These types of investigations begin based on consumer complaints. Currently, investigations of the ML, Corvette, and Sequoia are undergoing engineering analysis. Engineering analysis usually occurs when investigators are concerned about what they found in the preliminary stages of investigation.

The Mercedes inquiry involves over 50,000 models from 1999 to 2002. The agency is investigating the brake line from the master cylinder to the antilock brake pump to see if it “may be damaged and rupture from chaffing with a fuel line.” The agency said it had “one report of a crash in which an inspection found a leak that was caused by the fuel line’s rubbing against the brake line, resulting in a loss of braking effectiveness.”

The Corvette investigation involves about 48,000 2005 and 2006 models, which may have an issue with the electronic stability control system. Some consumers claimed the electronic stability control system malfunctioned, “causing a sudden and inappropriate braking action without illumination of the brake lights and causing the vehicle to swerve left or right unexpectedly.”

68,000 Toyota Sequoias are being evaluated after allegations that the electronic stability control or traction control became inappropriately activated. When this occurs, the driver “loses throttle control and one or more brakes may apply, causing the vehicle to slow suddenly,” according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation. Furthermore, in instances of “inappropriate activation,” the brake lights do not illuminate. In response to the investigation, Toyota has said it believes the traction control system, and not the stability control system, is the source of the problem.

As a Chicago personal injury lawyer, I urge anyone with these vehicles to be aware of the potential malfunctions and pay close attention to upcoming recalls. More information on safety investigations, defective products, and issued recalls is available through the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI).

The Obama Administration’s Auto Task-Force, which falls within the Treasury Department, is responsible for the decision allowing GM to leave injured families behind in the bankruptcy process. This is upsetting especially because GM “decided last Friday to take responsibilities for injuries caused by vehicles in the future.”

Mr. Weisbrod called on American consumers to tell GM they “will not stand for leaving hundreds of injured families behind in the GM bankruptcy process… will not buy their cars until these families are protected, [and] will not stop speaking up until GM takes full responsibility for injuries caused by all GM cars.”

Hurley, McKenna & Mertz in Chicago handles product liability cases against automakers when severe injuries are involved. I feel strongly as both an American consumer and a personal injury lawyer that filing for bankruptcy should not give companies a free ticket to abandon those previously injured by their products.

The Winnebago County coroner, "Sue Fiduccia, said on Saturday that the person who was killed was a woman who had been waiting in a car for the train to pass through a crossing." Chief Derek Bergsten of the Rockford Fire Department "said that three people ran from the [same] car when it was bombarded with flying railroad ties and that they were severely burned by flaming ethanol." Currently, the cause of the derailment is undetermined, and a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said the investigation could take a year.

This tragedy illustrates the need for increased railroad safety measures. As a personal injury lawyer in Chicago, I am an advocate of heightened safety requirements.

Some of the recalls are limited to certain regions or geographies. For example, the Kia and Hyundai recalls are limited to regions that have harsh winter climates and heavy road salting during the winter months. Illinois is one of the states included in the regional recall. Kia said, “the rusting front subframe could cause alignment problems and, in the worst case, the subframe could separate, possibly causing a crash.”

The Volvo recalls are due to a “software programming error” that may cause the radiator fan to stop working, which may cause the vehicle to overheat very quickly.

As a personal injury lawyer, I encourage all to pay attention to vehicle recalls and make the necessary appointments to avoid injury.

The concept car, the ESF 2009, was unveiled at the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference in Stuttgart, Germany. The car includes 13 safety innovations, some of which are improvements on current features, and others that are new inventions.

For example, “the Belt Bag, a combination seat belt and air bag, is a good example of something we may see in the not-too-distant future. It’s a seat belt with two layers, and when crash sensors detect a serious impact, a generator at the belt armature inflates the seat belt.” The “Child Cam” is another fairly simple technology that allows the driver to monitor passengers in the back seat by placing a small camera on the roof lining between the front and back seats. A series of still frame images then appear on the dashboard.

