FIRM NEWS AND LEGAL UPDATES

LEGAL UPDATES

Fall, 2010

  • The Road to Independence: A Woman’s Guide to Forming Her Own Law Firm;  Madeleine Weldon-Linne:  Contributor to American Bar Association Publication of the ABA   Commission on Women in the Profession. 

May, 2010

  • Robert Vogt will be speaking at the 16th Annual Jail Health Care Conference at the Chula Vista Resort in the Wisconsin Dells:  Ten Years of Seventh Circuit Federal Court Decisions on Correctional Litigation. 

April, 2010

February, 2010

In 2005, a statutory provision, part of Public Act 94–677, took effect in Illinois that places limits on awards for noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, in medical malpractice cases. The total limit is $1 million for hospitals and their personnel and $500,000 for doctors.  The  Illinois Supreme Court said that the damage limitation violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers by interfering with the authority of the judicial branch to reduce verdicts. What the statute allows for amounts to a “legislative remittitur.” The Supreme Court agreed with the circuit court that, because the challenged provision is not severable, the entire statute is invalid. However, the legislature is free to reenact the other provisions.

January, 2010

  • Insurance Law:   Weldon-Linne & Vogt attorneys successfully defeated a plaintiff insurer’s motion for summary judgment to avoid coverage.  The insurer had initially defended the insured under a reservation of rights.  The insurer then stopped paying for the defense costs of its insured.  The insurer filed a declaratory judgment action and sought a declaration of the court that the insurer had no duty to defend.  The court held that the insurer had no duty to defend and the insurer was not covered for the claim, but the insurer had a duty to pay the insured’s defense costs through the date of the court’s judgment.  Despite the court’s holding there was no coverage and no duty to defend, the court reserved judgment on whether the insurer was estopped from raising defenses to coverage, creating the potential of coverage.  The matter remains in litigation on the issue of estoppel and prejudice to the insured by the insurer’s actions. 

  • Recertification:   Weldon-Linne & Vogt was rectified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC); National Association of Minority and Woman Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF) and the State of Illinois.   Weldon-Linne & Vogt has been a WBE law firm certified by various agencies since we formed the firm  in 1996. 

  • Recognition:  Madeleine Weldon-Linne was named again as a 2010 Super Lawyer. Super Lawyers Magazine names attorneys in each state who received the highest point totals, as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics. 

  • Hang Tough and Wait:  After six years of discovery and with a March 2010 trial date set, our emergency physician client was the only defendant dismissed without paying any settlement monies in a Cook County wrongful death case involving a spinal epidural abscess.  After the plaintiff presented one of two experts, a total settlement amount of $1.7 million was accepted by the plaintiff on behalf of four codefendants.

  • Zain Atassi joined joined Weldon-Linne & Vogt on January 4, 2010.  She comes to the firm with diverse legal experience in general tort litigation, construction litigation, commercial litigation, products liability and premise liability matters.  

  • Weldon-Linne & Vogt is pleased to announce the addition of Whitney Atkins as law clerk with the firm. Whitney joined the firm in June 2009 and brings expertise in legal research.

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