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Driverless or self-driving cars just received the green light from federal auto safety regulators. A recent New York Times article titled: “Self-Driving Cars Gain Powerful Ally: The Government” sheds positive light on driver-less cars and the government regulation that favors the booming automated vehicles industry. There could be real public safety concerns to be addressed, however, especially given recent crashes of semi-autonomous cars. Safety experts point out current motor vehicle accident statistics should be considered…

The federal judge handling the Volkswagen Class Action lawsuits in the U.S. approved a $14.7 billion settlement Tuesday, October 25th. The Northern District of Illinois federal court said in its Executive Summary that “The goal of the Volkswagen Class Settlement Program is to compensate everyone who owned or leased a Volkswagen or Audi 2.0-liter TDI vehicle (“Eligible Vehicle”) on September 18, 2015 (the date the emissions allegations became public), or who now owns an Eligible…

Keith A. Hebeisen of Clifford Law Offices PC received a Trial Lawyer Excellence award at the 7th Annual JVR Awards for Trial Lawyer Excellence. The event was hosted by the Jury Verdict Reporter on October 19th at the Chicago Cultural Center in downtown Chicago. Keith Hebeisen, right, partner at Clifford Law Offices at the JVR Awards receiving his Jury Verdict Award from John Kirkton of the Law Bulletin Publishing Company. More than 300 trial attorneys…

Tesla, the leading electric automaker, announced in October that it is equipping all of its vehicles, including the Model 3, its first affordably priced car, with the hardware needed for fully autonomous driving. Tesla’s president announced that its software will allow these cars to navigate even the most complex city streets and that by the end of 2017 all new Tesla vehicles will be able to drive coast to coast without anyone ever having touch…

A “litany of errors” is what the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) today (Oct. 18, 2016) called the probable cause of a small plane that crashed in Akron, Ohio, last year killing all nine aboard, including seven executives from Florida. ExecuFlight 1526, a charter company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, crashed into an apartment building on November 10, 2015. No one on the ground was injured. NTSB investigators told the board that the pilots did…

Clifford Law Offices filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 against a major trucking company whose currently unknown driver allegedly fled the scene after crushing the foot of a woman standing at a corner where the truck was making a right-hand turn on Chicago’s Southwest side. Cook County Circuit Court Judge John H. Ehrlich also entered an order on an Emergency Motion allowing Clifford Law Offices to subpoena the…

Clifford Law Offices is a sponsor of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation’s annual luncheon – a fundraiser to honor the lives of Chicago’s fallen police officers as well as provide support and assistance to their families. This year’s Fifth Annual Valor Awards Luncheon is Wednesday, October 12th 2016, at Harry Caray’s Seventh Inning Stretch Restaurant in Water Tower Place on North Michigan Avenue. Awards will be presented to four distinguished Chicago Police Officers for their…

Clifford Law Offices today (Oct. 4, 2016) filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the trucking company and its driver who struck and killed a bicyclist near Damen and Addison last week. Anastasia Kondrasheva, a 23-year-old recent Loyola graduate, was biking to work the morning of Sept. 26 when a truck driver struck her as he made a right-hand turn onto a street marked for bicycle sharing. Ekaterina Kondrasheva, mother of Anastasia, filed the lawsuit in…

Clifford Law Offices, a long-time sponsor of Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep in Waukegan, is an Academic Sponsor of its “el-e-vate” fundraising event Oct. 22. The academic sponsorship level is the equivalent to the cost of educating one student at the private school for a year. Clifford Law Offices has not only sponsored a student every year for more than a decade but also hires five students each semester part-time and, later, even as…