The company has previously produced 35 Enhanced Safety Feature (ESF) vehicles. Past vehicles have included technologies such as antilock breaks, seat belt tensioners, airbags, and side impact protection, which have eventually appeared on the market. As a Chicago personal injury lawyer, I find new automobile safety features to be exciting news.

Horns could be placed on the spokes of the steering wheel, and there does seem to be an inconsistency between automobile manufacturing and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s warning, “air bags deploy very rapidly and very close or direct contact with a deploying air bag can cause serious or even fatal injury.”

One BMW spokesman said, “Our experience has shown that the most effective position of the horn button is in the center of the steering wheel. In a surprise driving situation, the driver has the best chance of activating the horn if a large portion of the center of the steering wheel will activate the horn.” However, in an automobile accident, drivers with their hands on the horn and very close to the airbag are at increased risk for hand and arm injuries.

“No system is perfect, but the combination of seat belts, air bags and crumble zones are remarkably safe,” wrote James M. Williams, an emergency-room doctor from San Antonio. “Given the high-speed accidents that occur, it is amazing to see what people walk away from.” In serious accidents, airbags are clearly essential, but overly sensitive airbags that deploy in very minor collisions, such as the personal injury case at hand, warrant further research as to the safest location for both horns and airbags to save lives while avoiding injuries.

In eight of the nine serious regional airline accidents during that past ten years, pilots had a history of failing two or more "check rides," which are tests by federal or airline inspectors of pilots' ability to fly and respond to emergencies. In the one case in which pilots didn't have multiple failures since becoming licensed, the co-pilot was fired after the non-fatal crash for falsifying his job application. Bill Voss, president of the independent Flight Safety Foundation, said, "this is a symptom of a larger problem in selection and certification."

Pilot qualifications on regional carriers was at the center of an NTSB hearing last month into the February crash of a turboprop near Buffalo that killed 50 people. The pilot in control of the Buffalo flight at the time when the plane plunged had failed five “check rides”, according to records revealed at the hearing.

The Wall Street Journal (6/10, Carey, Pasztor) reports, "Facing escalating congressional criticism, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it ordered immediate inspections of pilot-training programs at smaller carriers." As a result, "Randy Babbitt, the FAA administrator, said, his goal 'is to make sure that the entire industry-from large commercial carriers to smaller, regional operators-is meeting our safety standard.'"

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently concluded driver fatigue and the lack of federal safety standards protecting passengers on buses contributed to the death and severity of the injuries sustained in the 2008 Utah bus rollover which killed nine and injured 43. (AAJ, Washington, DC)

“The transportation industry has been aware of these problems for years, if not decades, and they have done nothing about it. Current federal standards are needed to save lives,” said Tennessee attorney Morgan Adams. “Driver fatigue is a killer and it will continue to kill until the government takes action. There is no question some corporations will overwork employees, and ignore problems, in order to earn another dollar.”

In response, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) is calling on transportation regulators to review pending pre-Obama administration regulations and open new rulemaking proceedings to enhance commercial transportation safety measures for both trucks and buses.

This is an excellent change in the law for victims of CTA accidents in Chicago. Under the old law, lawyers had to file a formal notice with very specific requirements with the CTA to preserve the action. Even the smallest error could result in a case being dismissed on a minor technicality. This change in the law will allow all injured victims of CTA negligence to get a full and fair hearing in court.

Many studies have confirmed the positive relationship between helmet use and protection from head injury. One particularly poignant study in Florida showed that motorcycle deaths rose significantly when its mandatory helmet law was repealed. One newspaper, the Florida Today, “found ‘unhelmeted’ deaths in Florida rose from 22 in 1998 and 1999, the years before the helmet law repeal, to 250 in 2004, the most recent year of available data” (CBS, 6/19/06).

This trend is not limited geographically as death rates for motorcyclists have been rising since repeals of helmet laws began in 1995, as reported by USA Today. Department of Transportation (DOT) statistics reflect that “5.6 motorcyclists per 10,000 registered motorcycles were killed in 1996, and the number jumped to 7.3 in 2006. The number of motorcyclists who wear helmets has dropped from 63% in 1994 to 51% in 2006”.

