For more information on the Jury Verdict Reporter awards and annual ceremony, click here.

Immediately after filing the lawsuit, Cavanagh appeared before Judge Diane Larsen on an Emergency Motion for a Protective Order. Judge Larsen granted the Plaintiff's Emergency Motion ordering that the truck company preserve the truck in its present form. Judge Larsen also ordered the City of Chicago to preserve any surveillance videos of the incident from its cameras mounted on traffic control lights and to preserve all 911 calls.

The case is entitled Terri Cenar v. Anthony Hudson and Doka USA, Ltd., Court No.: 11 L 11590. The case is currently pending in front of Judge Diane Larsen. Mr. Cavanagh stated: "This tragedy could have been averted had the truck driver been paying attention and doing his job. Terri and her family and friends would appreciate any witnesses contacting Cavanagh Law Group."

Cyclist Struck by Semi Truck at Chicago and LaSalle

According to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court on September 23, 2011 by Chicago attorney, Timothy Cavanagh a partner at Cavanagh Law Group, Green was working on a metal pipe in a gravel area 2-3 feet northwest of the right curb of the right turning lane when the driver of the semi-tractor trailer made an improper turn and struck Green with its rear tandem wheels. Green was then transported to Elmhurst Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The DuPage County Coroner's office and the police have both said that Green likely died of "massive traumatic injuries."

The case, Mary Kriete-Green, Special Administrator of the Estate of Daniel Green, Deceased v. Martin Montelongo and Adan's Trucking, Inc., case number 11 L 009979 is pending in front of Judge Michael R. Panter.

Lawsuit filed in construction worker's death

On September 2, 2011 at 3:30 a.m., the Illinois State Police pulled over Diana Paz for driving in the wrong direction on I-290 and arrested her for driving under the influence. Two hours later, Paz was released from the Westchester Police Department and transported to a nearby gas station by a member of the Illinois State Police. Thirty minutes after her release, Ms. Paz was killed while walking in a marked median area along the inbound lanes of the Eisenhower Expressway. According to a witness, Ms. Paz was struck by a Toyota truck that had crossed the marked median area. The driver of the pickup truck was charged with violating a restricted median.

On September 7, 2011, Cavanagh Law Group filed a lawsuit to preserve evidence and sought an Emergency Hearing in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Judge Eileen Brewer granted the family's Emergency Motion to protect and preserve all evidence in this incident including videotapes.

Mr. Cavanagh stated, "It is not right that the police would leave a twenty-five-year-old young woman at a gas station next to a major highway, while she was intoxicated, with no money or cell phone, in the dead of night." Mr. Cavanagh continued to state, "This family is entitled to answers and Judge Brewers ruling today will allow the family to see all critical evidence soon."

The case is entitled Maria Guerrero, as Next Friend of Erik Martinez v. Village of Westchester, et al. The case number is 11 L 9303. The case is pending in front of Judge Eileen Brewer in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

This conversation results from the pending High Speed Rail project currently being built in Illinois from Chicago to St. Louis. For more information, please visit the Official IDOT High Speed Rail page here.

Chicago attorney Tim Cavanagh of Cavanagh Law Group filed a federal court lawsuit today alleging a 13-year-old Chicago girl was sexually assaulted and her mother physically assaulted because the Cook County Adult Probation Department allowed a dangerous sex offender to remain free on the streets even though he repeatedly violated the terms of his parole. The case is entitled _____ v. Reyes, Court No. 11 CV 560 (name redacted because of minor) and is pending before the Honorable Virginia Kendall in the U.S. District Court.

Convicted sex offender Acurie Collier, who is also a named defendant, is charged with sexually assaulting the girl in her south side home on July 31, 2010. Collier, age 34, was on probation at the time for sex crimes against another young girl. Collier missed curfew checks more than 40 times, but his probation officer never ordered him back to jail. Jesus Reyes, acting director of the department, says, "we dropped the ball".

The complaint accuses Reyes of failure to properly train or discipline his probation officers and of failure to properly monitor Collier, thus violating the victim's constitutional right to safety.

- According to an investigative report by the Illinois Policy Institute, the number of missed checks was 41. The Adult Probation Department says it was 17 but officers told the Institute the department's senior staff "sanitized" Collier's file, removing a number of the most egregious incidents, so the department wouldn't look so bad if word got out. The officer assigned to monitor Collier remains employed, receiving an annual salary of more than $72,000.00. View the Illinois Policy Institute report in full here.

- Chicago police says Collier, posing as a boy, met the 13-year-old girl online, talked her into providing her address, drove to her home and threw rocks at her window until he gained her attention. She cracked the window and tried to convince him to leave, but according to the police report, he forced him way into her bedroom and sexually assaulted her. When the child's mother heard screaming, she called 911 and rushed to the bedroom. Collier struck her in the face and tried to flee out the window, but was caught at the scene by police.

Cavanagh-Cook County Adult Probation Lawsuit.pdf

Geneva Police Department Press Release
80-year-old St. Charles man, George Smith, charged for intentionally crashing SUV into a car
Judge says man, 80, charged in head-on crash is safety threat
Lower bond refused by Judge for intentional car crasher, George H. Smith
Bond Lowered for Alleged Suicide Driver

Sixty-four-year-old John Bruce of Arlington Heights was killed while trying to unload baggage for American military personnel from a United Airlines 747 at the Al-Mubarak Air Base in Kuwait on October 9, 2009. The U.S. military contracted with CAV International, a U.S. corporation, to operate this and other U.S airbases around the world. The U.S. also contracted with United Airlines to transport the troops to Kuwait.

Bruce leaves behind a wife and two adult children. The family's lawyer, Chicago attorney Timothy Cavanagh of the Cavanagh Law Group has spent the past year trying to get the family basic information about what happened.

"For more than a year, CAV International has refused to provide any information or even acknowledge the death of John Bruce at the airbase it operates in Kuwait," says Timothy Cavanagh. "John Bruce was serving his country by helping to transport troops around the world. His family deserves answers."

According to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court on December 6, 2010, Bruce was working on a TC-888 mobile belt loader designed and manufactured by NMC/Wollard. The belt loader was positioned at the cargo door of the 747 when a CAV International employee moved the belt loader without any warning. Neither the belt loader nor the Boeing 747 aircraft was designed with fall protection equipment. Bruce fell more than a dozen feet to the tarmac and suffered a brain injury. After being hospitalized in Kuwait, Bruce was transported to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois where he died on October 15, 2009.

The lawsuit alleges if the CAV employee had been paying attention and doing his job and if NMC/Wollard and Boeing had provided fall protection devices on it's products, the tragedy would never have happened.

Cavanagh says he has spent the past year fighting to get CAV International to produce documents in a discovery lawsuit filed in the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. United Airlines agreed to produce documents that prove John's death could have been prevented. However, CAV has refused to produce responsive documents or acknowledge their culpability.

"My husband's death has been a terrible tragedy for our family made worse by the lack of information about what really happened," says Patty Bruce. "We don't want this to happen to any other American working outside the country."

"Thousands of Americans are working overseas for U.S. companies and they don't lose their legal rights just because they are working beyond the U.S. borders," says Cavanagh.

Cleopatra Bruce, Special Administrator of the Estate of John Bruce, deceased v. CAV International, Inc., a corporation, The Boeing Company, a corporation, with its principal place of business in Illinois, and NMC/Wollard Inc., a corporation, case number 10 L 013818 is pending in front of Judge Brewer.