Results

Our firm successfully represented 9 midwestern “snow birds”, some of whom suffered severe and permanent injuries, when a porch they were sitting on collapsed causing them to crash to the ground. Fractured ankles, knees, arms and faces; brain trauma; and numerous lacerations resulted. Our firm established deficiencies in the porch and failures on the part of the condo management company to discover and remedy the dangerous conditions. This multi-million dollar confidential settlement was obtained just months prior to trial.

$30,000,000 Judgment obtained on behalf of the family of a young woman who was killed by the defendant who failed to reduce speed and take evasive maneuvers to avoid striking the decedent who was stopped for IDOT road construction vehicles. The young woman, a Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate student in Theology, was driving to Texas where she was working full time in youth ministry.

Following a knee replacement surgery our client suffered horrific though preventable complications resulting in dozens of hospital admissions and numerous surgeries culminating in the loss of functional use of her leg. Our attorneys proved that her surgeon and other healthcare professionals were aware of a potential vascular injury but failed to timely confirm the diagnosis or treat it. As a result of these failures our client went days without adequate blood flow to her lower extremity which caused her compartment syndrome and devastating injury.

Our client presented twice to the same ER and saw two different ENT physicians over 10 days with complaints of severe and unrelenting head pain. On each occasion he was diagnosed with sinusitis and treated with narcotic pain medication and antibiotics. Despite the failure to alleviate his painful symptoms, none of the defendants ordered a brain CT which would have diagnosed the frontal lobe brain abscess causing the severe headaches. By the time the abscess was diagnosed it was too late. It ruptured into his ventricles bathing his brain and spinal cord with infection. This triggered a catastrophic response causing severe permanent cognitive and physical disabilities. Our attorneys established that the defendants violated multiple standards of care causing this otherwise preventable tragedy.

Our client was working on an automated industrial lathe when the steel workpiece he was machining came free from the chuck, crashed through the guard, and struck him in the head causing life altering injuries. Our attorneys established that the guard on this lathe failed to meet national industry standards and, further, that the workpiece would have been contained in the machine, preventing this tragedy, if proper guarding was present. Unfortunately, the client passed away from causes unrelated to his injury prior to trial.

Our firm obtained a $6,500,000 verdict and judgment on behalf of the family of a husband/father who was fatally shot in his driveway by a disgruntled former friend.

The defendant neurosurgeon saw our client after he was diagnosed with a benign brain cyst which needed to be removed. The defendant neurosurgeon performed the surgery without the assistance of essential neuro-navigational imaging. Engaging the highest qualified neurosurgeon expert to assist us, we established that during surgery the defendant neurosurgeon became ‘lost’ in our client’s brain. As a result he negligently encroached upon and injured healthy brain tissue which should have been outside the operative field. This caused our client to suffer a significant brain injury leaving him unable to care for himself. This result is a record high for a medical malpractice brain injury case in the County in which it pended.

Our client suffered paralysis when he unexpectedly fell through a basement stairwell door located in the floor of the defendant’s premises. Our investigation discovered that the defendant owner and representatives of the defendant commercial real estate company created a dangerous condition by leaving the stairway door open and shutting off the electricity to the property leaving it without adequate lighting. We proved that our client was neither warned of the dangers nor did he have an opportunity to protect himself from them.

Unbeknownst to our client, a pelvic ultrasound revealed an abnormal growth on her ovary which was reported to her 0b/Gyn with a recommendation for follow-up imaging of the ovary. The defendant Ob/Gyn neither acted on that recommendation nor communicated the abnormal results to our client. Approximately two years later, our client saw her doctor with complaints of pelvic pain and abnormal bleeding. Stage 4 ovarian cancer was promptly diagnosed. Our client then learned of the previously abnormal ultrasound for the first time. With the help of our renowned medical experts we established that had the recommended follow-up imaging been ordered, the cancer would have been diagnosed at an earlier stage greatly reducing her risk of recurrence and improving her long-term survival.

Our attorneys secured this recovery on behalf of the five children of a 44 year-old woman who struggled with mental illness. Knowingly suicidal, she was admitted into a local hospital where she was placed on monitoring requiring care providers to check on her every 15 minutes. Two days after her admission this young mother was found dead in her room as a result of suicide. Investigation by our firm revealed video evidence confirming that care providers had not checked on her in the several hours prior to her death, a direct violation of the admission orders. Our investigation further uncovered falsified medical records claiming, contrary to the video evidence, that observation took place as ordered.

