Battery / Assault in ChicagoBattery / Assault is most often thought of as a criminal law issue, but if you have been the victim of a battery or assault you may also have a personal injury case. In personal injury cases, battery and assault are known as "intentional torts." The elements of the intentional torts of battery and assault are generally the same as the elements of the crimes battery and assault, but the required intent is different and the burden of proof necessary to find a defendant guilty is lower in a personal injury case. A Chicago Personal Injury lawyer can help you understand the differences and protect your rights. |
In a weird case, an Illinois appeals court ruled that a man who was struck and killed by a speeding Metra train could be liable for the injuries caused by his flying body parts after he died.
In 2008, Hiroyuki Joho was running in the rain to catch a Metra train, reports the Chicago Tribune. He was running with an umbrella covering his head and apparently did not see a train coming at him as he crossed the tracks.
After a five-year stay, the sexual abuse civil claim against disgraced Illinois attorney Tom Lakin will proceed as a St. Clair County judge gave it the go-ahead.
The plaintiff had claimed that he was sexually abused by Lakin when he was just 15 years old, reports the Chicago Tribune. But as there was a concurrent federal criminal case against Lakin for holding cocaine-fueled sex parties at his home with minors, the civil case was put on hold.
The family of Pedro Gonzalez has filed a lawsuit over the Chicago police shooting death of the 21-year-old man.
In the lawsuit, the family claims that the Chicago police wrongly shot the West Humboldt Park man who was unarmed and presented no threat to police officers. They also accuse the police of pressuring witnesses against Gonzalez and making false claims that the young man was armed, reports the Chicago Tribune.
In the wake of the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky sex scandal, the Archdiocese of Chicago probably felt that there was no sympathetic jury out there, and agreed to settle a sex abuse lawsuit for $3.2 million.
Along with the timing of the Archdiocese of Chicago lawsuit, this sex abuse scandal and the Penn State sex abuse scandal bear many similarities.
High school can be a rough place and most people get bullied or picked on at some point in time. However, what happened to David Osama Haddad just across the border in St. John, Indiana, was a bit extreme.
In their school bullying lawsuit, the family of Haddad says that the high school student was taunted and harassed for over a year due to his Middle Eastern heritage. The abuse climaxed last week, when the young man was brutally beaten in a hallway at Lake Central High School. Haddad has not been back to school since and the family blames the school for not protecting their son, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Mob of football players attack two teens in Fenger High School fight. The victims of the beating say that the football coaches did nothing to stop the fight. But did the coaches have an obligation to do so?
Darion Jones, a 16-year-old student, was at home when a Fenger football coach stopped by questioning the teen about a football player who was supposedly jumped by Jones and had his flip-flops stolen, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
Charles Oakley, former Chicago Bull and legendary tough guy, has sued the Las Vegas casino Aria claiming that an assault at the casino led to a painful back injury that may prevent him from coaching.
As an assistant for the Charlotte Bobcats, Oakley had to be physically carried from the bench before a game in March due to the back injury reports The Washington Post. Oakley missed the team's remaining 13 games with the injury.
According to the Post, the 47-year old Oakley still has trouble moving and recently notified Bobcats management to consider replacing him due to his injuries.
Some Chicago locals might be taking the Super Bowl rivalry a little too seriously as the much anticipated football game between the Pittsburg Steelers and Green Bay Packers approaches. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, a woman told police that she was punched in the head at a bar in Des Plaines last weekend and believes the Green Bay Packers jersey she had on may have triggered the battery.
The woman and her friend, ages 28 and 31, were at the Lee Street Games and Sports Bar when Des Plaines resident Jason E. Powell, 38, approached the two women. The victims claimed they did not do anything to provoke Powell before he suddenly struck the woman wearing the Packers jersey in the head.
Chicago resident Sarah Thienes claims a West Side McDonald's employee refused to sell her a cheeseburger, then refused to make her a breakfast bagel, and then finally spat in her face, the Chicago Tribune reported. She is suing the 23 N. Western Ave. McDonald's franchise, owned by Ron Lofton.
She claims she pulled up to the drive-through window in a taxi at roughly 3:50 a.m. and ordered a cheeseburger. The employee allegedly told her in "an aggressive and unfriendly tone" that only breakfast items were available.
Chris Brown settled with photographer Robert Rosen, who sued him in May 2009 after the singer’s bodyguards allegedly beat him up, according to the Associated Press (via MSNBC). The lawsuit was dropped as a condition of the settlement, so the details of the incident are a little sketchy.
Chris Brown’s bodyguards allegedly chased Robert Rosen, after he took photos of the popular singer, and beat him up. He had sued for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.
Neither of the two parties’ attorneys would provide comments to reporters after the settlement.
