Stotis & Baird

Did you know that if your spouse dies without a will, half of his or her estate may go to the children? If you were expecting to have that money for your retirement, this can be a big shock. Check out this new article on our website about avoiding the “50% surprise” to learn how you can avoid that result.

https://stotis-baird.com/wills-and-estate-planning/

Wills and Estate Planning for Surviving Spouses: Avoiding the 50% Surprise …

Stotis & Baird updated their website address.

Quarentine may be the perfect time to get your estate plan in order. Some thoughts from Eric Parker:

http://stotis-baird.com/index.php/quarantine-may-be-the-perfect-time-to-get-your-estate-plan-in-order-2

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Stotis & Baird Congratulates "Super Lawyers" Mike Baird & Eric Parker Stotis & Baird attorneys Michael Baird and Eric Parker were once again named to the "Super Lawyers" list for 2015. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The…

better late than never http://chicago.suntimes.com/nationworld/7/71/255688/51-years-wreck-7-inch-car-part-found-arm-illinois-man

51 years after wreck, 7-inch car part found in arm of Illinois man A 7-inch turn signal lever from a car accident 51 years ago was surgically removed this week from an Illinois man's arm.

An excellent story on small airplane safety and engineering http://www.usatoday.com/longform/news/nation/2014/10/27/plane-fires-crashes-deaths/16530225/

www.usatoday.com The fire ignited when the small airplane smashed into a parking lot and empty building in central Anchorage on a failed takeoff. Passersby ran to pull four burning people from the Cessna Skywagon.

Doctors say that because people are allowed to make claims against them for professional negligence, they practice "defensive medicine" -- order more tests, do more work, and drive up costs. Lawyers that represent negligence victims have always said this isn't true -- it's an excuse to get legal immunity for causing harm to other people. Many studies prove this. Another study was recently published by The New England Journal of Medicine, a highly respected journal "dedicated to bringing physicians the best research and key information at the intersection of biomedical science and clinical practice."

The study looked at the states where legislatures had already largely taken away a patient's right to make a claim against their doctor (raising the standard to make a claim, so that a person could only make one for "gross" negligence). They checked to see if these doctors were doing fewer tests, doing less work, and saving on health care costs. The result? Taking away a patient's right to make a claim doesn't help reduce costs. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1313308?query=TOC&

The Effect of Malpractice Reform on Emergency Department Care — NEJM Special Article from The New England Journal of Medicine — The Effect of Malpractice Reform on Emergency Department Care

Walking in Chicago? Be extra careful at these intersections! http://chicagoist.com/2014/10/15/these_are_the_most_dangerous_inters.php

These Are The Most Dangerous Intersections In Chicago According to the Active Transportation Alliance, these are the 10 worst intersections in Chicago for pedestrians.

Another Megabus crash. This one in Indiana en route to Chicago http://breakingnews.suntimes.com/chicago/megabus-headed-to-chicago-rolls-over-crashes-in-indiana/

Megabus headed to Chicago rolls over, crashes in Indiana Six to eight people are said to be in serious condition, police said.

GM begins to offer compensation to victims in defective ignition switch cases: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2014/09/24/gm-victim-fund-makes-compensation-offers/16154387/

GM victim fund makes 15 compensation offers GM’s independent victims compensation fund has made its first cash compensation offers

More publicly available information for patients = safer practices, safer hospitals http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/07/hhs-change-reporting-hospital-mistakes-foreign-objects/15084175/

Feds reverse course, will release hospital mistake data Federal regulators are reversing course and will release data on hospital mistakes, including when foreign objects are left inside patients.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/business/trying-to-hit-the-brake-on-texting-while-driving.html?src=me&_r=0

Trying to Hit the Brake on Texting While Driving People keep texting when they’re behind the wheel, so an engineer has found a technological solution. The problem: He can’t do it on his own.

http://www.fairwarning.org/2014/09/latino-workers-dying-high-rates-job-accidents-report-shows/

Latino Workers Dying at Higher Rates in Job Accidents, Report Shows As Latino workers take on more and more of the nation’s toughest and dirtiest jobs, they increasingly are paying for it with their lives. Preliminary federal figures released last week showed that of the 4,405 U.S. workers killed on the job in 2013, 797 were Latinos. That equates to 3.8 of every 100…

"According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, in 2012 84 percent of the crashes and 69 percent of pedestrian fatalities in Illinois occurred in metro Chicago. Pedestrian fatalities accounted for one-third of all traffic fatalities in 2012" http://chicagoist.com/2014/09/11/study_shows_true_dangers_of_chicago.php

Study Shows True Dangers Of Chicago's Pedestrian Crossings Turns out this image is truly what it’s like crossing a street in Chicago.

Tort Trends by Brion W. Doherty of Stotis & Baird Chtd.: Court finds expert’s images clouded trial http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/Articles/2014/08/26/Brion-Doherty-forum-08-26-2014.aspx …

Chicago Daily Law Bulletin - Court finds expert’s images clouded trial Court finds expert’s images clouded trial - In November 2004, Lee Ann Sharbono underwent a screening for breast cancer. The screening included a mammogram and an ultrasound. An abnormality was noted in the imaging, but the radiologist did not order a biopsy. Sharbono was told she was fine.In...

