Posted on April 18, 2019 in Food Poisoning

By Tim Tomasik

In the United States, we expect the food purchased at restaurants and grocery stores to be safe to eat. Unfortunately, incidents in which people contract foodborne illnesses are all too common. This was demonstrated recently when a large number of people became ill after consuming ground beef. People who have experienced a food poisoning injury should contact an attorney to determine their options for pursuing compensation from the parties responsible.

E. Coli Illnesses Reported in Six States

In March of 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began receiving reports of E. Coli infections in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia. As of April 12, 2019, 109 cases have been reported, and 17 of the victims have been hospitalized. The CDC believes that ground beef is the source of the infections, but it has not identified a supplier, distributor, retailer or brand of meat which may be responsible.

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 Posted on March 19, 2019 in Aviation Litigation

By Tim Tomasik

Following the deaths of 157 people in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane on March 10, 2019, Boeing is under scrutiny for potential design defects in 737 MAX airplanes. This was the second plane crash of a Boeing 737 MAX in less than six months; a Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing 189 people.

While both crashes are still under investigation, it appears that a faulty flight safety system may be to blame for these incidents. An investigation by BEA, the French aviation bureau, found that there were clear similarities between both crashes, and the sensors and software which are intended to prevent stalls may have caused pilots to lose control of these planes.

It has also been alleged that flight crews were not given adequate training about changes to these systems. As a result of the potential dangers to passengers, countries around the world have grounded all Boeing 737 MAX planes until these issues have been addressed.

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 Posted on January 25, 2019 in General

Shawn Kasserman of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman recently had the opportunity to teach constitutional law to the eighth-grade class at Dirksen Elementary School through the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s program, Lawyers in the Classroom. This program partners attorneys throughout the Chicagoland area with local schools to teach constitutional law to children in second through eighth grade. On January 15, 2019, Shawn taught Dirksen’s eighth grade class about the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures in the context of schools. The students discussed possible violations under the Fourth Amendment and debated whether these violations had any merit.

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 Posted on January 24, 2019 in Personal Injury

By: Tim Tomasik and Lindsay Proskey

Uber investigators are overworked, underpaid, and in many cases have no experience qualifying them to examine thousands of serious reported incidents, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN. The 26-page memorandum revealed employees on Uber’s special investigation unit ("SIU") routinely faced "serious level of stress and anxiety" related to massive caseloads handling the most severe incidents reported to the company, including verbal threats, physical and sexual assault, rape, theft, and serious traffic crashes. The internal document highlights the ride-share giant’s concerns about lost revenue from riders who learn about specific cases and hold a lasting impression that Uber is "unsafe" and "not worthy of their trust" after acknowledging CNN had actually underreported the incidence of sexual assaults.

As of May 2018, Uber's SIU consisted of approximately 75 people, whom the memo documents struggled to handle nearly 1,200 cases per week, (62,400 annually), with team members reporting stress, anxiety, and depression. The memo stated six of Uber’s investigators "were experiencing profound stress requiring clinical care" and that "although some reports shared with the SIU [were] frivolous" that "most of the cases reported have some basis of substantiation."

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 Posted on January 19, 2019 in Aviation Litigation

An inbound United Airlines flight with 129 people on board slid off a runway at O’Hare International Airport Saturday afternoon according to the Chicago Fire Department. Shortly after the plane came to rest, Chicago Firefighters assisted in getting the passengers deplaned from the aircraft which had taken off from Phoenix hours earlier.

Although the Chicago Department of Aviation indicated other aircraft had landed safely on the runway just minutes before the attempted landing, snow had been falling for sometime after a winter storm descended upon Chicagoland Friday night and dumped five inches of snow on O’Hare by noon, according to the National Weather Service. At the time local media outlets reported the incident, Department officials indicated that it was in the process of working with United Airlines and City officials to recover the aircraft.

The past year has been chaotic for many passengers, including those who boarded an Aeromexico flight which crashed, injuring more than 80 people and sending dozens to the hospital. According to the BBC, there were twelve times as many plane crash fatalities in 2018 compared to 2017.

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 Posted on December 11, 2018 in Medical Malpractice

By Lindsay Proskey

Tort reform legislation requiring Kentuckians to submit medical malpractice claims to a review panel of three physicians before they can file lawsuits was recently struck down by the Kentucky Supreme Court for violating the state constitution.

