Chicago winters are serious business. Extreme temperatures, high winds, and heavy snowfalls bring yearly dangers to our city’s residents. Thousands of Illinois residents slip and fall on the ice every year. Most get up laughing, but an unlucky few suffer serious injuries. A Chicago city ordinance requires anyone who owns or has charge of a property to clear ice and snow from the sidewalk in front of their home or business.  Property owners and renters could face municipal fines for failing to shovel. However, this does not necessarily mean that anyone who fails to comply with this law is automatically liable to anyone who slips and falls in the snow on their sidewalk.

If you got hurt when you slipped and fell, it is best to talk over your options with a qualified attorney. Slip and fall cases are rarely as cut-and-dry as they may seem, and an attorney investigation may be needed to prove the cause of your accident.

What if I Got Hurt Because a Property Owner Did Not Shovel?

Chicago does have a municipal ordinance requiring anyone who has charge of a home or business that abuts a public sidewalk to remove ice and snow accumulations. However, the purpose of this law is more closely related to accessibility than safety. When this law was written, lawmakers were concerned with making sure that our sidewalks are clear for those who would otherwise have trouble making their way around Chicago. People who use mobility assistive devices like wheelchairs, as well as senior citizens and the visually impaired, may struggle to move about the city if the sidewalks are covered in snow. While clear sidewalks do tend to have the effect of reducing slip-and-fall accidents, that is not the primary purpose for the statute.

No one heads out for a fun night at the bar expecting to be attacked and injured. When alcohol is involved, minor disputes can easily escalate into a physical altercation. If you were injured after being attacked in a bar, the bar could be liable depending on the facts and circumstances surrounding your case. It is best to seek medical attention and then contact an attorney quickly. Witnesses will need to be interviewed as soon as possible before they start to forget what they saw, and other types of evidence may need to be preserved sooner rather than later.

Under What Circumstances Is a Bar Liable for Injuries From Fights?

Illinois bars have a duty to take reasonable measures to keep their patrons safe. While no bar can prevent every fight that breaks out, they must take certain precautions, such as removing belligerent patrons. If a bar has failed to use reasonable precautions to prevent violence, and you are injured as a result, the bar could be held liable. In Illinois, a bar or nightclub could be held responsible if you were injured on their premises under these circumstances:

• Excessive force by bouncer - Bouncers and nightclub security guards are not permitted to use more force than necessary under the circumstances. Bar patrons are sometimes injured when a bouncer grabs or throws them in the course of breaking up a fight, or when a bouncer becomes violent while ejecting a customer.
• Failure to provide security - Drinking establishments are expected to provide a reasonable level of security to protect patrons from the threat of violence. If the person who attacked you was acting belligerent, threatening you or other customers, or creating a disturbance, the bar should likely have removed that customer before things escalated to the point where you were physically attacked.
• Dram Shop Act - In Illinois, if an establishment serves alcohol to a person who becomes intoxicated and causes injury to another person, the establishment could be held liable under the Dram Shop Act.

If you were injured as a result of violence in a bar or nightclub, you will want to get in touch with a lawyer promptly. Bar fights are often chaotic events involving multiple parties and witnesses. It is especially important to begin documenting the events quickly, as people’s memories tend to fade quickly especially when they were intoxicated at the time.

The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act spells out certain rights that all residents of skilled nursing facilities have. Many of these rights exist to protect a nursing home resident’s safety, dignity, and property. It is very serious if a nursing home violates the rights of a resident as outlined in the Act. Nursing home abuse or neglect is a form of medical malpractice. If you suspect that your rights or the rights of your loved one are being violated by nursing home staff, you should consider contacting an attorney. You or your loved one may be entitled to financial compensation.

What Rights Are Included in the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act?

When you trust a nursing home to care for you or your aging family member only to have the facility ignore these legal rights, it can be an extremely upsetting or even dangerous situation. Every nursing home resident - and everyone who loves a nursing home resident - should familiarize themselves with what rights they have. Here are a few of the rights the State of Illinois sets out:

• Financial Management - A nursing home cannot deny a resident access to their own finances and must get permission before spending any of a resident’s money. If the nursing home is holding onto a resident’s money for them, the home must provide a statement each quarter. If the resident has designated someone else, such as by power of attorney, to manage their finances, the nursing home cannot interfere.
• Choice in Care - Many nursing home residents are nearing the natural ends of their lives. Every resident has the right to decide for themselves what types of care they would want. Do Not Resuscitate orders and healthcare powers of attorneys, as well as living wills, must be respected. As long as the resident had appropriate legal capacity to sign the document at the time it was made, a nursing home must honor the patient’s wishes.
• Freedom from Restraint - Unless it is necessary for the safety of the resident and ordered by a doctor, patients have the right to be free from both physical and chemical restraints.
• Privacy and Dignity - Just because a person has moved into a nursing home does not mean they lose their right to privacy in their medical care. During a physical examination or discussion about the resident’s health or course of treatment, no one but the care team may be present or included without the resident’s permission.
• Personal Property - Residents have the right to wear their own clothing and to keep and use their own personal belongings. Unless it is for safety reasons, staff cannot take away or remove a resident’s personal items.

These are just a few examples of some of the rights Illinois has made a point of protecting for residents of nursing homes. If any situation in a nursing home concerns you, it may be best to consult an attorney.

Dog bites can be serious matters, especially when children are the victim. Because children are smaller and less able to protect themselves against an attacking dog, their injuries can be severe and even life-threatening. Millions of people are bitten by dogs each year in the United States, and many victims of dog bites require medical treatment.

In this article, we will look at some of the consequences of dog bites and what legal remedies may be available to victims. If your child has been attacked or bitten by a neighbor’s dog in Illinois, contact a personal injury attorney right away to find out more about your options under Illinois law.

Who is Responsible for a Dog Bite in Illinois?

Illinois law has a statute specifically to address the responsibility of pets that attack, try to attack, or injure people. The statute provides that a victim of a dog bite can bring a claim for civil damages against the owner or caregiver of the dog for the full amount of the injury, as long as the dog was not provoked and the victim was in a place where he or she was legally allowed to be.

Last month, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill requiring the Department of Public Health, the State Board of Education, and the Department of Children and Family Services to work together to establish an anaphylactic training policy at daycare facilities and schools in order to prevent personal injury due to allergies.

This means Illinois daycare centers must train their employees how to recognize and treat anaphylactic shock, a dangerous and sometimes life-threatening allergic reaction. This new law is known as an “Elijah’s Law,” named after a tragic incident in which a daycare fed a child named Elija Silvera dairy in his lunch despite knowing Silvera had a severe dairy allergy. Silvera, just three years old, passed away from an allergic reaction.

Are Illinois Daycares Responsible for Preventing Food Allergen Exposures?

In 2008, Congress passed an amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This amendment codified specific protections for children with allergies, mandating that public and private schools and daycares provide accommodations and take safety precautions to protect children with food allergies.