Three More Jury Trial Wins at Costello Legal

Costello Legal has just won three jury trials this winter, marking 10 wins so far for 2015 and a very successful year. Congratulations to all the attorneys and support staff who worked hard and made this possible!

2013-L-11132 (Illinois, Cook County)

The Plaintiff, a 48 year old special education coach, was involved in a low-speed rear end collision in Evanston, Illinois, and sued the car that struck him. Plaintiff insisted on taking the matter to trial, claiming $80,000 in damages including outstanding medical expenses, the need for future medical care, lost wages from the incident, and permanent injury to his lower back. Partner James Barrow, representing the defendant at trial, showed the jury that this low speed collision could not have possibly caused the damages the plaintiff claimed, which were all the result of a pre-existing medical condition and an intervening work related injury. The trial lasted 3 days and included 5 witnesses, including a treating physician, independent neurosurgeon, and a biomechanical engineer. After deliberating for 90 minutes, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant.

2010-L-6503 (Illinois, Cook County)

After the Plaintiff, 39 year old health instructor, fractured her larynx while working out on a glute-ham machine, she filed suit against the gym, the manufacturer and the retailer. Prior to trial, Plaintiff settled with the manufacturer and retailer, leaving only her premises liability claim against Quad's Gym, Inc. Plaintiff requested $1.16 million at the end of a jury trial, including $130,000 in past medical bills, scarring and permanent changes to her voice. The trial lasted three and a half days and included eleven witnesses, including two laryngologists and one expert biomechanical engineer. For the defense, the team of Daniel Costello and Jessica Biagi fought zealously to deny fault and prove the defendant's affirmative defense of contributory negligence. Within 90 minutes, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty in favor of Defendant Quad's Gym, Inc.

2012-L-11088 (Illinois, Cook County)

The Plaintiff, a 53 year old nurse, fell while roller skating backwards in a roller rink, resulting in a fractured wrist that required surgery. She claims her fall was caused by an object on the ground, and filed a premise liability and negligence claim against the roller rink for failure to maintain and inspect the floor of the roller rink. The trial lasted three days and included seven witnesses. At the end of trial, Plaintiff asked for $125,000. Jessica Velez from Daniel P. Costello & Associates vigorously defended the roller rink and made it clear not only that Tinley Park Roller Rink properly supervised and maintained the roller rink, but also it was not possible the object on the floor could have caused the plaintiff's fall. After only 40 minutes of deliberation, the jury agreed and returned a complete defense verdict.

During Womens Basketball Game, Girl Falls off Bleachers While Playing on Gym Equipment

2014-L-335 (Illinois, DuPage County)

Plaintiff, an 11 year old girl, was playing on gym equipment on top of a set of bleachers in a gym when she fell and injured herself. At the time two local schools in DuPage County organized a tournament shootout with their women’s basketball teams and the gym equipment was moved onto the bleachers to make space but was not intended to be played on. Plaintiff’s parents brought suit on their daughters’ behalf, suing the schools and the company that operated and put on the tournament.

Attorneys Jessica Biagi and Jessica Velez defended the organizing company and eventually filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on the grounds of lack of notice that any hazard existed, lack of control over the bleachers in question, and that any hazard would be open and obvious. Jessica Velez argued the motion in oral argument and the motion was granted on all three grounds and the judge made an extensive record detailing his reasoning, effectively preventing an appeal.

Jury Trial Defense Win When Woman Falls in Arts Center

2011-L-6225 (Illinois, Cook County)

At an arts center in the Chicagoland area, an elderly woman fell over a crate and sued the arts facility. Ultimately plaintiff took the matter to trial and asked a jury for over $100,000 in damages. Jessica Biagi represented the arts facility, and showed that there was nothing unusual or negligent about the crate, and emphasized that just because someone fell, this does not meet a legal definition of negligence. Ultimately the jury agreed and returned a full defense verdict.

Another Trial Win for Costello Legal

Daniel P. Costello & Associates would like to congratulate Senior Associate Jessica Biagi on her second jury trial win in a row, which now makes five jury trial wins in a row for the firm.

Laden v. Evanston Art Center

After the Plaintiff, an 84 year old Tai Chi instructor, fell in the Evanston Art Center's sculpting studio and broke her nose, she filed a premises liability claim in the Cook County Law Division against the Evanston Art Center. The Plaintiff requested $120,000 in damages at the jury trial, which included future surgery. The trial lasted three and a half days and included seven witnesses, including a medical expert. During the trial, Jessica vehemently defended her client, clearly showing the jury how the plaintiff's fall was not the result of any negligence on the part of the defendant Art Center. After only thirty five minutes of deliberation, the jury agreed with Jessica and awarded a full not guilty verdict for the defendant.

