Wrongful Death Case Results

Union Oil Fire Litigation – Acted as lead counsel on behalf of plaintiffs who were injured or died in the Romeoville explosion and fire. All cases settled for an aggregate of $29,000,000. The six clients represented by Pfaff & Gill, Ltd. Trial Lawyers settled their claims for a total of $12,700,000.00 and worker’s compensation lien waivers valued at approximately $1,000,000.00.

C.M. v. Ford Motor Co.
$27,000,000.00 jury verdict in an auto defect case for the estate of a 46-year-old man who died because the driver’s seat of his vehicle failed in a rear impact motor vehicle accident, causing him to suffer fatal head injuries. The jury’s award included $25,000,000 for loss of society suffered by his wife and two children, an Illinois record.

$12,500,000 settlement in a wrongful death case involving a 35-year-old electrician who died after kidney surgery. The settlement was paid to the surviving spouse. Experts for the plaintiff said the urologist who performed the surgery erred when he refused to respond to obvious signs that the patient was bleeding internally. The defendant doctor had a checkered work history; his pattern was to work for a short stint at a hospital or clinic before moving on. The defendant medical facility had disciplined the urologist but allowed him to continue working and hid his record of professional shortcomings.

Estate of M.G. v. Maria Zurawski, R.N.; Acute Extracorporeal Services, Ltd.; Advocate Christ Medical Center
$12,261,131.00 medical malpractice jury verdict in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois for a 49-year-old gentleman who died after failing to receive emergent plasmapheresis for thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura (TTP). The jury found defendants Acute Extracorporeal Services, Ltd., a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care North America, and Advocate Christ Medical Center negligent. Read more

Estate of J.L.G., deceased v. Dennis Oltesvig and A Wisconsin Trucking Company – $9,362,850.56 verdict for man who was contacted by another truck while standing on the under-ride bar of his trailer, tarping a load. The contact caused massive hemorrhages in both thighs from transection of the major vessels in the legs. Decedent had 85 minutes of conscious pain and suffering, and he died the next day.

E.O. v. Edgewater Medical Center – $9,346,933.64 jury verdict in a medical malpractice case for a 42-year-old man who died in 2000 as a result of unnecessary heart surgery. Read More

O.R. v. Dri-Tec Manufacturing, Inc.- $8,104,001.35 judgment against Dri-Tec Manufacturing, Inc. for a 24-year-old machine operator who died of compartment syndrome when his arm was crushed between two rollers of a 1990 coating and laminating machine that was designed without proper safety guards for operators. He was survived by his wife and 2-year-old son. Though the defendant company was sold and later dissolved, the case continues against the former owner for fraudulent conveyance and to pierce the corporate veil to hold the owner personally liable for the judgment.

Estate of M.R. v. a Chicago anesthesiologist and hospital – $8,000,000.00 wrongful death settlement. 52-year old woman died after anesthesiologist failed to intubate her when she went into respiratory arrest during surgery to remove an enlarged thyroid gland. The doctor paid his $2,000,000.00 policy and the hospital, sued under the principle of apparent agency, paid the rest. We were able to establish that the anesthesiologist made thirty untrue entries on his one page anesthesia record.

Estates of D.S. and F.R. v. Agridyne, LLC. – $6,000,000.00 settlement to the families of a 32-year-old man and a 29-year-old man who died from poisonous gas exposure in a railroad car while working at Agridyne, LLC’s livestock feed facility in Pekin, Illinois. The $3 million settlement to each estate represents the second highest wrongful death awarded in Tazewell County as of 2018.

Kindred LLC. – $5,008,921.72 Tazewell County jury verdict for the estate of a 36-year-old woman who bled to death during at DaVinci robotic hysterectomy procedure at Methodist Medical Center in Peoria, Illinois. The gynecologist accidently lacerated her left iliac artery and she bled internally for approximately 2 hours before the injury was detected. Meanwhile, the anesthesia staff failed to diagnose the internal bleeding despite the presence of clear indicators of distress in our client’s vital signs.

R.S. v. United Engineering Co. – $4,650,000.00 settlement to the family of a 38-year-old husband and father of two who suffered third degree burns and later died as the result of an explosion at a steel making furnace in Peoria, Illinois. The defendant designed and manufactured water cooled panels used in the roof of the furnace which leaked, causing the explosion.

E.H. v. Michael Reese Hospital – Settled claims for the wrongful death of a 35-year-old single woman, survived by her minor daughter, for $3,800,000.00. The mother gave birth to her daughter four days before her death, and succumbed to a pulmonary embolism while she was a patient in the postpartum unit. The hospital and the physicians failed to institute any prophylaxis against pulmonary embolism, despite the mother being at high risk for the complication.

Estate of B.D. v. ABB C-E Services, Inc., Commonwealth Edison Co., et al. – $3,600,000.00 verdict in a construction accident case for widow of 35 year-old electrician who fell to his death through a 3 foot by 8 foot hole in a catwalk 30 feet up in the air. The section of catwalk was removed by other workers and the opening was not barricaded or roped off.

Estate of T.S. v. Rush University Medical Center – Our client was a 74-year-old man with severe heart disease. He consented to participate in a clinical trial that involved injecting the inside wall of the left ventricle of his heart with stem cells to regenerate heart muscle. The doctor, using a medical device approved by the FDA only for investigational uses, perforated the wall of the heart and lacerated a cardiac vein. This led to cardiac tamponade that another cardiologist employed by Rush University tried to repair. Those efforts led to a significant laceration of the heart wall, a hematoma, and our client’s death. The suit against Rush, the doctors’ employer, the medical device manufacturer, and the clinical trial sponsor was settled for $2,800,000.00.

