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The Illinois Supreme Court today entered an order that brings an end to the case of Rachel Barton vs. Metra and Chicago NorthWestern Railroad. The railroads agreed to pay Barton $35 million for injuries sustained seven years ago. Barton was severely injured in January, 1995, when the conductor allowed the train to leave the station while Barton was pinned to its door. After a month-long trial, three years ago, a jury found Metra and Chicago…

Every office should have a Richard Burke. A tireless work horse, Rich is one of those quiet, behind-the-scenes leaders who knows how to get things done. He just wrapped up a case involving the rollover of a sport utility vehicle where, with Robert Clifford, he received a $22 million settlement against Ford Motor Company, a Ford dealership and a tire retailer and manufacturer. A 15-year-old girl was severely injured, and two teenage girls were killed,…

ALASKA AIR FLIGHT 261 Crashed: January 31, 2000 in the Pacific Ocean On January 31, 2000, an Alaska Airlines MD-83 aircraft in flight to San Francisco plummeted from the sky and crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 people on board. The tragic event raised serious questions surrounding the safety of one of America’s largest airlines at the time and left devastated families wondering what went so wrong. Most of those aboard the jet…

There’s a reason why Mack is so protective of Susan Capra. Because he loves her so much. Mack is Susan’s four-year-old German Shepherd. And can you blame him? Susan is, perhaps, the most beloved attorney in the office. Soft-spoken, dedicated, loyal, intelligent, sensitive, yet determined. Susan is perfectly fitted in her role as a medical malpractice attorney, defending patients’ rights. Susan graduated from Robert Clifford’s alma maters-DePaul University and DePaul College of Law. She studied…

Your friend’s sister’s mother-in-law was driving her son’s van when a plumbing truck, personally owned by the plumber, hit her. He is ticketed. Two children in the van are seriously hurt-one is the mother-in-law’s grandson; the other is his 10-year-old best friend. The son, who owns the van, has limited insurance coverage. The plumbing company has a $250,000 policy and the plumber has an individual policy for $20,000. Grandma has a million dollar umbrella under…

By Pallasch, Abdon M. On Halloween in 1994, 30-mile-an-hour winds whipped rain horizontally into people’s faces. Umbrellas blew inside out. The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers struggled to play football at Soldier Field. Nine-thousand feet above northwest Indiana, American Eagle Flight 4184 from Indianapolis circled, waiting to land at O’Hare International Airport. The winds were lighter up there, but twice the co-pilot warned the pilot that freezing drizzle was coating the wings with ice….

A Barrington man whose wife and only child were killed in the 1989 Sioux City, Iowa, plane crash settled his Cook County lawsuit Thursday morning for $15 million and obtained one defendant’s acknowledgment of fault for its role in the accident. Plaintiff lawyer Robert A. Clifford and his client, Terry Brown, refused to settle his wrongful-death suit until General Electric Co., the designer of the plane’s engine that exploded, acknowledged fault for the crash of…

AMERICAN EAGLE FLIGHT 4184 Crashed: October 31, 1994, in Roselawn, Indiana On October 31, 1994, American Eagle Flight 4184 was en route from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Chicago, Illinois when it abruptly rolled and plummeted from the sky, crashing in a field near Roselawn, Indiana, killing all 68 on board. In the following investigation, it was determined that an inattentive flight crew and a poorly designed de-icing boot system caused the American Airlines plane to crash…

UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT 232 Crashed: July 19, 1989 in Sioux City, Iowa The eyes of the nation watched as a home video fixed on Runway 2L at Sioux City, Iowa’s airport captured the chilling crash scene. Again and again, television stations aired the clip of the immense jetliner, United Airlines Flight 232, cartwheeling in flames before crash-landing in a soybean field. Passengers were thrown from the plane; 112 were killed in the deadly impact. Another…