Both common sense and empirical evidence lead to the conclusion that mandatory helmet laws would diminish unnecessary motorcycle injuries and deaths. As a personal injury lawyer in Chicago with experience in motorcycle injuries, I adamantly support mandatory helmet laws.

This case highlights a common problem that we see today-- the prevalence of many negligent uninsured or underinsured drivers. At Hurley McKenna & Mertz, we advise all of our clients to purchase uninsured and underinsured insurance coverage, with limits of no less than $1,000,000 per occurrence. You take a risk every time you drive in your car that a collision will occur, and that you may experience significant injuries, medical expenses and lost time from work. To have little or no compensation available for yourself, or for your family, because you assume other drivers are carrying adequate insurance, is a risk you cannot afford to take in today's world.

Today’s decision also holds for the first time under Illinois law that the parents in a wrongful birth case may have a cause of action for negligent inflection of emotional distress against the tortfeasor physician and hospital. The child in this case has Angelman's Syndrome. The plaintiffs allege that a geneticist failed to obtain test results that confirmed that the parents were at high risk of conceiving children with this devastating disorder. Children with Angelman’s Syndrome have severe mental and emotional deficits due to a chromosomal defect, and require nearly constant care from their parents, yet are expected to reach normal adult size as they mature. In this case, because of their child’s disability, the plaintiff parents are subjected to regular physical trauma from the child due to head butting, biting, kicking, setting fires and other rough treatment. The Illinois Appellate Court found that the child's disabilities place the parents in a "zone of danger," and thus the child's parents can seek damages for their own pain and suffering in caring for the severely disabled child.

The plaintiffs are represented by Christopher T. Hurley, Mark R. McKenna and Evan Smola of Hurley McKenna & Mertz. The defendant Children’s Memorial Hospital is represented by Pam Gellen of Lowis & Gellen.

The case is Clark v. Children's Memorial Hospital, Illinois Appellate Court No. 1-08-0610.

Questions regarding wrongful birth cases, or requests for copies of the case or Complaint at Law can be directed to Christopher Hurley or Mark McKenna at 312/553-4900.

An article discussing Wrongful Birth and Wrongful Life cases can be found in the New York Times Magazine.

If you or a loved one has been killed or injured in a car or truck accident involving a drunk driver, you may have rights against the driver or the person or business that provided the alcohol to the drunk driver. The car accident attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz have vast experience handling cases for clients who have been hurt by another driver’s negligence. Please call us for a consultation at (312) 553-4900.

The young women were hit shortly after three people were stabbed outside a nightclub three blocks away. It was unclear whether the hit-and-run was related to people fleeing the club. Stone Park police are still searching for the driver of the car.

If you have been involved in a car accident, you may have rights against the driver who caused the crash. And, if you have suffered physical injury or lost wages because of another driver's negligence, you may have grounds for a lawsuit. Regardless of the cause of an accident, you should seek the advice of a qualified lawyer anytime you have been injured in an accident.

The June 2007 accident occurred at a Southside Chicago intersection when the victim was riding on the back of a Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by off-duty Chicago police officer Eugene Bikulcius. They were coming from a neighborhood bar. According to the police report, the motorcycle struck a Dodge Charger as its driver, 49-year-old Carol Miller, was making an illegal left-hand turn. The impact was so hard police diagrams show the motorcycle impact turned the car 180 degrees.

On the night of the accident, the driver of the car, Miller, was arrested for misdemeanor DUI. Police reports show that Officer Bikulcius wasn’t given a breathalyzer test because he was taken to the hospital. Eventually- five months later- the Cook County state's attorney office uncovered hospital blood tests that showed Bikulcius was intoxicated that night. Blood tests showed he was three times the legal limit. That's when the state's attorney also charged him with misdemeanor DUI charges. Drivers under the influence who cause a death usually are charged with Class 2 felonies that can hold a penalty of up to 14 years in prison and subject them to civil liability.