The surviving adult children of this 75 year-old mother believed that her lung cancer should have been diagnosed and treated while it was still curable. Investigation and litigation by our firm discovered that an early stage and treatable lung cancer was identified on x-ray performed a year earlier. Our team of expert physicians testified that certain standards of practice were violated by the hospital’s physicians leading to the prolonged delay in diagnosis and extensive spread of the cancer causing an untimely death.

We represented two clients who, in separate instances, sustained leg injuries after being struck by their own car of identical make and model. Both clients had shifted into Park and were standing in back of the vehicle when it unexpectedly shifted into Reverse and hit them. Many years of litigation uncovered that the defendant vehicle manufacturer was aware of numerous prior complaints of similar occurrences. Our attorneys successfully proved the existence of a transmission design defect which the defendant manufacturer failed to remedy.

Routine pathology samples taken during our client’s appendectomy contained cancerous cells which went unidentified and unreported by the reviewing pathologist. Fourteen months later our client was diagnosed with metastatic cancer which originated in the appendix. Our attorneys, through nationally recognized experts, established that the failure to identify the cancer was a violation of the standard of care and resulted in the loss of potentially life-saving treatment options for our client who passed away shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

Our client’s husband was assigned to paint stairwells at a local school which was being renovated. While trying to do his job with the equipment provided, he fell over 20 feet resulting in his death. Our attorneys uncovered evidence that the defendant general contractor provided unsafe scaffolding which lacked essential guards and other necessary fall protection. We were able to prove that in doing so the general contractor was negligent and caused this tragic death.

Our client worked in an industrial plastic facility. After being directed to clean out a plastic grinding machine, he unfastened the hopper to access the grinders. It crashed to the ground without warning crushing both of his hands resulting in permanent injury to several fingers. Engaging the assistance of retained product design experts, our attorneys established that the machine was unreasonably dangerous due to the lack of guards necessary to keep the operator safe.

Despite months of ongoing physical symptoms consistent with ovarian cancer such as abdominal pain, extreme weight loss, vomiting and fatigue, our client’s primary care physician failed to perform essential imaging and erroneously maintained a diagnosis of ‘gastritis.’ After desperately seeking help from a new primary care physician our client was promptly evaluated and diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. Our firm obtained a pre-suit near-policy-limits settlement from the doctor and his practice group after establishing that earlier work-up and diagnosis were required by the standard of care and that the failure to do so left our client with a significantly increased risk of re-occurrence.

Our attorneys represented a partner in a brokerage company after he was terminated. We alleged that the defendant partners breached the partnership agreement and otherwise improperly terminated our client. The loss of revenue and income was supported by financial experts retained by our attorneys.

Kelly & Ignoffo Law Group obtained this settlement on behalf of a woman and her family following a catastrophic accident which fatally injured her husband and caused her severe orthopedic injuries. Our firm secured this settlement on behalf of the client and her family without them having to endure protracted litigation.

Our client was on her way to work when she was struck by a commercial truck resulting in a concussion with severe post-concussion syndrome that limited her daily activities. Our attorneys were able to secure this settlement through extensive pre-trial settlement negotiations.

After enduring months of unexplained weight loss and fatigue, our clients’ husband/father underwent multiple CT imaging studies to look for a possible cause. Present on each image was a large cancerous tumor that went unidentified by three separate radiologists. By the time the cancer was diagnosed, nearly 18 months after the initial CT study, it was untreatable resulting in death weeks later. Working with highly credentialed experts, our attorneys secured this settlement on behalf of our clients who lost their husband and father.

Our attorneys obtained this settlement against four defendant automobile dealerships on behalf of our client who was a passenger on a motorcycle struck by a pick-up truck being transported between the defendant dealerships. Intense litigation commenced concerning not only the accident itself but also relative to the employment status of the defendant truck driver. After countless depositions and extensive argument before the Court, our attorneys defeated the defendant dealership’s attempts to be dismissed from the case. We settled the case after multiple mediations.

After hip surgery our client was transferred to the defendant nursing home for physical therapy and management of vascular disease. Over several weeks a small area of skin breakdown progressed to multiple large necrotic ulcerations. Multiple debridement surgeries were unsuccessful and our client ultimately underwent an above-knee amputation. Our team established that the amputation was a direct result of failures by the defendant physician and nurses to monitor the wounds and treat our client’s underlying vascular disease.

