Litigation

While we provide free legal guidance and lawyer referrals for just about every area of Illinois law, the most common complaint we get is from people who are having trouble at work.

Sometimes these calls involve pay and compensation issues. Other times it involves unfair treatment. Quite often it has to do with either obvious or perceived discrimination.

Dealing with a bad work situation can be extremely emotional. That is a totally logical response. The best thing an attorney can do is look at a situation objectively and take the emotion out of it. That allows you to focus on what is actual illegal behavior by your employer and what is crappy behavior, but not illegal.

This is really important because when you bring a lawsuit or in most cases, file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), it’s really important to keep the legal issues as narrow and focused as possible.

For example, it’s common for someone to call us and tell us that they are experiencing discrimination at work and were fired because of it. They want to bring a wrongful termination lawsuit. Wrongful termination means illegal firing. Not unfair, not wrong, not a misunderstanding. Rather it’s illegal based on a protected reason such as race, age, religion, gender, pregnancy, work injury, etc.

So we will ask what was illegal about it and while the caller may mention feeling it was racial for example, they will also tell us about how someone with less experience got a better shift or the new manager doesn’t like the old employees or they used to let them give friends discounts and now they don’t or other things that are clearly not illegal.

When this happens it causes two problems. First, it creates a lot of noise and crowds the issue. If an EEOC investigator were to read a complaint like this, they’d clearly see things that aren’t illegal, just unfair and likely not find in your favor. Second, it can create defenses to the case that didn’t exist. If the corporate attorney sees that you were giving friends a discount, that might create a justification for firing you.

So when calling a labor law attorney or filing with the EEOC, the best advice we can give you is to keep the issue narrow and focused on the illegal activity. It should be evidence focused and not based on things that can be explained away.

For example, if you think you were discriminated against because of your race, what proof do you have? The best proof is something that was said or written, but it’s rare that an employer is that dumb. So if your boss called you the N word, you have the makings of a great case for that gross behavior.

But most cases the evidence is circumstantial. That doesn’t mean you can’t win, but does mean you shouldn’t bring up things that are irrelevant. For example, don’t say, “My new manager doesn’t like black people. She and I got into it and I told her off. We used to be allowed to take uneaten food during our breaks, but now she won’t allow it. It’s totally unfair. She yells at us all of the time and it’s a hostile work environment. And she’s not promoting any of the black workers.”

Almost everything in that last paragraph is emotion. Instead, you’d keep it narrow like this. Myself and four others are the only African-American workers out of 30 people all in the same job. Since a new manager came in a year ago there have been eight people promoted, all of whom were white. The five of us have more experience than seven of the eight who were promoted. Since she started we are the only ones given a cleaning job that uses toxic chemicals.

Everything in the second example focuses on facts. No emotion. It’s not a slam dunk case, but it gives you a chance because it focuses on issues that are possibly illegal. That’s not to say that the company couldn’t offer a defense, but these issues certainly seem to prove there’s discrimination based on race.

When you file at the EEOC there’s one guarantee. They will give you a right to sue letter. You get this if you have the best case in the world or the worst one. A right to sue letter doesn’t mean much beyond you have 90 days to get a lawsuit filed. Some right to sue letters also include a finding that the law was likely broken. That’s what you are looking for. When you get a finding the law was likely broken, it gives you tremendous leverage and the ability to get an attorney to take the case on a contingency basis where they only get paid if they win.

If you have any questions about this or your employment, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.

A common tactic Illinois employers use to cheat on taxes and screw their workers is to pay someone as a 1099 and call them an independent contractor when they really aren’t one.

Being wrongly classified as an independent contractor instead of an employee can have major financial implications. Many workers find themselves shouldering costs that should be covered by their employers. If you’ve been wrongly classified as an independent contractor, you may be unfairly paying out-of-pocket for expenses like uniforms, support staff, and marketing materials. Understanding your rights and seeking reclassification can help you recover these costs and ensure fair treatment.

Employee vs. Independent Contractor
The primary difference between an employee and an independent contractor is the level of control and the nature of the work relationship. Employers have more control over employees, including setting work hours, providing training, and dictating how tasks should be completed. Independent contractors typically have more autonomy in how they work, are often hired for specific projects, and have the freedom to say no to future projects. The more control an employer has, the more likely it is you are actually an employee.

The Financial Burden of Being Misclassified as an Independent Contractor
When you are misclassified as an independent contractor, you may find yourself unfairly paying for job-related expenses. Here are some common costs that company employees typically do not have to bear:

Uniforms and Equipment: Employees usually receive uniforms and necessary equipment from their employers (e.g., clothing with the company logo, protective boots, necessary tools and technology).

Support Staff: Employers often provide administrative support or additional staff to assist employees (e.g., administrative assistant, support from graphic design professionals, IT specialists).

Marketing Materials: Employees benefit from company-provided marketing and promotional materials (e.g., company or product brochures, promotional materials and giveaways for conventions, publicity activities).

Office Space and Supplies: Employees work in company-provided office spaces with necessary supplies, and are not expected to take on overhead expenses.

What You Can Do About It

If you are called an independent contractor but treated like an employee, and you are paying for any of the above (or other examples not listed), it’s important to take action to protect yourself. An experienced Illinois employment law attorney can help you understand your rights and guide you through the process of challenging your classification and getting reimbursed for the job-related expenses that you’ve paid. In addition to fighting for the reimbursement, an attorney can potentially get the company to pay penalties for the misclassification.

There is no cost to you upfront in hiring a lawyer for this situation. The lawyer works on a contingency basis meaning they are paid a percentage of what they recover for you.

If you have any questions about your misclassification and the expenses you’ve incurred, contact us any time for a free consultation with a lawyer at 312-346-5320.

Illinois is for the most part a very employee/worker friendly state. One example of this is the strong protections given to workers who are victims of sexual or domestic violence. It’s through a law called VESSA which stands for Victims Economic Security and Safety Act. In short, if you are a victim of violence, this law allows you to deal with that process without facing discrimination or retaliation from your job.

Under VESSA law, you are entitled to a bunch of rights, some of which are similar to the Family Medical Leave Act. But VESSA goes farther. These rights include:

Unpaid Leave: Under VESSA, your Illinois employer must provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave every year if you are dealing with domestic or sexual violence. This leave covers time for medical treatment, counseling, legal matters, and safety planning. Notably, this leave also extends to employees caring for a family member (child, parent, spouse, or another relative) who is a victim.

Reasonable Accommodations: Employees can request reasonable workplace accommodations to deal with the effects of domestic or sexual violence. This might involve changes to work schedules, job duties, or even working remotely for safety reasons or to attend court proceedings. If working the night shift puts you at risk, you might be able to secure a change to the day shift.

Confidentiality: This is a big one as in most cases your employer doesn’t have to keep confidentiality. It’s different if you are a violence victim. Your employer must keep your status as a victim confidential and cannot disclose this information without your consent. If they do there are consequences, especially if it’s a willful disclosure or it causes you harm.

If your employer violates your VESSA rights, several remedies are available to ensure you are compensated and your rights are upheld. These include:

Getting back pay: If you’re wrongfully terminated or denied leave, you may be entitled to back pay, covering the wages you would have earned.

Getting your job back: You could be reinstated to your previous job with all benefits if wrongfully terminated. If your old job is unavailable, a comparable position should be offered. And if no job is available, that will likely increase what the case is worth.

Payment for lost benefits: Any lost benefits, such as health insurance or retirement benefits due to the violation could result in them having to pay you for it.

Emotional Distress Damages: While every case is different, you might be able to receive compensation for emotional distress caused by your employer’s behavior including for pain and suffering. This is often proven through evidence of counseling or other medical care.

Punitive Damages: In cases of really egregious or intentional conduct by the employer, punitive damages may be awarded to penalize and deter this bad behavior from happening again.

Attorney’s Fees: The good news is that if you sue with a lawyer under VESSA and win, your attorney fees are paid for by the employer. This really levels the playing field for workers. All of the Illinois VESSA attorneys we know work on a contingency basis which means they won’t ask you for any money to take on your case.

So what can attorney do for you? Quite simply, an experienced lawyer will great increase your chances of success. Knowing how to win a VESSA claim and work the way through the process can be the difference between winning and losing as well as between getting a small or large amount of money.

Your lawyer will be with you throughout the whole process to make sure everything is filed correctly and that your story gets properly told. This isn’t just making sure everything is filed in time (note there are short time limits for bringing these cases), but also managing the legal process so you can focus on your physical and mental health.

If you think your rights under VESSA have been violated or just simply have questions about the process, you can speak with us for free and in confidence any time. Call us at 312-346-5320. We cover all of Illinois.

One of the interesting things about the law is that new areas are popping up all of the time. AI has created a whole new category that didn’t exist five years ago. The legalization of marijuana has caused some firms to create practice groups that were unfathomable a decade ago.

Data breaches aren’t necessarily new, but they are really common these days as hackers break their way into systems to steal important information like your credit card, social security number, password and other things they don’t have a right to. These breaches can also be unintentional from lazy record keeping or storage.

When this happens and it’s widely publicized, the courts get flooded with lawsuits. What will eventually happen is that some day you will receive a notice in the mail and discover you are getting $10 or free credit counseling or something else trivial while some lawyers are getting millions.

There’s no realistic way for you to get that much, but there is a way to get more money. That involves being the first or one of the first people to get with a data breach attorney and have your name attached to the lawsuit.

When you are the lead or named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit – there can be more than one – you will get additional compensation for your efforts. There’s no set amount, but it’s not uncommon for the lead plaintiff to get $10,000-$20,000 or more. That may not seem like a ton, but compared to what you’d get by doing nothing, it’s likely a windfall and for not much work.

So how fast do you have to act? When AT&T disclosed it was hacked, those lawsuits were filed right away. For smaller data breaches such as when employee data is stolen or it’s against a smaller company like a hospital, it’s possible that if you wait a week it won’t be too late. But the sooner the better. Otherwise you are just lumped in with the rest of the class and likely won’t get much.

We do get asked if people can just bring their own case. You can, but in almost every case those claims aren’t worth enough on their own to get you compensation that justifies the cost of a lawyer unless you can prove actual significant harm that you’ve suffered as a result. That’s really hard to do which is why a class action, which costs you know money, usually makes the most sense.

We know aggressive attorneys who have had a lot of success with data breach and other privacy violation issues. If it happened to you and many others, please call us any time at 312-346-5320 to speak with a lawyer for free.

We get calls all of the time for people looking to sue for defamation or slander. Most of those cases go nowhere for a variety of reasons. These include:

• They waited too long. The time limit for suing in Illinois is one year from when the defamatory statement was spoken or written.
• Lack of harm. If you can’t prove actual financial damages, your case won’t have enough value. If it’s just your family members or some people on Facebook, the case likely isn’t worth much. It doesn’t make it right, it just means you’d likely have to pay your lawyer up front to bring the suit.
• A bad defendant. If you were defamed, but it’s by someone who has no money, even if you win, the chances of collecting anything are low. So if you are suing a teenager or poor person, it’s probably a waste of time. Also, you can’t stop a crazy person from being crazy via a lawsuit.
• Truth or opinion. This is the #1 defense to these lawsuits. You can’t sue someone for telling the truth, even if it’s embarrassing. And you can’t sue someone for expressing a bad opinion about you. In other words, they can say you were terrible at your job. That’s their opinion.

For these reasons and more, it’s very rare to hear about a successful defamation lawsuit in Illinois. The best ones I remember have involved public figures or situations where a newspaper or TV channel has done something egregious.

But recently there was an Illinois defamation trial that was the exception to all of this. A worker at Wells Fargo called the clients of another broker and falsely told them that he had defrauded investors in the past and committed fraud upon his clients. This was a lie.

In doing so, he did this as an agent of Wells Fargo which meant they could be sued too. There doesn’t appear to be any defense to the claims as a jury found for the plaintiff and awarded over $27 million in damages plus attorney fees which will bring the total verdict to around $28.5 million.

This lawsuit was filed in time, harm was proven by lost clients and reputation damage, the defendant is great because it’s a big company and nothing said was remotely factual or an opinion.

This is a legal unicorn. Something like this almost never happens.

By the way, the case took five years to get to trial. That involved a lot of legal work. It’s why attorneys won’t take cases without big damages. These cases take time and if they aren’t going to get a big judgment in the end, it wouldn’t be worth it to spend hundreds of hours on the case. Unless you pay them out of pocket which would cost you thousands, win or lose.

Despite the reputation of the Government not doing anything (and it’s not a wholly undeserved reputation), there are a lot of great Government agencies. They may not always do what we want or do it as fast as we want, but places like the EEOC, Illinois Department of Human Rights, and others do help a lot of people.

Another great agency at times is OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They are the people you call when your employer is not following appropriate safety rules or putting your health in danger. You can call them anonymously, and they may come out to your employer and do an investigation.

Filing a complaint to OSHA can be viewed as a form of whistle blowing. You are trying to protect yourself and/or co-workers from injury. And usually you are doing this after you’ve gone to an employer and asked them to remedy the problem.

Most employers are great, but some really are just assholes. I’ve heard some crazy stories over the years about really unsafe working conditions. In one case where people were having trouble breathing due to no ventilation in a facility which would get to over 100 degrees, the “solution” was to tell the workers they could crack open a door. In many cases I’ve seen people have to work without proper safety equipment or on machines that failed inspection tests.

OSHA can come in after an injury, but the goal is to prevent an injury. And while you can remain anonymous, there’s no guarantee that will happen. If your employer finds out and retaliates against you, that can be illegal and a lawsuit in Illinois.

Retaliation can be as simple as making your life miserable by bullying you or giving you unfavorable work assignments. Or quite often it means that you will get terminated. We consulted with one whistle blower who literally was fired a month after being named the top employee once the company discovered they filed an OSHA complaint.

The good news is most people do remain anonymous and don’t get retaliated against if found out. That said, if you have been retaliated against over this we’d love to talk to you to see if we can help. There’s no fee to talk and usually the cases are taken on a contingency basis which means there’s no fee at all unless the case is successful.

If you’d like to speak to a lawyer for free and in confidence, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.

When a loved one passes away unexpectedly, the grief and pain can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, grieving relatives sometimes have to deal with an added frustration: the loved one died of an accidental death, had a life insurance policy that covers that, and the insurance company denies the claim.

While life insurance pays out for most deaths, accidental death policies, as the name implies, pay out in cases of an accidental death.

What exactly is an accidental death?

An accidental death is both sudden and unexpected. Some common examples include:
• Motor vehicle accidents (as a driver, passenger, scooter rider, or pedestrian).
• Drownings.
• Fatal falls (from ladders, roofs, windows, balconies, and decks).
• Death from leisure activities (boating, water skiing or jet skiing, snow skiing).
• Poisoning (from gases like carbon monoxide or from medications).
• Work/industrial accidents (heavy machinery accidents, equipment malfunctions, explosions, mining accidents, impact from a falling object).
• Suffocation (choking on food, other airway blockages).
• Firearms (the exclusions are those killed in combat and those who use a firearm for suicide).

This is not a complete list of examples of accidental death. The key is that the death was not intentional (suicide is), expected, or foreseeable (such as an illness).

Of course, life insurance companies make more money by not paying out on accidental death claims. Therefore insurance companies often deny claims when the situation is not cut and dried, or even when it is.

Sometimes relatives/beneficiaries of the deceased receive these rejected claim letters and simply accept it. They think there must be something in the fine print of the policy that prohibits a payout. Or they don’t know how to challenge the denied claim. It can be daunting for an individual to take on a huge insurance company and know how to respond and fight their decision.

That is where an attorney can step in and be a tremendous help, possibly the difference between no payout and tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars. The attorneys we recommend are highly reputable and have decades of experiences with accidental death policy cases. When a strong lawyer represents you, the insurance company immediately know that you mean business and you won’t just “go away” like they wish you would.

You do not have to pay an attorney anything up front. They only get a percentage of the money that they obtain for you and if they don’t make a recovery you owe them nothing.

There are important deadlines to meet in an accidental death policy case. Since time is of the essence, contact us today at 312-346-5320. We help with cases everywhere in Illinois.

See also: Lead poisoning and lawsuits

A guy contacted us recently. His daughter was at Grandma and Grandpa’s house (his parents) when she was very badly injured in an accident. She needed and received significant medical care. She should make a recovery, but has needed multiple surgeries and a lot of physical therapy.

The accident occurred because the grandparents let their grandchild do an activity that wasn’t safe for such a young girl. They feel terrible about it, and of course, didn’t want it to happen. The father wanted advice. Is there any way to get his daughter’s medical bills and future physical therapy sessions paid for without suing the grandparents?

He was surprised that the answer is yes, but also no. Does that sound like weird lawyer talk? Let me explain.

He would not actually be suing his parents. He would be filing a claim against his parents’ homeowners insurance. No lawsuit would happen right now, but instead an attorney would try to resolve the situation with the insurance company. Not a penny will come out of Grandma and Grandpa’s pockets.

If a lawsuit did have to be filed, it technically would name the grandparents as defendants. In reality it would be the insurance company policy they were going after. The insurance company would hire the lawyers to defend them and the attorney for the granddaughter would not seek any money out of pocket from the grandparents. The worst thing that could happen to them is that their insurance rates go up a bit. In a case like this where the medical bills are in the six figures and the policy is a million dollars, it makes sense to pursue it.

This situation is similar to what happens in a car accident. If someone in their vehicle hits you in your vehicle, you’re not actually suing them personally for the repairs and medical care (if you were injured). Your lawyer negotiates with their insurance company to reach a fair settlement. If a lawsuit is needed you are suing the other driver, not the insurance company, but the insurance company steps in.

We also got a call from a mother whose son was injured on the trampoline at their close friends’ home. She was worried that their friendship would be ruined if she sued them. This is one of the reasons why people have homeowners’ insurance and sometimes even an umbrella policy. It’s not just in case of a fire or property damage. We explained that she would not be suing them, she would be making a claim with State Farm, the company that her friends had their policy with.

Now, dealing with insurance companies and filing a claim is not a breeze. Insurance companies make money by not paying out every claim. That’s where an attorney can step in and be incredibly helpful. Lawyers who focus on injury cases know the law backwards and forwards. They know the right steps in the process and are much more likely to get you the maximum settlement. You don’t have to pay them anything upfront. They get a portion of what they recover for you.

If you have questions or would like our help in finding the best attorney for your case, please call us for free any time at 312-346-5320.

We have spoken with more than 500,000 people in the last 23 plus years. We hear a lot of unique situations for people who are looking for Illinois lawyers. We also hear a lot of similar cases. In that regard, many people say similar things to each other. One of them is this:

I don’t know what type of lawyer I need, but I think I need a civil attorney.

Where people are often misinformed is in knowing what a civil attorney is. It’s a very generic term for the most part as pretty much any case that ends up in court is considered civil litigation.

In other words, if you are bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor for a failure to diagnose cancer, that is a civil lawsuit. If you are filing a lawsuit against your neighbor who hit your car, that is a civil lawsuit. If you are suing a life insurance company for not paying out the death benefit on a policy of a loved one who passed, that is also a civil lawsuit.

Each of these cases would require a different type of attorney. So when looking for a lawyer, it’s best to find out what type of lawyer typically handles your type of case. For example, if suing a doctor, you are looking for a medical malpractice lawyer.

Someone who says they are a civil attorney implies they can handle most cases that they are presented with. That’s not the type of lawyer we advise you to get. We recommend that when possible that you look for a law firm that focuses on the type of case you want to bring and has a track record of success to point to.

Now of course there are some cases that are unique. There isn’t a lawyer who makes a living by filing lawsuits over a general dispute between siblings over rent paid on a property they jointly own. But there are attorneys whose practice focus is general civil litigation. There are others who may focus on items relatively close to that such as real estate litigation.

And in other scenarios, if you are trying to recover a dog that your ex is keeping from you, you might not think there are attorneys experienced with that. But what that case involves is recovering property. The legal term for that is replevin and many lawyers do that type of work.

Now you can’t be expected to know what to call your unique legal situation. That’s what we are for. You can call us any time at 312-346-5320 to learn what type of lawyer you need. And if we know someone we think can help, we’ll refer you to them.

We are experienced Illinois attorneys who help people fight for payment of life insurance benefits. If you’d like a free consultation, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.

We thought it would be helpful to provide some tips on working with a life insurance attorney and how to win a case. So in no particular order:

• The cases that we and the attorneys we recommend get involved with focus on situations where a person passes away, and the life insurance company doesn’t pay out the owed benefits in a timely manner.
• Sometimes they give you an outright denial, other times they just blow you off or don’t respond. Another common tactic is to state that the case is under investigation, but not really provide you information as to what they are investigating or communicate updates.
• We are looking to talk to people who have either received a denial or filed a claim more than 30 days ago without a response.
• These cases are handled on a contingency basis which means there is no fee unless a recovery is made.
• The first thing an attorney will want to do is see a copy of the policy to see what possible exclusions for paying out exist. For example, some policies state that if there is a drug overdose then no benefits will be owed.
• We will need to know the cause of death and be able to have access to medical records.
• Accidental death policy cases are very similar, but as the name states, typically involves a payout for an accidental death like a car accident.
• The good news on these cases is that they tend to resolve very quickly. We settled one case for $2 million within months of first talking to the client. That was not at all unusual as the facts were on our side.
• We will help people with any size life insurance denial case.
• It doesn’t matter where in Illinois you are. We help everywhere in Illinois and you won’t have to travel.
• A common question we get is “how could they deny my benefits?” The answer is that insurance companies are ruthless and to them this is all business. Their hope is that they will frustrate you enough to go away and they can save the money that they owe.
• Because of how insurance companies act, we usually file a lawsuit within the first couple of weeks. Being aggressive is how you win these cases.

If you want to discuss hiring an attorney or just have questions, please get in touch any time. All calls are free and confidential.

What is your life expectancy? What is your health history and health outlook? Do you have a spouse or family member who can care for you if needed?

No one can predict how long they will live or exactly what condition their body and mind will be in as they age. And the cost of long-term care can be staggering. Therefore, many people invest in long-term care insurance.

People pay premiums to have a long-term care insurance policy that will cover their care in a facility that is not an acute-care hospital. That includes nursing homes, residential care facilities, assisted living facilities, and skilled nursing facilities. It also includes home care including home health care, adult day care, hospice services, or respite care.

But the sad reality is that when people need long-term care, and they file claims for long-term care benefits, there is a lot of red tape and the claims are sometimes delayed or denied by the insurer. Insurance companies are looking to make money, and adjusters will scrutinize the claims, trying to find reasons to not pay out the benefits to the policyholder.

Here are some of the common reasons insurance companies use to delay and deny claims:

1. Ineligible Care Provider. If the insured person needs a nursing home or assisted living facility, make sure it meets the criteria of that person’s policy. The policy might state that the facility must have a specific license and the appropriate personnel and care.
2. No Prior Hospitalization. Sometimes called “the gatekeeper provision,” this often appears in older policies. It requires that a policyholder have a hospitalization, a nursing home stay, or both before claims would be paid. Most states though have outlawed these provisions for many years.
3. No Benefits for Personal Care. Insurance companies may say they won’t pay benefits for personal care like light housekeeping or running errands for the policyholder.
4. Failure to Pay Claims Due to Cognitive Impairment. A policyholder may have some cognitive/memory issues and forget to pay their policy premiums for a little while. But in most states, you have a grace period of up to 5 months before a policy can lapse because premiums weren’t paid. If you can get a physician to state that during that time, the policyholder was impaired, the insurer will reinstate the policy.

Those a just a few of the reasons given by insurance companies. If you or a loved one has been denied long-term care benefits, please reach out to us. The cases we get involved with are when their are medical bills in the six figures that aren’t being covered. We can help you sort through the red tape, show the insurance company that you mean business, and fight for your rightful benefits.

You do not pay anything upfront. The experienced, reputable attorneys that handle these cases only take a fee if they win a settlement for you. Contact us at 312-346-5320 if you want to discuss a case.

Business owners have the duty and privilege to mitigate their losses. This means that you could and should attempt minimize the potential losses you may incur. Mitigating your losses includes protecting your property from further loss or at the least being proactive at protecting against a current loss.

This can include taking or having taken out a business interruption insurance policy on your business. These policies are meant to reimburse businesses for financial losses they incurred due to unforeseen circumstances that prevent normal operation of business.

Business interruption insurance can cover anything from payroll to mortgage payments to relocation costs. The amount of insurance needed, and the cost of that amount depends on a business’s gross earnings and estimation projections of lost future profits as well as risk of loss.

Your policy should kick in between 48 to 72 hours once it is activated. However, it is important to check your ‘restoration period’ which is the length of time when your policy with assist with lost revenue as everyone’s different.

A common problem amongst business owners – COVID losses
A common recovery problem that businesses are currently having are COVID losses. One would think that a global pandemic would be considered an unforeseen circumstance therefore, insurance companies would cover businesses’ lost income during the pandemic.

Unfortunately, it has been found to be the opposite. There are a few policies that do cover COVID loss, but insurance companies have quickly denied them and have launched a campaign to discourage businesses from pursing the claims. An extensive number of businesses have filed lawsuits after being denied coverage from their insurance companies, and all were lost.

Despite the past failed lawsuits, there are circumstances that make a ‘good case.’ The easiest circumstance to be in is that your coverage does not exclude pandemics or infectious disease. Courts have found many clauses to be ambiguous and often decide against the insurer.

Another circumstance is proving that your business satisfies the “physical loss” requirement. This doesn’t always have to include damage to buildings or equipment. It could include safety threats or prohibiting access to use of your property. Another good circumstance to have experienced is that, specifically, the government prohibited access to your business by social distancing, occupation limits, etc. as it satisfies the Civil Authority Clause.

If this sounds like your situation at hand, your next step would be to file a lawsuit. This is a complicated process on its own without insurance companies actively working towards tricking business owners out of viable lawsuits. Insurance companies are known to be dishonest and greedy. They are currently taking advantage of the undefined aspects of COVID cases at the expense of their policy holders.

These cases can be worth hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
It is highly recommended that your next step is to contact an attorney. Attorneys are pricey but it is important to note that your claim would be contingency based. That means your lawyer shares the risk of a payout with you. They won’t get paid unless you do, and they get paid more only if you do. You can call us for a free consultation with any questions at 312-346-5320.

We are passionate about advocating for the rights of everyone. Why anyone would care who you want to sleep with or what gender you identify with is beyond me. And fortunately the laws of Illinois agree and offer protections for people who are discriminated against based on things such as their sexual orientation.

Most discrimination lawsuits happen from bad behavior in the workplace. That makes sense because you are at the job probably more than any other location you go to. So there is a lot more time and opportunity for bad behavior to occur. That said, discrimination also happens at places of business that you go to such as restaurants, stores, etc.

The key point in these cases is to know that you can treat someone poorly who is LGBTQ, you just can’t treat them poorly because they are LGBTQ. Does that makes sense? Let me give you a good example.

A lesbian woman contacted us some time ago for legal guidance. She wanted to sue a bar that she felt discriminated against her because of her sexual orientation. When I asked what happened, it turned out that the first time she went into the bar, she recognized one of the workers as someone she had a bad Tinder date with. They ended up blocking each other on that app.

As the story went further, it turns out that this caller confronted that bad date and also shared the story with some of her co-workers at the bar. The next time she came in, a manager asked her to leave and told her she was barred from the establishment because she was making the employees feel uncomfortable.

The caller felt that the employees were uncomfortable because she was a lesbian. Objectively it felt like they were uncomfortable because of her personality and behavior, not her sexual partner preference.

The situation would have been way different if she was in the bar on a date with another woman and they kissed and got asked to leave. It would also be way different if the bar manager or anyone else said anything negative about her sexual preference.

You need actual evidence to win these cases, not a feeling. You can always file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights or if in Chicago, the Commission on Human Relations. But to get a lawyer involved, you have to have objectively strong facts.

If you feel you were discriminated against and want our opinion on that, please call us any time at 312-346-5320 to talk to a lawyer for free and in confidence.