Latest Reports/Firm News

Welcome Sarah Gallagher Chami

We are pleased to announce the addition of attorney Sarah Gallagher Chami to our law firm. Sarah joined our firm in September and comes to us from Cook County where she worked as an Assistant State’s Attorney since 2003.

Sarah graduated from DePaul University and earned her law degree from the Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2003.

While with the Cook County State’s Attorney Office, Sarah handled thousands of child support enforcement cases and negotiations for the Illinois Department of Public Aid. In 2005, she joined the Criminal Prosecutions Bureau of the Cook County State’s Attorney Office and has since then tried and won numerous criminal trials. Most recently she served as the Supervisor of the Preliminary Hearing and Grand Jury Unit for District 4 and was responsible for reviewing thousands of felony cases and taking them before the Cook County Grand Jury.

Sarah returns to Sycamore, where she was born and raised and is the fifth generation of Gallaghers to be part of DeKalb County. Sarah is married to Elie Chami and they have two beautiful children: Michael and Norah.

Leading Lawyer's Network

The Leading Lawyer’s Network of Illinois named Rick as a Leading Lawyer again for the third year in a row in the areas of personal injury and workers’ compensation law. Only those lawyers who are most often recommended by their peers, in a statewide survey, are eligible for membership in the Leading Lawyer’s Network.

Million Dollar Advocates Press Release

This past year, Rick Turner, principal in the firm, was named to the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Membership to this group is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts, awards and settlements. The organization was founded in 1993 and there are approximately 3000 members located throughout the country. Fewer than 1% of U.S. lawyers are members. Forum membership acknowledges excellence in advocacy, and provides members with a national network of experienced colleagues for professional referral and information exchange in major cases. Members must have acted as principal counsel in at least one case in which their client has received a verdict, award or settlement in the amount of one million dollars or more.

Legal News of General Interest

Debunking the Myths

Drug, oil, and insurance companies have spent millions of dollars to generate myths about how lawsuits are out of control and responsible for all of American's ills. The facts tell a much different story. read full article.

Myth Buster Facts about Civil Litigation

Myth Buster-Facts about Civil Litigation in Illinois and the United States Contrary to popular myth propagated by insurance companies and manufacturing associations, among others, very few people injured in America file lawsuits. Only 10% of injured Americans ever file a claim for compensation. Only 2% actually file lawsuits. Academics who have studied this issue generally agree that there is no evidence indicating that "frivolous lawsuits" are a problem. The Rand Institute for Civil Justice, a nationally recognized independent think tank, as well as several academic studies have confirmed these facts. From 1995 through 2004, the total number of "tort" lawsuits for fifteen states reported showing a downward trend. (A "tort" claim is a claim for a personal injury arising out of alleged negligence or intentional harm). Tort filings in thirty states reported in a separate study declined 9% from 1992 to 2001.

However, people continue to be injured as a result of negligence count particularly in the area of medical malpractice. Between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors in hospitals alone. Yet eight times as many patients are injured as ever file a claim according to a study by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and a Harvard Medical Practice study. A recent Harvard School of Public Health study found that when closely-examined, 1,452 closed claims concluded that"portraits of a malpractice system that is stricken with frivolous litigation are overblown". The study found that most injuries resulting in claims were caused by medical error, and that those that were not were, nevertheless, not "frivolous."

Studies confirm that civil trials as a result of negligence arising out of claims for injury or death are not clogging the courts. The vast majority of tort cases are resolved by neither juries nor judges. In studies of state courts, in 2004, of nine states reporting, the median percentage of civil cases disposed of by trial was one-half of one percent. No state reported a jury trial rate of over 4%. The number of tort trials decided by a jury declined 23% from 1992 to 2001, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice in a study released in November of 2004. The number of tort trials concluded in U.S. District Courts declined by 80% from 1985 through 2003, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice.

It is readily apparent to anyone who studies this matter with an independent, unbiased view, that the claims by the President of the United States and others who are seeking to restrict the rights of members of the public to access to the courts that there are "frivolous lawsuits" clogging the courts is completely false and misleading and not based on any substantive evidence.

For more information on this topic please visit The Center for Justice and Democracy at their website at www.centerjd.org.

The Legal Climate in Illinois is not Adverse to Business

Despite what big business is advertising on the radio and in billboard and print media, the Illinois economy is strong and growing. Site Selection Magazine ranks Illinois 13th among the fifty states in its list of top business climates in the nation in its November 2005 issue. Site Selection Magazine also named Chicago/Cook County as Corporate America’s Top Metropolitan Area for securing the most new and expanded corporate facility projects in the country in 2005. The U.S. Small Business Administrations 2006 Small Business Profile of Illinois shows a 7% increase in new Illinois businesses in 2005, which is 2.5% higher than the national average.

So why does big business want to change the civil justice system in Illinois? The fact is that they do not want our courts to hold them accountable when they engage in business practices that hurt or kill people – even when they dump poisonous chemicals into our water supply, hide the deadly side affects of prescription drugs they manufacture or keep dangerous products on the market. When they stonewall on legitimate claims of citizens in this state who have been injured and seek just compensation, they blame “the system” when, in effect, it is their own greed for profits that is the motivating factor.

Insurers are doing very well in Illinois. Over the last three years, the state’s largest medical malpractice insurance carrier, I.S.M.I.E. Mutual Insurance Company, has reported profits of 11.7 million dollars, 23.5 million dollars and 50.2 million dollars, in their annual statements for 2004, 2005, and 2006. State Farm Insurance, the nation’s largest insurance company, reported profits of 5.3 billion dollars in 2006.

It is extremely important that citizens in the State of Illinois not allow big business or the insurance companies to pull the wool over their eyes. The court system in Illinois serves a very important function, and independent juries are the most important protection that we have, other than the ballot box, to prevent abuse and to foster fairness. For more please visit the website at www.ProtectOurCourts.org.