Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

The Chicago Personal Injury Law Firm of Abels & Annes has filed a civil lawsuit against a 67-year-old Gompers Junior High School bus driver and First Student Bus Company, in connection with the December sexual assault of a female student.

CBS2 reported Wednesday that the driver was working at First Student despite being dismissed from his job as a Joliet Township bus driver. A police reported from that 2004 incident cites "complaints by student females for sexual harassment."

The 67-year-old bus driver was charged in December with battery of a 14-year-old girl after being accused of offering the girl candy, touch her chest and buttocks and giving her $3 not to tell.

Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Dave Abels and his partner Gary Annes filed a civil lawsuit against the driver and First Student Bus Company.

"I think that any parent would be shocked, horrified to hear that First Student is allowing people to, with these types of backgrounds, to drive their children," said Annes. Another police report says the defendant offered a girl candy, adusted his miror to stare at her and repeatedly asked for hugs.

"Someone dropped the ball here," Abels said.

Four other First Student drivers were in trouble with the law last year: One was arrested for exposing himself to a female student; one was caught with child pornography; and another driver was shot and killed by police after a high-speed chase in Riverdale.

The fourth driver was arrested for child endangerment and DUI after losing control of his bus on the Edens Expressway. That driver had been hired despite being fired from a previous job for driving erratically and failing a drug test, according to CBS2.

"I think private citizens have to stand up and say, 'Enough is enough. We're not going to allow our children to be subjected to this sort of danger,'" Annes said.

Continue reading "Chicago Injury Firm of Abels & Annes appear on CBS News for filing a sexual abuse lawsuit against Illinois school bus company" »

A Near West Side school bus driver is charged with the sexual assault of a high school girl who was the last person on his bus one day last spring, the Chicago Breaking News Center reported.

The 26-year-old West Madison Street defendant was ordered held on $50,000 bail in the Chicago sexual assault case for allegedly attacking a 17-year-old girl on March 24.

The paper reported he was already free on $50,000 for a related case in which he allegedly tried to intimidate the victim in the attack.

The defendant works for Jewel's Bus. Co. and appeared in court wearing his blue company jacket with his name over the right side of the chest, according to the News Center. As reported on Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer blog in September, a personal injury lawsuit and criminal charges were filed against another Jewel's Bus Co. driver in September in connection with the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of a boy on his bus.

In this case, the girl was a student at a private South Side alternative school and was being driven home. The defendant is accused of pulling over and taking the girl to the back of the bus, where he fondled her and ordered her to perform sex acts on him. The girl was then driven home and immediately reported the assault. The incident occurred in the 8200 block of South Luella Avenue, according to police.

Since then, prosecutors allege the defendant has gone to the victim's home on three occasions, where he tried to intimidate her. In the most recent incident, authorities allege the defendant restrained the girl and threatened to beat her up.

He is slated to appear in court on Feb. 2, where he will appear on the criminal sexual assault charge.

A Chicago personal injury attorney has been filed a sex abuse lawsuit involving a child being kidnapped by a bus driver.

The suit, which was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Thursday, alleges the boy was sexually assaulted while restrained on the bus by the driver. The family is seeking damages from the bus driver, the busing company and the Chicago Public School system, according the the Chicago Breaking News Center.

The bus driver was charged with kidnapping the boy from Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side, according to a report last week in the Chicago Tribune.

Police reported that the 67-year-old Jewels Bus Company driver was arrested and charged following the Tuesday Sept. 15 incident. Authorities reported that the boy was supposed to be dropped off Tuesday morning at the Murray Language Academy in Hyde Park, but the driver detained him on the bus for several hours.

The boy was drooped off at his house about 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to a Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman.

Based on a statement the boy provided to investigators, he was taken by police for an examination by doctors at University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, according to the Sun-Times.

Chicago police and Chicago Public School officials had been investigating alleged "inappropriate behavior" by the driver, according to the Sun-Times.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Rahsaan A. Gordon of Chicago.

In Chicago, Illinois two women have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Archdiocese of Chicago and a retired priest for sexual abuse that allegedly occurred over forty years ago, according to chicagobreakingnews.com. The case has been pending in mediation and their lawyer filed the lawsuit due to the fact that one of the victims is dying of cancer. The lawyer and victim advocates are calling for an expedited settlement.

The victims' lawyer, who is based out of Seattle, is stating that the Church has refused to settle. Yesterday he held a news conference across the street from Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.

The priest named as a defendant, Anthony Vader, was removed from his public duties in 2003 when the Church acknowledged his misconduct. The lawsuit alleges that one woman was molested from age 9 until age 14. The other claims abuse when she was under 13, and again when she was 17. The suit also alleges the archdiocese has treated African American victims differently than other races. The alleged abuse took place in the mid to late 1960s.

Click here to read the entire story.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has reportedly agreed to pay $12,675,000 to settle 16 sexual abuse claims for the conduct of 11 different priests, according to the Chicago Tribune and several other news sources. The settlements include two victims of Father Daniel McCormack, a former priest who is currently incarcerated for abusing five boys. McCormack plead guilty last year and he is serving a 5 year prison sentence.

Four out of five of McCormack's known victims have now settled with the Archdiocese of Chicago. Abels & Annes, P.C. represents the final known McCormack victi, acting as co-counsel with the firm of Hilfman, Martin & Barr P.C. in a lawsuit against the Archdiosese of Chicago. The case is pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Case No. 07 L 001504.

Former priests involved in today's settlement have been identified as McCormack, Joseph Bennett, Norbert Maday, Robert Mayer, James Hagan, Robert Craig, Robert Becker, Thomas Kelly, James Steel, Joseph Owens and Kenneth Ruge. The cases involve abuse from as far back as the 1960s and as recent as 2006. All the priests have been removed from their church positions.

David Abels & Associates, P.C. is currently acting as co-counsel with the firm of Hilfman, Martin & Barr P.C. in a lawsuit against the Archdiosese of Chicago relating to the sexual misconduct of Father Daniel McCormack. Last week the Court heard the Plaintiff's Motion To File an Amended Complaint Seeking Punitive Damages against the defendants. This motion was argued by Bill Martin. The Honorable Jeffrey Lawrence denied the motion, but Judge Lawrence said that he would be willing to hear the motion again after the parties complete some discovery.

The Court focused on the information contained in the report of the Archdiocese's consultant, Defenbaugh, and specifically commented on 1999 reports from Sister Mary Therese Cusack to the Archdiocese relating to improper conduct by McCormack. The court indicated that the allegations in the plaintiff's motion may be sufficient to allow the plaintiff to pursue punitive damages, but that these allegations required additional legal evidence in the form of depositions or affidavits. Plaintiff's counsel intends to take the depositions of Archdiocesan personnel and to resubmit this motion to the court.

Daniel McCormack has plead guilty in criminal court to abusing five boys. He is serving a five year prison sentence.

Continue reading "In Dan McCormack Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Archdiosese, Judge Denies Punitive Damages Motion - Willing To Reconsider Issue After Further Discovery" »