Counsel for insurance companies are frequently called upon to offer advice about or to actually draft a letter to an insured either denying coverage or providing a defense while reserving the carrier’s rights regarding coverage. This usually happens when it is not clear if the claim made against the insured is covered under the terms of the insurance policy. [Read more…] about Denial of Coverage and Reservation of Rights Letters Pose a Trap for Unwary Counsel
What Crimes Bar Inheritance?
The Appellate Court for the First District has found that conviction of perjury and obstruction of justice in a murder case are not necessarily bars to inheriting form the murder victim.
Darota Chaban married William Chaban in Las Vegas on June 9, 2007. When they returned to Chicago on June 13, 2007 and informed Darota’s mother Irene of their marriage, Irene was initially upset. On June 18, 2007, Irene was discovered dead by Darota and William at Irene’s condominium. Irene was last seen on Friday, June 15 at her place of employment. Darota told the police and a grand jury she had not been at her mother’s condominium on June 15 or the rest of the weekend, she was never in the condominium on June 15 and she was with William most of the day. After being confronted with phone records placing her in the condominium on Friday, Darota admitted she had lied and claimed she was following William’s instruction. Darota was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. William was charged and convicted of first degree murder of Irene and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Darota filed a petition to probate Irene’s will and the court appointed her administrator of the estate. Darota later resigned and the trial court appointed the Administrator. The Administrator argued Darota was barred from inheriting her mother’s estate by 755 ILCS 5/2-6 (“Slayer Statute”) and provides, in pertinent part:
Suicide Breaks The Chain of Causation, Barring Wrongful Death Claims
Can suicide be the basis for a wrongful death case? Rarely says the Illinois Supreme Court. It almost always will be a superseding, intervening act ending causation.
Plaintiff filed a wrongful death action following her husband’s suicide. In this particular case, the plaintiffs were less than clear about the “injury” that precipitated the decedent’s death. Although the survival count was predicated on the intentional infliction of emotional distress, the wrongful death count itself does not identify any injury to decedent that caused his death or identify on what legal theory defendant’s conduct was “wrongful”. In a conclusory fashion, the complaint stated only that “as a result of the wrongful acts of defendants described above, the decedent committed suicide.”
The general rule, applicable in negligence actions, is that the injured party’s voluntary act of suicide is an independent intervening act which is unforeseeable as a matter of law and which breaks the chain of causation from the tortfeasor’s negligent conduct. The Illinois Supreme Court agreed, holding it was a rare case in which a suicide would not break the chain of causation and bar a cause of action for wrongful death, even where the plaintiff alleges the defendant inflicted severe emotional distress. As a matter of law, decedent’s suicide was not a reasonably foreseeable result of the defendant’s alleged conduct and the wrongful death count was dismissed. Turcios v. DeBruler Co., 2015 IL 117962, 32 N.E.3d 1117.
Health Care Liens Paid Prior to Deduction of Attorney Fees and Costs from Plaintiff’s Award
Who gets paid first, the health care provider or the attorneys? The Illinois Supreme Court has held that the health care providers or professionals come first. Recently, in McVey v. M.L.K. Enterprises, LLC, 2015 IL 118143, 32 N.E.3d 1112 the Illinois Supreme Court considered whether, under section 10 of the Health Care Services Lien Act (770 ILCS 23/10(a)) (“Act”), a lien by a health care professional or provider should be calculated based on a plaintiff’s total recovery or whether attorney fees and costs are deducted from the award prior to calculating the hospital’s lien. Under the Act, a health care provider that renders any services in the treatment, care or maintenance of an injured “shall have a lien upon all claims and causes of action of the injured person for the amount of the health care provider’s reasonable charges up to the date of payment of damages to the injured person.” 770 ILCS 23/10(a). The Court found there is no language in section 10 that would allow the calculation of a health care lien to be based upon the total “verdict, judgment, award, settlement or compromise” less attorney fees and costs. The Court held the statutory language in section 10 of the Act to be unambiguous and did not permit the deduction of attorney fees and costs prior to calculating the amount to be paid to any health care lienholder.
Service Provider Ordered to Disclose Subscriber’s Identity
You may not have the anonymity you think you have on the internet. In Illinois, the Courts are willing to require disclosure of the identity of internet subscribers. Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court’s judgment that a subscriber’s internet service provider had to disclose the subscriber’s identity in a defamation suit against the subscriber. Hadley v. Doe, 2015 IL 118000, 34 N.E.3d 549
Social Media Sites Do Not Have to Produce Documents During Pretrial Criminal Discovery
What appears to be a victory for protecting social media information from being hauled into court cases from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, is not as broad as it looks. The Courts have held open the possibility of requiring Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to produce social media postings for cross examination at a criminal trial, but have refused to require them to produce the information during the discovery part of the case. It is unlikely, however, that the Court would be more willing to let parties to civil suits have greater access to information than criminal defendants.
Ethics and Social Media
Kelly E. Purkey and Alexander Sweis will be speakers at the Spring Illinois Defense Counsel Seminar on April 17 talking about the ethical pitfalls of social media. Kelly and Alex will examine ARDC cases related to the use of Facebook, You Tube and other social media. The conference also includes many other topical issues and will be held on April 17, 2015 at the Standard Club in Chicago. Further information can be obtained at idc@iadtc.com.