downtown in the morning. If there were protected bike lanes on these routes, bike traffic would certainly increase substantially.

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As Chicago personal injury law firm, the attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. have noticed that we have been handling more and more cases involving distracted defendants who were either texting or on the cell phone when he or she caused a collision involving a personal injury. Even more egregious, our Chicago personal injury law firm is currently handling two separate case where the defendant dropped their cell phone on the floor of their cars and were looking for the cell phone on the floor when they ran into our clients, causing serious injuries in both cases.

Although texting has been illegal for motorists in Illinois since January 1, 2010, surprisingly, a recent Chicago Tribune online survey indicated that 40% of Illinois Tollway customers were unaware of the law.

Distracted driving is no trivial matter. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports the following statistics on its web site:

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Rahm Emanuel states on his web site that he supports full implementation of Chicago’s Bike Plan. Emanuel wants to increase the number of bike lane miles added each year in Chicago from 8 miles to 25 miles. Additionally, Rahm states that he will prioritize the creation of protected bike lanes. Following the example of cities like Portland, Oregon, Chicago would create protected bike lanes which are separated from traveling cars and sit between the sidewalk and a row of parked cars that shield bicyclists from street traffic. As Chicago personal injury lawyers, the law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer has handled many cases for bicyclists hit by motorists on the city streets of Chicago. Chicago streets, even when they have bike lanes are not yet safe for bicyclists. Motorists still feel free to drive and park in bike lanes and the bike lanes disappear when they reach an intersection. Having protected bike lanes is the best way to make biking safer in Chicago. I have ridden a bicycle in the protected bike lanes in Portland, Oregon and I felt way safer than biking on the mean streets of Chicago.

Another exciting idea proposed by Emanuel would be to complete the Bloomingdale Trail which would be a 2.65 mile multi-use recreational trail built along the old unused rail line along the Bloomingdale Avenue on the northwest side of Chicago. The tracks will be converted into a safe greenway that accommodates pedestrians and bicyclists.

The Trail will be the world’s longest elevated trail, according to Emanuel’s web site, and it will allow thousands of Chicago residents to commute to work. The cost is estimated at $75 million and would be shared by local, federal, corporate and non-profit partners. Additionally, Rahm is committed to having the trail up and running during his first term.

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A Chicago ordinance requires that snow that falls before 4 p.m. be shoveled within 3 hours. Snow falling after 4 p.m. must be shoveled by 10 a.m. the next day. The fine for not shoveling is a $50.00. The law is obviously not strictly enforced.

The ordinance also protects those who shovel from liability for not doing a good job of shoveling. Chicago Municipal Code Section 10-8-190 states: “Any person who removes snow or ice from the public sidewalk or street, shall not, as a result of his acts omissions in such removal, be liable for civil damages. This section does not apply to acts or omissions amounting to wilful or wanton misconduct in such snow or ice removal.”

However, the law does not protect property owners who create or whose property creates an unnatural accumulation of ice or snow that is unreasonably dangerous. For example Chicago personal injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer handled a case where a property owner had a pipe on his building that drained water on to the public sidewalk which then froze causing an unnatural accumulation of ice. Our client suffered a broken leg after slipping on the ice on the sidewalk and the Chicago injury attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer were able to reach a fair money settlement for our clients injuries.

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Thousands of car accidents each year are believed to be caused by unrestrained pets experts say. However, only the state of Hawaii has a law that prohibits drivers from driving with a pet on their lap. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration calculates that in 2009, 5,474 people were killed and 448,000 people were injured by distracted drivers in the United States. Cell phones are considered the top distraction but not the only distraction. Children and pets are also considered to be a major distraction for drivers. Author Stephen King suffered several broken bones as a result of being hit by a driver who claims that he was distracted by his dog. The Chicago personal injury attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer PC have handled one case where the driver who rear-ended our client was distracted by a Great Dane dog that he had unrestrained in the back seat of his car.

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In 2006 Jose Alvarado promised Cesar Gamboa, Ruben Nava, and Mauro Lopez, who were unlawfully in this country, that for $15,000 apiece, he could get them United States citizenship papers. Alvarado promised that he could deliver “authentic citizenship documents” for them through a contact at the US Consulate office in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He told them that he had contacts that could influence the immigration authorities to expedite the application process but would need to pay employees in the different departments to obtain the necessary releases. Alvarado stated that he and his brother were obtaining their citizenship documents through the contact and invited Gamboa, Nava, and Lopez to join the group. The latter agreed and began paying in installments to Alvarado. Alvarado issued them receipts for the payments through his business, Marco’s Digital Video and Photography, Inc., to prove that the payments were legitimate. They say that Alvarado used “high-pressure tactics” to get the payments, calling them weekly until they had paid in full.

Once he received the money, however, Alvarado became less communicative. He did not deliver the promised “authentic citizenship documents” but delivered various excuses. In March 2009, he told the group that they were all swindled by the Mexican contact. Alvarado asked the group to contribute additional $200 each to hire a Mexican lawyer to pursue restitution from the swindler in Mexico. These additional payments did not fare any better than the first payments. Soon Alvarado informed the group that the legal challenge was not an option but proposed a new strategy. The new plan was to hire thugs in Mexico to kidnap the swindler and to get their money back. If the swindler would not return the money, the thugs would kill him. However, in October 2009, Alvarado told the group that the kidnapping plan was also on hold.

The thug-and-kidnapping plan having failed, Gamboa, Nava, and Lopez decided to try their luck with the Circuit Court of Cook County. They filed a lawsuit against Alvarado and his business for fraud, unjust enrichment, civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. The trial court dismissed the complaint, finding that the contract between the plaintiffs and the defendants were illegal and could not be enforced by the court. The plaintiffs appealed. The appellate court reversed.

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