Driving while drunk is a criminal offense in the state of Illinois. As such, if you are pulled over because you have been found to be operating a motor vehicle with alcohol in your system, you could be subjected to an array of penalties for breaking the law. 
Illinois Laws Regarding Driving While Drunk 
In Illinois, operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content (BAC) equal to or greater than 0.08% is considered intoxicated per se.  In other words, anyone driving a vehicle with a blood-alcohol concentration that exceeds 0.079% is considered to be driving while drunk. However, it is…
Continue Reading Drunk Driving Laws and Penalties in Illinois

The winter months are upon us, and this is the perfect time of year for anyone who thrives in colder temperatures. From snow and sleet to ice, the winter season can be very enjoyable when you are prepared. Similarly, driving in the wintertime is manageable when you are properly equipped for the road conditions. But if you do not know what to expect and you head out on the road without preparation, you risk getting injured in a car accident.
Invisible Ice, Snow, and Sleet on the Road 
It is imperative to practice safety measures all year, but prioritizing…
Continue Reading 3 Winter Car Accident Dangers to Avoid in Joliet

Trucks play a critical role in U.S. commerce. In fact, it could be said that if trucks ground to a halt, the American economy would grind to a halt as well. Although the economic benefit is undeniable, there are negative externalities to having so many large trucks on the road. For example, thousands of Americans are injured or killed in large truck accidents annually. Of course, many of these crashes involve a truck colliding with another vehicle. However, in other instances, the damage is not caused by the rig itself, but by what is inside of it. Semi-truck cargo spills…
Continue Reading Truck Accidents Caused by Spilled Cargo

Penalties for driving under the influence (DUI) in Illinois often include the loss of the driver’s driving privileges. A driver’s license suspension or revocation can make it difficult to get to work and fulfill other important responsibilities. Fortunately, some drivers are able to regain their driving privileges and get back on the road safely. To do so, they may be required to install a blood alcohol ignition interlock device (BAIID).
To start the car, they must register their blood alcohol content (BAC) using a breathalyzer attached to the BAIID. If their BAC is too high, the BAIID will prevent…
Continue Reading How Blood Alcohol Ignition Interlock Devices Work in Illinois

Property owners have certain obligations under Illinois Law. They must create a safe environment free of dangerous conditions for all who enter the premises. If a visitor is injured by a hazard on their property, they may be liable under Illinois premises liability law.
There are ways the property owner can escape liability. If the hazard can be considered “open and obvious”, the property owner may not be at fault. The property owner may argue that the victim should have been aware of the dangerous condition and avoided injury. However, the open and obvious rule has its own exception…
Continue Reading Premises Liability: Understanding the Distraction Exception to the Open and Obvious Rule

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 2 million people are injured at work every year, and over 1 million people will miss work because of a workplace injury.
Most of these injuries are caused by falls, slips, and collisions. However, some incidents are much more subtle; in fact, thousands of workers suffer serious harm just breathing the air around them. The culprit? Toxic gases and chemicals.
Despite advances in safety precautions and more stringent regulations, thousands of workers suffer health complications due to chemical exposure annually. According to the National Safety Council, harmful substances were responsible for…
Continue Reading Exposed to Toxic Chemicals at Work? You May Qualify for Workers’ Compensation

Any serious bodily injury has the potential to impact a person’s quality of life, but the implications of a brain injury are often especially severe. A traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when the head is struck with a force that causes the brain to bruise, bleed, or suffer damage.
Common traumatic brain injuries include:

• Concussions: A blow to the head that shakes the brain. Symptoms vary considerably, ranging from mild headaches to long-term memory loss. Concussions usually heal over time.
• Brain Contusions: A bruise on the brain with concussion-like symptoms. If the bleeding subsists, surgery may be required to remove

…
Continue Reading Traumatic Brain Injury and Workers’ Compensation

Suffering a workplace injury is frustrating. You may be unable to work, require intensive medical care, and be left with permanent disabilities. However, the situation is all the more vexing if your workers’ compensation claim is denied.
Injured workers depend on workers’ compensation benefits during their recovery. If a claim is denied, the worker may be left with mounting medical bills and other expenses. Here are three common reasons workers compensation claims are denied:
The Accident Did Not Occur at Work
In order to qualify for benefits, your injury must have occurred during work. However, this does not necessitate a…
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When people think of workplace injuries, they often picture a worker falling off a ladder or slipping on a wet surface. However, not all workplace injuries are caused by single catastrophic event; rather, some are caused by small, repetitive actions that wear down a body part over time. These are known as repetitive motion injuries or repetitive stress injuries (RSI).
According to the Columbia University Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine, “Repetitive motion injuries are temporary or permanent injuries to muscles, nerves, ligaments, and tendons caused by performing the same motion over and over again.”
Although RSI could impact…
Continue Reading Do Repetitive Stress Injuries Qualify for Workers Compensation?

Being injured in a car accident can be a traumatic experience, especially if those injuries are serious. Not only do you deal with the pain and medical treatment that comes with those injuries, but victims also often face financial difficulties because of the cost of the medical care and lost wages from time missed from work as they recover.
In most cases, when a person is injured in a car accident, there is no hesitation about filing for damages against the driver who caused that accident and is responsible for those injuries. But what happens when that driver is someone…
Continue Reading I Was Injured in a Car Accident Caused by My Friend. Can I Still File an Accident Claim?

Under Illinois criminal law, when a person is charged with a serious crime, it is up to the prosecutor to take the legal steps to charge the accused with a felony crime. There are cases where a prosecutor will decide not to pursue felony charges, and the charges the police arrested the accused on are dropped, even if the police disagree with the prosecutor’s decision. However, a group of Illinois lawmakers are seeking to change all that and have recently filed legislation that would allow police chiefs to override the prosecutor’s decision.
Felony Process
Under the current law, there…
Continue Reading Illinois Lawmakers Want to Give More Power to Police in Felony Crimes Process

 The number of elder abuse cases in this country is alarming. It is estimated that five million seniors are abused each year. One in 10 seniors over the age of 60 report having suffered at least one incident of elder abuse. One of the most common places where this abuse takes place is nursing homes. Almost 40 percent of nursing home residents report they have witnessed another resident suffer abuse of another resident within the prior 12 months, 10 percent of nursing home staff have admitted to physically abusing a resident, and 40 percent have admitted to emotionally abusing residents.…
Continue Reading How to Check the Record of an Illinois Nursing Home