Suchy v. City of Geneva

Suit was filed against the City of Geneva and others by the estate of a deceased Army veteran. He and two young teens were fishing downstream of the Geneva Dam and when the boys got bored, they decided to go for a swim. The two were caught in the “boil” of the dam and the veteran drowned while saving the two youths. The City’s motion to dismiss arguing that the open and obvious doctrine and immunity under the Tort Immunity Act barred the suit was granted. The Illinois Appellate Court, Second District, affirmed the dismissal on the bases that the dangerous condition of the “boil” was open and obvious. Bill Kurnik and Amanda Zdarsky co-authored the brief in the Appellate Court, and Amanda argued the case on appeal.

Suchy v. City of Geneva.

View Outdoor v. Town of Schererville

Bill Kurnik received summary judgment in January, 2015, on behalf of the Town of Schererville in a case pending in the Hammond Division of the Northern District of Indiana. The plaintiff, an owner and operator of billboards, alleged that an amendment to the Town ordinance prohibiting billboards throughout the Village violated its First Amendment rights. Bill argued that the ordinance was constitutional under the Supreme Court decision in Metromedia. No appeal was taken.

View Outdoor v Town of Schererville.

Disability Discrimination

We have been retained to respond to a disability discrimination claim made against a west suburban DuPage municipality under the ADA. The claimant, a disabled attorney, asserts that the Village violated the Act by failing to remove deposits of snow in sidewalk cur cuts caused by snow plowing the streets. No reported decision addresses whether the ADA imposes that duty upon a public entity nor do the ADA regulations enacted by the Justice Department address the existence of such a duty.

Bill Kurnik concluded that no duty exists under Section 12132 of the ADA and the carrier for the Village denied the claim.

Kresich v. City of Lake Station

In March, 2015, Amanda Zdarsky and Bill Kurnik obtained a defense verdict in an excessive force claim filed against Lake Station police officers in the Hammond Division of the Northern District of Indiana. The plaintiff was selling Methadone and an undercover buy was set up in a local Burger King parking lot. A flash-bang device was used to distract the plaintiff and the undercover informant who were seated in the plaintiff’s car and one of the four officers forcibly removed the resisting plaintiff from his car, and threw him to the ground. The plaintiff sustained a four-part fracture of the proximal humerus, which his treating physician described as the bone having “exploded.” Plaintiff claimed he felt the fracture as his arm was twisted behind his back during handcuffing. Both the defense expert, a biomechanical engineer, and the treating physician opined that the fractures of this type typically occur during a low-energy fall on an outstretched arm or the side of the shoulder. These fractures are common in the elderly and the treating physician opined that the plaintiff had the bone density of a post-menopausal 80-year old woman due to the Prednisone use for COPD.

Kresich v. City of Lake Station, et al.