Illinois Lawyer Blog

The May 28,2010 Chicago Tribune had a disturbing story about how authorities failed to take action years ago when charges of sexual assualt were raised against a Chicago area gynecologist. The article, written by Megan Twohey, describes how in 2002, Dr. Bruce Sylvester Smith, allegedly sexually assaulted a patient during a pelvic exam. Immediately after leaving Smith's office, the patient contacted her sister who contacted a rape hotline. The victim then had a rape exam at the University of Chicago Hospital and filed a complaint with the Chicago Police Department. The Cook County State's Attorney[at the time headed by Dick Devine] declined to press charges. No official explanation was provided for that decision at the time.

What makes the decision not to move foward particularly curious was that the authorities were apparently on notice about Dr. Smith. Another woman, Tameka Stokes, had gone to the police in 2000, claiming that she had been raped by Smith. Again, the State's Attorney did not pursue charges. Additionally at least on other woman had made similar charges against Smith but the exact date of those charges was unclear.

In late April, 2010, the Chicago Tribune ran an article describing the allegations made by Stokes and the decision not to press charges. The State's Attorney office then took another look at the 2002 attack and decided to charge Dr. Smith with sexual assault. If convicted he could face 4 to 15 years in prison. The painfully obvious question - if authorities had followed up in 2000, could the 2002 attack have been prevented?

Shia Kapos had an interesting article in this week's Crain's Chicago Business on the "collaborative divorce". Collaborative divorce started in Minnesota about 20 years ago. The objective of a collaborative divorce is to expedite the divorce process, while minimizing the drama and dollars associated with the traditional divorce. Here is how it works - the parties agree to work with divorce lawyers who have received specialized training in collaborative divorce law. Then the parties, and lawyers, sit down, [with the help of financial experts and life coaches[?]] and eventually work out an agreement that is then presented to a judge for approval. If successful, a collaborative divorce generally costs only half of what a traditional divorce will run.

The jury is out as to whether this concept is catching on in Illinois. Only 7% of the divorces filed in 2008 used the collaborative approach. But when parties do decide to try collaboration, it usually works, with only 5% of collaborative divorces having to ultimately return to the traditional divorce approach.

Some lawyers like it. James Galvin, one of the founders of the Collaborative Law Institute of Ilinois noted that the process "allows clients to make decisions about their lives instead of lawyers or judges" Some lawyers aren't impressed. David Novoselsky was involved in a divorce with Mr. Galvin on the other side. It started out as a collaborative divorce, but eventually the parties wound up in traditional litigation. "[Collaborative divorce is] a boondoogle," Novoselsky said. "Collaborative law is the North Shore trend of the week. If you have two reasonable people and two decent lawyers who are interested in helping clients, you don't need to go through this formal process that's been named "collaborative law".

Susan Schwallie, a food market researcher went through a collaborative divorce in 2007 and had a positive experience. But, as the article noted, she still felt like she got the short end of the marriage deal. "No matter how you do it, you feel that way," she noted. "It's not just financial or material loss. It's a loss all the way around."

Wow - for some reason I didn't see this.

In my April 23 2010 post, I discussed the $1.4 million dollar jury verdict against the Boy Scouts of America. The verdict, on behalf of plaintiff Kerry Lewis, represented only the compensatory damages for the sexual abuse he endured back in the 1980's at the hands of Scoutmaster Timur Dykes[pictured below] while Lewis was a Boy Scout. At that time, the jury had not decided on punitive damages.

[Timur Dykes]

Well, the jury came back last week, with an enormous award against the Boy Scouts. $18.5 million dollars!! Lawyers for Lewis had argued that the Boy Scouts were aware that Dykes had abused at least one child in the early 1980's. The Boy Scouts denied they had any such knowledge.

As reported by Steve Daniels in the May 3, 2010 issue of Crain's Chicago Business, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is unhappy with Nicor. Madigan is claiming that Nicor's gas pipe repair service insurance is a rip-off. The insurance plan, officially known as ComfortGuard, covers the cost of repairing gas pipes in customer homes. According to Madigan's office, the Nicor advertising campaign affiliated with the program is misleading. The ads allegedly imply that customers who don't buy the insurance will have to hire outside contractors to fix the pipes. In reality Nicor is obligated to repair pipes inside the home.

About 20% of Nicor customers[440,000] purchased the insurance, which sells for $4.95 a month. Nicor pocketed $26 million in profits from the program last year - while paying out only $60,000 in claims. Madigan is asking the Illinois Commerce Commission[ICC] to bar Nicor from hawking ComfortGuard.

In a statement, Nicor noted that ComfortGuard "...provides a real value to its many customers..." Nicor is expected to specifically respond to criticisms in hearings before the ICC. The ICC is expected to rule on the controversy sometime in early 2011.