Costello Legal Wins Two Jury Trials in One Month

Daniel P. Costello & Associates congratulates two attorneys within the past two weeks who won full defense verdicts for our clients in jury trials in Cook County, a historically plaintiff-friendly venue.

Nicolau v. Mt. Prospect Child Care Center, Inc.

After a five year old girl fell off the monkey bars and broke her arm, her parents sued the day care center in the Cook County Law Division alleging negligent supervision and claiming $64,442.14 in damages. During the jury trial, Plaintiffs presented seven witnesses in their case-in-chief over three and a half days, including a liability expert. The firm received the case just one month prior to trial and Jessica Biagi, an associate at Daniel P. Costello & Associates, LLC, did an outstanding job quickly preparing the matter for trial reviewing thousands of pages of evidence. Within only an hour of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

Jeff Wilson v. Action Towing, Inc. and Roxanne Rorah

The plaintiff, a 50 year old limousine driver, claims he was injured after falling off the back of a flat bed tow truck owned by our client. The Plaintiff claimed the defendant gave him instructions on climbing the truck and failed to warn him of the danger involved. The plaintiff asked for $152,000 in damages including over $37,000 in medical specials. For the defense, Partner James Barrow first won a motion for summary judgment as to counts for res ipsa loquitur, negligent spoilation and intentional spoilation, leaving only negligence counts. During the four day trial, James got the plaintiff to admit he knew what he was doing was dangerous and made it clear to the jury that the defendant bore no fault for the plaintiff’s accident. After deliberating for two hours the jury returned a full defense verdict.Congratulations to both Jessica and James!

Apps for Beginners: An Adjuster's Guide to Going Mobile One App at a Time

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By: Jessica Biagi

Want to instantly communicate and share information with interested parties of a claim?  There are apps for that.  Looking for a simple way to increase efficiency and productivity?  There are hundreds of apps for that.  There are even apps these days that allow adjusters to estimate repair costs, evaluate pitch, and record interviews.  There seems to be an app for everything these days.  The possibilities are truly endless.  So where do you start?

In this age of smartphones and tablets, you “app up” not to gain a competitive edge, but rather so that you are not left behind.  Mobile functionality is the new standard these days. Yes, its great that you were able to check your email or read a news article while you waited for your flight.  But the adjuster that sat next to you at the airport was able to: review and annotate PDF documents from his desktop; electronically sign his name to a report; schedule a video conference with defense counsel; share updated travel information with his family; edit correspondence to be sent to a claimant; translate a recorded statement from Spanish; upload all his work to a secured network; and, email any changes he made to his colleagues working back at the office.  With all that he accomplished, your fellow traveler now has the free time to enjoy the peanuts and the in-flight movie.  That could have been you! That should have been you! Assuming you are ready to take the plunge and truly utilize that smartphone of yours, increased productivity is just a finger swipe away.  Categories of apps await you. 

There are apps for creating/editing documents, apps for taking notes; apps for storing documents; apps for researching; apps for organizing and scheduling...apps for pretty much everything.  With literally thousands of apps out there, the prospect of going mobile can be intimidating.  How do I know which app to download?  What are the things I should look out for?  Once I've downloaded an app, how do I learn how to use it? Although many apps are free or inexpensive, downloading an app is not just something you dive into.  First, it can be dangerous.  While some companies, like the Apple Store, screen their apps, other companies do not and put you at risk to hackers and viruses.  Moreover, if you are dealing with confidential information, there is an ethical duty to make reasonable efforts to protect that information and make sure it remains secure.  The good news is that there are countless websites only a Google search away that review apps and recommend which apps are safe and secure to try. In addition, you do not want to overdo it and flood your phone or tablet with apps.  Yes, there are a lot of cool apps out there.  However, downloading too many apps can be costly, distracting, and counter-productive.  You do not need to be a “Jack of all apps” to increase productivity.  Actually, learning how to use apps takes time, practice, and patience.  You would be better off (and I bet more efficient) if you selected and mastered only a few (especially those that integrate with other apps). So before hitting that download button, you should ask yourself, “What tasks do I most want to accomplish when I'm away from the office?”  No matter the answer, my guess is that there's an app for that!

To get you started, here are apps that come commonly recommended.  For reviewing and editing documents, Goodreader, iAnnotate, Pages, and Documents-To-Go. 

For storing and sharing documents among devices, Dropbox, SpiderOak, and Box.com. 

For taking and sharing notes, Noteshelf, Notability, and Evernote.  For creating presentations, Explain Everything, Keynote, and Timeline 3D. 

For electronically signing a document, SignMyPad, and SignNow. 