J.L. v. Trinity Hospital – $2,750,000.00 settlement plus $1,000,000.00 consent judgment in a medical malpractice lawsuit for the benefit of the surviving spouse and children of a 35-year-old woman who died due to the failure to treat acute pelvic inflammatory disease.

M.C. v. Raj – $1,800,000.00 settlement to the surviving parents and half-brother of a nineteen month old child who died at Lutheran General Hospital. Plaintiff had hydrocephalus, and was being treated with an external ventricular drain to reduce the amount of cerebrospinal fluid in his brain. The drain malfunctioned, and despite adverse neurological signs and symptoms over the course of 20 hours it was not replaced by the attending neurosurgeon. As a result, he suffered cardio-respiratory arrest and died.

Estate of W.R. v. John Ebihara, M.D., et al. – $1,800,000.00 wrongful death settlement. 57-year-old man died due to the failure of 3 internists to timely diagnose and treat bacterial endocarditis. Survived by his widow and 3 adult children.

Estate of W.L. v. suburban OB/GYN and Chicago-area hospital – $, 1,800,000.00 settlement for wrongful death of newborn, survived by loving mother and father. We claimed that the delivering physician and the nurses failed to identify the baby’s deteriorating condition as could be seen on the fetal monitoring strips. We believe that a c-section done at any time in the hours before delivery would have easily saved the child. An additional claim against the hospital was added for negligent credentialing after it was discovered that the Illinois licensing board had cited the defendant physician with “gross negligence” for past poor labor and delivery care.

Estate of T.C. v. Luca Cicalese, M.D.- $1,500,000.00 wrongful death settlement. 42 year-old man bled to death following a kidney-pancreas transplant surgery at UIC. Mr. C bled excessively during the procedure as a result of taking Plavix. The surgeon failed to timely treat the Plavix-related bleeding.

Estate of J.D. v. General Contractor and Crane Inspection Company – $1,222,000.00 wrongful death settlement with general contractor and crane inspection company for 33-year-old man working on a construction site on a lift doing steel erection when the boom hoist wire rope of the crane working nearby snapped and the boom collapsed and fell on him killing him instantly. At the time of his death, plaintiff was survived by his 1-year-old daughter and posthumously born son.

S.S. v. Winslow – $1,100,000.00 settlement in a medical malpractice case to the family of a 62-year-old husband and father of four who died as a result of congestive heart failure which was not properly treated by his cardiologist. The patient had four prior open heart surgeries for valve problems, and would not have required a fifth surgery had the defendant physician properly diagnosed his condition.

D.D. v. Schneider National Carriers. Inc. – Truck accident settlement of $1,012,000.00 for the surviving children of a 74 year-old woman run over and killed by a large tractor trailer exiting a Sears loading ramp in Park Forest, Illinois.

Estate of W.T. v. Isaac Thapedi, M.D. – $950,000.00 wrongful death settlement for estate of a 69 year-old man who underwent an anterior cervical decompression and fusion by Dr. Isaac Thapedi. Dr. Thapedi failed to decompress the spinal cord, failed to recognize that the spinal cord remained compressed, and failed to re-operate. As a result, Mr. T was discharged and spent the remainder of his life in nursing homes. He died on September 16, 2004 from sepsis related to decubitus ulcers. The settlement was paid 3 days before trial by ISMIE in response to plaintiff’s $1 Million policy demand.

Estate of F.M. v. USA – $934,126.00 verdict for wrongful death in Federal Tort Claims Act case for estate of 76-year-old man who died at the West Side V.A. Hospital 4 days after a lung biopsy because Drs. Ziad Hanhan and Norman Snow failed to prevent and/or timely diagnose and treat a pulmonary embolism. This bench trial was tried before Hon. Matthew F. Kennelly (USDC ND IL).

N.B. v. MacNeal Hospital, et. al. – $801,642.57 verdict in a medical malpractice case for the estate of a 78-year-old man. Plaintiff claimed that the defendants failed to timely appreciate and treat a large hemorrhage in the decedent’s chest which led to his death during a femoro-popliteal bypass.

J.V. v. Scott Multack, D.O. – $800,000.00 settlement in a birth injury case to the parents of a stillborn boy who suffered from intrauterine growth retardation which was not diagnosed before his death by the obstetrician managing the prenatal care. Ultrasound evidence indicated a substantial possibility of growth retardation which was never followed up by the obstetrician. Had the diagnosis been reached, an induced or cesarean delivery would have prevented the stillbirth. The amount paid is the highest in Illinois for an Illinois stillbirth settlement.

Estate of L.G. v. County of Cook – $800,000.00 wrongful death settlement. 63-year-old man died due to nursing staff’s failure to provide Vitamin K and blood products as ordered to treat accidental Coumadin overdose. Survived by adult son. Case settled before disclosure of expert witnesses.

Estate of O.R. v. Cedar Lake Park, Inc. – $506,370.36 jury verdict reduced to $253,185.18 for estate of 17 year-old boy who drowned at defendant’s beach. Jury found the decedent 50% liable.

Tylenol Poisoning Cases- Acted as co-lead counsel for the seven wrongful death cases pending against McNeil Consumer Product Co. These cases settled for a confidential amount in May 1991. An individual poisoned several bottles of Tylenol, which was not apparent to consumers who subsequently purchased the medicine because the bottles were not tamper-resistant or tamper-evident. In claims against the manufacturer, it was shown that the company was aware the product was subject to tampering but took no action to produce a safe product.

D.M. v. Michael Reese One Day Surgery Center – Substantial settlement of wrongful death claim of 36-year-old gentleman who had a hernia surgery at this outpatient center. He arrested during the procedure, suffered massive brain damage, and died 3 weeks later. His widow wishes to keep the amount of the settlement private.