Tort reform efforts aim to reduce the ability of victims to bring tort litigation or to reduce damages they can receive. Kentucky state Sen. Ralph Alvarado (a practicing physician and lawmaker) has sponsored several pieces of legislation, including the Medical Review Panel Act, to deter plaintiffs from suing healthcare professionals.

Proponents touted the Medical Review Panel Act as a step toward decreasing what they considered to be frivolous medical malpractice claims that have allegedly increased liability insurance and driven physicians from the “plaintiff-friendly” state. Before a plaintiff could even file a lawsuit, the Act required them to submit all medical malpractice claims to a panel of three healthcare professionals, who would review the merits and make non-binding recommendations to the court. However, the panelists could come from any field – a panel of three social workers could decide whether a surgeon was negligent, while three surgeons could review a case involving a social worker.

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 Posted on December 03, 2018 in Aviation Litigation

By Tim Tomasik

Recurring technical issues and Indonesian carrier Lion Air’s failure to ground its Boeing 737 MAX led to pilots' battle for control over their jet as it plunged into the Java Sea on October 28, investigators said on Wednesday. Stopping short of saying what exactly caused the plane to crash, investigators cited multiple contributing factors centered on the plane’s anti-stall system, faulty sensors, and Lion Air’s inferior safety culture.

One day before the crash, pilots flying from Bali to Jakarta experienced similar issues and manually shut down the plane’s anti-stall system to adjust the plane’s pitch, regain control, and land safely. The flight crew immediately reported the occurrence to Lion Air maintenance, who deemed the plane airworthy for the next morning’s flight. Mechanics certified the Boeing but failed to check sensors that measured whether the nose of the plane pointed up or down.

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 Posted on November 21, 2018 in Food Poisoning

By Lindsay Proskey

In its third warning since 2017, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told people not to eat romaine lettuce, which is linked to a multi-state E. coli outbreak. Along with the CDC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canadian officials are investigating the outbreak, which has sickened 50 people across the United States and Canada. No deaths have been reported, but 13 people in the U.S. and six in Canada have been hospitalized.

Unlike the previous warnings directed at specific brands or growing regions, this blanket warning is directed at any and all types of romaine lettuce, including salad mixes containing romaine. Officials believe that contaminated lettuce is still on the market and need more information about the outbreak’s source before suppliers can be asked for a recall, said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. In the meantime, retailers and restaurants should discontinue supplying romaine lettuce to the public, and everyone should throw away any romaine lettuce at home.

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 Posted on November 19, 2018 in Aviation Litigation

By Timothy Tomasik

New facts emerged in Wednesday’s hearing about the fatal aviation accident on a Southwest flight in which one passenger was killed after engine debris shattered the window she was nearly sucked through. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released new testimony saying passengers rushed to pull Jennifer Riordan back into the airplane after seeing her head, torso, and arm hanging out of the broken window. Flight attendant Rachel Fernheimer recalled that Jennifer’s seat belt was still fastened as one passenger reached outside of the airplane and grabbed her shoulders to pull her body back in.

Pilots emergently landed the Boeing 737 in Philadelphia after learning that passengers were injured. Eight passengers suffered injuries, and Jennifer Riordan died tragically. This was the first death on a U.S. airline flight since 2009.

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 Posted on November 09, 2018 in Aviation Litigation

By Timothy Tomasik

Investigators determined that Boeing’s 737 Max jet, operated by Lion Air jetliner, experienced erroneous AOA readings causing pilots to battle the jet plunging at approximately 600 miles an hour into the Java Sea. The Federal Aviation Administration plans to order airlines to follow Boeing’s Operations Manual Bulletin (OMB), an advisory on how pilots should handle false readings from an AOA (Angle of Attack) sensor. Tragically, this catastrophe took the lives of 189 passengers and crew on October 29, 2018.

The AOA sensor determines whether the airplane, or its wings, are properly angled against oncoming wind in order to maintain lift and prevent the airplane from falling out of the sky. If the sensor malfunctions, however, the airplane’s control system erroneously reacts to an aerodynamic stall – as if the airplane were falling out of the sky – causing the plane to take corrective measures, such as abruptly diving.

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