For scanning documents into a single PDF, DocScanner and Genius Scan. 

For scheduling and networking, Reminders, Calvetica, TripIt, MobileDay, and Smartr.  

Guide to Utilizing Social Media Websites in Investigating Claims

By: Daniel P. Costello, Esq. & Jessica Biagi, Esq.

Why use social media websites to investigate claims? You would not believe what people are putting on the internet these days! A recently widowed husband claiming loss of consortium posts a picture of himself at a beach with barely dressed women wrapped around his waist. A claimant who broke his ankle tweets that he has fully recovered and cannot wait to run another marathon. A plaintiff's witness posts the day after the alleged incident that she is severely hungover and does not remember much about what happened the night before.

Social media can provide invaluable information when evaluating a claim, preparing a defense, or preparing for trial. For example, defense counsel can use a Facebook photograph or Twitter post you found on a social media website to rebut a claim for damages or impeach a plaintiff's credibility at trial. Nevertheless, in using social media to investigate claims, you need to be careful to avoid crossing the line and putting your defense counsel in an awkward ethical position.

How to keep things ethical

If the information is public, it is fair game. However, if a person's profile is set to private, certain ethical problems can arise. Attorneys are not allowed to use deceptive investigatory tactics or engage in prohibited communications, whether through their acts or the acts of another. This means that if you create a false profile or friend a represented claimant, the attorney can get in trouble and the information itself can be thrown out. While several jurisdictions allow attorneys to friend unrepresented individuals under certain circumstances, the safe bet is to alert defense counsel to the profile and allow them to make a formal discovery request.

How to make it count

Once you find the “smoking gun,” what do you do with it? To make it count, you need to properly collect the social media-based evidence so that defense counsel can circumstantially lay the foundation at trial. Make sure to preserve enough information about the website to establish that it belongs to the subject claimant/witness. Record the site's URL, how you found it, the date and time you viewed it, and any other identifying details (ie, username, stated location, communications with other witnesses). Using the “snipping tool” on your computer, take various snapshots of both the post and the profile in general. A judge will consider all the particular details in combination.

How to avoid surprises on this end

What goes around, comes around. Make sure to look up your clients and alert defense counsel to any potential issues with their social media websites. If no formal discovery request has been made in the case, it may be permissible to remove the adverse content.

What a Way to End a Year, 2012 Ends in a Bang

As another year draws to a close the internet is a buzz with stories of the top ten movies of the year, this year's best gifts, and the stories of the year. We have been doing quite a bit of reflecting here again, and we wanted to share some of the highlights of 2012 with our friends and clients.

Although typical lists try and recap the entire year, we won't try and do so here. It just happened in December but we would be remiss if we didn't start with an excellent trial result. On December 10, 2012 a Cook County jury found in favor of our client, a national retailer, in a high stakes jury trial. The plaintiff asked the jury for $9.5 million dollars where he had nearly $1 million in paid past medical bills, $2.1 million in wage loss and a claimed $6 million in non-economic damages. The plaintiff would not move off a $5.4 million pre-trial demand, and turned down a joint defense offer of $2 million dollars, with indications for additional settlement. The jury found for our client, and assessed 0% liability. This was a major victory as joint and several liability in Illinois would require payment of medical for any verdict including 1% on liability. The trial team of Dan Costello, James Barrow, and Jessica Biagi tried the case for nearly two weeks, ending in a verdict followed by the Illinois Trial Lawyer's association. In addition to success in the Courtroom the firm has spent a great deal of time developing and studying industry best practice.

In September 2012, Dan Costello presented on the Ethics of Alternative fees to global risk managers and insurance executives in Philadelphia. He presented on a panel with former Associate General Counsel for Harleysville Insurance, along with the former Chief Legal Counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance. Shortly after presenting, Dan was part of the second Litigation Management Institute at Columbia Law School in October 2012. The intensive program provided by CLM is a one of kind program putting experienced litigation attorneys, risk management officers, and corporate leaders through rigorous course work for three days. Leaders from Google, Marriott, Liberty Mutual, and other Fortune 100 companies guided the attendees through best practice in litigation management and service to clients. Dan is one of 170 people in the U.S. to have completed the course, and he earned the CLMP designation.

Finally, the firm prides itself on the work that it is doing with two national insurance carriers in regards to litigation management. 2012 saw the firm work successfully with two major U.S. based carriers to create counsel scorecards, litigation management best practices, and unique solutions. These solutions will create value long into 2013 and into the future. Although a successful 2012 is over, there are many exciting events planned for next year, and we look forward to celebrating them with our friends and clients.

Daniel P. Costello specializes in construction litigation, complex litigation, and litigation management.