“Edward J. Walsh of
Walsh, Knippen, Knight & Diamond in Wheaton is the
only attorney with three downstate settlements in Chicago
Lawyer’s 1999 Million-Dollar Settlement Survey.
Walsh totaled $4.09 million
in settlements.
No other attorney or firm
had more than two big settlements outside Cook County.
“We’re seeing settlements
and verdicts increase, certainly here in DuPage [County],
over what they were five years ago,” said Walsh,
attributing the change in part to a demographic shift
as people move west from Chicago. “We’re less
rural than we were 10 years ago. And the quality of lawyering
is increasing on both sides.”
The survey of settlements
outside Cook County showed 34 of at least $1 million each,
totaling $69.71 million. Eligible settlements were published
in the Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter, Chicago Daily
Law Bulletin or Chicago Lawyer between July 1, 1998, and
June, 30, 1999.
Walsh’s biggest settlement
also was an auto collision case. Walsh obtained $1.9 million
in a Will County case, Murray v. R.A. Bright Construction,
Inc., et al., 95L4826.
Cheryl Murray suffered bilateral
fractures to her wrists and ankles and temporal mandibular
joint facial cuts when the defendant driver for R.A. Bright
Construction, Inc. crossed the center line of Route 25
in Wayne and collided heard-on with her vehicle.
Murray suffered “severe
fractures of both legs and both wrists, and she was essentially
unable to continue with her employment as a systems analyst,”
Walsh said.
Walsh presented this case
to a mock jury before settlement, something his firm does
for any case with an expected value of at least $1 million,
he said.
Based on the results of the
presentation, Walsh increased his expectations of the
case’s value.
The mock jury “proved
to be very beneficial,” he said. “We do it to
find out the weaknesses in our cases and to really get
a confirmation…on the value we should be looking
at.
“Settlement values occur
for many reasons, and one of them is the strength of the
liability. The liability [in this case] was absolutely
clear.”
Walsh added that verdicts
and settlements tend to be larger in Will County than
in other outlying counties, such as DuPage.
Walsh obtained $1.19 million
for a woman who tripped on a tear in the carpet of a law
office in Villa Park where she worked as a legal secretary.
Patricia Zych fell onto both
elbows, driving each humerus up into her shoulder joints
and resulting in bilateral rotator cuff tears. The DuPage
County case is Patricia Zych v. LaSalle National Bank
Trust #47750, et al., 95L1472.
Walsh said the case probably
would have gone to trial if not for mediation by former
DuPage County Chief Judge Bruce R. Fawell, now with Fawell
& Fawell.
“Mediation allowed this
case to settle, period,” he said. He added that Zych’s
appearance at mediation had a great influence on representatives
from Citibank, the owner of the building, and its insurance
carrier.
“Mrs. Zych makes a very
warm, comfortable, personal presentation,” he said.
“The way pretrial is conducted in DuPage, there’s
never enough time to let the parties interact the way
they can in mediation.”
Pretrial conferences may
last an hour, whereas mediation may last a full day, Walsh
said.
Walsh’s third settlement
of $1 million was for the estate of a woman who died after
doctors misdiagnosed and mistreated a bacterial infection,
according to Walsh.
The defendant doctors mistakenly
treated Janet Lazzari for pleurisy, a viral infection,
with the steroid prednisone. She was actually suffering
from Legionnaire’s disease, a bacterial infection,
he said.
The steroid diminished her
immune system, allowing the infection to overwhelm her,
which led to septicemia and death. The DuPage County case
is Lazzari v. Dr. Michael Nosek, et al., 95L404.
“The unique thing about
the negligence in that case is that the conduct of the
two doctors [was based on] telephone communication,”
Walsh said.
“We argued they should
have brought her into the office…That amount in this
county, in a settlement dealing with cases against physicians,
especially when you’re talking about physicians’
conduct limited to the telephone—we thought it was
significant.”
