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Latest news on personal injury and workers’ compensation.

October 28, 2025

State’s high court to hear arguments in case of missing video of woman’s fall at hospital

October 27, 2025

Appeals court: Doctors can’t pursue claim for payment against employer

October 27, 2025

Illinois bill would raise burial expenses

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Personal Injury

Walmart denies liability in customer’s suit alleging slip, fall on air freshener

Walmart argues that a customer failed to keep a proper lookout when she allegedly slipped and fell on an air freshener that was on the restroom floor. Walmart answered the complaint on Oct. 8 through attorney James DeFranco of DeFranco & Bradley PC in Fairview Heights, denying liability. In its affirmative defenses, Walmart argues that the sole proximate cause of…
Workers' Compensation

Health care facility fined $38K over coronavirus hazard

An inspection by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration at a rehabilitation and post-acute care facility in Byron, Illinois, found the health care facility did not comply with federal respiratory protection requirements in its quarantine area and failed to protect workers from coronavirus hazards. OSHA found that Generations at Neighbors LLC, operator of six similar facilities in Illinois and Indiana,…
Personal Injury

Fuel company worker alleges benzene exposure caused cancer

A fuel company worker alleges his exposure to benzene and other toxic chemicals caused him to develop cancer. Howard Smith and Lyn Vigna-Smith filed a complaint Sept. 27 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Piasa Motor Fuels LLC, formerly known as Piasa Auto Supply Service, and others, alleging negligence. According to the plaintiffs' complaint, Howard Smith drove "various vehicles"…
Workers' Compensation

Illinois Healthcare Center Fined $83.6K for Lack of Coronavirus Protections

Federal workplace safety officials say a Bloomingdale, Illinois, nursing facility failed to protect employees and temporary staff from possible coronavirus hazards a year after an employee died of the disease. OSHA initiated a follow-up inspection at West Suburban Nursing and Rehabilitation Center LLC on July 28, 2021, under the National Emphasis Program for Coronavirus Disease 2019 and the Emergency Temporary…
Workers' Compensation

Illinois Construction Contractor Cited for Workplace Hazards; Fined $229.7K

For the sixth time in seven years, a federal workplace inspection has found a Roselle, Illinois, construction contractor putting workers at risk of serious injury or death by defying federal requirements to ensure the use of fall protection. On April 16, 2021, U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors observed employees of Emerald Inc. without fall protection…
Workers' Compensation

Tootsie Roll Machine Cuts Off Part of Worker’s Finger in Chicago Plant

A federal agency has recommended that Tootsie Roll Industries pay more than $136,000 in fines after a machine at its Chicago plant cut off part of an employee’s finger earlier this year. In a news release, the U.S. Department of Labor said that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued one willful violation “for inadequate machine guarding” and proposed…
Workers' Compensation

OSHA’s diminished enforcement put workers at risk for toxic exposure

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s “diminished” enforcement of its 2016 Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica rule has left “more workers at risk for exposure to silica,” according to a U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General Audit report released Thursday. The rule was created after 18 years of rulemaking to reduce and eliminate worker exposure to respirable…

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