While working on a large industrial machine our client’s husband leaned over to pick up a piece of metal. Though equipped with an appropriate light curtain guard, the guard was not properly positioned resulting in the machine cycling and fatally crushing him. Our attorneys and product design experts established that proper positioning of the guard would have prevented this tragedy.

A young husband was found dead several days after he did not return home from visiting friends. Through investigation and litigation we established that the defendant village had received a 911 call in the days prior advising of his location and that he was alive but intoxicated. The dispatcher did nothing with the call. As a result our client’s husband died from exposure to the elements. We established that the death was preventable had emergency response personnel been sent pursuant to the dispatchers duty to do so.

After experiencing bouts of intermittent dizziness and facial numbness our client underwent a brain MRI which revealed a nearly 2cm tumor that went unidentified by the reporting radiologist. Our client’s symptoms persisted and gradually worsened over the subsequent 17 months at which time another MRI was performed diagnosing the tumor which had essentially doubled in size. Due to the untreated growth of the tumor, the corrective surgery carried significantly higher risks for complications, including facial nerve injury. Our client suffered this dreaded complication resulting in permanent left-sided facial pain and paralysis.

A young mother and wife was a passenger in a family member’s vehicle on an interstate in Utah when another vehicle entered their lane. Though the vehicles did not collide our client’s vehicle lost control and rolled into the median resulting in a spinal cord injury and her immediate death. After interviewing numerous witnesses and reconstructing the accident we secured settlements for the full insurance policy limits from both vehicles involved in the occurrence.

Our client underwent pelvic imaging, which revealed an ovarian mass that was suspicious for cancer. Her Ob/Gyn attempted to remove the mass, rather than referring her to a gynecological oncologist, rupturing it and, thus, causing dissemination of cancerous cells throughout her pelvis. Tragically, as a result, an otherwise curable cancer recurred the following year. Our attorneys secured this policy-limits settlement shortly after commencing litigation.

$1,000,000 insurance limits recovery for husband and father of two who suffered traumatic brain injury from a fall. It was alleged that the defendant deprived our client of essential medical intervention because of the failure to call 911.

$1,000,000 on behalf of the family of a woman who succumbed to cervical cancer that the defendant failed to timely diagnose. Allegations included that the defendant failed to perform necessary biopsy screening in light of concerning symptoms. As a result, the cervical cancer went undiagnosed for nearly a year at which time it was advanced stage and caused her death. She is survived by two adult children.

While on his way to work our client’s husband crashed into a semi-trailer obstructing the road resulting in a fatal brain injury. Our litigation uncovered that the defendant truck driver was performing an illegal 3-point turn on a road prohibited to truck traffic and that the trailer had inadequate lighting. As a result of the lawsuit the defendant’s insurance carrier payed their insurance policy limits.

Our client was visiting a friend at his three story walk-up apartment. Just shy of the third floor landing our client lost his balance and fell over the handrail. Tragically, he fell to the entryway 30 feet below and suffered paralysis below the waist. Our firm’s investigation and litigation uncovered that the handrail was approximately 2 inches below the applicable building code requirement. As a result the defendant property owner’s insurance carrier promptly complied with our demand for tender of the insurance policy limits.

We represented the family of a young father who died from an undiagnosed and untreated pulmonary embolism. Though diagnosed with pneumonia by the defendant physician, his symptoms were also consistent with pulmonary embolism – a potentially fatal disease process known to mimic pneumonia and other common conditions. Our attorneys established that the standard of care required the defendant physician to consider and work-up pulmonary embolism. We further established that the failure to consider and rule-out this diagnosis caused the father’s otherwise preventable death. As a result, the defendant tendered his full insurance policy limits to settle this case.

Kelly & Ignoffo Law Group represented the wife and children of a young husband/father who succumbed to a rare blood cancer which his primary care physician failed to diagnose. Despite numerous abnormal blood tests over a period of years the defendant physician failed to refer the patient for a hematology consult. After seeking a second opinion, the necessary consult was ordered and the diagnosis was made. At that point, however, the cancer was significantly advanced and his death followed in less than a year. Overcoming defense arguments that earlier diagnosis and treatment would not have changed the outcome, our attorneys secured this settlement as trial approached.

After several years of care, including blood tests, from his primary care physician, our clients’ husband/father was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. Investigation and litigation by our firm revealed that multiple abnormal blood tests in the preceding years should have prompted further work-up by the primary care physician. We further established that additional blood work and referral to the appropriate specialist would have been diagnostic of the cancer likely preventing his death.