S&B files suit in fatal accident allegedly caused by texting and driving: http://abc7chicago.com/news/daughter-of-chicago-man-who-died-in-i-80-crash-files-lawsuit/262872/

Daughter of Chicago man who died in I-80 crash files lawsuit The daughter of a man who died in a July crash on Interstate 80 near south suburban Hazel Crest in July has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Bad criminal: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2699156/Pregnant-woman-27-arrested-posting-selfie-Facebook-wearing-stolen-dress.html

Pregnant woman, 27, arrested 'after posting a selfie on Facebook wearing a stolen dress' Danielle Saxton was nabbed after sharing pictures of herself in a leopard-print dress she allegedly stole from an Illinois boutique just hours before.

http://sfglobe.com/?id=951&src=share_fb_new_951

These People Whip Out Their Phones In A Movie Theater. They Never Saw It Coming! In less than 2 minutes, these movie goers will get an unexpected surprise.

ABC is facing some pretty steep liability should this meat producer succeed in its "pink slime" lawsuit. Interestingly, we wonder if getting all this publicity is going to help or hurt in the long run: http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/top_state_court_oks_1.2b_defamation_suit_over_pink_slime_news_coverage_by_a/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=daily_rss

Top state court OKs $1.2B defamation suit over ABC 'pink slime' news coverage - ABA Journal A producer of chemically treated cartilage and scrap meat can pursue a $1.2 billion defamation case against ABC and several correspondents for the network, including Diane Sawyer, over a series of 2012 broadcasts, the Supreme Court of South Dakota ruled on Thursday. It declined to hear an interlocut…

We gave our website a facelift. Let us know what you think! www.stotis-baird.com

Injury and Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Chicago - Stotis & Baird Chicago personal injury and medical malpractice trial lawyers.

Police chases can result in serious personal injury to pedestrians and other motor vehicle drivers. In this case, luckily nobody was injured when an officer made a run for the border: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/25282405/naperville-squad-car-gets-stuck-atop-boulder-near-taco-bell

Naperville squad car gets stuck atop boulder near Taco Bell And you thought you were having a bad day.

As personal injury attorneys, we see a good variety of injuries. This is one you don't see everyday...http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/02/chain-saw-neck/7192993/

Tree trimmer hospitalized with chain saw in neck PITTSBURGH (AP) — A tree trimmer is recovering after he was rushed to a Pittsburgh hospital with a chain saw blade embedded in his neck.

It looks like GM is rethinking its legal strategy related to selling defective and dangerous vehicles, hiding it from the public, declaring bankruptcy, and then claiming it no longer has responsibility for its conduct. Probably a good idea. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/business/gm-chief-expresses-remorse-at-house-hearing.html?_r=0

G.M. Chief Expresses Remorse at House Hearing Mary T. Barra, chief executive of General Motors, was testifying on G.M.’s failure to recall vehicles with an ignition defect linked to 13 deaths.

Footage of the CTA train derailment http://chicagoist.com/2014/03/26/video_shows_cta_ohare_blue_line_cra.php

Video Shows Train Crashing Into O'Hare Airport Station How fast would the Blue Line train that crashed into the CTA O'Hare station have to have been moving in order to land that high on an escalator? Thanks to surveillance video, now we know.

Congratulations to Brion Doherty on obtaining a favorable trial verdict for his client in a dram shop case against a bar in Chicago's River North neighborhood. Our client was injured by an intoxicated man that had just left the bar.

Work to begin soon on a bike path at Navy Pier that will keep bike and vehicle traffic apart--bikes will go over the road. A great idea: https://twitter.com/CrainsChicago/status/446020852685889536/photo/1

In some St. Patrick's Day non-legal news, here's a cool time-lapse clip of the Chicago River getting dyed green over the weekend: http://chicagoist.com/2014/03/17/video_watch_the_chicago_river_turn.php

Video: Watch The Chicago River Turn Green In Time-Lapse Here is some wonderful time-lapse photography from Peter Tsai showing the work getting done in 30 seconds you don't want to see end.

Some pretty incredible advances in medicine and 3D printing that are helping people that have been severely injured: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2014/03/13/mans-face-rebuilt-with-3d-printer-after-crash/

Man's Face Rebuilt With 3D Printer After Crash Stephen Power had his face reconstructed with parts made from a 3D printer. (Image credit: Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University) A man whose face was crashed in a motorcycle accident now has titanium cheekbones made on a 3D printer. Stephen Power, a 29-year-old dad from Cardiff, Wales, broke his cheek…

GM went bankrupt a few years back and got immunity from products liability cases. It turns out that when it got immunity, GM had been hiding the fact that it knew about a problem with its cars that was causing death and injury to many GM customers. So now GM says its owes nothing on certain claims, even though it hid that fact and even though it used $49 billion in taxpayer money to resurrect itself and made close to $4 billion last year. http://www.thepoptort.com/2014/03/gms-cruel-and-unfair-bankruptcy.html

ThePopTort: GM’s “Cruel and Unfair” Bankruptcy When the U.S. Treasury Department, GM and Chrysler first cut their bankruptcy deals in 2009, they all decided it would be good policy to cruelly abandon the customers of the two companies who were - or would later be –...

A cautionary tale about violating confidentiality agreements: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/03/01/newser-teen-facebook-post-80k/5923567/

Teen's Facebook post costs dad $80K Daughter violated settlement confidentiality clause when she posted on Facebook.