Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

In Chicago, Illinois, a CTA employee is lucky to be alive after being electrocuted while working as a flagger on the elevated tracks near the Belmont platform. Kathy Cardenas, age 32, was electrocuted on July 24, 2008, after she made contact with the 3rd rail. Her left hand and arm, and her back side were badly burned. She was rushed to Illinois Masonic Medical Center for medical attention where she was hospitalized and underwent skin grafts.

Ms. Cardenas has retained Chicago accident lawyers from Abels & Annes, P.C. and Katz, Friedman, Eagle, Eisenstein, Johnson & Bareck, P.C. to jointly represent her in a workers' compensation claim against the Chicago Transit Authority.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury , Train Accident , Work Injuries

Bookmark:

In Chicago, Illinois it is now being reported that twenty-four people were injured today when a Chicago Transit Authority train derailed, this according to NBC News and several other news sources. The accident involved a Green Line train at a junction on the elevated tracks located at 319 E. Garfield Ave. on the South Side. At least two train cars reportedly derailed.

Train service was temporarily suspended in the area of the accident and shuttle buses are being used to transport passengers. The injured were taken to area hospitals for treatment with non-life-threatening injuries.

Click here for crash photo and full story.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury , Train Accident

Bookmark:

In Chicago, Illinois ten people were injured today when a Chicago Transit Authority train derailed, according to WQAD.COM. The accident involved a Green Line train at a junction on the elevated tracks. At least two train cars reportedly derailed.

Train service is temporarily suspended in the area of the accident and shuttle buses are being used to transport passengers. The ten injured were taken to area hospitals for treatment.

Click here to read entire story.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Personal Injury , Train Accident

Bookmark:

In the Chicago Area suburb of Des Plaines, Illinois, a car driver was killed Thursday night by a Metra train, according to the Chicago Tribune. The car accident allegedly occurred when Robert Wells III of Des Plaines drove his vehicle around down crossing gates at Pearson and Minor Street and was hit by Union Pacific Northwest Train No. 645. A pedestrian was also hurt in the train accident when the car hit him after it spun away from the tracks and ended up on a sidewalk.

Ricky Collins, of Chicago, was the injured pedestrian. He was standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross the tracks when he was struck. He was taken to Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge, Illinois.

Wells was pronounced dead at Lutheran General shortly after the crash. No other injuries were reported.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accident , Pedestrian Accident , Train Accident

Bookmark:

Two Chicago area Metra trains hit a minivan on Monday evening in the western suburb of Hinsdale, Illinois after the driver got stuck on the tracks and left his vehicle. Franciszek Chudzik, 72, of Aurora, Illinois allegedly crossed two sets of tracks and tried to make a left turn onto a third set of tracks when his vehicle got stuck, according to TheDoings-Hinsdale.com.

Witnesses actually tried to move the van before an eastbound train hit it. People had to yell at the driver to get out of the van before it was struck. The driver then exited the vehicle, put his keys in his pocket and walked away. The minivan was also hit by a second train heading westbound. One witness stated that the van tuned into a fireball after it was hit. The minivan was practically obliterated by the impacts. Click here for Hinsdale, Illinois van vs. train crash photo.

Chudzik was arrested at the scene of the train / car crash and charged with DUI. He allegedly had a blood alcohol content of greater than .08. The police officers conducted sobriety tests at the scene.

David Abels & Associates, P.C. has been contacted by a west suburban resident who was on the westbound Metra train. He sustained headaches and neck injuries as a result of the Illinois train / car collision. He had no idea what caused the accident when he contacted our office. This same passenger was also on last week's Metra train that hit an automobile where the car had driven several hundred feet down the tracks. He was not injured in that accident.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accident , Train Accident

Bookmark:

A Chicago area resident was killed in a car vs. train collision on Tuesday when his pick up truck got stuck on ice at a train crossing in Gary, Indiana. He was hit by a South Shore Line commuter train, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The man killed has been identified as Charles Jones of Gary, Indiana. It has been reported that the gates at the crossing were down and Jones went around them to beat the train. The train crash occurred at U.S. Highway 12 and County Line Road at about 5:30 a.m. between the Portage/Ogden Dunes and Miller stations. The train was headed to downtown Chicago.

It has not been indicated if there were injured train passengers, or if there was any negligent conduct on the part of the train operator. The train was supposed to be very crowded and standing room only.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accident , Train Accident

Bookmark:

In Cook County, Illinois, accident lawyers have already filed a train accident lawsuit on behalf of a family that was on the Amtrak train that crashed into a freight train on the South Side last Friday, according to the Chicago Sun Times. The lawsuit was filed against Amtrak and the Norfolk Southern Freight Company.

John Hamstra and his family were headed to Chicago for a weekend of holiday shopping when the Chicago bound train, that was reportedly speeding, crashed into a freight train. Hamstra sustained a fractured shoulder and a concussion.

The lawsuit is alleging negligence against both train companies, and the personal injury lawyers for the plaintiffs will be seeking a protective order for all documents related to the accident.

The Amtrak train was allegedly going 25 miles in excess of the speed that track signals indicated was safe, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. 71 people, including several Amtrak employees, went to 12 area hospitals as a result of the crash near 52nd and Shields.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Train Accident

Bookmark:

In Chicago, Illinois an Amtrak train has crashed into a freight train causing multiple injuries, according to the N.Y Times. The impact was strong enough to knock passenger seats off their hinges. There were 188 people on board at the time of the train crash, and those most seriously injured were near the front of the train.

The train was going from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Michigan. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. The engine of the Amtrak came to rest on top of the freight train. Hydraulic tools had to be used to remove people from the engine car.

Over a dozen ambulances came to the accident site, and emergency workers also set up near by in an elementary school where injuries were assessed. The passengers were divided into 3 groups based on severity of injuries.

One passenger believed the train was only traveling about 15 mph at the time of impact when he heard a loud noise and was lurched forward. The witness thought a lot of people were injured when train seats broke off their hinges.

Click here to read entire story.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Train Accident

Bookmark:

In the Chicago area suburb of Geneva, Illinois a pedestrian has been struck by a Metra train on the Union Pacific West Line railroad tracks around 5:30 p.m., according to the Daily Herald. The pedestrian, who has not been identified, died in the train accident. The occurrence took place near the Fox River. The Geneva Police and Fire Departments were on the scene, but there has not been any indication yet as to what caused the accident.

The Federal Railroad Administration reports that train related accidents in Illinois declined in 2006, but statistics for 2007 are not yet available.

Posted by Dave Abels | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Pedestrian Accident , Train Accident

Bookmark: