Pre-Trial Prep Pays Off
Noah P. Hamann, Jeffrey F. Clement
Asking not how the case could be closed but how it could be won, BCM’s Civil Department emerged victorious in a recent law division case in the Eighth Judicial Circuit. Our client was accused of improperly servicing a combine harvester resulting in damages to the plaintiff of $30,000.00.
Thorough preparation and teamwork between Firm attorneys Noah Hamann and Jeffrey Clement resulted in a crucial pre-trial win on a motion in limine. The motion precluded plaintiff from presenting a hearsay invoice, thereby preventing him from linking the repair work to the client’s supposed failures. Additionally, plaintiff was unable to use the invoice to correlate the monetary damages to the defendant’s work.
Brady, Connolly & Masuda, P.C. Wins for General Contractor Before Appellate Court
Brady, Connolly & Masuda, P.C. Obtains Defense Jury Verdict In Lumbar Fusion Case
Andrew Makauskas of Brady, Connolly & Masuda, P.C. successfully represented defendants, Ronald C. Bentkowski and Aspen Plumbing Company, Inc., in a personal injury lawsuit filed by Thomas McCann. The case was tried before Judge Terrence Sheen in Wheaton, Illinois from July 31, 2006 to August 3, 2006. After deliberating three and a half hours, the jury returned a verdict in favor of both Defendants.
The Plaintiff, Thomas McCann, alleged that an automobile accident of August 30, 2002 was caused by Defendant, Ronald Bentkowski, an employee of Aspen Plumbing Company, Inc. The Plaintiff alleged that Mr. Bentkowski entered Plaintiff's lane of traffic from a private drive without stopping or yielding the right-of-way to Plaintiff. This action caused Plaintiff's vehicle to go over three curbs, each six inches tall, and then hit a light standard.
The Plaintiff claimed that his pre-existing spondylolisthesis, the movement of the L5 vertebrae forward on the S1 vertebrae, was aggravated by the accident of August 30, 2002. Furthermore, Plaintiff alleged that the exacerbation of the pre-existing spondylolisthesis required fusion surgery from the L4 to the S1 level performed on August 29, 2005. The Plaintiff incurred $197,000.00 in medical bills. Before trial, Plaintiff's counsel demanded $500,000.00 to settle the case.