Without warning a family lost a loving husband and father after he was admitted to the hospital for an elective surgery. After being given a large dose of a medication to correct high levels of potassium in the blood, hospital personnel failed to perform simple but essential monitoring of the patient’s blood sugar. As a result, the patient suffered a hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) crash resulting in his death. The patient was generally ill and suffered from numerous serious medical conditions significantly limiting his life expectancy. Despite this, our attorneys were able to secure a pre-suit settlement with the hospital. Notably, this case was rejected by another law firm prior to our office being contacted.

Our attorneys settled a case on behalf of the family of a 15-month-old boy who suffered a strangulation death when the inner-cord of a mini-blind unraveled becoming an instant though unforeseeable safety hazard. We successfully sued one of the largest retail stores in the world and the Chinese manufacturer of the blind alleging that they knew the mini-blind was defective and failed to act on that.

Kelly & Ignoffo Law Group represented the family of a 75 year old husband and father who suffered a fatal stroke as a result of undiagnosed and untreated carotid artery disease after presenting to the emergency room. Despite his high risk presentation, essential diagnostic imaging and life-saving treatment was not performed. After numerous defendant and medical expert depositions in this heavily contested litigation, our attorneys secured this settlement on the eve of trial.

Awakened by a screaming neighbor our client was trapped in her apartment by a fire in the hallway. By the time she awoke, only way out of her second floor apartment was to jump from the window causing her to suffer a leg fracture requiring surgical repair. Our attorneys established that the defendant landlord failed to provide and maintain functioning smoke detectors in the apartment building which led to the lack of warning.

Our client’s chiropractor recommended an ear-canal device intended to help relieve jaw pain. Despite not being trained in the procedure, the chiropractor injected the impression material into the ear, perforating the ear drum and causing significant injury to our client’s middle ear anatomy. This resulted in multiple surgeries and permanent moderate hearing loss.

Due to underlying respiratory illness our client’s wife was dependent on a trach tube to maintain her airway. She was a resident at the defendant nursing home where trained care providers were to ensure that her trach tube functioned properly. Unfortunately the nurses and respiratory therapist assigned to her care failed to do so. Following her death, our attorneys discovered that her trach tube went unchanged for an unreasonably long period of time causing it to become obstructed. Our lawsuit further established that the nursing home failed to equip her room with an emergency trach kit preventing care providers from properly responding to the obstruction resulting in her death.

Our client suffered facial and minor skull fractures as a result of the defendant driver’s failure to pay attention and crossing the centerline.

Our client suffered a hip fracture when struck by a taxicab while crossing the street. Our firm obtained a verdict in excess of the defendant’s insurance policy limits after the defendant refused to settle the case prior to trial.

Our elderly client suffered from a heal pressure ulcer which required multiple debridement surgeries. Our attorneys proved that failures by the nursing home staff caused the otherwise preventable ulcerations.

Our client broke her ankle when she stepped into a hole in the sidewalk that the defendant construction company created. We established that reasonable construction practices required the defendant to barricade the area for the protection of pedestrians using the sidewalk.

We obtained a pre-suit policy limits settlement on behalf of a client who suffered a traumatic brain injury at a friend’s home. Opening what he believed to be the bathroom door, our client stepped into what was, in fact, the doorway to the basement stairs that had no landing. Our client was caused to fall head first striking the basement floor. We were able to establish with the homeowner’s insurance carrier that this was an unreasonably dangerous condition that should not have existed.

A young girl suffered multiple facial scars after being attacked by a friend’s dog. Our investigation discovered that this unprovoked attack was not the dog’s first and our lawsuit proved that the owner was responsible for it.

After placing a lightweight sign in front of their store on a windy day, store management failed to adequately secure it. As our client approached the retailer she tripped over the sign that was laying on its side and not readily visible to her or others. She suffered a full thickness rotator cuff tear requiring surgical repair and extensive therapy.

The defendant dog owner allowed his dog to roam without a leash or other restraint in his front yard. While our client was riding her bike past the defendant’s home his dog ran into the road causing her to crash and sustain an elbow fracture requiring surgical repair.

After interviewing and securing statements from witnesses, our attorneys were able to establish that the defendant cab driver failed to maintain his lane during a left hand turn and veered into our bicyclist client causing him to crash.