Practice Areas

Workers  Compensation is designed to eliminate the need for litigation by providing  workers injured on the job with benefits.   Workers’ Compensation covers the costs of medical treatment, and pays a  fixed income while a worker is treating an injury and unable to work.  Illinois law requires employers to pay  two-thirds of an employee’s salary while treating injuries, and allows  additional compensation for permanent injuries.   Employers or their insurance companies may dispute the severity of an  injury and try to limit your recovery.   That’s when litigation becomes necessary, as is the aid of an  experienced Workers Compensation attorney.

Nearly  all injuries occurring at work are compensable, including fractures, hand  injuries, burns, cuts and psychological injuries.  Some employees incur what are known as  “repetitive trauma” injuries, which result from doing the same action for hours  each day.  Repetitive trauma injuries  include carpal tunnel, tendonitis, bursitis, and trigger finger.  If you have been injured at work, you most  likely have a compensable workers' compensation claim and should contact our  office immediately.

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In 2002, rollovers made up just 3% of vehicle crashes.  However, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), rollovers cause 33% of all auto-accident fatalities.   Of these fatalities, 36% are caused by the occupant being ejected from the vehicle.  Wearing a seatbelt reduces your chances of dying in a rollover accident by 75%.  While anti-rollover technology has improved, an estimated 10,000 people are killed each year in rollovers, more than one-third of those involving SUV’s.  SUV’s have the highest rollover involvement rate over all other vehicles, including trucks, vans, and passenger cars.

Approximately 95% of rollovers are “tripped” rollovers.  A car is “tripped” when a vehicle slides off the road and the tires either dig into the soil or hit an object.  SUVs are more likely to roll over than other vehicles because they have a higher center of gravity.  Perhaps one of the greatest challenges is that there are no standards for adequately testing the crashworthiness of a vehicle.  In fact, rollovers have higher fatality rates because vehicles are simply not designed to properly protect occupants in such accidents.  Despite these facts -- and increasing gas prices -- the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that mid-size and large SUV’s still made up 26% of new vehicles sold in 2006.

There are two ways to establish liability for injury in a rollover accident: either prove that a person negligently operated a vehicle, or that some defect in the vehicle or the road caused the accident.  When a plaintiff tries to prove a defect in the vehicle, this is known as products liability.  It means that manufacturers and sellers are responsible for ensuring that products entering the market are not unsafe or defective.  For rollover injury, a victim may claim that a defect in the vehicle either caused the accident or increased the severity of the injuries.  Further, it is critical that the accident victim show that a simple adjustment would have avoided the defective feature.  Proving a products liability case can be difficult and often requires expert opinions.  This is why hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer is a wise decision.

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When businesses think more about profits than consumer safety, serious injuries can result.  Each year, thousands of disabling injuries occur as a result of defective toys and equipment, electric appliances, and other basic household products. The experienced products liability attorneys at Craig L. Manchik & Associates, P.C. focus their practice on product liability cases involving:

• Medical devices
• Dangerous toys
• Dangerous appliances
• Dangerous vehicles
• Defective products
• Hazardous and dangerous products

Many consumer injuries could be avoided if manufacturers and distributors took just a few extra steps to make their products safer for consumer use. In August 2008 alone, recalls were issued for hazards related to lead paint in cribs, defective emergency lights, personal blenders, gas grills, drawstring sweatshirts, bicycle pedals, and cordless tools.  Reports from The Consumer Product Safety Commission indicate that consumer products are responsible for over 13.6 billion emergency room visits each year. The cost of these injuries adds up to more than $368 billion.

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Medication errors account for more than 1.3 million injuries and nearly 100,000 deaths each year. Moreover, as the pharmaceutical industry continues to grow, these numbers will likely increase.  Americans have become more reliant on prescription medication, and the people charged with preparing and dispensing these medicines have a responsibility to ensure that people are receiving correct doses of the correct medications.  Many medicines have similar names with vastly different effects.  As pharmacists are more educated in the potential dangers involved, they must be accountable when their mistakes cause injuries.

Our pharmacy malpractice attorneys have successfully litigated cases against most of the major pharmaceutical chains for many of the errors pharmacies make in filling prescriptions, such as:

• Dispensing incorrect medication
• Incorrect dosages
• Illegible prescriptions
• Overworked pharmacists
• Under-qualified personnel
• Mislabeled bottles

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